Happy Halloween From Okinawa

This year we all dressed up for the wards trunk or treat! I love my little hobbit family!

I got the main parts of Logan and my costumes from the thrift store but made both of our vests. I'll have to post a better picture of our ears! I used tan colored tape mom sent special to make them look pointy!!

Here are some close ups of little Frodo! I made his cape and mostly used stuff we already had. I did buy the one ring to rule us all off Amazon and the pants were 50 cents from the thrift store. His pants are 9 months so they would look short. They didn't fit too tight though.

I liked this action shot. Frodo running from orcs!

The trunk of treat was at a different location this year because we share the church building so it was crazy cramped. Logan and I took turns eating and then we mostly let Connor play outside in the front and at the park across the street.

Right before the trunk or treat I needed to use the bathroom so Connor helped the clean up crew for a bit. You can see the back of the cape.

I thought I was pretty clever to use Connor's birthday decorations (that were still up haha) to use in the car! It looked better with the two soot gremlins before Connor pulled them down and the wind kinda bunched up the leaves but oh well.

I did take Connor around but he was more interested in the Chex he was eating than to trick or treat but he got some glow in the dark stuff and stickers. Connor doesn't know what candy is.

This made me laugh! So true!

Sick Buddy. Again....

-Sunday-

Connor got his last shots last week until he is 4 but I think they didn't agree with him. Starting Saturday night Connor was up with a fever and crying every other hour. I was lucky Logan didn't have work the next day and could help me with the night shifts. Pretty much the only thing that could distract him enough was watching videos of dogs jumping through leaves on Youtube. The next morning he was ok until after his nap and then he only wanted to be held and watch TV. Even still every few minutes he would whimper, turn his head into my chest and start crying again. It was very sad!

All day he didn't want to eat much or play. Once I tried to take him outside and put him down and he wanted nothing to do with it! He cried for me to pick him up and reached for the door until I took him in. Then helped me close the door. Thats when you know Connor really doesn't feel good. 

That evening once it cooled down we took him on a car ride and that helped. We parked and walked along the sea wall. Well we tried to let Connor walk but he only wanted to be held. 

 There was a park right at the end of the sea wall and so we were going to let Connor play. I put him down in front of the steps and he just stood there until I picked him back up again. Pitiful. It took us taking him down the big slide 3 times to get him to perk up a bit!

Back home he was still not happy. I had to feed him by hand and he only ate a little bit of rice and ham. 

 
We gave him as much love as we could and then put him to bed. Amazingly our prayers were answered and he slept for 12 straight hours! 

 -Monday-

At least today Connor is more like himself. He still has a fever and rash on his face but back to his little punk ways. 

Today he figured out how to pull his high chair close enough to the counter to climb up it. The scary part is he just gets it close enough and then falls forward trusting that he will catch himself. 

His prize was finding a "color" (pen)!! Just look at that face! He colored all over my shopping list. Then, while looking for lizards in the fake succulents, accidentally pulled the shelf out of the wall. 

 
The rest of the day wasn't too bad. Connor was fussy but ate dinner and I hope he sleeps well. 

Haircut and Fukugawa Falls 10/21/16 - 10/22/16

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I just have a hard time when Connor or I am sick. It seems to happen a lot around here. Most recently it being Connor that is having a hard time. But before he started feeling really crappy Saturday night, we had some fun. I took Connor to the park Friday afternoon and he was so happy to "gift" me this moss from the playground. After looking at this pic I decided it was time for another haircut. 

Columbus Weekend+ 10/6-10/12

Took Connor and our friends Dannah and her son Slater out to see the Nakagusuku Castle ruins. From the parking lot you can see this half built abandoned hotel. It's a pretty good Halloween story actually. WARNING- don't read this story if you don't want to be creeped out! 

Connor 2 Year Clips

Here are several clips from the last few weeks! Enjoy!

This one is kinda long but Logan and I thought it was so funny watching Connor playing in his crib instead of sleeping. He usually bounces and does headstands so it was funny seeing him entertain himself in another way. 

We got Connor a scooter for his birthday. He is starting to figure it out. I have seen him push a few times but it doesn't last long until he just walks it because it is faster right now. 

This video isn't super exciting but it does show how Connor and I communicate. Not a lot of words but we understand one another. He does say fish.

He was doing this all on his own before I started taping. Then it took a little convincing but did it again.

Connor loves closing doors. I was pretty impressed he figured out the sliding door. 

So happy outside. You can kinda see his little sideways thing he does when he is really happy! Arms both go to the side and he yells!

Came in to hear little wolves at bedtime. Love these two! It has been so amazing having Logan home for a few weeks in a row!

Connor loves reading in his room. Sometimes we have a hard time getting out after nap time because the books are just too good! Here is is doing the animal noises.

Connor was watching a show called Dinosaur Train and started laughing like crazy so I rewound it and he laughed over and over again at a scene where a hermit crab crawls across the screen. I thought Connor was more funny to watch! I love how his ears stick out when he smiles real big! Connor seems to get more excited and happy about life than other kids his age. He does balance it out with plenty of tantrums but they are not as bad. 

He crawled in his chair and started doing this with nothing in front of him. I think he was remembering the video above and trying to get more attention. Still cute.

Connor has started learning that things have places. Like rocks go in the rock beds, his car books stay in the car and the toys stay in the living room. He does a good job of "putting things back". 

Connor's 2 Year Party

Connor had a great birthday party this year! I worked really hard on everything so I'm glad it was so fun! I bought a package of little boy's undershirts and printable iron on to make them T shirts!

For the game, I painted an ugly Totoro poster bean bag toss. haha! I painted around a print off of his face but didn't get it in the right place. It was almost midnight the night before the party so I decided it was fine. The 2 year olds didn't care. They threw in the little soot sprites made out of black balloons and lentils. 

I sewed up these awesome favor bags! I think they turned out so cute!

For food I did a fruit platter, cheese sticks, olives, chips and then I tried my hand at gluten free baking. My goal was to make it so that Connor could have all the food at his party! I cheated a little and used the gluten free boxed versions of cupcakes and cookies and then just had to replace the eggs. I think they turned out amazing! I made the cupcakes with chia seed replacer and got some of the best cupcakes I've ever made! It is hard to get the perfect dome on a regular cupcake but I did it with gluten/egg free ones (the angle in the picture don't do them justice)! The were nice and moist and extra good because I put salted caramel in the ones for the adults. The other mom's said I should think about selling them and Logan said they were the best cupcakes he has ever had! The cookies had applesauce in them and honestly if gluten cookies were sitting next to them you couldn't tell the difference! Really! I almost didn't want to give Connor one because they worried me because they didn't "taste" gluten free at all. 

The kids got cute little straw Totoro cups and I found these water bottle wraps for free online. They had QR codes (square scan label) that was a ad for a phone or something so I replaced it with one I made and linked it to the Totoro movie I uploaded to my google drive so they could go home and watch the movie later!! I thought that was pretty fun!

Here is a close up on the banner. I cut all the leaves out by hand over 2 evenings while watching Downton Abby. I bout 2 sheets of this natural paper fiber in the gift wrap section of the 100 yen store and it made all of these. Then I used crocheting floss and a big needle to string them up. 

I made the soot sprites from the movie out of tissue paper pom poms. 

Logan was so great and took an early lunch so he come come to the party too!! The craft store didn't open until 10 (same time the party started) so I couldn't get balloons but Logan came to the rescue and brought some home with him! Connor LOVES balloons!

So the 2 little boys we invited ended up not being able to make it so it was all girls at his party! Good thing Logan stopped by to help in the boy department. haha

I wasn't really sure how well the bean bag game would go but the kids all took turns and loved it! I was glad they could all figure it out and we just let them stand wherever they felt comfortable throwing even if it was right in front. Even durning the party the kids at random times would go back and lift up the bottom, pull some bags out and throw them back in.

Abby, Connor and Ely are all about a month or two apart in age and Olivia on the end is the older sister of Abby and she is 3. Getting pictures of all the little ones is hard! Of course Connor was the one jumping off the couch the most. 

All of them in the matching shirts!! I love it!

Best one!

I didn't do a fancy food table this time but made it super kid friendly! All the kids loved the simple fruit and snacks. I think I've never seen kids eat so well at a party so I was really glad my food was a hit with them too! 

I was surprised how well the kiddos did eating at Connor's little table while they watched the movie. Although Connor did steal everyone of the other kid's olives off of their plates. I guess it was his party so he could get away with it.

After eating all the yummy good food we did cupcakes and cookies. This was the first time Connor has had either. He liked them both but his favorite part was the frosting. Typical kid!

 

Present time! Connor got cars, bubbles and a ball! Perfect!

The last activity was bubbles! 

All the kids got along and had fun and I was so glad the party turned out so great!!