Halloween - noun. hal-low-een, Allhallows Eve: observed esp. by children in costumes who solicit treats, often by threatening minor pranks.

It's officially fall here in Charlotte; nice and cold, just to our liking! We finally carved our pumpkins just in time for Halloween and also got some pretty fall colors around the house. Here's a little harvest update.
We got one last stop at the local farmer's market, before it closes...we're sad to see it go, we think they could stay open longer than Halloween but it's not up to us! We like to touch the pumpkins.
A pretty fall tree a couple blocks from our house.
More leaves...
One last one, Maples make the prettiest fall trees.
Our family of pumpkins before we get to carving. A papa pumpkin, a mama pumpkin and a little baby pumpkin.
And the final product! Caleb's cool face, my silly monster and little X-man's little x. Now we can light their candles and set them on the porch.

Torque - noun. The measured ability of a rotating element, as of a gear or shaft, to overcome turning resistance.

We had a very busy weekend! Our Halloween party on Friday night was a hit. What a great and interesting mix of people showed up. Some spinach dip and cheese dip and a lot of bottles of wine later, I'm pretty sure everyone had a good time. We had some neighbors show up and a couple people from Caleb's office. A big thanks for everyone for coming and bringing snacks and drinks.

Xander had his NODA Neighborhood Halloween party to attend on Saturday morning. He was really excited to wear his dino costume again. He got a chance to wear it at the beginning of our party, before he went to bed. He also took a couple big boy steps in it, we are very proud!

Caleb was super excited to get over to the Lowes Motor Speedway this Saturday for the 'Good Guys Rod and Custom Nationals Car Show'. He's starting X early on the love for beautiful classic cars. We had a lot of fun and it was perfect weather for walking around looking at pretty cars and people watching.

Here's a little bit of our weekend for you:
I'm very excited to have everyone over. Lisa decided to come to the Halloween party as an Asian 'little person', it was nice of her to dress up.
I really don't know...Caleb had the camera and this is just what happened. That's Adam in the middle there.
A little group shot, I think most people were outside having a smoke break.
Ready for our walk to the park for the little kids Halloween party. Xander was probably the cutest kid alive in his dino costume. Unfortunately the party was at 10:30, and X's first nap is around 10, so we didn't get much of a nap. We started out tired, but we held it together for the party.
Xander got to play with a lot of little ones around his age, something he doesn't get to do very often. He liked the look of this little cow's paci...
Off to the races. These kids were all around the same age and were way too cute climbing all over the jungle gym in their costumes, I think there were 10 adults reaching around and making sure no one hurt themselves.
It's pretty ridiculous...
Seriously? Could he be ANY cuter??? I loved the little one in the tiger costume. He was SO serious the entire time, it made his costume even better.
We were so very tired but there was so much to see we just couldn't fall asleep, so we just took little rests on Papa's shoulder.
Xander doesn't trust this guy enough to take his eyes off him.
Finally! Little man couldn't even make it the walk home. I'm sure it felt good to not have a million kids in costumes to look at.
Here he is on Lowes Motor Speedway, I can imagine the cars rushing by, making tons of noise.
X was getting restless in his stroller so Papa said he could crawl around for a little bit only if he didn't touch anything. So, the second I set him down he immediately headed for the first tires he saw. Good thing he's still just crawling, I cut him off.
Papa and baby messing around.
Our little family. Poor X is in need of another nap. Good thing we headed straight to the car where he could curl up in his car seat and take a much needed rest.Could they be any more perfect together?? I love these two so much it hurts!

What a busy weekend for the family! But so much fun. We spent Sunday at church and then straight home for sweatpants and family time...

Dreamy - adj. dream-y, Informal. wonderful; marvelous.

Don Draper is my hero and all men should be exactly like him; except for the lying, cheating, excessive smoking and drinking, keeping himself from his wife and almost everything he does...but I can't help myself...He's pretty freaking awesome.

Elementary - adj. el-e-men-ta-ry, Of the nature of an ultimate constituent; simple or uncompounded.

I don't get this so someone read it and explain it to me...From what I gather, peeling Scotch tape inside a vacuum turns the tape into an x-ray. Yeah, now you know why I'm confused. Scientists say you're safe peeling tape in a regular room, it's the absence of oxygen that creates SOMETHING that makes the particles go wacky and makes it an x-ray. So, read the link and email me and explain it to me with elementary terms.

LINK

Friend - noun. A person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.

Had my bestest friend Mary come visit for the weekend, to see the house all set up and show her around Charlotte. We got to see the Discovery Place museum and the Pompeii exhibit we've been planning on seeing. We also ate WAY too much food, and none of it healthy. So all-in-all a very productive weekend. Eating at one of our favorite local places, Cabo Fish Taco, a cool neighborhood bar with really great food, including their fish tacos, what I usually order.
Xander, getting ready for some mango salsa rice.
Mary and I, checking out the craft fair at the park, lots of cool stuff. A lot of jewelry and cute baby toys.
At Discovery Place in uptown Charlotte is the Pompeii exhibit. Really interesting stuff including the bodies, still in their positions when the volcano settled on them. Kind of solomn and really interesting to see these people exactly how they were their last moments of life. There were couples hudling together, makes me kind of emotional to think about them at that moment.
Xander loved the childrens play area. He wasn't too happy to be pulled away from that and put back in his restricting stroller.
Momma and baby in front of a HUGE snake. He was more interested in climbing the rocks.
X's new monster shirt, a gift from Auntie Mary...She loves to spoil her babies.
There's Auntie Mary! At the farmers market, of course, our new favorite place.
Auntie again, showing X all the pumpkins.
The two of those kids are practically inseperable! Fooling around with the camera.
Yikes. Food at the Penguin is nothing but unhealthy, but oh man, so good. That's why it was on Food Network's show 'Diners, Drive-ins and Dives', and it fits right in. Fried pickles are a staple of the Liz Vaagen diet.
The lady in the back likes to watch me eat. So does Caleb, he wanted a shot of me and the big burger, at least we split it, so I didn't feel too guilty, although...I was so full.

Harvest - noun. har-vest, The season when ripened crops are gathered.

Back from Texas and time to spend time with the family, and most importantly with our Poppa. There has been lovely weather in Charlotte and we love to spend time outside, especially when it includes fall and autumn activities.Having lunch at a burger joint. Got full on friend pickles...mmmmm, I'd go back just for more of those. Yeah, not in the mood for make-up.
A little early for a beer, good thing it's just a root beer...or is it???
We love pumpkin shopping, almost as much as Christmas tree shopping! Xander got to pick out his own pumpkin and so did Momma and Poppa, so we got one huge pumpkin for Caleb a medium one for me and a little baby pumpkin for the little baby.
The wall of pumpkins.
The farmers market had beautiful mums for sale, I love the fall colors available in these flowers. That's Xander, in need of a nap.
Xander, hanging out, barefoot, on the ground...I'm a southern mother with a southern baby.
That's the face he makes when shopping for peaches. I should have taken more pictures of the farmers market...I've been missing out my whole life. We could have stayed all day.
Beautiful flowers with beautiful colors.

Flight - noun. Swift movement, transition, or progression.

Xander and I made the trip back to Tyler to visit Misha. We spent a couple days lounging around the house, swimming in the pool, visiting old friends and eating a lot of food...Here's a short picture diary of our trip.Little man was a champ, as always on the plane. Getting bigger now, since his last flight, there was a lot to look at and it was pretty hard to force himself to take a nap. Xander hasn't met a stranger yet and met a lot of new friends on this trip. He's always the entertainer and a major flirt with ANYONE.
Xander got to playing right when we arrived at Misha and Adams. Here he's playing ball with Nana and Uncle Adam (L).
We love oatmeal in the morning! He's a very good eater but when he's finished he's finished...
Sitting with the other Uncle Adam (v) before we got into the pool.The traditional Liz and Misha shot from the front seat of a moving vehicle...well maybe not moving.
A new friend...
Little man with Auntie Misha and Joanna. We loved seeing old friends!
RED HOT HOLLY!!!
It's Misha's new little baby and her new little baby bump, it's hard to see but it's there.