Pumpkins!

Frankie is a bit obsessed with pumpkins this season.  A few weekends ago, Frank and I took him to the arboretum pumpkin patch, and he had a blast walking and running and playing in the hay.  Then, last weekend, we carved a Halloween pumpkin.  We let Frankie pick out what kind of pumpkin he wanted us to carve--silly, scary, robot, etc.  He said that he wanted a scary pumpkin, so we found a few different pictures online and let him pick the design we carved.  Once Frank started carving, Frankie was so scared!  He was clinging on to my sister or me for dear life.  He is so silly, he loves being scared!  Now, every morning when we leave for school, he waves and says "bye bye Katy, bye bye Dada, bye bye house, bye bye pumpkin!"  It is just too cute.  Here are some pics from the pumpkin patch and carving a pumpkin:

23 months

I cannot believe that Frankie is 23 months old today, and that in one short month I will have a two-year-old.  This last year has simply flown by.  At 23 months, Frankie is:

• Wearing size 2T tops and size 18 month pants.  He is still tall and skinny.  I have heard that if you double how tall he is at age 2 you will find out how tall he will grow to be, so I am excited to see how tall he is now!  We were so surprised that he was tall enough to ride a lot of the rides at the Texas state fair.
• Talking and singing all the time.  He is talking in sentences (although the words are not always in the perfect order), and he is singing a bunch of songs.  He still busts out random songs that I have never heard before every now and then.  He loves to sing or for us to sing to him.  Some of the funny/sweet things he says these days: "Daggummit," "Be nice to Mackenzie," (his little girlfriend at school who has bitten him a few times), "This way, post office, money!" (every time we drive past the post office); "night night, sweet dreams, love you," "Frank do it or Frank [let Katy in], [put butter on pancakes]," etc, etc...he wants to do everything himself. 
• Speaking of food, he is still a pretty good eater, although we do mostly eat "kid-friendly" meals.  His favorite food these days is macaroni and popsicles.  When his stomach was upset last week, he asked for macaroni for like 8 meals in a row. 
•  He is like his Mama and he loves to learn.  He can count to twenty in English and ten in spanish, knows most of his letters, and knows all of his colors and shapes.  His day care teachers have told me since he switched over there that he is the smartest in his class, but they think he is starting to regress a little bit because he is bored.  They are trying to get him moved into the next class as soon as possible, hopefully in the beginning of November.
• He likes to be scared.  He is scared of a few videos he watches on the iPad, but he loves to watch them over and over even though they scare him. 
• He loves to be outside, on playgrounds, riding his bike, or playing with the hose.  His favorite inside toy is probably his broom. 
• He loves to help, especially with cooking or cleaning.  He always likes to clean everything up (he must get that from his Daddy).
• He has random temper tantrums, which are usually related to him wanting to do something himself and us not letting him.  He wants to put on his clothes, take off his clothes, wipe his own hands and face, cook his food, open any container of anything and pour or squeeze it...the list is endless.
• He likes trains, airplanes, Barney, nursery rhymes, and gigglebellies.  His favorite books are "Brown Bear," and "Black sheep." 

He is a handful, a joy, and a blessing.  He keeps us on our toes and brings us unmeasurable happiness.  Happy 23 months little buddy!

Lately (in pictures)

Catching up...

This has been a really busy month for me, so I have not been posting as much as normal.  One of the other associates left our firm, so work has been crazy busy and I have been pretty consumed by that.  Frankie was also sick this week with a nasty stomach virus.  But, we did maange to sneak some fun in too.  A couple of weeks ago we went to Houston to visit my parents and start planning Monte's golf tournament.  We took Frankie to a couple of cool playgrounds, and I got to meet up with my friends Diana and Lindsey for lunch and champagne. 

Last weekend we took Frankie to the Texas State Fair!  We went on a really rainy day, and we were there right during Frankie's normal nap time, so it was a recipe for disaster.  Somehow we managed to avoid a meltdown and have a great time.  He loved riding rides, eating (a corndog and a fried PB&J), and looking at all of the animals.  We tried a ton of fried food (way too much) and had a great time.

We also traded in my car last weekend and bought a new Cadillac. I am absolutely in love with it.  Not only do I love the way it looks, but I love driving it too.  I have to give a shout out to my sweet husband on this one...it took him two years to convince me that we should buy a new car for him, but he pretty much let me get whatever I wanted on this car, and I am so thankful for that.  I have been working really hard, so we decided I deserve it :) 

This weekend we were all set to go to Llano to a friends' birthday party, but Frankie had this terrible stomach bug and we did not want to risk him throwing up in the car on the drive down there or getting everyone sick.  So, we spent a pretty low-key weekend at home.  It has been getting chilly in Dallas this week, which I am SO excited about.  Hello, Fall! 

Happy Birthday, (big) Frank!

Happy Birthday, Frank!  We finally got to spend a lazy, low-key weekend together as a family.  We got dressed up and went out to a fancy steak dinner with Daniel and Kristi on Friday night to celebrate.  The restaurant gave us a free round of champagne and a free dessert and we closed down the restaurant.  Frank and Daniel had coffee flavored Patron to wind down the night, and it actually tasted pretty good. 

Frank is the most selfless, loving, and hardworking man that I know, and I admire him so much.  He is always working to better himself and pushing everyone around him to be better.  I know that great things are around the corner for him, and I have a feeling this is going to be a(nother) spectacular year.

Cheers to 37, babe!  We love you so much and we hope you had a wonderful birthday.

New bicycle

Frankie has been asking us for a bicycle for awhile now.  He always gets so excited when he sees other kids' bikes, so we finally decided to go pick one up at Toys r us.  It was a rainy day today, so he practiced riding around in our garage.  He doesn't quite get how it works...but he still loves it! 

"Yes" and songs

Frankie mastered "No" several months ago, and he has been saying it consistently and repeatedly for a long time now.  However, he has just recently mastered "Yes."  Before, he would smile and make a grunting sound or repeat whatever the correct answer was whenever he meant to say "yes."  But in the last few weeks, he has really started to understand and say "Yes" whenever we correctly guess whatever it is that he wants.  He has also figured out that saying "yes, please" is a sure-fire way to get Mama to do whatever he is requesting.  I love that it is getting easier and easier to communicate with him, and I hope that this will help with the tantrums.

Frankie also continues to LOVE to sing.  He loves to watch music videos on the Ipad, to hear music on the radio, to sing songs himself, and to hear me sing.  During most of our morning drives to day care, he requests songs and I sing them.  Sometimes I sing the same song over and over.  Sometimes I don't know the words to the song, so I just make them up.  I loooove hearing him sing.  He usually will sing the first verse of a song and then say "Mama, sing it!"  It is so cute, and I love that he loves music so much.  Frank's birthday is next week and I taught Frankie the birthday song so we can sing it to him together.