It's been a while....

....so there are a LOT of pictures below.  We'll start off with Grandmommy sent a care package from Baylor Homecoming this year and both boys got presents.  Michael wore this sweatshirt for almost 3 days straight.

Carson has been doing a lot of pulling up and getting into things lately.  

Oh.  And I turned the corner and this is what I found.  In true Pratt fashion.....admiring himself in the mirror.  So cute!
Michael being silly on the day we were trying to take Christmas Card pictures:

Family picture but not the one we used for the card...

Then at Thanksgiving, there was a lot of goofing off and TONS of eating.  

We played "dinosaur train" a lot - one of Michael's favorite new shows.  He knows more about dinosaurs than I do about designer bags.  It's true.

Ryan and Michael posing with Thanksgiving Day pancakes.  No one makes them better than Ryan. 
The disposal eventually had enough of us and here's mom teaching it a lesson.  She won that battle which is a good thing.  The LAST thing you want to fail you on Thanksgiving day is your disposal!

Ryan hung more Christmas lights.  We have 4 huge trees around our yard and my handsome Clark Griswold has covered all of them in lights.  :)  

Carson didn't partake in the "adult" food but Ryan found him a suitable baby cuisine for Thanksgiving.  I have a weird thing about meat in baby food - just doesn't seem right - but I sucked it up and fed it to him.  He loved it!

We went to the old Marshall Fields on State Street (it's now Macy's) to see Santa Clause.  Michael was in heaven and Carson wasn't so sure.  He never complained though.  But Michael had about a 10 minute conversation with Santa about the toys he wants.  He's very specific.  On a side note, we're potty training right now.  You'll see what I mean when you take a closer look at Michael in this picture.  :)

Then we decided to go to Lincoln Park Zoo to see the Christmas Lights.  It was beautiful but PACKED with people.  Who's idea was it to go to a tourist attraction the Saturday after Thanksgiving anyway?!?! 

Now onto December.  Ryan's birthday was on the 2nd, but he was in London for work.  Before he left, Michael wanted to throw him a surprise party and that's just what we did.  Party hats and all....

Have I mentioned Carson is all over the place?  ....and EVERYTHING goes in his mouth.  Grrrrrr

I've been waiting for him to "discover" the stairs and I thought he did......but no interest as of yet; and I'm happy about that.

My two rock n' rollers:

We ventured to church on Sunday and tried out their matching outfits.  I think it's kinda corney but hey - they're cute.

It finally snowed yesterday.  Houston got snow before we did in Chicago which I think is CRAZY!  But, Michael and I went to play in it while Carson took a nap.  We had a blast.  I love that kid and his imagination.  I'm so proud to be his mom.

Carson is LOUD

....and in other news, he FINALLY cut his first tooth!  Only took 10 months.

Happy Halloween!!

It has been one crazy week around here with WAY too much candy involved.  Carson was sick last weekend which caused us to be seriously sleep deprived all week, combined with numerous sugar rushes in preparation for Halloween led to some fun times.  Like this for example; yes, three can fit on a plasma car:

Ryan though this would be a better costume for baby Carson.  Could you imagine if they walked up to someone's house like that?  
And here we are today, at Halloween.  We started the day off with some spooky spider pancakes:
And after breakfast, we had to clear a few leaves so trick or treaters knew that we actually had a sidewalk.  I realize Carson looks like some creepy character in a wacked out Dr. Seuss book but hey - we were going for warmth while he was still in his pajamas! 

Yes, it is true.  There really is a sidewalk under there.  Michael doing his part with his leaf blower too.....
Carson is officially crawling now and pulling up on everything.  He's happiest when he's standing.....and yes, he's still in his pajamas.
Since Michael was going to be a pirate for Halloween, we decided we needed a pirate pumpkin.  How awesome is this pumpkin?!?  Ryan did an awesome job!  

After naps, it was time to get dressed up and go to the neighbors for a pre-trick-or-treating BBQ.  Carson was happy to be a Spider.  He loved it actually.  Lots of giggling ensued with that boy.

Then there's Pirate Michael.  Anyone who is familiar with my son knows that for the past several months, he's obsessed over pirates.  Apparently, that all came to a screeching halt when the costume arrived.  We've tried 3 times in the past week to get him dressed up for school or parties or what not and he FLIPPED out.  So what happened today?  He FLIPPED out.  I had a premonition we'd need a back up idea so we came up with a Cowboy outfit in about 5 minutes. He was SOOOO excited and beyond thrilled and the tantrum came to an immediate halt.  He was cute and he knew it.  He worked it all up and down the streets and came home with more candy than we could ever eat.  His pirate costume was cute but this little Marlboro Man stole the show.  Seriously - cutest cowboy ever.

Two pumpkin patches in one week. That's enough. :)

We've had a busy week so far...being that it's only Wednesday and we went to our second pumpkin patch of the week today.  So, we'll start of with something funny Carson has been doing lately.  We call it his "stink face".  He most often makes it when he's eating or super happy.  He scrunches up his lips and nose and snorts as best he can.  We think it's pretty hysterical.

So on Sunday, we met some friends as Sonny Acres Pumpkin Patch.  It's more of a farm / amusement park but the kids loved it.  Here's Michael on his first ride of the day:
He and Leah did the spinny bear / tea cup ride and loved that too:

Then, the flying thingy:

And what's a pumpkin patch in the midwest without a pony ride.  Always a hit:

Here's Michael being silly with Ryan:

Oh and the face painted.  They HAD to have their faces painted (this was a new thing for Michael).  When the lady put the mirror up to him when she was done, he stared at himself for a VERY long time.  I don't think he understood why there was all of this stuff on his face!

Back to mid week.  Does this hat make Carson's head look fat?:

And onto today.  We went with playgroup to another pumpkin patch in Bolingbrook.  Clearly in this picture, we see that Carson does not like goats.  Or maybe he doesn't like the fact that Michael kept feeding the goats all of his Cheerios!

The boys in a corn maze:

Carson was MORE THAN READY to be home by the time the morning ended.  This boy is on the move and does not like to be strapped down for long.  He'd much rather be rolling, gliding, and pulling up on everything in sight.  He's a handful these days. 

On a final note, it's really pretty here right now.  Fall is definitely one of the best things about living in the Chicago area.  Everytime you step outside, there's a yellow glow on everything.  Here's a view down my street.  It never gets old.  

It's getting colder.....

So the temperature is dropping and the winter clothes are starting to come out.  Carson looked too cute the other day so I took a few pictures.  He's eight and a half months old and is very eager to crawl, but I think he'll be like Michael and crawl for about a week and then start walking.  Running soon to follow.

Naked baby!!!  Carson LOVES bathtime.  He starts wiggling his body uncontrollably with excitement when the water starts running.  

Michael made a "tower of power" (for you Backyardigan fans) out of play-doh:

It's getting awfully pretty around here with the leaves turning.  At the same time, it makes my stomach churn knowing that we have to rake up 70+ bags of leaves from our yard in the coming months.
Here are the boys at Elm Fest.  Gotta love the small town feel.

Michael rode every possible thing there was to ride:

And his favorite was the pony ride....which was his favorite last year too.

Daddy and little C:

Mommy & little C:

Michael loved painting his pumpkin.  We have a lasting yellow paint stain on his shirt to remind us how much fun he had.  :)