Happy Halloween and Extra Hour!

We had a very fun Halloween! Matt was so good trick or treating! He went up to the houses by himself and said "Trick or treat!" and "Thank you!". Everyone thought he was so cute in his garden gnome costume and he got lots of candy and compliments. He absolutely refused to go anywhere near the "scary" houses, which is a change from last year when he didn't care. One time he reached into a candy bowl and it was one of those trick ones that makes the figurine inside attack your hand. He was pretty upset and that was the end of trick-or-treating. It kind of reminds me of the time a man dressed as a lifeless scarecrow jumped out at Andy and scared him so badly he didn't go trick or treating for a long time.
Anyway, now the real battle is the candy at home. Being the age he is he will do a hunger strike for candy if he thinks there's any way he'll get it in lieu of a meal.
We also went to Disneyland on Thursday which was fun. It was all Halloween themed--and the haunted mansion and the fireworks were the best. Matt had a lot of fun meeting Tigger and Pooh. Pictures will come later; I don't feel like digging out my camera right now.
Nothing much has changed around here. I'm still grooming dogs and Sean is still delivering pizzas! At least we have a well groomed and well fed household!
Well, it's time to go get ready for work. Just a little update--sorry it's not more frequent! Check out my twitter for more current happenings.
Oh yes, and Daylight Savings rocks in the fall!

Sweet!

So I have been on a cooking binge lately. Just a combo of being bored, pretty much broke and too hot to go do anything outside. Plus it makes Matt sooo happy to "help" me, and it is very cute.
Still the same old stuff going on here, nothing to update. Oh, I made turnips last night (sliced them and lightly fried them in olive oil and rosemary), and they were really yummy! So that's one new thing--I like turnips. Oh, the fast-paced life!


Here's Mr. Perfect decorating some sugar cookies with an icing writer his Grammy sent him :-)

Learning from the master..

See Mom? See my cookie??

SEE MOM??!

I made these 2 nights ago. Know what they are? Sean didn't.

They're cupcakes!!! Yellow cake on top and deviled food cake in the middle. Topped with only the finest icing mustard, ketchup and lettuce! They were fun to make, although now I have all these middle parts of cupcake I don't know what to do with.

Matt was sick on Wednesday. He laid around for most of the day on the couch. He is all better now though!

In fact he was so much better he went bowling for the 1st time yesterday :-)


He had so much fun! He had to use the ramp though because he was unceremoniously dropping it on the ground hard instead of placing it and rolling it.

And he insisted on carrying his ball by himself!

Look at it go! Wheee!!

Gotta go now--Sean just fixed the kia brakes and I am taking it for a test drive :-)

Boredom leads to wonderful things

There hasn't been much to report lately. Just been working a lot, and stuck indoors because of the heat wave. Matt is becoming a good swimmer due to all the time at the pool. Even though there's nothing big to report, I figured it was time for some audio/visual updates!

Here's Matt fingerpainting. Here he is trying to make an imprint of his hand-you can see it where the papers meet.

Here he is trying out his new skates! He loves them! Been too hot for them lately, but for a few days there he was getting really good.

Yesterday it was a particularly dreary day. It was really humid with flash flood warnings and thunder and lightning. It didn't actually rain exactly where we were, but it rained in other parts of the town. We were so bored, so we gathered up some boxes and set up a bowling alley. Matt loved it--but I'll let you see for yourself.

Today is looking like it will be a better day. Sean left for a job fair in San Diego, so it's just Matt and I all day! While I was cleaning he kept telling me he was drawing a car, and I finally went to look. Usually it's scribbles with not much form, but to my surprise he was deliberately drawing! Not sure when that switch flipped on, but here he is drawing a car!

Yes, I know it's abstract, but he is off to a good start! He can also build cars, tanks and airplanes out of legos. He seems to have a very good idea of how things fit together in 3d modeling. We have a toy I got as a gift from my friend's daughter a few years back. It is a bunch of hexagonal nuts on a magnetic base. You can model them into whatever, but of course their magnetic attraction disappears when they are off the base. Matt thinks that's awesome. He surprised me by building a dinosaur, without help. He very carefully made the body, the head, the arms and the legs-all in the correct places. It's one thing to stack a few rectangular blocks and call it a car (or cross two for an airplane), and another thing to model a creature. He definitely has a natural aptitude for that type of stuff so I am eager to see if it develops into anything significant!
Right now, however, it is time for his nap. I hope you enjoy the pictures and video!

Same old stuff

Sean came home on monday, but besides that nothing much new is happening. We went to the beach and really made out with seashells. Matt wants to give one to his friend Kaelyn, who we're seeing today. How cute! No more pictures right now, but just figured I'd update. No luck on the house search yet!

Well That's Just Beachy!

Matt and I had an awesome time at the beach yesterday! We collected seashells,
walked the pier, played in the surf,
looked at crabs in the rocks we were climbing, played in the sand
and had ice cream. Matt keeps talking about it! We may go back next week with the dogs.

Here's a video of him being super cute!

Ugh I sound so naggy but it was only because I wanted him to show off for the camera--we really did have a nice relaxing time.

Oh Matt...

Gee he really does fit in with the Holloway side sometimes. Apparently his new thing is to wake up quietly (so we don't wake up) and go to his window (that faces the walkway). He then bangs on it and yells "LET ME OUT!!!!!!" to all the passerby.
Sigh...

Baby Book

Just dug out Matt's baby book, and am going to complete it as much as possible tonight. It goes through his 5th year, so I can only do so much :-P I am also revamping and updating my Picasa, so check it out! It may take me a while to upload and organize, so if it looks the same right now, don't despair!
My life has very much stabilized, so that's why there aren't many posts and pictures lately. It's way too hot to do many outdoor activities besides swimming. Matt is getting used to the water--he still won't swim but LOVES going underwater. Him and I go under together and I can see him looking back at me and grinning. So weird! He holds his breath well, but I don't let him do it more than a second because it freaks me out a little. Of course he says "Again! Again!"

He also seems to have a crush on Kai-Lan, a character from a kid's show called "Ni-Hao, Kai-Lan"

He runs up to the tv and gives her a kiss, and just about had a stroke when he saw a Kai-Lan doll in Target yesterday. I talked him down from the $15 doll to a $7 playset, and Mai ate Kai-Lan the very next day. A twist of irony there as a common racist stereotype is that Asians like to eat dog...and my dog eats Asians. How odd.
Anyway! I imagine Matt was not very thrilled to see his girlfriend eaten, but I was at work, so I don't know. Kai-Lan's friend Tolee survived with a few severe bites and missing an ear.

Tomorrow or Thursday we are going to take Matt bowling for the first time, and I will make sure to take my camera. I am still mad at myself for forgetting the camera on 4th of July! Speaking of Independence Day...
Matt LOVED the 4th! He got his face painted for the first time (he wanted stars, and got a moon, stars and a rocket). He sat very still for it. He absolutely loved the food, all the kids running around, and of course the fireworks! He really liked the fireworks. He also liked my friend Kim's 1 year old, named Vivian. As soon as he saw her he started giggling and spinning around and falling down. He would look at her, smile and laugh, spin and fall. Repeat. He really likes girls! He gets all silly. It also helps that I think she looks a little like Kai-Lan.
Well, that's about it for now. I think Picasa bit off a bit more than it can chew with my...gulp...3,395 photos to upload! But it's worth it! I can print out "real" pictures from Picasa (and pick them up at Walgreens), have a backup in case my computer acts weird, and also to let you all get to know Matt a little better! I hope everyone's holiday went awesome and I will post later! Off to filling out the baby book!