The Halloweeners

I assigned Sam the task of blogging about the Balloon Fiesta, but I'm going to jump ahead a little bit while it's still relevant and blog about Halloween 2016.

Joey is OBSESSED with Curious George right now. He's also obsessed about Halloween. I dubbed it our official Curious George Halloween since we watched the movie almost every day, carved our pumpkins with Curious George, and had Joey and Sam dress up as George and the Man with the Yellow Hat. We attended our ward's Trunk or Treat and went around our apartment complex on the actual day. Here are some pictures!

Our little scuba diver

Joey in heaven.

Aren't they so adorable?

Matching Eli with my mermaid getup.

 Joey got a good bag of candy at the Trunk or Treat, but we weren't done with the festivities. The kids painted their pumpkins while Sam and I carved. Joey loved painting maybe a little too much!

Joey in his element.

Eli never really painted, but somehow
he still got paint on himself!

Meet Charlie, our new cat.

My carving, the Man with the Yellow Hat and George.
This was actually the best face I made so excuse the wild look in my eye!

Sam managed to carve George out of his little pumpkin!

Mine's a little hard to tell what it is but I'm proud of it!

On actual Halloween we went around our complex. Sam was too busy to take the kids so I grabbed my mermaid leggings and the yellow hat and tried to make some rounds. However, Joey found a tricycle and it was game over. He was done and just wanted to ride the tricycle in the dark. We got enough candy anyway so it wasn't too big of a deal I guess. We might do costume repeats next year because costumes get so pricy! At least we had a good time with it.

Pumpkin Patches

Another long post from the Hobbs family! As part of my tour Albuquerque (and surrounding areas) plan, we had the pleasure to attend not one, but two awesome pumpkin patches this fall. I took the boys to McCall's Pumpkin patch in Moriarty, then a couple weeks later Sam got a day off and we headed to Galloping Grace's pumpkin patch in Rio Rancho.

McCall's: If I was more prepared, it would have been really fun. I thought it would last until noon, then we would drive home and have lunch. Since I was with a group, we had to wait for the last person to arrive, which was almost an hour late! Meanwhile, Joey enjoyed the rocking chairs, sandbox, and wandering away from the group.

What was fun about McCall's versus Galloping Grace was the tractor ride out into the actual patch and the picking of any pumpkin. Joey naturally went for the small, rotting ones, so I picked his for him (not pictured).

While my group was so prepared with their lunches, I scavenged for food for my kiddies then walked around for other fun stuff to do. There were farm animals, a corn pit, a corn maze, a goat feeding area, slides, and other fun stuff.

This kind of chicken should be added to my mom's collection.

Enjoying the animals.

The Lord is Our Shepherd.

What Joey went straight to.

As good as we could get it.

Big Pig.

My favorite goat.

Conclusion: worth the $7 per person if we brought food to last us the whole day. It also got us a pumpkin for that price.

Galloping Grace: This pumpkin patch used to be free, but they amped it up this year, and as a consequence it was $3 per person plus more for a pumpkin. They did have a free military day, so Sam got in for free! They were really friendly here and offered to take our picture the moment we got in.

We didn't get a tractor hayride, buy Joey probably liked riding the little tractors just as much. We threw Eli on one for kicks and giggles too. Eli really did kick and giggle, though.

Joey HATED the corn pits when he was younger and more sensitive to different textures. Now he was rolling around in it. Eli had more joy in eating the corn (we tried to stop him, don't worry).

Burying Daddy in corn.

The happy guy we know and love.

Getting the hay out of his monkey was a task!

There was a petting zoo, but of course it was extra.

Something they had here was duck racing, and we all had fun with the pumping water and rubber ducks.

Guess where we spent the most time. Again.

Let's go tire racing!

*Picks up tire* Where did he go? Joey? Joey!

Ah, the hay tower.

Mah boyz.

Joey is obsessed with pumpkins!

 Conclusion: It was really fun having Sam and being able to leave when I wanted to. I think they were both worth the prices they put out. We'll see what happens next fall when we move!

Joey at 3 1/2

Half a year has gone by, time for an update!

Joey has been so patient with me as a mom and sweet to his brother (for the most part). Perhaps I struggled to be his mama at times (especially when Sam was gone for a month), but more recently I have enjoyed the little man he is. I love to see the things he is taking in and learning.

Things about Joey:

-He switches what shows he wants to binge watch. At his birthday it was Curious George, then Super Why, then Octonauts, and now he's back to Curious George.

-Once shy of sand and dirt, now he is always covered in it. He loves dump trucks and excavators.

-His favorite foods are cereal, pizza, hamburgers, vanilla ice cream, yogurt, and suckers. He has a sweet tooth for sure.

-His language is blossoming, but he still switches his words around in his sentences. Sometimes he totally sounds like Yoda.

-No potty training, but one day Sam noticed pee in his little potty. No asking, no stickers or candy bribing. Perhaps we can do it by his 4th birthday!

-He loves his brother, but can still be rough with him, especially if Eli is playing with a toy Joey wants.

-He has become somewhat of a loner, though he loves to be with other kids. He hates sharing and is pretty content doing his own thing.

-If he feels threatened by another kid, he bites! We are still trying to find what works to kick that habit, but I hate the biting. I'm always on edge when he is near other kids, including his brother.

-Some of his favorite phrases: "Clean up, clean up everybody every share!", "Monkey eat nana in tree", "that's dangerous!", "a hungry", "have a picnic, get shoes on, lunch at park", "cayful, cayful", "E E!" (his brother), "Ki-leh" (me), and a bunch of monkey noises. Like, most of what he says consists of monkey noises.

-The other night he melted my heart by saying "Love you mama" for the first time.

-Had his first ER visit, and probably not his last. 

-Still in speech therapy. He might have trouble with "auditory processing", but it is still a little early to know for sure. He has started covering his ears if there are loud noises or if he is in trouble within thsese past few weeks.

-Other things he loves: Mickey Mouse, pumpkins, garbage trucks, bubble baths, and cousins.

One day got the toaster out and put his play bread in.

Only naps he takes are in the car.

His love for dirt and water.

Has to have his picture taken during Eli's monthly photoshoots too.

Ask him to make happy, sad, and angry faces and it's cute.

Left, Hitler mustache after drinking Shakeology. Right, ready to go to the store with Daddy's shoes.

We love you Joey! I love your sweet kisses, hugs, and face.