Happy Halloween! :)

 Daddy and Ian built a monster truck from a simple kit that a local home improvement store provided.  Daddy started pounding many of the nails, but Ian finished them off.  It was good teamwork, and Ian is proudly holding the truck (complete with racing wings).

We carved our pumpkin on Friday night.   Ian was very interested in every step of the process. 

 Once Daddy made the cuts around the stem, it was Ian's turn to pull the top off.

 At first Ian was a little tentative about reaching in the pumpkin to gather the seeds.

 Before long, though, he was up to his elbows in fun.  Ian was a very good pumpkin seed gatherer--this made Momma happy seeing as she is a big fan of the seeds after they are roasted.

 Momma and Ian combined to draw the face on the pumpkin.

 Daddy and Ian were the actual pumpkin carvers.

 After warming up on the eyes and nose, Ian even took a turn flying solo while working on the mouth.

 The finished product!!

 Ian's grandparents really know how to help Ian celebrate Halloween. Grandpa and Grandma sent a card, stickers, and some Thomas the Train fruit snacks! (Ian wanted to eat them all in one sitting. When Momma said that Ian had to wait to have another bag until the next day, Ian remembered to ask for the fruit snacks right after he woke up the next morning!) Grammy and Papa sent a card, stickers, and $5 for Ian to buy his own Halloween candy. Ian thought it was fun to shop in the candy aisle and seemed most excited about his sour gummy worms (no, Aunt Amy, Momma didn't do ANY coercing!). :) The above picture shows Ian with his finds!

 On Saturday, we went to the Tabernacle Experience at a local church. They had a replica of the tabernacle set up. We thought it would be a self-guided tour, but when we got there we found out it was a 60-minute audio tour on which we'd go to various stations, all the while being "quite and reverent." Probably not the best place for an active 2-year-old ... :) So, Matt and Kim took turns going through the stations. It ended up being meaningful and interesting, and Ian really liked the extended time on the playground.

 On Sunday, we went to another local church's "Trunk or Treat" (a seemingly popular tradition in Texas).

 All of the car owners had designed a game and then offered the children candy (many with Bible verses attached) afterwards. Ian enjoyed placing the rings directly ONTO the cones. Who needs to throw them?

 He fished for Bible verses,

 but his favorite station was actually "catching" candy!

 Ian was excited to see his friend Caleb the Pizza Slice at the Trunk-or-Treat.

 Ian was a little young for the Angry Birds catapult,

 but he sure enjoyed watching others play the game.

 Ian seems to be following in Daddy's footsteps and has a mean soccer ball kick!

 The goalie was nice enough to give Ian candy even though Ian got the ball past her.

 More ring toss!

 Plinko, anyone?

 Jack the Banana Split Dog was a huge hit!

 So was popcorn!

 Ian was very excited to meet this other firefighter at the Trunk-or-Treat. This boy came over to Ian at least three separate times to say hi. :)

 And, tonight, Ian went Trick-or-Treating around our neighborhood. Our first stop was next door to Ms. Cindy's house. Even though we rehearsed beforehand, Ian completely forgot what to say when Ms. Cindy answered the door. When we tried to prompt him, he immediately moved to the "thank you" portion. Funny!

 Ian thought the talking alien candy-giver was very intriguing.

 By the time we got to Mr. Steve's house a few houses later, Ian had the "trick-or-treat" and THEN "thank you" routine down!

Ian got quite a haul of candy and has been happy to learn brand-new vocabulary words like "Reeses Pieces" and "Whoppers" and "Twix." it's safe to say he has a sweet tooth just like his Daddy and Momma. :)

Fun with Friends

 My friend, Carole, planned another "art in the park" activity for her son (Carson), Caleb, and Ian. After some fun play time on the playground, the boys were very attentive as Carole told them about pumpkins and showed them in a book how pumpkins have vines and get bigger and bigger until we use them to make jack o' lanterns. She even gave them each a mini-pumpkin to hold and explore during her lesson.

 Then the boys got to practice dipping vegetables into water and "printing" onto paper.

 They thought this was a LOT of fun!

 Then, it was time to make pumpkin shapes.

 The boys used orange paint on potatoes for the pumpkin part and then green paint on celery stalks for the stems.

 The pictures turned out so cute! Thanks for the great ideas, Carole, and for organizing everything! After the project, we had a picnic lunch together at the park. One of Ian's highlights of being at the park was using the bathroom since the toilet made a funny creaking noise while flushing. He kept giggling and giggling while flushing the toilet multiple times. Then, he raced out of the bathroom to tell Ms. Aliceson, "When I flushed my pee pee, the toilet went ERRRT!" So funny!

 On Monday, we got to spend time with Melissa, our precious 6-year-old friend! Melissa and Ian dyed pasta by squishing together rubbing alcohol, food coloring, and dry noodles in a bag.

 Then, they spread out the noodles to dry.

 While we were waiting for them to dry, we played hide-and-seek

 and made a house for an earthworm we found outside.

 Then, we got to string the noodles! Melissa was a pro!

 Ian concentrated very hard

 and even got the hang of doing it himself (mostly!). Here's a video of him concentrating ..

 Here's Melissa showing off her finished product. She even added a hand decorated with fun foam Halloween stickers to one of her two necklaces.

 Then, Melissa showed Ian and Kim how she can READ! She read the rhymes on each page and gave Ian clues for finding the hidden pictures.

 What a fun time we had! Thanks for being a good "big sister" to Ian, Melissa!

 Today, we went to Toddler Time at the library. It was extra special because the librarian asked the kids to wear their costumes! Here are Ian (the fireman) and Caleb (Cat in the Hat) in the parking lot on the way in.

 We saw our friend, Charlie (the astronaut), at the library,

 and the Three Amigos (Caleb, Ian, and Caleb - a pizza slice!) paused for a picture, too. Aren't their costumes clever?!?

 Before story time was done, we went on a costume parade. Every child grabbed a musical instrument (Ian's choice was a bell),

 and they paraded around the main lobby of the library before going back to the story time room.

What a fun day! :)