New Camera & Bathtime

At the beginning of the month Anthony and I researched and researched and decided to buy a new camera. Our last camera we bought, I think before we got married, so it was a good 7 years old and I wasn't happy with how it was working. I wanted to get a camera that would take good pictures and was easy to use, but would also be easy to put in my pocket and carry around. Since I don't have a good camera on my phone, I feel like I lose out on taking a lot of pictures because it is so inconvenient to lug our big camera and camera case around. We bought the camera on amazon after trying it out at target and after it arrived we started playing around with it. We hated it! It took forevvvvvvver to focus and take a picture, it was so delayed that we would lose out on most of the pictures we wanted to take because James is so squirmy. Plus, if you don't stand completely still for a long time, the picture comes out blurry. We played around with the different settings, but nothings seemed to make a difference. I went back to target to check out their display camera, and it seemed much better so we were thinking we got a defective camera and decided to send it back.

However, I was still unhappy with how big the camera much and how much stuff/options it had. It was too confusing! I think it was just too much camera for us. I definitely couldn't fit it in my pocket or the diaper bag so we were back to the same problem of missing out on pictures because we didn't want to carry it around. I convinced Anthony to go and try out the simpler point and shoots and I absolutely feel in love with one of them. Plus, it was less than half the price we paid for the one we just returned! We tried it out after we brought it home and got these pictures of bath time with our cutie:

James has learned that he can put his fingers up his nose and he thinks it is so funny! I have to say, we do too :)

Boo at the Zoo

A couple of weeks ago we made the drive down to the Brevard Zoo for their Boo at the Zoo celebration! I was hoping that more of the animals would be out so it could be a zoo/Halloween trip but unfortunately most of the animals were put away or hiding. Oh well, it was still really fun!

They had an outside games area for the little kids that had this awesome bubble machine. James was dying to go up to it and investigate how it works

Playing with the hulu hoops:

Here we are trying to get the hang of the ring toss. He was really unsure about it, but I think he remembered something about it because when we tried to get him to play the ring toss at the Library's fall festival last week he did really well with it

Looking for some giraffes:

Trick or treat!

We got to ride the ghoul train and since James is obsessed with trains right now, he was so happy! He kept looking and looking and looking around, like he couldn't get enough of everything.

The train had to stop for some passing ostriches. Cool!

We had a blast, but we were glad to leave when it was over. It was pretty crowded and was really close to James' bedtime so he had a meltdown in the car on the hour ride drive back. Still, small price to pay for Halloween fun!

Harry Potter Weekend

Early last week my mom and my brother came over for a Harry Potter movie marathon and extravaganza! We originally planned to go to Harry Potter world, but the tickets were so expensive we decided to save up a little longer and go another time. Instead, we did everything Harry Potter at home! We opted to view only our favorite Harry Potter movies, instead of all of them since watching all of them takes a whopping 21 hours.

While movie watching, we made Butterbeer using this recipe. It was....gross. I tried it using Diet Cream Soda, so I don't know if that was part of why it was so disgusting, but the main issue I had with it was all the rum and butter extract. It make it all have a strange extract/rubbing alcohol taste in the back of your mouth that was very unpleasant. But we made an effort!

Next we tried our hands at making wands using this tutorial and it was awesome! It was so easy and I love how they turned out! Next time I will try to get the glue in faster because it would dry to fast from either side and leave a weak spot in the middle. I let James play with mine and he broke it apart at the weak spot faster than you can say "Expecto Patronum" :)

James had so much fun playing with his Grandma and his Uncle Daniel. He still doesn't say "Grandma" (he calls my mom "Mommy!" like me) but he learned to say "Naniel" while they were here. My mom was so disappointed. No fair!! She visits way more often, but what can you do? 

He snuck into the office to play on the computer and this is how we found him. At least it looks like he is using it right and not breaking it. For now.

One afternoon we took a quick trip to the beach to get James out of the house and let him run around. He was kind of hard to handle, all he wanted to do was go up to people's cars and get into their stuff so I was constantly pulling him away from something which he did NOT like. It was a perfect day for the beach, not too hot, breezy and beautiful.

James was determined to push this lifeguard stand. He got so mad that he couldn't move it!

On our way back to the car, my brother spotted this tortoise crossing the road. It was so big! James loved it,  he kept saying "durdle, durdle, durdle"

Anthony, our friend Kyle, and my brother all went out to a local free shooting range to shoot their guns. Anthony has had his grandfather's rife in our closet for awhile now. It is from 1947 and still has its original case and everything! My brother helped him research it and clean it since he knows way more about guns and they were excited to take it out and see if it could shoot. I was a little nervous for them since I can imagine all the things that could go wrong when you shoot a gun that hasn't been shot in forever, but luckily it went really well! Anthony had a blast, he even came home and said, "I could get another rife...I could see myself getting into hunting!". The place that they went is just a really casual designated shooting area for anyone who wants to go, so maybe next time I can go and try my hand at it!

Trick or Treating: You're doing it right

Today we caught James with his Halloween bucket, going trick or treating in our own candy basket, full of candy ready to give out tomorrow. I think he has figured out the easiest way to get candy on Halloween...never leave home!

Filling up the basket:

 Look, now it's full!

 We told him to show daddy his basket and he held it right up for him. He mastered holding his basket out for candy at the ward trunk and treat, it was so cute!

 He decided that it was more fun putting the candy into the basket then actually having it in there, so he dumped it all out on the floor so he could do it again.

 And again :)

I realized after looking at the pictures that he is wearing a wonderful ensemble of a t-shirt, no pants (we had to take off since they got soaked at home depot when he insisted on riding in a wet car-cart), ninja leggings which he always points at the ninjas and says "Kitty!", and sock/shoes. Oh well, at least he had clothes on right? :)

Fall Garden

Since I have been volunteering at a local farm a few days a month, it got me excited about reviving our garden this fall and expanding it. I am hoping that the lady I am helping will give me some good tips and pointers for our garden and that I will finally be able to keep something alive. I figure we will just keep trying until we get it right! Our last garden started out great, but bugs or something got a hold of it while we were on vacation and it never really recovered. It was also really hard to weed, so we didn't keep up with it like we should have. Hopefully that won't be a problem with this one.

We took a section of our backyard that already had landscaping tarp down, cleared out the decorative plants and put down gardening soil. Then Anthony put up a fence around it, with a door, and we added our seeds and transplants that we got an awesome deal on at a local nursery. I think we paid something like 25 cents a plant for the zucchini and bell peppers! We have planted right now: carrots, beets, green beans, bell peppers, zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes. The plants are much bigger now than when I took the picture. The beans have since sprouted and the zucchini plants have gotten flowers. Please, please stay away bugs!! We also added a bunch of habanero and datil hot pepper plants over next to Anthony's amazing jalapeno plant that is still going strong and had 52 peppers on it the other day!

The hot pepper plants:

The awesome jalapeno plant that can't stop producing:

We also have a grapefruit tree in our backyard that has started producing some grapefruit. I don't know much about grapefruit or if they will taste good, but we will keep an eye on them!

We are starting to get kumquats again on our kumquat tree. I used a bunch last year to make kumquat jelly, but I think I want to try something different this year. James is so funny, he likes to go up to the tree every morning and pull a few off. He throws them around the yard yelling "Ball!!" and yesterday he decided to bite into one. He just got the rind, which is pretty bitter and he made such a sour face! Priceless!

It is never too early for Halloween fun

 Last week James and I carved our first pumpkin together, and It actually went a lot better than I thought :) I pulled out our plastic picnic table from the shed and put it in the shade in the back yard and took all the pumpkin materials out there. James loved being able to get on the table and see what I was doing, but he could also get down and run around when I was being too boring. I didn't have to worry about the mess since we were outside and to clean up all I had to do was hose off the table and our hands. I didn't have any stencils, so I just hand drew some stars and moons on it and called it good (which worked out because James has become obsessed with the moon. If you can see it outside during the day he will tell you that it is there literally nonstop when he can see it).

We also hosted our first holiday party for friends in our house yesterday evening and it was a blast! Almost everyone dressed up and we played games, ate some delicious treats and got to catch up with each other. I was a little stressed about cleaning before hand and getting everything ready, but it was definitely worth it because we all had such a good time! I don't usually do things like this because I stress myself out so much, but I am making it a goal to be more proactive in inviting people over and not worry about silly things. How is it that you never notice or care about little cleaning details until you know a bunch of people will be in your house?!? Like they are going to be evaluating the inside of your microwave and in the track of the sliding glass door with white gloves!

James dressed up in a ninja costume and I was Hermione from Harry Potter. Fun!

 All the kids made monster cupcakes using a bunch of different candies:

 Here is a graveyard layered dip that one of our friends brought. So awesome!

 I made these apple and marshmallow mouths, which were a big hit:

 This is one of the games we played, wrap the mummy, using toilet paper:

The girls were nervous about being wrapped themselves, but when I suggested that they wrap me up they were all over it!

 This was another game we played, Pin the nose on the pumpkin:

 We also played a halloween version of twister, but I didn't get any pictures because I was playing right along with the kiddos!

Here is our ninja:

 We are doing at least a few more halloween parties/festivals this month, so there will be many more halloween posts to come! Don't you just love Halloween?