Halloween

Halloween was so much fun this year. I was so excited for Jackson to get dressed up and go trick or treating. I could hardly stand it! If you can't tell, Jackson was a Chinese man this year, sort of like a Kung Fu fighter I guess, but without the sword. Troy's brother Regan gave us this outfit and it finally fit, so we wanted to get good use out of it. We ran into a Chinese lady at Troy's school who thought Jackson's costume was hilarious. She laughed all the way down the hall about it. We're glad the costume choice was well received :)

{Midwestern Party}

The Halloween festivities began on Friday with Midwestern's Halloween party. There was trick or treating throughout campus and then all sorts of games, crafts and activities set up as well.

Jackson didn't really understand the trick or treating process. He would take a piece of candy and then put it in his bucket as instructed, but after a few steps would stop to pull it back out again. At first he insisted on squeezing the candy in his hand until arriving at the next stop. Then the first piece would be smooshed and melting out of the wrapper and he would start again on the next piece. Ha! It was pretty funny watching him stop to inspect each piece. He had two pieces and he was completely content to be done.

Running with Dad to find the next trick or treating room.

Playing limbo. Jackson loved that the girls with the limbo stick would cheer for him every time he walked under it. So he did it several times.

Fishing. He kept trying to pull the rod away from the fishing pond. It took a while for him to get his prize because of this.

Meeting up with the Teftellers. This is Emma and Matt Tefteller from our ward. 

Connor and John Tefteller, other friends from school.

Jackson kissing Ava Ashby. Last year Ava was Snow White and they held hands, I guess they were carrying on the Halloween flirting tradition. ;)

Jackson got a balloon in the lunch room. He thought this was very exciting. See the video below: 

He nearly gave his dad a bloody nose when he whacked him in the face.

After all that Halloween fun, what Jackson really wanted to do was go to the basketball court and play a little ball. When we come to campus to have lunch with Troy, Jackson always plays here and so we couldn't just pass his favorite place without stopping. Above he is playing with his friend Lawson from our ward.

{Trunk or Treat}

Part two of the Halloween festivities was the ward Trunk or Treat. Soooo fun. I made Jackson a hat to go with his costume out of a paper plate. Very fancy I know. He agreed to wear it for a few seconds before we got to the trunk or treat (I forgot it for the school party). Then this happened:

We kept trying to tell him the hat was really cool. He didn't believe us. He just cried.

He wore it again for a few seconds after arrival, but only because he was momentarily distracted by something else.

So Heather wore it instead. ;) People kept trying to guess what she was dressed as. Ha!

Jackson saw lots of his friends at the party. Here he is with Michael and Andrew Crum dressed as Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat. Very creative right?!

And here is JT with Evelyn Gladden, the cutest cow ever. Jackson really liked her bell.

Jackson participated in the part of the costume parade. Once he saw me on the sidelines he bailed. It was fun to see all the costumes. We had some pretty creative ones. One girl came as an iphone! Handmade by her mother and very professional looking. I was very impressed.

We kept trying the hat throughout the night. Troy and I felt the hat really made his costume, but Jackson didn't care about that. Ha! Oh well.

Jackson got bored really fast with taking pictures with his friends, so we missed a lot them. I was sad about that. But I guess you can't expect much when there's so much excitement going on. Here he is with Kindi and Colt Walhstrom. Not the greatest shot as you can see, but the best I could get.

After having our fun with trunk or treating, we came around the corner and Jackson plopped himself down next to these children on the sidewalk. He seemed to like the idea of sitting on the curb with strangers. We surveyed his candy spoils together. The perfect end to a wonderful Halloween night.

I've never been a big Halloween girl, but it's way more fun with Jackson around. Happy Halloween!

The rest of October (minus Halloween ;)

 Wow. October went by fast! This post features the second half of October at our house (minus Halloween.)

{Young Women in Excellence}

 Our YW in Excellence program was this week. It was a lot of work, but it turned out really well. 

 Here are some of my super cute miamiads. Romney, Paige & Courtney.

 We gave each girl one of these awesome necklaces. The other side says "I'm going there someday." The leaders each got one as well. I'm very excited about the addition to my jewelry :)

{Pumpkins}

 The Serafines were nice enough to give Jackson their one and only orange pumpkin out of their garden. It was so cute and little. Too bad Jackson threw it against the concrete a few days later. (He thinks pumpkins are balls of course.) He tries to roll our other pumpkin off the porch and down the stairs almost daily.

I think JT is out to sabotage the Serafines' garden as he also picked their one and only watermelon. So sad! Maybe he's just trying to partake in the harvest season... Sorry again Matt & Stacy.

{Time with Dad}

Recently Jackson and Troy were watching a show together. Jackson rested his hand on Troy's head like this.

Jackson can't get enough Father-Son time lately. Even if he sees Troy in the morning AND at lunch, he asks about him when he wakes up from his nap in the afternoon. When I ask him if he'd like to go "bye-bye," he immediately starts calling "Dad! Dad!" because he assumes that must be where we're going.

 Jackson had his first bike ride with Dad a couple weeks ago. He loved it and now asks for them regularly.

 If you look closely you can see the huge smile on Jackson's face.

{Heather's Baby Shower}

 Yesterday was Heather Ashby's baby shower. Becca was nice enough to let us have it at her house. We had a good turn out and it was really fun.

 I also got to help a little with Stacy's baby shower last week. Baby showers are so fun. Let's be honest, there's nothing better than cute little baby clothes.

{Miscellaneous}

 

 Juice boxes, Jackson's favorite.

 Lots of park time. Hooray! The weather has finally cooled down here. Our air conditioning didn't turn on all week, it was lovely. Jackson has loved all the time outdoors.

 ...and playing with friends. He's way into kissing other kids right now. Here he is giving his little friend Evelyn a kiss. Luckily she went along, some kids aren't so excited about the abundance of affection.

 Jackson has also accompanied me on many coupon runs as of late. I just love it when I get my receipt and it says something lovely like a total savings of 94% or even 100%!!! That's the first time I've gotten that low. In the last couple weeks I've acquired 17 tubes of toothpaste, 2 toothbrushes, 2 bottles of dishsoap, 4 boxes of soap, and 3 bottles of gum for FREE. The abundance of toothpaste was largely due to Stacy's generosity. She shared 9 coupons with me. So kind! It's a rush buying things for free. Seriously the best feeling handing over a nickel (you still have to pay the tax) for a basket-full of stuff. It just never gets old.
 

And for good measure. Here's a milk-mustache picture for you. Jackson has finally decided he will drink milk in small quantities. Hooray!

Lovely Garage Sales

 October is garage sale season in beautiful Arizona. This means that entire communities have garage sales on the same day. You just drive around and see if there's anything you want to look at, then pop on down to the next house. It's brilliant. And for the most part, people are in "get-rid-of" mode and give you their stuff for basically nothing. Here are a few of the fun finds we found this go round:

A football rug. $1

Random I know. I didn't even know the Steelers were out of Pittsburgh until I googled it just now. (Probably something I should have known already, but oh well.) When we saw this rug, Jackson screamed "Football!" wiggled out of my arms, ran over to it, leaned down and kissed it. Wow, such enthusiasm! ;) I washed it up and even 3 weeks later, it's still making him happy.

Purse, $1.

Heather found this lovely find. It holds so much and it's red, which just makes me happy. You can never have too many purses. That's what I always tell Troy anyway ;)

Chicco umbrella stroller. $5

Our umbrella stroller was on its last leg and I'll be honest, we hate our big stroller. It's a pain to get in and out of the car and it's so heavy. I bought this little beauty and pushing it is a dream! Plus it has a shade and a drop down basket, features my other umbrella stroller didn't have. Don't worry, I've already listed my big stroller on craigslist, because I'm sold on this little red guy. Best $5 I've ever spent.

Berry Wreath, $0.50

I love, love wreaths. I don't know what I'm going to do with this one yet, but I thought for 50 cents, I could figure it out later.

Ann Taylor flats $0.50

These were barely used and just my size. So cute right? Once again Heather found these, she has a good eye for these things.

I also found a nice baby bouncer for $5, a package of unopened diapers for $1, and a crib mattress pad for $1. Hooray! I love garage sales. I can hardly wait until April when they start again. It's just so much fun! Like Christmas every Saturday morning for a whole month. :)

P.S. I hesitated to mention this, because I've had a hard time letting it go. But Heather and I also found a lovely couch/loveseat set for $150 total! They were in really good condition. I almost bought them, but was waiting to hear back about a truck and someone else got them. I was mad at myself for a whole week until Heather assurred me we'd find better couches for a better deal... Hard to beat $150, but anything is possible in magical garage sale land right? Next time I'm handing over the cash and figuring out transportation later. Lesson learned.

The Bushman Genes

I've been going through Troy's baby pictures as of late. It's been really fun to organize them and mostly, see how cute Troy was as a little boy. (Not that he isn't still cute ;) There was a recurring theme during my organization process. Mostly it went like this: "Wow, that looks a lot like Jackson." and "Huh, if not for the hair color, that could be a picture of Jackson." It's incredible how genetics work.

It's not like this is anything new. Jackson has had a strong Troy resemblance since the day he was born. However, with the recent attention to Bushman family photos, I've been noticing the same strong Bushman resemblance in my niece Grace. Here are some examples for you:

Troy and Matt, Christmas 1980. I think Troy's grin is a classic Jackson smile. Pay attention to Matt's expression... now look at this:

Look familiar? Same expression on Grace's face. (Grace is in the gray dress.) Crazy right? The Grace/Matt similarity continues below. Okay now look at Jackson's blank stare... and then look at the following.

Troy and Matt, 1981

Minus the mouth open/ mouth closed aspect, same blank stare as seen on Jackson above right? Okay, one more example. Look below:

Troy and Matt with their Dad, 1981

Does Troy's expression look familiar to you? It should because Jackson has made that face since the day he was born. I call it his "scowl," although I now know it to be his "thinking face" it shows up when he's concentrating hard on something. Observe:

 Jackson, 2 months old, June 2009. An early evidence of the "thinking face."

Jackson, 18 months, October 2010

The "scowl" (of sorts :) continues today. And if you thought that was pretty crazy. Look at this:

See that little guy in the middle? That would be Neil, Troy's dad, somewhere around 1960. There's no doubt about it. "The look" is a Bushman trait! Isn't that incredible?

It's official (if it wasn't already before this point :) it appears the Bushman genes are predominate. This is true in two out of three grandchildren thus far. We'll just have to see how the rest of mine and Troy's children turn out. But for now... 

 The Bushman traits continue to leave their legacy.

And I am completely fine with that. Because, let's be honest, have there ever been two cuter boys that lived? I like genetics. :)