Halloween 2012

This year our Halloween was a little different than planned.  Thomas dressed up as Super Why, Jim was going to be the big bad wolf (dressed like Grandma) and I was going to dress as Little Red Riding Hood.  Well last night Jim and his Hotshot crew got ordered by FEMA to Superstorm Sandy on the East coast.  They are helping crews with the cleanup from the storm.  So only Thomas got dressed up.  Thomas & I walked Main Street with our friends Mary & Cameron Martineau.  We found Daddy's "boss" Smokey Bear handing out candy to the kids. 



Thomas & "Daddy's Boss - Smokey Bear"

Thomas & Cameron

   

Our little boy is growing up

It's official, our little boy is growing up!!  

He's growing out of his toddler bed and we got a good buy from a friend.  Thomas is so excited to be a really big boy, now.  Kind of sad, for us as parents as we look at the little toddler bed on the floor next to this big boy bed.  What an exciting time for Thomas to move up to a big bed.  The bottom part pulls out as a trundle, but we have to get a mattress for it.  So right now, it's just going to be used to store extra blankets .  

 

 

Jim said to me last night "it's only a matter of time before he walks out of his room to ask for the car keys".  They grow up so fast!!!

Papa and Thomas make front page

Click on cover to read full article

                Pick of the Patch 2012 – And the Winners Are . . .

Photos by Carol and Darrel Kinney

By Tracy Rolling - Ramona Home Journal • Mon, Oct 01, 2012

Taking third place was a 353-pound pumpkin grown by Ronald Serabia and his young grandson Thomas Huston. Adjacent to a garden filled with sweet corn, beans, peppers and zucchini, his giant pumpkins rested on six feet of topsoil and were quenched by well water. 

"Everything grows well on the property, and we don’t have to worry about a water bill,” said Serabia, explaining the semi-drip system he uses in conjunction with soaker hoses and five feet of rope. 

He tells how each time his grandson visited, he would dig in the dirt. Then he read about the Ramona Home Journal pumpkin contest and planted a few seeds a couple years ago. 

"The biggest pumpkin we grew our first year was 140 pounds,” he said. He saved seeds from that batch, and this year when Thomas asked, "Papa, we gonna plant big pumpkins again?” Serabia couldn’t resist. 

He looked online, went to the library and studied how to grow the mammoth pumpkins. "It was only by chance it got that big and didn’t rot,” he said, adding that the recent rains and hot weather gave them a run for their money.

 
Serabia plans on sharing his winnings with Thomas, and says besides the luck of the draw, he didn’t use any artificial stuff. He got caterpillars, praying mantises and ladybugs to help manage the bugs.

"Growing pumpkins has been a great blessing to our family,” he added. "Just like our little grandson Thomas.” 

Homeschool lesson & craft day

Today Thomas & I did our first Halloween lesson & craft.  We learned the Five Little Pumpkins poem, painted 5 little pumpkins and Thomas did a full packet (about 8 pages) of Halloween spelling, matching and some math.  Our little smarty pants loves to do that stuff.  For a 3 1/2 year old, his hand writing is great.  He writes some letters better than others, but we're working on it.  He's also learning how to do a lot of that at his preschool 2 days a week. 
His little toddler laugh is turning into a little boy laugh.  He has quite the imagination and can tell you some good stories.  At  his 4 year old physical (just a couple months early) his doctor was blown away at how much Thomas could talk about, how well he's eating and how great he's developing.  It's sad, but also fun to watch our baby boy mature into a little guy.  Being parents is one of the greatest things Jim & I have done.  So thankful for our answer to prayers......Thomas!!