This year was Bobo's second time Trick-or-Treating. Last year I had to carry him up to each house to get the candy, but this year he was loving running from door to door to do it himself! He loves candy, so he was ecstatic to grab a piece (or three) or take those that were handed to him. He usually remembered to say 'tick o tweet' and 'tank ooo'. So cute!


Getting his bag all prepared to hold tons of candy, and having Dracula help him get his shoes on.


It was the PERFECT night for Trick-or-Treating. The forecast was for massive rain and freezing tempatures, but we started early and it was warm, gorgeous, slightly windy which carried the scent of a late autumn night on the breeze, leaves rushing by every which way making things a little spooky, and a gorgeous sunset. And if that wasn't enough to set the atmosphere, there was a basically full moon looming over head! I cannot remember such a fantastic Halloween night in my many years on the earth! :)




Bobo was so good, he stayed in his carriage (mostly) between houses, then would jump right out to run up to the door and get his treats. He kept saying 'nodda house, nodda house' because he wanted to keep going! Not to mention his little cow ears and tail flopped up and down as he ran, and he looked incredibly adorable. Everyone who saw him or passed by remarked on how cute his costume looked!

And this is how I spent half of the night... pulling up my socks which kept slipping down in my boots! Notice they are very festive... but unfortunately also very slippery. Next year I will wear sensible socks!


This is the last house we went to on the way back... every year for every holiday they go all out crazy with lights and decorations... you should see Christmas! Not to mention they have always given out *full sized* candy bars. Yum!



The weather stayed awesome almost the whole time... it sprinkled for 5 minutes halfway through, but then as we were walking home it started to pour. We almost made it back before the deluge, but at least Arin had his waterproof carriage!


And here we are back at home checking out the stash... not a bad haul for a two-year old! I put it all in a plastic pumpkin (after we ate a ton of it on Halloween night) and he's still got plenty left to have a candy or two a day. Mmmm.


Hope everyone had as fun a Halloween as we did! Can't wait until next year.

After last-minute pre-Halloween pumpkin picking (and a visit to the grocery store) here is the happy pumpkin family we ended up with.




The second to smallest rotted thanks to a fingernail gouge, the second-to-biggest we ate, the largest is STILL waiting to be made into a jack-o-lantern and the other two now reside on the mantle with other harvesty stuff... and umm, some Christmas stuff that is finding its way out! :)

Just saying 'Hi' before we head out to the pumpkin patch!



And of course, here's one of Bobo practicing dressing up for Halloween... this is his 'Cowboy' look:

Doesn't he look so handsome and grown up when he gets dressed nicely? Now, if only all his pants weren't too big or too small... then the outfit would really look nice! And ignore the sneakers. :)



We got a pumpkin on the way home... well, two actually. The tinier one Bobo punctured with his nail and has since rotted, but this one is still going strong on the mantle!

I love autumn and Halloween and usually we like to go all-out for the season, but this year I am so overwhelmed with my jam-packed schedule that we didn't get to do as much fun stuff as usual. So, I decided to try some random new traditions... like dinner in a pumpkin! Tater Tot Casserole is a big hit in my house, and this is similar, so it also went over well. Plus it looks adorable. I'll definitely be making this again year after year!



Recipe -

1 small to medium Pumpkin
1 Chopped onion
2 Tbs Oil
1-2 lbs Ground Turkey
2 TB Soy Sauce
2-3 TB Brown Sugar
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1- 1.5 Cup Cooked Rice (or Cooked potatoes)
Ketchup to taste

Cut off top of pumpkin, clean out seeds and pulp, and optionally make a face with permanent marker on pumpkin.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet saute onions in oil until tender. Add meat and salt to taste. Brown the turkey (and I like to add a fair bit of cracker crumbs to soak up the juices instead of draining). Add soy sauce, brown sugar, and soup; simmer 10 min, stirring occasionally. Add cooked rice or potatoes, add ketchup to taste. Spoon mixture into pumpkin. You can also add water chestnuts, mushrooms, etc... whatever you like to put in your casseroles. Place lid back on and set whole pumpkin on baking sheet.
Bake for 1 hour or until warm all the way through.



The bottom will be a bit squidgy so you might have to scoop it out and serve it from the stove, but if you can get it onto the table that's more festive. Also, don't be shy about scraping the tender pumpkin flesh out into the bowl with all the other stuff... it tastes really good all mixed in together!


And then when you're all done you can peel the pumpkin and use what's left of it for pumpkin soup or bread or pancakes... mmm!

Okay, so check out this amazingly happy, exuberantly joyful little Bobo and try to imagine what has him in a state of such unabashed glee:



Now, is THIS what you were imagining? Because it's one thing that Bobo finds to be hilarious fun:


Yeah... I just don't know. Let's just say that this picture is one of a series... and this is NOT the most silly/questionable/weird. :) I guess when someone is washing dishes they just present way too tempting of a target to be missed, eh?

I guess because we picked a few apples on our way down to the pumpkin patch, Bobo got a little confused...

If you are obsessed with libraries, books, architecture or history... you have to go look at this post: http://curiousexpeditions.org/?p=78



Breathtaking! Now I have a whole new list of places to visit if I ever get a vacation again. :)

For Bobo's birthday Alex got him a boatload of cute clothes, and this item was one of my favorites... the grandpa sweater! I saw it online and thought it looked too adorable to resist... I wish they made one in MY size! (Yes I am obsessed with grey.)

Introducing... SUPERBOBO! He can fly solely by the power of his cuteness... and eat towers of cookies in a single gobble.

I just had to dig out this old family video to share with everyone, in the spirit of Halloween:

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I love pumpkin pies... and this one was extra-delicious because instead of evaporated milk I used light cream... thanks Betty Crocker! You can tell by the extra-light color and mousse-like texture, and the flavor was great. Only drawback was a store-bought crust... Pillsbury just isn't as good as homemade. I need to find a nice, soft, and sweet pie dough recipe. Open to suggestions!

Featuring the Hottest New Anime Character to hit the US since Pikachu... it's BOBO! JPop heart-throb and part-time Super Hiro!



Okay, but seriously, could Bobo look any more like anime character? Kyute.

I really need to get out my Canon and tripod for these outdoor photos... I'm not digging the low-resolution grainy effects of my point-and-shoot. Actually, what I need is to find someone good to take pictures for me... Bobo moves too fast for tripods!

Is my child spoiled? Well... maybe just a little. Here he is getting a nice manicure, while reclining on pillows on the sofa... and simultaneously watching a thrilling episode of his favorite show. Just a teeny bit spoiled.


He just loves being pampered!


Telling his manicurist when it's time to do the other hand.


Can you blame us? Look at that face, you'd want to pamper him too! :)

This afternoon I came home to discover we had a special visitor at our house! (Yes, I'm aware that Bobo's sweater is not buttoned correctly... I was so excited for him to see the visitor that I rushed him outside.)


A kitty cat came to see us! I was really excited because Bobo loves animals, and we don't really know people with friendly cats for him to play with. This one was super friendly and sweet, and she had a pretty pink collar on so she must belong to one of the neighbors. We've never seen her before... though oddly enough the other day I saw an orange and white cat walking in the woods by the driveway. It's even odder because we used to have two cats, Tom (who was orange and white) and Chrissy (who was a shorthair version of this cat). It's like we're being visited by their long-lost children. ;)


Bobo wasn't as excited to see the cat as I had expected, though he did say 'kit-ty cat' a bunch of times. Turns out he had been playing with the same cat earlier when he and Julie were outside playing.


The one thing he did try to do that I thought was hilarious... was RIDE the cat. He got behind her, stated his intentions 'IDE, IDE Kit-ty!' and once I understood I quickly redirected him. This cat isn't QUITE big enough to ride on. :)


She's a pretty girl, wherever she came from! We do have sort-of new neighbors, but they aren't moved in yet (just the dad shows up to work on the house), so maybe he brought his cats by to explore? Not sure, but I hope she comes back to visit again. I really miss my kittens and am always sad that Bobo has missed out on having them as pets so far. :(


Hopefully someday down the road he can get his own pet (when he's old enough to take care of it!) or at least get to know his own kitties! :)

How awesome are Halloween children's books? SO awesome. I'm so happy it's autumny everywhere and Halloween is right around the corner... but I don't want it to come too soon because by then fall will be nearly over. :/ I need to start thinking about costumes. Last year Bobo was a turkey and a cow... and a pumpkin at bedtime. :)


I don't know if he'll get the concept of Trick-or-Treating... but it won't be for lack of trying on my part... we have been reading lots of Halloween type material to prepare! Now we just have to wait for the cheesey Halloween movie marathons on ABC Family... oh MAN do I love those. I'm so excited (and lame).


P.S. How cute is Bobo's little smile in this last one? You know he's going to be super holiday crazy just like his looney mommy! :) Just wait 'til Christmas! We already borrowed 'The Polar Express' from the library since I read the book to him and he liked it so much (but he won't sit and watch it yet... I'll give it a few months).

Perhaps I'm totally biased... but I just think this is the most gorgeous kid in the universe. I love him to itsy bitsy bits... he's just so cute and huggable. And doesn't the funniest things, like randomly hang out by the kitchen sink posing like he's in GQ.


And then he runs back into the living room to watch Thomas just as soon as I get the flash working ... figures!


I still think he's adorable and gorgeous when he's staring vacantly. Male models do that a lot, so it's good he's got that part down too. :)

This is one of the many reasons Bobo loves to have Grampy babysit... gallon-sized cups of Coke! Not to mention the bag of Dunkin' Donut holes ('dunks' as Bobo calls them) they went out to get earlier!


Bobo loves the van (before he was scared to even go in it) and wanted to go for a few rides, so Grampy took him out to Burger King for their second trip. I guess Grampy thought he was getting this buffalo-sized soda for himself... wrong! Bobo grabbed it as soon as they got home. :)


Don't worry... he didn't have TOO much.