Fall is in the Air

We have now reached the point where basically every day we have minor panic attacks about how soon we will be very far apart.  In fact, we are only two weeks away from the day Jake flies to Junction City to sign the lease on a new place to live in Kansas, and the week after that the actual move will occur!  Of you're checking calendars, yes that means we are moving over Thanksgiving. It's going to be a crazy week.

Minor panic attacks aside, though, we've been trying to spend as much time together as possible while we can.  This weekend, we had family pictures (we get proofs in about a week, and I'm sure I will post some here so stay tuned), we took Howie to a birthday party, and we went to the Fall Festival at our church.  Jake and I also had a date, but since that story doesn't lend itself to cute pictures of the kiddo, let's stick with Howie's activities.

Festival, 2009 (6 months)

Howie has been to the church Fall Festival every year of his life (this is his third), because Jake and I always volunteer to work at it.  Here are pictures of Howie from the previous two years' festivals:

Festival, 2010 (18 months)

But this year is the first year he has really been big enough to enjoy the festival, and boy did he!!  First off, he LOVED his costume.  Howie had so much fun being M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E:

Playing Coy...

"Miska Muska Mickey Mouse!"

Howie tried every booth at the Festival, from the basketball dunk to the bean bag toss, the hippo toss and the bouncy house.

Howie and Daddy even hit the face-painting booth, where Jake tried his hand at making a Mickey Mouse face (No one had the heart to tell Jake that Mickey doesn't have whiskers). 

Howie's two favorite things, though, were the train and the inflatable slide.  Howie took the train ride with Mr. Phillip, one of our elders and the dad of our friend Caleb. At first he was a little apprehensive about leaving Mom and Dad, but then he got a cookie and suddenly he forgot all about us.  

The inflatable slide was far and away the most popular attraction to the kiddo. The first time he climbed the inflatable stairs, he got a little help from one of the older boys.  By the tenth time he did it, he was flying up to the top.  Howie loved that slide so much we weren't sure we'd be able to get him off it.

All in all, it was a great day. And it was really awesome to get to spend it together as a family.  And today, Howie got another chance to wear his costume--his school Halloween party! 

Just like with the Festival, this is really the first year he (and all of his classmates) really understood what was going on. They had chicken nuggets and cupcakes, and did some general running around and comparing costumes. Howie's was a huge hit!  He kept his hat on just long enough to get some pictures, then off it flew!

And THEN came the trick-or-treat.  It took a minute, but Howie caught on.  He loved that the older kids were helping to hand out the treats.