Halloween

This year we were characters from the cartoon Adventure Time. Atlas was Jake the Dog. Nick was Finn the Human, and I was Marceline, the Vampire Queen.

Saturday night was our ward Halloween party, and Atlas had a blast! He broke 3 balloon swords by running around and hitting everyone he saw. Here is Nick getting in on the action.

He was getting blindfolded for "pin the nose on the pumpkin" and he exclaimed "I'm a ninja!" and made everyone in the room laugh.

He sat very still while he got a ghost painted on his face.

When he got home he wore these vampire teeth for about a half hour, and drooled all over the place.

Tonight we went trick or treating.

Atlas was terrified and cried the first couple houses, but then got the hang of it and loved it for about 45 minutes, then he was exhausted and wanted to go home. Now we are just hanging out and eating candy. It's been a very fun holiday.

Things Atlas Likes To Do Lately

Give himself sweet tattoos.

Take off his clothes.

Pretend to be Oscar the Grouch

Atlas got a new cousin yesterday. My sister Lauren had a little baby boy. He still doesn't have a name yet. I spent all day being excited for them and very sad that I couldn't be there to meet the new baby. I can't wait until Christmas when we will be back in Utah to see my new nephew.

Atlas's Photography

Atlas has been carrying our camara around a lot lately. Here are some of his artistic shots.

These are Atlas's "Astro Boy Legs" or occasionally "Astro Boy Arms." Sometimes he just likes to chill out and watch a movie while wearing them. Sometimes he runs around the house pretending to shoot things with them.

His cousin, Baby Fox (aka Hawkes) sent him some stickers in the mail. First they all went on his shirt.  Here he is modeling them. Afterwards they all went on the fridge, where we can look at them at night because they glow in the dark.

This morning he was like this for a few minutes, completely mesmerized by the ceiling fan.

Other notable events: We found a tick on Bixler's neck.  We pulled it out and it was so gross and totally creeped me out.  Now I am freaked out that they are living in my bed.
Atlas is obsessed with cuddling lately, and it rocks. I cuddle him to sleep for his naps and then I lay there forever after he is asleep cause I just love cuddling him so much. When he is getting tired he drinks a sippy cup of milk or juice then rolls on his side and says "Cuddle me!"
Life is pretty boring in these parts. It's getting pretty cold here.  We made a trip out to the park this morning and I nearly froze, but Atlas and Nick had a great time pretending that trees were Bowser and Atlas was Mario. They were also pirates and ninjas. I loved seeing them play together.  Atlas has got a huge imagination lately and is always saying that he is someone else like Mario, a giant robot, Jake the Dog etc. I love the age he is at and seeing him growing up with such a great personality.

My Dad sent me a thumb drive in the mail today that had pictures that he took while in Rhode Island. Here are a couple of my favorites from their most recent trip.

We had two friends from Nick's program over for dinner on Sunday night. Here was our menu.

Smashed Potatos with Feta and Rosemary

Zucchini Squash Gratin

Sharp Cheddar Bread, Salad with Strawberry Ricotta Vinagarette.

White Chocolate Raspberry Bundt with Cream Cheese Frosting

Atlas really loved the company and was super hyper. He wanted to show them all his toys and make them fight him. Luckily they didn't mind playing back, so he had a great time.

Atlas fell asleep right on top of the coffee table, with a poopy diaper a few nights ago. Nick and I were both busy doing other things. We looked up and saw that he had totally crashed.

We got accepted to do an installation in the Museum of Natural History.  They want artists to pick out items in their vaults that don't get shown as often and create a little installation so that the items can be seen in a new way.  We have less than a month to make the installation.  On Saturday we went to explore the vaults of the museum.

Then we walked over to the carousel. It happened that rides were free for the day, so we rode it twice.  Atlas picked out this lion both times.

Doggy Update

We had a trainer come over last night who thinks she can stop Bixler from barking when we leave.  She said it will take about 4-6 weeks though, so in the mean time we may be having some interesting conversations with our neighbors.  Hopefully we can figure out who called animal control on us and talk to them and convince them not to do it again while we are in the training period. We are really hopeful.  She also wants to correct Bixler's other bad habits, like jumping up on people and begging for food.  So who knows, maybe in a few months, and a pretty penny later we might have a fully trained obedient dog. We will see.

Princess Boy

Atlas brought a piece of tulle to me the other day. I tied it on his head and he walked up to Nick and said "Dad, I'm Princess Boy!" It made us laugh pretty hard.

Saturday was Water Fire, a little outdoor celebration the Providence does where they light a bunch of bonfires in the middle of the river. We went and walked around for a while.  Atlas was acting like he was scared of getting burnt by the fires. Here's him being scared.

Throwing Rocks

My parents came out to RI for my birthday last Wednesday. They stayed until Friday afternoon. I forgot my camara on Wednesday. We spent the day at the zoo and the mall. Thursday we kicked around Newport, finding different beaches so that Atlas could throw rocks in the water. That is his all time favorite passtime right now. We went to three different beaches and he still wanted to throw rocks in the water again on Friday.

Friday we went to a topiary garden.

It was really nice to see my parents. Atlas really loved it too. He had someone to non-stop play with him for two and a half days. It was great to just hang out at the beach, even though it was sort of cold. We stopped at a little fruit market, drove around and looked at old houses, and ate some really good food.  I think I gained a few pounds while they were here from eating out. We had a great time and we can't wait until Christmas time when we can see our families again.