Best Buddies

Although Mark has a lot of little friends out here that he loves to play with, Caleb has always been his favorite. It's probably because they are both boys and close in age, but it could also be that Amy and I get along so we have forced them to play together. Whatever the reason, they just love to be around each other. When ever I ask Mark if he wants to go see Caleb, he practically drags me out the door. Since the Blooms are moving this summer (the downside of having so many students around here), we decided to take the boys out for some fall pictures....back in October. It was wet and cold, but the leaves were beautiful and the boys had fun.

Throwing leaves

Looking for 'fish' (or so we told them)

Knuckles

Cute faces

They didn't like our artistic vision in this one.

And, this is typical- Caleb fully participating in the song Amy's singing while Mark is more interested in a rock, leaf, or anything else other than the activity in front of him.

Since I Ran Out of Christmas Cards...

Halloween Activities

Halloween is so much fun now that Mark is a bit older. The weekend before Halloween we headed up to Baugher's, a pick-your-own farm not far from us, to pick pumpkins. Mark found one that was perfect for him---that he could barely carry.

There was a huge stack of hay bails on the farm that Mark loved. He found a little hole just his size and HAD to climb down in it. He could have stayed there all day.

The wagon ride was fun too. I think Mark just enjoyed riding in a moving vehicle without being strapped down by a 5-point harness.

Some of our friends out here are quite the pumpkin carvers. I'd like to say that we are too, but we barely got our one big one carved on Halloween night. At least it was still Halloween. Mark thought it was kind of cool.

And, for all of you waiting to find out what Mark was for Halloween: none else but Harry Potter in his Quidditch robes! We don't think he really understood what he was wearing, but he did look pretty cute, right?!?

"My scar; it keeps burning!" (For those of you that don't watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone at least once a day, that's a quote from the movie.)

Mark's friend, Reese, hosted a little Halloween party. Mark had a blast with all of his little buddies. They took pictures, gathered leaves to throw, hunted for paper skeleton parts, and of course, had snacks. Thanks Lori. It was a great party. Notice the ball in his left hand? Of course. He also got to take home a little ghost sucker that Sheryl had made. I decided to let him try it that night when he was a little cranky and Bryce wasn't back from school yet. When I handed it to him he said "Wow!". Then he tasted it and said "Wow! Wow!". And, when he bit off the last chunk, one final "Wow!" Had I only known he was that easy to please...

The Maryland Zoo holds ZooBoo every year around Halloween. Mark's friend Mallory (and Rebecca and baby Landon) invited us to tag along. Mallory loves giving hugs. They're looking down at the elephants. We had lots of people pointing and saying "Look! It's Harry Potter!" I'm just glad the costume was recognizable, or maybe it was just the scar. On a sad note, Mark lost his ball somewhere in the Zoo. Needless to say, I have no idea where he lost it or where it rolled off too. Thankfully, Bryce was home so I called him and had him run to Target to get us a pack of a dozen identical balls that I had seen there. And surprise! When we got home, Daddy had his ball. No harm, no foul, although he is much less attached to it lately. Maybe subconsciously he knows it's not the same.

As an excuse to wear his costume for the third day in a row, we also went to the Trunk or Treat at the church. Bryce took Mark around while I passed out candy. Mark quickly caught on that he was supposed to grab candy from people and stick it in his cauldron. He browses his candy daily.

Picking candy.