Trick or Treating

Grandma Lee came up to help me take the boys Trick or Treating. We walked over to Cameryn's house and toured the neighborhood with the little cowgirl and her pony. Ben was not so keen on trick or treating at first. And he got pretty scared at one house where a guy jumped out of a pile of leaves. Ben wouldn't go near any leaf piles the rest of the night. Can't wait for that nightmare tonight. He eventually got into it once he paired up with Cameryn and got past all the scary houses. He lasted about and hour and still came home with way more candy than he needs!

Pumpkin Painting

With Adam on his way to Japan and China, I decided to not do pumpkin carving this year, but rather pumpkin painting. Although it was still messy, I think the mess was significantly less than carving would have been. I even found glow in the dark paint which is pretty cool on the white pumpkins.

Ben had his own pumpkins to paint, and he did paint his little white one, but then I started to paint my pumpkin and he wanted to help. Can you figure out which side was Ben's and which was mine? It was not easy for me to give up control and let him do his thing, but I did. And then after he went to sleep I painted my own pumpkin. All by myself.

8 Months!

Ha Ha, Mommy!

Oh, Nicholas. He's soooo funny. After rearranging all the books and neatly stacking the 'Nick books' on the bottom and the 'Ben books' on the top shelf, along comes Mr. Tornado and pulls all the books off the shelf. On the up side, at least he only touched the 'Nick books' (board books he can chew on).

The Move

Yesterday was the big day - Ben moved upstairs. We moved his crib and converted it to the toddler bed and left one of the twin beds in the room assuming I might need it if he has a bad dream because he likes me to stay in the room until he falls back asleep. Well, Ben decided to upgrade himself to the big-boy bed and ditch the 'little bed'. So we had to do some more rearranging after his nap so the big-boy bed is not near the window, but he has stuck to the big-boy bed. And so far he has not gotten out of it after he wakes up. He had a hard time falling asleep last night, and it took some tears, but he finally fell asleep and stayed that way until 7:30 (woohoo!)

And He's O-U-T

I put Nick in the jumpy while we were moving Ben's bed and he was happy and having a good time. I checked on him a few times and he was still having a good time. Then it got very, very quiet. And this is what I found. Poor baby!

Monkeys on Top of the Car

Adam was carrying Ben on his shoulder the other night, and when we got to car, Ben decided he was going to be a, and I quote, 'Monkey on top of the car.' And he has a really, really good grip. Adam had to pry him off the luggage rack.

Monkey Speed bump

The stuffed Curious George was no match for Nick. He just powered right over him.

Up and Up

Nick is moving up in the world - literally. He has now started to pull himself up on the train table, boxes, laundry baskets...pretty much anything. And with vertical movement comes vertical falls! Nick's head has a few boo boos these days.

Playing In the Leaves

Playing in the leaf pile with daddy.

It Was Worth A Try

I was feeling adventurous today. I thought I'd try walking with the boys in the jogging stroller. Ben was very good. Nick however, wanted none of it. He DID NOT want Ben touching him. I finally gave in, took Ben out and let him walk and Nick immediately stopped crying. By the time we got home, Nick was practically laying across the entire thing. Stroller hog.

Silly Baby Faces

Levis Commons Costume Contest

Levis Commons had a Fall Festival yesterday. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, I don't really see a repeat next year, but they had a costume contest that we 'entered' the boys in. Ben was in the top 5 for the 4 and under kids. There were some pretty impressive costumes, but the judging was based on applause, and there were a few other kids with a big cheering section. But that's ok. Ben still did a great job representing the hot air balloon :)

Three Little Monkeys

Jumping on a scale.

Little Boo at the Zoo

The day had finally come when Ben got to do two of his most favorite things - go to the zoo and get candy. Yes, that's right, it was Little Boo at the Zoo! This year Ben is a hot air balloon and because it is an awesome costume worthy of a repeat performance, Nick is a baby Elkhound. I didn't get any great pictures of Ben in the hot air balloon costume, but I hope to get better pictures tomorrow when we go to Levis Commons for their Fall Festival.

The hot air balloon costume was quite the hit at the zoo. Ben got several comments on the original costume. But he didn't really care. He just wanted to play with the toys in the Fisher Price tent, gather (and immediately eat) candy and see the baby elephant and hippos and alligator and snakes. Ben pretty much has a check list of what he needs to see at the zoo now, and knows where everything is located. He led the way most of the day since I let him walk and not ride in the stroller.

We spent the day with Cameryn and Andrew and Tiffany, Chris, Kristy and Meredith. Meredith took charge as Nick's personal chauffeur, to which we are very thankful!

As we left the zoo, Ben said, 'Mommy, I had fun' Awww :)

Pre-zoo costume fitting

The Fisher Price toy tent

Scooping out pumpkin guts at Nature's Neighborhood

Artistic freedom with face paints

Just exactly how much do three little monkeys weigh?

The carrousel ride - Ben held on for dear life!

Then the UT mascots Rocky and Rocksy took a turn on the merry-go-round. It was a highlight for Ben.

Wow, if looks could kill

That's better

And as usual, Nick just took it all in from the comfort of the stroller and just relaxed and enjoyed watching all the other kids