Festival of Lights

Cullen went to his first Festival of Lights (and Erin's first too) at the Cincinnati Zoo on Saturday night with Mommy and Daddy and Aunt Kari, Aunt Erin and Aunt Lindsay. He got to take his very first train ride around the zoo in the cold and see lots of pretty lights. He did great being out in the cold. Lindsay, being the teacher was teaching him all kinds of new things.... like the noise that an elephant makes... I think he was having flashbacks when he tried to go to sleep. Way to go Lindsay!

We got free funnel cakes and hot chocolate because they ran out of batter and we had to wait for them to restock. I love free funnel cakes!!!

The girls.

Erin playing peek-a-boo with Cullen with the Joe Spaudling statue.

Mommy and Cullen with a scary Gingerbread Woman?

Kari, Mommy and Cullen with a Penguin. Go figure, we found one... and he matches Cullen's hat.

Cullen with Auntie Erin.

A Musician in the making

Well last week Cullen has discovered some new toys. One of which I got in the 5th grade, a recorder. What a lovely musical instrument. (no sarcasm). Mom and Dad handed it to him and he immediately started playing. I hope you enjoy the following short recital we have.







Check back when I get the video of him and the harmonica. Now THAT is a treat. Auntie Nora and Auntie Kathy got their own private showing Saturday night. Thanks for watching him for us last night! Hope he didn't wear you out too much.

Cullen tries to use a spoon

Well tonight at dinner, Cullen wanted absolutely nothing to do with us giving him pieces of food to feed himself. He wanted to be like Mommy and Daddy and use utensils. He did surprisingly well being that this was his second try. He wanted to use his fork to stab the macaroni to death the other night.

Sorry we haven't been updating, it has been a very strange and hectic 2 weeks. Uncle Russ was in a motorcycle accident 2 weeks ago and then last week Grandpa Barnes had surgery to repair his heart valve. Both are doing great and are home recovering.

They weren't the only 2 visiting the hospital though. In between there, Cullen got to pay a visit to the new Children's Hospital by us because he had fallen and hit his forehead on the corner of our wall between the living and dining room. But he was fine! You can see part of the battle scars on him in the spaghetti pic. Also, Great Uncle Tony had to visit the ER the same day Grandpa was getting surgery. He is doing good now too!


Who knew that Cullen would love Cinnamon Rolls so much. He will eat 2 of them. We cut them up really small and one handful after another he chows away.



Last week we tried spaghetti in a bowl for him. He was more fascinated with stabbing the noodles with his spoon than eating them. He would only eat the spaghetti from my fork. I guess mine tasted better.

Tonight Daddy was checking out something online, but Cullen wanted to see too! He climbed up on the couch and then on Daddy's back.

Mommy's Little Helper

With a few more weeks of practice I am convinced that I will have the cleanest floors in Mason. Every time that Cullen is able to sneak thru the gate into the kitchen he heads straight for the broom or the Swiffer.

A Fall Day

On Saturday, Cullen and Grandma were outside enjoying the exceptionally nice weather we are having for November. He loves being outside to just run around and collecting sticks. It's like the candy from the day before, one stick for each hand, but if he should come across a larger stick.. well he will trade up.

And before I forget to add this... Last weekend Aunt Peggy and John came to town to visit. Why do we buy the boy toys? He is perfectly content with sticks, rocks, old cellphones and remotes and boxes we bring home from Sams!

Trick or Treat

I came home at lunch with a treat that Kim had sent with me to give Cullen. A delicious Buskin Halloween cookie. As you can see he was enjoying it. And then his lips turned black from the design on the cookie.

Unfortunately, Scott has gotten froze at work that day. We were thinking about trying to go to a few houses, but it just didn't seem right to do without him. That and Cullen doesn't truly understand what is going on with this holiday yet. So, maybe next year. I did take him over to my parents house and got him dressed up.

(For whatever reason, the picture that I thought took didn't, so we are going to try to 're-create' that. He was standing with his arms straight up like he was flying!)






He wasn't much on carrying his treat bag, he just wanted what was inside of it. One candy bar for each hand, and he just ran in circles. As you can imagine those poor little bars didn't stand of chance.


We did stop over and Auntie Kari's for a bit, and Cullen has his first girlfriend. (I knew he was going to be a heartbreaker, but didn't realize it would start so soon.) Her niece Ally, who about a little over a month younger than Cullen, came over and gave him a hug and a kiss. It was absolutely adorable. Unfortunately, no one had their cameras ready.

So proud of the latest developments......

and he has big shoes to fill:-)

Hi-Ho Silver!

Cullen has figured out how to climb up on everything from chairs, couches and now horses. His little legs are barely long enough to reach the floor, but that's ok by him.

Happy Sweetest Day!

Chicken Soup for.... the forehead

Well I somehow managed to get sick at the end of September and have since passed it off to Cullen and Scott. Cullen had a little bit of a fever a few days but mainly just a snotty nose. So we tried to give him some chicken soup, soaked up in crackers, and the noodles. But as you can see, it didn't go as we had planned......

Pumpkins Pumpkins everywhere.......

We took Cullen to Iron's Fruit Farm for the first time to pick out the perfect Cullen-sized pumpkin. He got to take a hayride out to the field and wander around for pumpkins. We also got some apple fritters and apple cider while we were there. Cullen was not to sure about the cider when he tasted it, but he did seem to enjoy the fritters!