Happy Halloween!

Here is our house this year, all ready for Halloween.

Here are the boys out trick or treating on Halloween. I forgot to get pictures sooner and by this time everyone was ready to head back and hand out candy. Colin was a Security Forces troop, Shel was the bad guy/robber, and Caleb the card dealer.

Pumpkin Carving

We finally got around to carving our pumpkins tonight. Colin and Shelby worked on one while I worked on another one.

While cleaning out the pumpkin guts we thought Caleb might like to play with them in his high chair. A little bit of sensory play was my thinking. Caleb was apparently thinking snack time. He chowed down and shoveled it in by the mouthful! I thought surely he would taste it and then just play with it. Nope. He ate his weight in pumpkin guts. 

Cooper also ate his weight in pumpkin guts...

Here are the finished products. Colin and Dad on the right and mine on the left. Colin wanted to do a Jack Skellington design but Shel decided it was probably too tough for them, I was able to freehand one for him though. I hate using stencils and trying to follow lines on the pumpkin, I just like to wing the design. It worked out and Colin got his Jack pumpkin too.

Cooper isn't so sure about them now that they have faces!

Let the BBQ begin!

One of the first things we did after arriving on Guam was go down to Home Depot and order a big, new smoker. Shelby wanted a bigger smoker didn't want to hassle with cleaning the old one enough for shipment, because it has to pretty much look like brand new. So we gave our old one to a friend and bought a new one here. Of course they don't carry the big fancy kind he wanted, so he had to order and then wait for it to come on the slow boat. It finally arrived and Shelby is like a kid on Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday

Bobcat Ceremony

Tonight Colin earned his Bobcat badge, along with several other belt loops and awards.

It was also the Tiger Cub Den's turn to lead the flag ceremony. Here is the video of them presenting the colors. Colin was very excited to carry a flag. Listen closely when he asks the crowd to join in The Pledge of Allegiance, he sounded a little nervous!


I did his ceremonial face paint for his Bobcat.

BLUE is from the sky. The paw print of the Bobcat on your forehead is the spirit of the bobcat. This reminds you to do your best on the Cub Scout Trail. 

YELLOW is from the sun. The marks under your eyes will help you see the light of the Cub Scout trail and they symbolize the bright spirit of Cub Scouting. 

WHITE is for purity. The mark on your nose helps you know right from wrong as you go along the Cub Scout trail. 

RED is for courage. The mark on your chin reminds you to always speak the truth. 

GREEN stands for the spirit of nature. The marks on each cheek will guide you to live in harmony with the great outdoors. 

Now he just has to do a good deed to turn around the bobcat badge to right side up and wear it properly!

Squadron Halloween Party

I was so excited to show off the boys' Halloween costumes and have them get dressed up for the first time. This year Colin said he wanted to be a police officer. That was too boring for his dad so Shel talked to him about being a Special Forces/Security Forces officer and Colin jumped right on board with that. Shelby carefully took apart one of Colin's Nerf guns and painted some of it black and then put it all back together. We lucked up on an authentic SF beret because they are issue only and can't be purchased. We had all the right patches sewn on to the costume and finally Shelby made a gun sling out of paracord. He looks pretty good and he's excited about his costume. 

For Caleb's costume I needed something that wasn't head to toe fleece and warm. It seems like every baby costume I looked at online is made for children living in the north pole. Those of us living close to the equator are faced with a dilemma of either make my baby sweat to death in a purchased costume or get creative. So we got creative! We decided to incorporate the stroller too since no one wants to carry this baby around all night on Halloween either. So Caleb's costume was decided and he makes one adorable card dealer! All he needed to wear was a onesie, a bow tie, and a visor, perfect for hot Guam. We ordered card table felt online and cut it to fit, glued down some pieces and voila! The card and chips on the table gave Caleb something to play with too.

9 months old!

This little guy just keeps growing and growing, but thankfully he also stays as sweet as can be. I love that his is still a snuggly baby and loves to be in my arms. I love how he nestles in under my chin and plays with my hair as he sucks his fingers. In the last two weeks or so he has really mastered going from a crawling position to a sitting position and vice versa. He has also mastered pulling up on things and is quite pleased with he new found reach and accessibility. He has three teeth up top now and two on the bottom. He loves to eat and has decided now he will take food from a spoon. He does love to feed himself still though. Bath time is one of his favorite things as he loves to splash around. He loves anything new to explore and spends the first part of every morning crawling all over the house to see what has moved or what new treasure may have been left behind by his older brother. He is beginning to show his read head personality and has no problem vocalizing his displeasure when things don't go his way. He has mastered the shrieking "I can't believe you won't give me what I want!" scream. I wish he could stay little forever, but watching him grow is such a blast. 

Little Clone

While I was unpacking I came across this old photo of Shelby as a baby. If the clothing and background didn't date the photo I'd swear I was looking at Caleb! They look absolutely identical!

Cub-O-Ree Camping

Colin's Cub Scout pack had their fist camping outing this weekend. The boys earned a ton of belt loops and did things line shoot the bow and arrow and shooting BB guns. Colin was ecstatic to do those and all the other activities they had planned. Caleb and I stayed home while Shelby and Colin did the camp out. Here are some pictures Shelby got during the event.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Chamorro Villiage

On Wednesday nights there is a large cultural event in the capital city of Hagatna here. Tourists and locals alike come out for food, music, dancing and shopping. We finally made it down there to try some chamorro BBQ and banana lumpia.

Colin touched the monitor lizard but was too afraid to hold him. I can't blame him, I was too afraid to even get close enough to take a picture. Snakes I can handle, lizard things are gross!

We finally drank from a coconut "Survivor style" for the bargain price of $4! For an island full of coconuts they got a racket on that deal. But he's been dying to try it! 

Colin rode the Carabao.

And the little Chamorro man insisted we get a family shot with the carabao.

We watched some cultural dancing.

Videos of the dancing...

Updates!!

Scroll back, I posted some updates today and they go back to before the last Wordless Wed, so make sure you see the horseback cub scout post :)

Happy Fall Y'all!

For the last 5 years we have made it to the pumpkin festival in a little village in Germany right near where our house was. Even for the two years we lived in the Azores we still managed to make it back to Germany at the right time to visit the festival. Colin grew up going there and having his pictures taken among the thousands of pumpkins and gourds. I'm sad Caleb won't get that experience here on Guam. There just aren't pumpkin patches here in our 90 degree, humid weather. So, I improvised! I was that mom, the one that plopped her kid down in the middle of the grocery store pumpkin display and acted like an idiot trying to make him stop eating the hay and smile. It worked, I got a smile, but I really missed the pumpkin soup and wine I would have had at the festival.

Wordless Wednesday