Practice Halloween

On Sunday after church, we headed over to my parents house for lunch and so Karsten could show them his Halloween costume.

Grandma made cupcakes for dessert - Karsten loves cupcakes! He typically eats all of the frosting then eats some of the cake.


Grandma had fun Halloween sprinkles to put on the cupcake. Karsten got to choose what he wanted and he chose 'little dots' then he had fun trying to pick the little dots off of the frosting and eat just the dots.

Then it was time to debut the costume. The past couple of times we had tried to get Karsten to try on the costume, he had refused to put it on. Thankfully Grandma was able to talk him into putting the costume on.


He had his 'fire puppy' (aka dalmation) to round out the costume. Every fireman needs a fire dog, doesn't he?

Turns out the key to getting Karsten to smile for pictures is a Milky Way candy bar. :)






When we came in from pictures, he got to check out all the candy in his goody bag from Grandma and Grandpa. He didn't want to let this bag go - we were eventually able to distract him and get the candy away. :)

Carving the pumpkin

It's been a busy couple of weeks, so it was the day before Halloween and we realized we hadn't carved our pumpkin yet. Karsten was all about helping to cut the pumpkin (eek!) but he had NO interest in sticking his hand in and pulling out the pumpkin guts. We tried everything to get him to try it - I pulled out a handful and showed him it wasn't icky and Scott kept trying to convince him. He kept saying 'no, me too small do that'.

Using his special pumpkin carving knife. I love the look on his face in this picture.


Helping dad cut the lid off.

O wow - look at what's in there.


Once Karsten decided he didn't want to help clean out the pumpkin, we entertained ourselves by playing with my sunglasses and taking pictures. After I would take a picture, he would say 'me see mommy, me see'.


This picture cracks me up - not sure what he was doing, but he was having fun.


This is a great picture of Karsten - he's actually looking at the camera AND smiling! I look tired...oh well.

During dinner we asked Karsten how we should decorate our pumpkin. We talked about triangle eyes, and a circle nose, then Karsten said 'mickey mouse!'. We googled Mickey Mouse pumpkin templates and found the cute Mickey template you see here. After we looked at how we would cut out Mickey, we realized it was a wee bit beyond our pumpkin skill level. Scott got the brilliant idea of making the Mickey Mouse silhouette - aka Toodles.




The finished Mickey Mouse masterpiece!

Karsten's friends

Matt and Colleen came over for dinner on Friday night - it was great to see them after we hadn't gotten together in WAY too long. Karsten was excited that 'his friends' were coming over. As soon as they came in, he had a steady stream of show and tell going - he had lots to tell them!

When it was time for Karsten to go to bed, he decided he didn't want Mommy or Daddy to read his bedtime stories, he wanted Matt to read them. Karsten showed Matt the books he wanted to read, and they were set. ADorable.

The next morning, one of the first things Karsten said when he woke up was 'play ball with Matt today?' Looks like Matt and Colleen will have to come over again - Karsten wants to play ball. :)

Coming soon

One of the items on my "to do before the baby arrives" list was to get brother shirts. I searched at a bunch of stores but didn't find any that I was in love with. Someone suggested I check out Etsy (which led to an evening spent browsing Etsy and finding ideas for Christmas shirts for the boys, adorable hats, birth announcements...and finally....brother shirts).

I found a design similar to these and loved them. Thankfully, Shannon is very talented and can make things like this. I sent her a link and asked if this was something "we" could make.

VOILA brother shirts! I'm thrilled with the results - I can't wait to see them wearing these adorable shirts. Stay tuned - I forsee lots of pictures in these. :)

Hide and Seek

Karsten loves to play hide and seek. We play hide and seek in the car, around the house, by hiding under the table, almost anywhere you can imagine.

He will say 'count daddy' then he will run away to hide or as he did in the picture below, throw a blanket over himself and stand there. Then we'll count and start to look for him. If we're in the car, we'll say 'where's Karsten...is he behind Mommy's chair? Nooope. Is he under mommy's purse? Nooope. Is he in that truck? Noope. Is he under that blanket? YEP - FOUND YOU!' Then he'll laugh and laugh.

Next it's our turn to hide. If we're in the car he'll repeat the same things we said when we were searching for him. Don't worry - we don't throw a blanket over our heads while we're driving. It's funny to hear him say all of the places he's searching for us before he yells FOUND YOU!

This game goes on and on - the good news is that it's always easy to find him because he'll hide in the same place almost every time. :)

Preparing for baby brother

We have a list of things to finish up before the baby arrives in a few weeks, and one of the big items on the list is to finish the baby's room. Shannon made all of the baby's bedding and curtains like she did for Karsten - it's soooo cute, i'll post a pic when it's all complete in the room.

The curtains were done, so we were anxious to hang them up and see how they looked. Scott was measuring and getting ready to hang the curtain rod and Karsten decided he should help too.


He measured all sorts of stuff as he was helping Scott.


At one point, he even measured my foot (I was supervising the curtain install with my feet propped up - I try to keep my feet propped up when possible to help the darn swelling down)




These circles used to hang above Karsten's crib when he was in this room. Today, he decded they would be a set of drums. He had so much fun - we tried to teach him a few songs he could drum along with, but he opted for a few good ole standby songs like Twinkle, Twinkle or The More we Get Together.

This is why...

I was putting a couple of newly completed scrapbook pages into Karsten's album and he asked what I was doing. I showed him all of the pictures and he had a great time pointing out people and things he recognized. We told him that the 'toot baby' he pointed out was actually him. He laughed and he said 'noooooooo, silly mommy'. :)

I was so happy that he was entertained by looking through the pages of his scrapbook. It reminded me that the time and effort that goes into creating scrapbooks and blogs and other memory keeping items will be cherished items that help us enjoy these moments that seem to be so fleeting.

Perfect pumpkin day

Finally catching up on some blogging after a busy weekend. Scott and I went to a fundraiser event that my employer was sponsoring - great cause and a wonderful evening out. We know those will be further between once this lil guy arrives. Karsten spent the evening with my parents and had a great time - when we dropped him off, he ran off to play with 'Papa' and quickly told us goodbye.

The next day we made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out the perfect pumpkin. The weather was beautiful - sunny and only a little cool - couldn't ask for better pumpkin patch weather.

Lots of pumpkins to choose from!


The pumpkin patch had a small number of animals that Karsten enjoyed watching.


He was disappointed the pigs were sleeping and wouldn't get up.


Each year the pumpkin patch decorates this cool old truck with haybales and pumpkins. It's the perfect photo opp. We've gone to this pumpkin patch since Karsten's first fall, so it's fun to look back at last year and his first trip. He was doing everything he could NOT to look at me when I was snapping these pictures.


Playing with the tractors in the sand table was a big hit. We spent a LOT of time here.


These big tubes were also a big hit - Scott and Karsten would race from end to end and it would make Karsten laugh and laugh.


Slides are always fun!






He really enjoyed the tire swing horse as well. He was talking to it and saying 'neiiigghhhh'.


This pile of pumpkins looked like the perfect photo opp. He was looking at us and smiling until we got out the cameras and started snapping pictures, then he wouldn't look directly up at us or smile. Little stinker.






Riding out to pick our pumpkin.


Searching for the perfect pumpkin with Dad.


And this is how a pumpkin grows - Chuck said we grew pumpkins when I was little but I didn't remember that so I was interested in seeing how the pumpkin flowers grew into pumpkins.


Karsten will still occasionally put his finger in his belly button when he's unsure about a situation or doesn't know what to do.


Again with the refusing to look at the camera. Hopefully this is a short phase.


He tried valiantly to pick up this pumpkin several times. :)


A great day at the pumpkin patch had by everyone!

Fixing it

Scott and I were doing some odds and ends in our office and Karsten was playing. Before we knew it, he was climbing under a chair and telling us that he was fixing it. :)



He didn't have a good angle at first so he had to lay down and fix it.

A fun delivery

We got a fun surprise in the mail today - Kelli, David, Trent and Taylor sent a box full of fun stuff for Karsten and the baby!

There was so much to look at, Karsten was torn between playing with the soft stuffed lambs first or the cars. The lambs won - he said 'my lamb' and 'baby brother lamb'. So cute!

Then he quickly remembered the cars and wanted them open so he could check them out.


The cars are a big hit - once they hit an obstacle, they flip around and come back to you. Endless fun!

They also sent and ADorable outfit for the baby and a cute gumball machine filled with tiny baby socks. Thank you Kelli, David, Trent and Taylor! That was a fun surprise to get in the mail - we appreciate it!