Happy Halloween!

We started out our Halloween festivities by going to Chipotle with my parents.  I learned last year from one of my friends, Stephanie, that if you dress up as a burrito for Halloween (wearing tinfoil in some way), Chipotle will give you a free burrito.  No joke!  It was actually pretty fun making our little tinfoil accessories beforehand.  Tyson wore a Zorro mask, My Dad wore a tinfoil bow tie, My Mom a tinfoil sailor hat and I made some tinfoil glasses.  My Dad and Tyson even wore cool hats that went with their tinfoil costumes.  Silly guys.  

We loved our burritos.  Personally, our favorite was the steak fajita burrito.  Tyson highly recommends it.  It was also pretty funny because my parents were so shocked that the burriots were completely free without any strings attached.  It was funny.  My mom kept hesitating at the register thinking they were going to charge her something, but they didn't.  I definitely think that this is going to be a Halloween tradition every year.  Not only are we excited for our free burritos next Halloween, but I'm also excited to come up with new tinfoil costumes.  If any of you have a Chipotle in your area, go ahead and try this next Halloween. You won't regret it.

As you can see from the previous pictures, Kallen dressed up as a Dragon for Halloween.  I thought he was so cute.  My Mom was nice enough to make the costume for him, and I think it was better than any dragon costume that I could have bought for him.  It was also amazing because Kallen didn't mind having it on at all.  I was a little worried that he wouldn't wear the hat because he hates wearing hats.  But I was wrong...he actually enjoyed wearing his whole costume, which made me very happy.  The first time he tried it on, he ran to the mirror in his room and looked at himself with a big smile.  

Here Kallen is waiting to go Trick-or-Treating.  He was very impatient to go and waited for us at the door while we got our shoes on.

Hurray for Trick-or-Treating.  I love this picture, plus, I love how it shows Kallen's little Dragon tail.  I love it!  Kallen at first didn't know what to think of Trick-or-Treating.  He would go up to people's front doors just fine, but once they offered him candy, he'd back away and wouldn't want to take any.  He was so silly.  After a few houses, it finally clicked that these people weren't scary and if he went up to them he got candy.  So he started to accept their tasty offerings.  In fact, he got so good at it that after awhile instead of just taking one piece he would take big handfuls of candy instead.  

Kallen had a lot of fun Trick-or-Treating.  I also had a lot of fun seeing him experience it.  I can't wait to take him next year.  Halloween is so much better when you are a parent and can take your little squirts around.  Plus, you get to eat their candy with them...and it was tasty.

Pumpkin Patch

Hurray!  I've finally caught up to the month of October.  Aren't you all proud of me?  I sure am. After 6 months of silence, you have all enjoyed a plethora of postings from the Hills.  Amazing.

In October we traveled to a nearby farm and went to a pumpkin patch with Kallen.  He loved being there as you can tell from the great big grin on his face.  He just wanted to run all over the place, which you will find out later turned out to be a bad thing.

The first place he ran to was this big pile of hay for kids to climb and play on.  Once he reached the top, with some help from Mommy and Daddy, he started clapping his hands...he was so proud of himself.

Next we went on a tractor ride that took us out to the pumpkin patches.  Kallen was very impatient for the ride to start, but once it did, he loved looking out of the side of the wagon.  If you are observant, you will notice that the picture below isn't showing pumpkins in the background, but Christmas trees.  Silly I know, but we passed their Christmas Trees before we got to the pumpkins.  

Kallen was very impatient to get to the pumpkins.  Every time the tractor stopped, he would jump up and want to get out.  So when we finally reached our destination, he was very happy.

Kallen loved the pumpkin patch because it allowed him to wander everywhere.  Whenever he is in open spaces he loves to run and run.  It's something we've actually tried to work with him on, because he won't listen to us when we tell him to stay by us or to stop...which is scary if he is by a road or cars.  So we were trying to get him to stick around us at the pumpkin patch, which failed miserably.  In fact, we ended up without a pumpkin because we had to leave early. Kallen decided to have one of his classic meltdown moments which forced us to leave early with a crying 2-year-old.  Don't you just love those moments?  Have I ever mentioned how glad we are that Kallen is 2?  Because he is definitely beginning to develop classic 2-year-old behaviors.

King Kallen Party

I don't know how it got started, but we often refer to Kallen as "His Majesty", "King Kallen", or "His Royal Highness".  (Hopefully these titles won't give him too big of an ego when he grows up.) Those are just some of the many nicknames we have for the little guy.  There are others like: "bud bud", "Snickerdoodle", "Sputnick", "Stinky Pants", "Pipsquik", "Squirt", "Munchkin", "Little Man", "Wackamoose", "Number 1 or Number 1 Son", and "My Son", etc, etc. There are tons more...but I don't want to make this post too long.  I guess we really do call him a lot of names. 

Anyway, "His Majesty" is a name we use a lot with Kallen (especially if he is being a little temperamental), so we decided for his 2nd Birthday we would give him a Royal King Kallen Party.  I decided to decorate with red and gold.  I tried to get as much gold and red things as I could like: streamers, balloons, plates and forks, and even wrapping paper.  On a side note, if any of you ever want to find gold wrapping paper, just know that it was almost impossible to find...at least here in Olympia.  I had to go to two party stores, ToysRUs, Target, Walmart, the Grocery Store, and JoAnns before I found it.  Anyway, besides the wrapping paper, I was even able to find Kallen a royal red velvet crown and silver and gold necklaces to wear.  However, to Mommy's sadness, Kallen didn't really enjoy wearing the crown.  So it became more of a decoration than anything else.  

On the other hand, Kallen loved wearing his gold and silver necklaces...much to the chagrin of his Daddy.  Here he is lounging on the couch with his Teddy and necklaces.

For Kallen's party, Grandma and Grandpa Sutherland were able to come down as well.  So it was a great big family party.  Kallen loved having both of his Grandparents here.  

Here he is blowing out his candles with Daddy.

Kallen got a lot of loot for his birthday.  I think we all went a little overboard.  In fact, we ended up putting some of them up in the closest to save for Christmas.  Hey...he's two, he'll never know.

Kallen's favorite presents by far were these.  His shopping cart and his electronic keyboard.  He loves them and plays with them all the time.

After his party, we all went to our apartment's indoor pool.  Kallen loves the pool, so we thought this would be a great ending to a perfect birthday for him.  He had tons of fun...as you can see from the pictures below.

We were so happy that our families could come and visit during Kallen's birthday.  He had so much fun and loved having you all here.  Thank you for coming!

Kallen's Pre-Party Fun

Before Kallen's birthday party, we decided to take him to a family fun center called Charlie's Safari.  It really was a neat place that had a bunch of blowup bouncy toys/slides, miniature golf, laser tag, and a huge play structure for kids.  Of course Kallen wasn't big enough to try miniature golf or laser tag, but we did everything else.  

Here are some pictures of him and us playing on the play structure.  It was kind of like something you'd find at McDonalds...but a ton bigger.  His favorite part of it had to be the slides.  He loved that.

Here are some of the blowup toys.  Kallen really didn't know what to think of them at first.  He didn't really like walking around on the unsteady surface, but he started to enjoy it more when Daddy and Grandpa got in there with him and played peek-a-boo.

I hate to say it, but I think Kallen's favorite part of the whole place was the miniature entrance door that he could open and close.  What a silly kid.  He loves playing with doors.  He'll open and close them over and over and over again.  Sometimes it isn't such a good thing.

I love this picture even though its a little blurry.  Kallen sure loves his Daddy.

Kallen's Birthday Weekend

For Kallen's 2nd Birthday, he got a great surprise.  Both Grandma and Grandpa Hill and even Aunt Kristi came up to visit for the weekend.  Kallen was so excited to see them all and I'm sure he loved all the pampering he received.

While everyone was here, Grandpa Hill wanted to show Kallen Cabellas.  It is a new outdoor sporting equipment store in Lacey.  We had never been before, but had heard that it was pretty fun to see.  Its a huge store, decorated like a lodge, and then inside they have tons of real stuffed animals.  Things like Lions, Tigers and Bears.  They also have some aquariums full of live fish and as you can see from the picture below, a lifesize plane.  It is pretty neat to see.

Here is chubby, pregnant Mommy with Kallen next to an Elk.  I almost think I'm bigger than the Elk.

Here Kallen and I are looking at the live trout that they had.  He loved them, and we even got to feed them.  I think the fish, which he pronouces "fis" was his favorite thing to see.

Swings!

While we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa Hill a few months ago, Kallen got to go to one of the coolest parks.  He was so happy.  Since moving to Olympia, I haven't been able to find very many parks...at least ones that have swings (which is pretty much the only thing Kallen likes). You'd think that Olympian's fear swings, because I had to visit at least 5 or 6 parks around the area before I found one that had swings.  Anyway, enough of my complaining, here are a few pictures of Kallen at the park in Eugene.

This was one of those bridges where if you jump up and down, you can make it bounce up and down.  Kallen thought that was pretty cool.  Can't you tell by the large grin?

Besides the regular swing, Kallen loved the Tire Swing.  You don't find these very often either at parks?  Whats the deal?  They are taking away all the fun things that older parks use to have. Anyway, Kallen loves getting dizzy, I really don't know why.  I took him on this swing first, and Tyson turned us around and around, which turned out to be a very bad idea. Kallen loved it, however, Mommy felt differently.  Whenever I am pregnant, I get motion sickness very easily. It really is a bad thing.  In fact, if I even try to swing on a regular swing, or ride in a car without being the one to drive, I feel like I'm going to throw up.  Needless to say, the spinning on the tire swing made me almost throw up...I really had to hold it back.  So, since Mommy was out of commission for the next 2 hours, Grandpa was brave enough to take Kallen on it...even though he got sick afterwards too.  All the adults got sick from the Tire Swing, but Kallen wanted to go on it over and over.  Crazy kid...he loves getting dizzy.  I don't know where he gets it, because just the thought of that tire swing is making me woozy.

There is one thing that is very funny to watch when Kallen gets dizzy.  It's when he tries to walk around afterwards.  Because he went on the tire swing so much, he kept falling down every time he walked.  He thinks its hilarious and honestly, so does everyone else.  It is very funny watch. Here is a picture of him trying to walk.

Finally, here are some pictures of the squirt in a regular swing...his one true love.  Like I've mentioned before, Kallen could stay in a swing all day long if we let him.  He loves them!

4th of July in Eugene

Last 4th of July we went to Eugene to visit with Tyson's family.  The 4th is one of their favorite holidays and so we couldn't miss seeing them this year.

Kallen got to visit with his cousins Daniel and Nathan and all of his Aunts and Uncles.  One of his favorite friends down there was Salem, their black lab.  He even took some time out of his busy cart pushing activities to play with ol' Salem.

One tradition that the Hill family does every 4th is go to the Eugene Rodeo.  It is always a lot of fun, but Kallen had never gone before.  Honestly, he wasn't that interested in it at all.  Kind of sad.  However, Papa Hill took good care of him during the event and let him eat things like Elephant Ears, Popcorn (which is one of his favorites) and anything he wanted to drink.  After all, Papa Hill is the Pepsi guy.  Here, Kallen is playing with his aqua fina water.

Before the rodeo, we got to eat in the rodeo's barn.  Kallen once again wasn't interested in eating, but enjoyed playing peek-a-boo with Grandpa.

While we were down there, Tyson's family also surprised him with a little graduation party.  This was their impromptu getup for a graduation gown.  For his present, he got new golf clubs, a golf bag, and golf shoes.  Needless to Tyson was ecstatic.  I think it was one of his favorite gifts ever.  
Here Kallen is playing with his cousin Daniel.  Kallen is popping Daniels cheeks.  This is one of his favorite games.

Sutherland Family Reunion

In June, we went to my family's reunion which was up at Leavenworth.  I had never been to Leavenworth before, and it was fun to see this little mountain town which had a Bavarian theme.  It is totally fake, not a real Bavarian town, but it was still fun to go explore all the shops and the mountains.  I actually only took pictures of the time we went to a petting farm, so all of our other activities weren't recorded.  So sad.  However, we did go minature golfing, shopped at the Bavarian stores (the Christmas and Fudge store were my favorite), explored the mountains and went on lots of walks.  It was a lot of fun.  I would love to see this town at Christmas. Supposedly it is all decked out for the holidays.  Maybe next year we'll have to take a little road trip.

Here is a picture of Kallen at the petting farm.  They had goats, horses, ponies, rabbits, chickens, llamas and a bunch of other animals.  It was a lot of fun.

One of Kallen's favorite things is grass...he also loves pointing out grass and saying "grass" whenever he spots it...which is very often.

Kallen even got brave enough to feed this goat.  We bought lots of bags of carrots to feed the animals, which only lasted for about 5 min.  The kids just had so much fun feeding all the animals.  Once the carrots were out, the animals resorted to nibbling on little fingers.  Kallen didn't mind though.

Kallen also loves flowers.  He thinks they are the coolest things and will point all of them out to us as well.  In fact, while I was creating this post, he was sitting by me and as soon as I got to this picture he yelled, "yellow" and "flower".  He is starting to get all of his colors down now, so he loves to point out colors to us.

Kallen might like flowers and grass, however, is absolute favorite thing are swings!  He could stay in them for hours if we let him.  In fact, whenever we go to a park, he won't want to play on anything else except the swings.  So he was in Heaven at the petting farm when he spotted some swings.  He even got to swing next to his smallest cousin Dalton.

I couldn't help but put this picture in.  I just thought it was super cute of our little guy.