Happy Halloween!

Well, after a week's worth of Halloween, I think that we are almost finished!



It started on Wednesday night at church, then Reed wore his costume to school on Thursday for his MDO Halloween Party, then Friday night was the Annual Batson Halloween Party, and tonight was a few houses for Trick-or-Treating.



Cooper was at the Batson's last night looking especially cute.



Britton was a hockey player like his cousin Kris.



Auntie Mo was a bunch of grapes.



Reed had a great time playing with his best bud.



Reed always looks out this window at Britton's house because they had a HUGE spider there one time. He always asks about it.



This was as close to a pose as we could get from the two boys.



This was a little game called flying "opopus".



Miss Candace, the Bama fan, had fun chilling with the boys.



Even Roadie from Centrikid a few years ago showed up!



Reed loves Roadie.



Uncle Danny and Megan took Trick or Treating to the next level with their gift for Reed.



Reed was pretty happy that someone gave play-doh for Trick or Treat.



Today, we carved pumpkins.



This was mine (Jeff).



This was Uncle Bill's.



After our trip to Wal-Mart, with Reed in his Opopus suit, Mia came over.



Ladies and Gentleman, two of the cutest little Asian Babies ever!

Tate's Birthday Party

Abbey is very helpful in my attempt to make sure that my team knows that I appreciate the work they do for the publications that our team produces. So, this time, she made Apple Cupcakes and Popcorn balls.



The apple cupcakes turned out really cute and yummy. Jessica, my graphic designer, thought they were cute little pumpkins. I didn't have the heart to tell her that they were supposed to be apples.



The popcorn balls were delicious. Abbey found a great, easy recipe online. I actually helped make the popcorn balls. They were fun to make.

I think that my team enjoyed the goodies.



This past Saturday, Reed enjoyed attending his buddy Tate's birthday.



It was a huge carnival birthday. Mr. Robert, one of Reed's former Sunday School teachers was there.



Miss Sarah, another one of Reed's former Sunday School teachers, was there. She painted Reed's face.



Reed loves balloons. So, of course, Reed loved having balloons painted on him.



Reed enjoyed riding the trackless train.



Reed rocked the house catching rubber duckies out of the "pond".



It looks like we might have a duck hunter on our hands.



Tate's birthday cake was really cute and went along with the theme well.



Reed and Britton had fun on the swingset.



Reed and Lake also had a good time playing together.



Best buddies loved riding on the train.



Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of the birthday boy. He was very busy welcoming all of his guests.

The World's Cutest Purple Opopus

You may remember that when we visited Gulf Shores back in September, Reed fell in love ...



... with a two-story tall purple octopus.



Since that time, he has frequently talked about, asked to see, and even prayed for the purple "opopus."



We've been trying to decide what he was going to be for Halloween.



His choices were "witening mafween" (Lightening McQueen), a meow (kitty cat), or a purple opopus. Ultimately, he decided on the purple octopus.



Our idea was to get some socks, dye them purple, stuff them and safety pin them to the "Purple Octopus" shirt we bought him at the beach.



But Saturday, while I was in the airport, Enna called and said that she and my dad had the idea that they would make his outfit.



Little did we know they would take it to the next level with purple satin tentacles, satin pants for his sixth and seventh tentacles, a purple fleece top, tentacle feet for his shoes, a purple satin, fleece lined hood, purple gloves, purple make-up, real suction cups on the tentacles, a sewing kit for touch-upsand even a giftcard for us!



It was actually a really great thing that they did such a good job because he will be wearing the costume for the next four days. Tonight at our church Harvest Festival, tomorrow at MDO, Friday at the Batson Halloween Party, and Saturday night to Trick or Treat.



Of course, Reed was thrilled to see his sweet friend MeiMei. She and Reed play every Wednesday night while we adults talk.



He also got to see Becca who likes to play with Reed on Sunday mornings.



Abbey and I were the "cotton candy" makers tonight, so MeiMei did a good job at watching Reed for us.

There's a New Blogger in Town

Jeff mentioned it, so I thought I'd run with it. I'm planning on taking over the blog, becoming the primary blogger of LandLife. In the past, Jeff enjoyed doing it, and now, let's just say it's not at the top of his list. And, truthfully, many (or at least some) of the pictures I take don't make it to the blog, because Jeff has no idea what they are. So, I'm hoping to add a bit of something to the blog. Those that know me well know that I have wonderful intentions. I'd love to say I plan to do a Recipe a Week, or some other fun thing to share, but I'm not so good at follow through. I do hope to put a little different spin on things. Ava's working on helping me spruce up the blog, and Jeff is going to show me how to add pictures as well as the many blogs I check that aren't currently listed to your right. For now, I thought I'd steal this from Baby Bangs (still need to learn how to link up within text, too), and let your more into my world. And, just to be clear, Jeff wanted to know if I'm trying to becoming a famous blog momma like MckMama. Don't worry people, it won't get that interesting around here. I could never aspire to the greatness of BooMama, either.

1. What is your favorite thing to snack on while your blogging?
I've just started this, and currently am not snacking.

2. What is one thing you wouldn't want to live without?
water

3. Beach, Mountains, or Farm? Where would you live if you had a choice?
Beach in the summer, mountains in the winter

4. What's your least favorite chore/household duty?
Vacuuming the stairs, and I do not do it. (If you've been to my house, you can probably tell!) The chore I do that I dread is cleaning the bathrooms. And, I do not like taking out the trash either, but I hope Jeff would say I'm better at that than I used to be.

5. Who do people say you remind them of?
I always remind people of a friend they know somewhere, but I've never been pegged as a particular personality.

6. Prefer parties and socializing or staying home with the fam?
I'm always up for a party, especially if games are played, but I also love to stay home. I could hole up for several days and be fine. Jeff would go nuts.

7. What's your all time favorite movie?
Man in the Moon, with Reese Witherspoon, followed by A River Runs Through It, and more recently August Rush, The Notebook...

8. Do you sleep in your make-up or remove it like a good little girl every night?
Don't look, Mom. Most of the time I take it off. Some would say I don't wear enough for it to matter. I think this is rather a personal question.

9. Do you have a hidden talent or a deep desire to learn something that you've never had a chance to learn? What is it?
I would love to be able to take pictures and own my own restaurant/b and b.

10. What's one strange thing you're really good at?
I can't think of anything.

11. What first attracted you to your spouse?
He was completely opposite of me in about every way possible. He was carefree and fun.

12. What is something you love to smell?
Bread baking

13. Tell something about you that you know irritates people.
I'm pretty bad at answering the phone and returning emails or phone calls. Also, I often write notes and never mail them, including (but not limited to) thank you notes, just for fun notes, Christmas cards...

14. Are you a silent laugher or a loud laugher? What makes you laugh the hardest?
Loud, like I usually get stares from others when I laugh. Friends make me laugh, especially with random or long-standing jokes that keep going. Megan doesn't read this blog (I don't think), but we are still laughing about a skit from SNL about throwing things on the ground. It comes up at the oddest times.

(I deleted one question I couldn't answer. I bet you are curious now, huh?)

16. Where is your favorite place to shop?
I don't really shop right now (besides groceries), but I guess Target?

17. What's one thing you'd do more often if you had more time?
Read. Cook. Write. Be crafty. Organize.

18. Are you a big spender or frugal?
Frugal, now. In the past, I loved to spend money. Getting out of debt and saving for adoption make you pretty frugal. I don't think I've ever been an over-the-top spender. I'd consider myself an emotional spender, though.

19. Who is your favorite character of all time?
I consider all my friends characters, and they are all my favorites.

20. Would you want to be famous?
No, not really.I guess it depends on what I'd be famous for - such as standing up for what I believe in, defending my faith...? I have no desire to ever be famous for being in movies, singing, etc. That's not my thing.

Stay tuned for the cutest purple octopus. ever. Hopefully he will debut on the blog later tonight.

Reed's First BooBoo

Reed loves "babanas". He thinks they are delicious.



The other day, Abbey and Reed were walking to Manya's house and Reed started running. He tripped and scraped his arms.



He didn't even cry, even though I think that I almost did when I found out he fell and scraped his elbow. How come you hurt so bad for your kids?

Thankfully, besides being a wonderfully, fabulous friend and neighbor, Manya is also a nurse at our local hospital.



She cleaned Reed's scrape and put an awesome big bandaid on it. Reed was so impressed by the bandaid that he has been looking at it regularly ever since to remind himself and US that it's still there.



Of course, it is a different one by now, because we have replaced it a couple of times each day, but he's still pretty impressed.



After the booboo incident, Reed, Abbey, and Manya headed to a great nursery out in the sticks about 10 miles from our house.

They have great pumpkins for $3.00 and beautiful mums for $5.00.



Reed helped Manya pick out some nice mums for her porch.



They have a beautiful selection of different types of pumpkins and gourds.



Reed always finds himself a "sweet little pumpkin."



Reed was very impressed by this grasshopper that has moved into our house.