Photo 72

You guessed it! Michael was a giraffe this year :) His 2nd Halloween was super eventful! Him and Brooklynn spent the morning at West Marion Hospital trick-or-treating, getting tons of candy and other items for their pumpkins :) Once the sun began to set, we went over to Saddle Creek to spend some time with the Lazdowski's. He enjoyed playing with Ellie and seeing so many bigger kids walk by all dressed up, hunting for candy :) I have a feeling this will be one of his favorite holidays!

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Our new fridge decoration thanks for a lil artist named Brooklynn :) She made these for her boyfriend Michael and of course, I just had to display them!! She is quite the lil artist!

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On my way home from work tonight, Amy and I got to chatting on the phone and decided to get the kids together for a dinner at Chili's since both our hubs were working late. I had to return Brooklynn's toothbrush anyways as she left it in Michael's bathroom from their sleepover last weekend :) The kids always enjoy getting together but you could tell they were sleepy tonight b/c both were a lil cranky but thats ok! Michael did get to enjoy a cheeseburger and fries though... yummy and oh so not healthy :)

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Michael ate his mashed potatoes all on his own tonight!

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Daddy had Districts tonight for Volleyball (1 more night after this!) so Michael and I had a quiet dinner at home :) I was trying to take a picture of us but really had no luck. I kept this one because I just love how he is looking at me... like, mommy... no more pictures! :)

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Mike got these awesome Gator cups from a student of his. I love the cups and I love Mike for thinking of me when he bought them!!

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This morning, Daddy was able to spend some much needed time with our lil man and I got to spend some much needed time with my pillow :) So Daddy knows that he can only get away with giving Michael messy foods when I'm not around so he took advantage this morning and made Michael cinnamon toast and let him feed himself. I think the picture is pretty self explanatory but he made a total mess, however, Daddy and Michael cleaned up before I even woke up! Daddy said that Michael really enjoyed his sugary toast, consuming the entire piece!

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Coon Hollo Pumpkin Patch was our destination today! Michael, myself and Stephanie (Michael's DC teacher) drove up to Micanopy, following Amy, Brookylnn and Ashley (Stephanie's daughter). This place was AMAZING!! I wish I could post all the pictures I took today but I can't therefore be on the lookout for a huge blog on our family site :) Michael got to partake in so many fall activities. He rode on the hayride, pet animals at the petting zoo, play in a huge tin tub of corn, hang out on the see saw, ride a tractor pull train thing and rummage through lil pumpkin patches. Brooklynn and Michael were bright eyed and bushy tailed all day!

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Daddy left for Crystal River tonight for a fishing trip with his co-workers so my good friend Amy and her daughter Brooklynn (Michael's g/f) came to spend the night with us :) We had a total blast with the kids. After we ate our pizza (yummy Papa Johns), we made our way to Michael's bathroom for our nightly splish splash! The kids were just smitten with each other. They played so well together and didn't want to get out! They giggled and splashed around for 30+ minutes :) They are just precious together!

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I came home today and found this on the fridge :) I think Daddy was sucking up to me because he knew I wasn't thrilled about him leaving us for Friday night/Saturday to fish with friends. It was sweet though!

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Since we switched the family room around, we now get this view from our couch :) Before when the couch was on the opposite wall, we had a direct view of the closet outside. This seems to work out much better for us :)

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So here is the deal. We bought this new, bigger flat screen TV a few months back so that we could put the smaller flat screen upstairs in our room. Well, now that Michael is running around, has been taking his toys (mostly his bat) and hitting the TV with it :( So after we got back from St. Augustine on Sunday, we decided to run to Walmart, purchase a mount and get this baby out of Michael's reach :) So we rearranged the entire family room again and got the TV mounted! We love to keep ourselves busy with projects :)

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Tonight, Michael and I hung later than usual. He typically is in bed by 8:00 but tonight, he wanted to play a lil longer :) Around 8:30, he decided to grab the pillow from the couch, put it on the floor and snuggle in. Guess he was telling me he was ready for bath, bottle and bed! After all was said and done, he finally hit the sack around 9:00, which is super late for him. Since he has been in the 1's room, he is ready for bath and bed early. All the running around outside everyday and chasing his friends around must be tiring :)

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Daddy has some mad photo skills! After we had breakfast this morning, we made our way down the street to St. Augustine beach to get some pictures. We had to bundle ourselves up because it was super chilly this morning, 50's I think. The wind didn't help either but Michael still enjoyed his lil beach experience. He got to run around a little bit but sadly we weren't able to take his shoes off due to the sand being so cold. Michael still had a blast of course and Daddy took some wonderful pictures for us to remember it by :)

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This weekend we took a trip to St. Augustine. We left out on Saturday late morning so Michael would nap on the way. When we got into town, we strolled around town and made our way to the Fort, which was built in the 1600's. We didn't get to visit the Fort last time we were in town due to the extreme heat but today, the weather was perfect! Michael didn't ride in his stroller much at the Fort but rather walked around, exploring on his own. Many times throughout the visit, he would want to just sit/stand and feel the ground/wall that was made of cocina shells. Of course, we couldn't resist the photo opportunity :)

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This car was a present from Mamaw and Papaw for Michael's 1st Bday. Well, this boy LOVES this car. Today, he decided he would try and climb on it and he was successful! I'm sure this will be an ongoing thing... :)

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A few days ago, Michael received a package from Mamaw and Papaw! Inside were loads of snacks plus a few other goodies, like new sippy's and these PJ's! Mamaw and Papaw traveled to Estes Park a few weeks ago, along with Matt/Mandi and the kids. While they were vacationing, they picked up these precious Moose pajamas just for our little man. Tonight after his bath I decided to try them out. So they are a tad bit big but look super comfy and cute!

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(Sorry for the quality of the pic... forgot the camera once again)

Michael gets a bath every night before his bottle of milk and bed. Tonight Daddy was home for dinner and bath time and he filled the tub... with TONS of soap :) Michael is crazy about bath time and gets super excited. You can kind of tell here that he is on his tippy toes. He will actually lift his leg to try and climb in :) Couldn't resist posting a picture of him and his cute tushy!!

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On nights that Mike is away for Volleyball matches, Michael and I will settle down after dinner to enjoy some Sesame Street. Tonight our little guy was sleepy so I actually got him to snuggle with me for a full 10 minutes! He went back to playing shortly after I took this picture but hey, I will take what I can get! :)

Photo 54

Our lil man just LOVES watching himself on video. We will pull up videos to keep him occupied while we try to get something done and it TOTALLY works :) We have some new videos of him and Brooklynn and let me tell you... he is glued!! Hey, whatever works :) Sesame Street only lasts so long :)

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Tonight, Michael figured out how to stand up in his chair... and he is so proud of himself! Mommy and Daddy not so much :)

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This morning, we met up with Brooklynn, her mom and sister, as well as with Luke and his mommy Jen. Barnes and Noble has become a favorite of ours for play dates and I think you can tell the kids LOVE to hang out here. Between the stage with props (that they like to damage) and the Thomas the Train toy, they are in heaven! Daddy came along too this morning so he could buy some books for school due to it being Teacher Appreciation Week. He also took over for me, chasing kids around because I wasn't feeling well. Daddy is just the best!!

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In the mornings, Michael still gets a bottle of milk. We are working on breaking the morning/night bottles as we have conquered the afternoon ones, now getting his milk in sippy's. Daddy usually is up with him in the morning, but today, Michael stayed home from school to spend the day with me! We got up to eat breakfast and I gave lil man his bottle. He would take breaks while drinking just to share with me :) He does this with Daddy too. It's just so sweet!

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When we got home today, Michael immediately walked to the family room, grabbed his Bongo and hit the floor. He hasn't been feeling overly well all week, coughing all night, every night. He has also had a runny nose. Thus, I have decided to keep our lil man home tomorrow :) It will totally be a "pj day" with some assessments/treatment plans on the side!

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Our lil man has some dirty chucks!! I usually clean his shoes everyday because this is how they come home. He is a boy... he is GOING to get dirty... and smelly... and I just need to stop being so crazy about keeping him super clean all the time :) Today, however, I found mulch on his shoelaces (you can see a piece in the picture). He has really enjoyed being in the 1's room, especially since he gets to go outside and play twice a day! This is day 3 of Michael being full time in the 1's room and everyday I pick him up, they tell me he would eat the mulch :) It made me feel better when they also told me he isn't the only one ;)

Photo 48

Sorry for the quality of the picture. Stupid me forgot the camera tonight. This evening, I picked up Michael from school and took him straight to see Daddy at WestPort. The freshman and JV teams were playing so Daddy was able to hang out with us til about 8. He and Michael walked around the gym and played with the volleyballs and Michael spent some time with the girls as usual, even with the girls of the opposing team :) He is a ladies man! But then Varsity began and Daddy had to go coach :( We would have loved to stay but lil man was getting fidgety and tired so I took him home, gave him a bath and put him to bed. :)

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Michael is adorning one of his lovely West Port HS shirts that Daddy had made for our lil guy :) Mike has become good friends with the owner of Pasters Sports (who he uses for the Volleyball girls uniforms/shirts/shoes...) and the guy hooked us up with 2 tshirts and a WP Polo with the wolf on it! Now he is really ready to attend some games and cheer on his Daddy!

Photo 46

This morning, Mike and I had a craving for donuts so we decided to hit up DD for some munckins :) Mike thought it would a grand idea to let the lil man try one! Michael was not hesitant to put the donut in his mouth. As a matter of fact, he tried to put the ENTIRE munckin in his mouth at once. Didn't quite work but he seemed to enjoy the big bite he did get! He didn't seem too interested in the donut afterwards but we have found that Michael doesn't have much of a sweet tooth. He preferred to eat our scrambled eggs :)

Photo 45

Michael just loved perusing Best Buy today :) We forgot our camera but Mike was able to get this shot with his phone. The staff just thought he was so adorable that they gave him his very own Best Buy balloon!! We tied it to his arm so that it wouldn't float away and he wasn't too hot on that idea at first but he got used to it. Anyways, he walked through the entire store today! He stayed right by us but we know the day will come when he will run from us :)

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I got Michael early today from school since I was finished with my assessments and treatment plans. When I arrived, he was OUT!! I mean drool, smooched face and all. It was priceless! So me being a camera happy mommy, I ran to the car to retrieve our camera :) Of course, when I got back into the room, here he is!! Awake :) Well, kinda awake but he was happy to see me because he knew that it was time for Mommy and Michael's Friday trip to Walmart!

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So I'm incredibly lucky that Mike is a morning person. He gets up with Michael every day, cooks him breakfast, packs his bag and takes him to school. Daddy usually makes eggs and will share with Michael as he is ALL about his eggs... scrambled or hard boiled. Daddy snapped this shot for me this morning just so I could blog him eating his favorite morning meal :)