Disneyland: Halloween Time

Thursday October 18, 2007
We surprised the kids with tickets to Mickey's Trick or Treat at the California Adventure park.
Of course costumes were a must! Don't we have the cutest little pirates ever? And yes, I'm totally biased, lol.

While we were hanging out on Pirate's Pier to get our picture taken with Pirate Goofy we ran into Cole's buddy Brayden who was also dressed as a pirate. They had fun together sword fighting and playing. Wow, it really is a small world afterall.

Our family picture with Goofy. I dressed as a zombie, lol. Seriously, I look like I haven't slept for a hundred years. (Or 8.5 months).

Cute Mickey Ghosts marked the trick or treat trail. Where there was a ghost, there was a treat. Mmmm.

This year Cole was finally tall enough to ride the bumper cars, or bugs I guess they are. He has been waiting since he was 22 months.

Alan tried to take Cole on Tower of Terror (he was tall enough) but after the spooky intro Cole declared the ride to be evil and wanted out.

Disneyland: Day 1

Thursday October 18, 2007
We arrived early afternoon and checked in at our hotel. The Grand Californian is an amazing place to stay. When we pulled up there was someone to greet us and whisk us upstairs to check in (avoiding all of the lines at the main check in desk downstairs).
They took our family picture and then escorted us to the concierge lounge where they serve yummy snacks and treats throughout the day. There are even two mini fridges stocked with diet coke(and other stuff too, lol). Score!

Here is Carson in a cute Mickey Mouse High Chair getting ready for a snack.

Love these cute brothers, Cole cracks Carson up.

Carson's first ride



Mmmm, we got back to our room later that evening and discovered that Mickey left us some yummy cookies to decorate.

*click photos to view larger
Then it was time to get ready for Mickey's Trick or Treat at the California Adventure Park!

We're Off To The Magic Kingdom

We are taking the boys to Disneyland in the morning. Halloween at Disneyland is my absolute favorite! I love the decorations and I love the Haunted Mansion transformed into The Nightmare Before Christmas. This year we are doing something really fun! I think Cole is going to be so super surprised! Also this time around we are staying at the Grand Californian, we have wanted to stay there since it opened and it's always booked. I hope Carson does ok, I'm worried about travelling with him, hopefully he will be a good boy and enjoy everything and not be scared.

Photos from past Disney trips, Cole looks so little...

New Wheels

2008 Buick Enclave: Our new car (except ours is silver)!

So yesterday on his way to work, Alan decided to stop off and test drive cars. We have been talking about getting a new car for me for months now and we just never seemed to get it done. So he calls me around 10:00 am yesterday morning and says he's down at the Buick dealership and he is in love with this car and could I come down and drive it. Ummm, yeah! So I wake Carson from his nap and haul the boys down and drive the car. It's amazing! We're sold! And now it's parked in our garage. The only problem I have with it is that I think it's too nice for 2 little messy boys to ride in, there is going to have to be some serious "no food in the car rules" from here on out.

My hubby rocks!!!

Pumpkin Patch

This morning I surprised the little guys with a trip to Gilcrease Orchard to pick pumpkins. I didn't tell them where we were going and when we got there Cole was super excited. It was hot and dusty and lots of fun. We found 6 pumpkins! They were a little picked over this year, you seriously have to get there like October first. I want to go back and get some apples and zucchinis too. Mmmm. On the way out we bought some yummy fresh apple cider and gulped it down, I knew I should have bought the gallon bottle (or 2). Just another excuse to go back. Also, we need to go again for photos; sadly the battery on my camera died and the pictures I did get were severely over-exposed. ( I haven't mastered my new lens' learning curve yet).

Captain Columbus By Day & Chef Cole By Night

Cole's school did a unit on Christopher Columbus this week to commemorate the holiday. Of course Cole was enamoured with him and why not? The man had 3 really cool ships. This morning I caught him and Carson playing Columbus. Of course those plastic tubs did contain toys at one point so obviously a huge mess was involved. Aren't they cute? I love that Cole is starting to include Carson in his games.

Uh-oh, looks like the first mate might go overboard:


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The night before, Carson went to bed, Alan was at a Young Men's activity and Cole and I were able to hang out together and have some Mommy/Son time together. We decided to make some Halloween treats. This recipe (I use the term 'recipe' loosely) is foolproof, Cole made them literally all by himself except for putting them in and taking them out of the oven.

First you start by unwrapping lots of Hershey Kisses, (we used the candy corn variety; very festive). Then you line up little twisty pretzels on a cookie sheet, (I used this as an opportunity to practice counting and patterning, 5 pretzels to every row and 7 rows). Next place one kiss in the center of each pretzel and pop them into a 350 degree oven for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for about a minute or two and then place an M&M in the center of each treat. Last cool all the way until they harden back up. Ta-Da! A yummy kid-friendly recipe they can make on their own and feel successful. And they are yummy, they have that salty/sweet thing going on.

Unwrapping the Hershey Kisses:

Ready for the oven:

What's with the cheesy face?

The Colinator Strikes Again

When Cole was in his destructive toddler years my brother in law nicknamed him the Colinator (like terminator). Well, the Colinator struck in full force last night and I have to give him a little credit for the creativity of the mess.

This is what I saw when I walked into the family room:


In the time out chair obviously unaffected by it:

Of course I'm sure me taking photos of the mess is sending him a mixed signal that I think it's cute.

Not One Of My Better Ideas

Tuesdays are generally pretty long and boring around here since it's not a school day for Cole. I'm always trying to think of interesting things to do or make to occupy his time. Today I got a wild hair and decided to load the kids in the 2 butt-butt (what Cole named the double stroller) and walk down to the park. Not so bad on the way there since it is all downhill and we had a nice breeze to keep us cool. We played at the park for about an hour or so before heading home. That's when it hit me that we were going to be going uphill the entire way and that the nice breeze had disappeared completely. Oh my gosh, it was miserable for me since I was the pusher of the 2 butt-butt. I kept saying, I think I'm going to die" and Cole would freak out and ask me who would push them home when I was dead. What a nut! LOL! Anyways, we (I) survived and as soon as we got home I packed those kiddos into the car, turned the a/c all the way up and went for a cold drink run.

I took my camera to the park because I realized it has been a long time since I posted any recent pics of the boys. They were pretty uncooperative for the camera today. Oh well, better luck next time.

Guess Who We Saw Last Night

Last night Alan and I got to go out on a grown up date. We went with Alan's two partners and their spouses to dinner at Gallagher's in the New York New York hotel and then we walked across the street to the MGM for the Andre Agassi Grand Slam For Children event. It was an awesome event/concert. We saw Matchbox 20, The Goo Goo Dolls, Kelly Clarkson, Tony Bennett, Hall and Oates and Santana. Also Jerry Seinfeld and George Wallace kept us in stitches with their hilarious comedy routines. The event raised 9.1 million dollars for Aggassi's foundation, which has done some amazing things for children and education.
Matchbox 20 rocks my world and who knew Rob Thomas was so funny? There was a hitch with the mic on his piano and he joked his way thru' what could have been really awkward, they should make it part of their act, lol. It was such a fun night! Too bad my poor baby cried almost the entire time we were gone, I'm sure we scared the babysitter away for good.

These guys rocked hard!


Holy Cow I LOVE this band!

Nothing To Say and Another Yummy Recipe

So I guess I don't have anything to blog about this week. I haven't read any good books (I've been struggling thru' this months book club choice) and I haven't gone anywhere fun (sick kiddos and too much wind). But I have been into baking, just call me Betty Crocker, lol.
Yesterday I made another yummy pumpkin-y treat. Seriously, I'm obsessed with all things pumpkin right now, I hope this passes or I'm going to look like I have a pumpkin sized butt.
Anyways, I thought I'd share this recipe. It is so easy and so yummy. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Dump Cake
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin (plain pumpkin, not pumpkin filling)
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 (18.25 oz) box yellow cake mix
1 stick of melted butter
1 c. chopped pecans (optional)
Cool Whip

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray 9×13 pan with cooking spray.
Combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, salt and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl, whisk until smooth. Pour into pan. Sprinkle cake mix evenly over the top. Pour butter over the cake mix, then sprinkle pecans all over the top. (I left off the nuts).
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool and serve with cool whip (or I'm thinking vanilla ice cream would be awesome too).

Luckily I sent most of it home with my Mom so we didn't have to eat the whole pan.