Halloween 2010!

Happy Halloween!!

We had many Halloween festivities this year, starting off with our ward Trunk-or-Treat.
Dane appeared as Dashiell Parr, a.k.a. Dash Incredible! He was a little camera shy:

Observe the treat bag I made last year but had no success selling on my Etsy shop.
Anyway.
With the help of Mr. Incredible, Dash made it to the church parking lot, where they showed off their muscles and speed:


Along with getting a bunch of candy, we saw Buzz and Jessie, angels and demons, Harry Potter (whom I coerced into saying "expecto patronum!"), a garden gnome (minus hat) and toadstool, and Mario and Luigi.



If Mario and Luigi's costumes look familiar, it's because they borrowed our costumes from two years ago.
Things were going along just swimmingly until Mr. Incredible's arch nemesis, Superman, showed up. The parking lot wasn't big enough for the both of them and frightened townsfolk looked on as they duelled.


I can't remember who won. It depends on the criteria you use.

Anyway, then we tried to pose for a family shot, but Dash wanted a donut more than he wanted to pose:

On our way home, Edna Mode (the creator of the super suits) decided she wanted a box from a dumpster, and Mr. Incredible was happy to oblige.

Dash looked on anxiously.

Here, he shows off how he's chewing--but NOT swallowing--his gum. And you can see how it was hard for Edna to design and create his mask while the little superhero had the hiccups.

Mr. Incredible successfully obtained the box, and father and son walked home after a successful afternoon of crimefighting, candy getting, and do-gooding.


Then we took a nap.

Then, it was off to the Fourth Annual Frost/Parker Halloween Extravaganza!
Mr. Incredible humored us with a display of his focus-jarring strength and flair for footwear:


The trick-or-treating lasted all of five minutes because it was freezing outside. I can't adequately describe the bone-chilling frigidity we experienced. But Dash teamed up with Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia for the few minutes they (read: the parents) could stand it.



We went back to Yoda and Han Solo's house (who knew they lived together?) for a family picture:

And the whole, happy crew (minus Megan, who took the picture and insisted she didn't want a photograph):

Thanks, Yoda and Han, for hosting us for yet another amazing Halloween night!

On actual Halloween, Dane's nursery leader complained that not a single nursery child came to her house to trick or treat. So Dash donned his super suit again (minus the mask and one boot that we could not find) and went over to make her happy.

So that's it. Another successful Halloween. I have some pumpkin carving pictures I'll post here in the near future.

I was going for spooky in that first family picture, but here's a color version for the full effect:

The Incredibles!
(cue music)

Fallishness

To start things off, I'd like to submit a query out to the universe (you).
On Sunday, I have a meeting before church, so I usually leave before Joel or Dane are dressed, so Joel takes responsibility for all that. I typically lay out an outfit for Dane before I go, but I obviously trust Joel to dress himself.
This Sunday, when Joel walked into church, I could not keep from laughing at him. He could not understand why.
I insisted his outfit was terrible. He insisted he took great pains to coordinate.
We could not agree. I maintain that he did not coordinate. Joel maintains he did.
So. I leave it to you. Does his outfit work or not?
Make sure you consider jacket, tie, pants, belt, and shoes. It's hard to tell in the photo, but his pants have pinstripes, too.

He'll probably kill me for posting this, but just to drive home his disapproval of my disapproval, he farted right when I took that second photo. Nice.
But I do think I have a handsome husband, regardless of his inability to dress himself.
Anyway, then Dane wanted in on the action. He posed himself:

Isn't he handsome, too? He is looking so big and grown up.

On to fall:
Dane was invited to a Halloween party, and they made these foam jack-o-lanterns. They were given pieces and then were able to get creative on the faces.
This is how a typical, prosaic person might have made theirs:

This is how Dane made his:

He said, "It's Daddy!"
Note the eyebrows.
Hilarious.

Traditions:
We have a fall tradition of going to a farmer's market or orchard between sessions of October conference. This year, we bought peaches and apples from a farm with George and Melanee.
These are the apples:

Which turned into over 12 pints of applesauce. And our peaches became a pie and three pints of peach butter.

They are delicious and exciting to have in our pantry.
For those of you who are in the know, that on the left is a 1.8 liter bottle of Bulldog sauce. I already know you are jealous. For those of you who are not in the know, you should still be jealous.

Another fall tradition is to go down to Provo for BYU Homecoming!
No, we don't go to the game (come on, you should know me better than that), we go and get the alumni 2 for 1 lunch at the Cannon Center!!
Dane enjoyed green Jell-O and BYU Creamery chocolate milk, Utah Mormon staples.

I, of course, needed chocolate milk, too.

And Joel and Dane finished things off with rice krispie treats.

It was a good day. The Cannon Center was remodeled a couple of years ago, and it looks quite nice. Freshmen are looking younger and younger these days, by the way.

Birthday Videos

Here are a whole bunch of videos (12, to be exact) of Dane's birthday. This is probably not interesting to most of you, but I'm posting it so the grandparents and other faraway family members can see the joy they brought to Dane on his special day.

Birthday Good Morning:


Making eggs and toast in the new kitchen:

Opening the dishes (from Rika):

Discovering felt food:

Opening the bouncy ball (from Grandma):


Opening the baking set (from Rika):


Unwrapping new cell phone (from Jiichan & Baachan):


Communicating with Buzz Lightyear:


Swedish breakfast (from Rika) and ensuing explosion:


Jessie, the Yodeling Cowgirl (from Jiichan & Baachan)


Playing with Jessie and opening the airplane (from Grandma):


My very own camera (from Jiichan and Baachan):


Thanks to everyone for being so generous for Dane's birthday! He loves all his presents and loves you all so much!

Dane Turns Three!

We celebrated Dane's birthday this week in a three-day birthday extravaganza!
First, let me say that I can't believe I have a three-year-old. He is such a big, capable boy. He talks well, he is smart at figuring things out, he doesn't listen to what I say, and he just has his own brain and will and personality. I'm sure all parents out there can relate, but I seriously feel a little panicky thinking that he'll just keep growing up bigger and bigger, and then he'll be in school, and then he'll be a teenager, and then he'll be an adult. Time just goes by too quickly.
But anyway. We kicked off the morning with a bunch of presents. I ended up taking more video than pictures, so I'll try to get those uploaded.


After presents, I took him to a toy store to pick anything he wanted (within reason), and he chose Molly, a yellow Thomas train.
Then, after I went to work that night, we had dinner at Chick-fil-A. Wednesday happened to be kids night, which meant a free kids meal with purchase of a combo, free ice cream, and free face painting!
Dane chose Batman:

I chose double chin.

Then, the next day, Dane had his three-year doctor's appointment. I am happy to report that he is a strapping young lad with no major concerns--not even the fact that he is three with no interest in being potty trained. And he's growing a bit, at 20th percentile for weight and 41st percentile for height (up from 15th percentile for both last year). Way to grow, Dane! Maybe he won't be as short as we thought he'd be.
We rushed from the doctor to Mom's Group, where we enjoyed birthday cupcakes and playing in the sand.



And finally, Friday was party day! I'd wanted a Toy Story themed party last year but couldn't find any of the necessary items. This year, thanks to Toy Story 3, there were plenty.
Here was the spread:

I threw in a little Lightning McQueen just to reflect Dane's varied interests.
I think my favorite parts of the party planning were making space punch and finding these amazing party hats:

For some reason, I was obsessed with having party hats, and I had to go to several different stores to find Toy Story hats, but when I finally did, they were totally worth it!


We also had blowouts (apparently they produce them in such a way now that they make no noise),

and a piñata!
This is how Dane reacted when I told him about the piñata:

Just so we're clear, that is a look of unbridled joy.


Dane and Kyle took a couple of turns until the plastic loop that attached it to the rope fell off.

After a quick repair, and a high leap to get the rope back from the top of the tree, we resumed the destruction.
My cousin Colton, whom I made wear a blindfold:

Kenji:


I don't know what happened with that last picture, but it looked pretty cool.
Dane and Kyle tried again...


Then our neighbors came home, so Madyson and Macee gave it a whirl...

Then Colton wanted to try again sans blindfold...

and finally, Hunter, my other cousin who refused to participate if he had to wear the blindfold, brought about the demise of our rocket. He was pretty good with a bow staff, puncturing the rocket several times before obliterating it.


Everyone was grateful for the bounty of candy that he released.

He was pretty proud of himself and struck this pose, saying, "I have defeated the beast for the glory of Rome."

I am not making this up.

Then, we enjoyed presents:

And DQ ice cream cake:

Joel tried to muffle the flash with his hands, so this picture is essentially filtered through his blood.

Seconds after these pictures were taken, I dropped the cake on the floor. Luckily, the cake was frozen solid, so the frosting and my shirt were the only casualties.
So that's it. It was a happy few days, which will likely last even longer since I totally forgot to give him one of this presents.
Happy Birthday, Dane! We love you!