Benjamin's 2nd Birthday

Rusty & I were in town most of the day--waiting for the van to get fixed.  

On Tuesday, I loaded up the van & buckled Benjamin in his car seat, only to have the van not start.  So I buckled another car seat into the truck & went to town in Rusty's truck.

So we made an appointment to get the starter fixed.  (the van would start sometimes, but not others).

Anyways, since  the van wasn't finished until after 3 pm & Benjamin isn't that picky of an eater, I decided to just pick up pizza for dinner.

He started unwrapping his presents very carefully--like he wasn't sure if it was okay to rip the paper! 

 and then he got really excited because there were toys in the paper.

 and clothes--he was even excited about the clothes, because most of them were Toy Story.

 Hey--it's Woody!!!

 And my very own computer!!!  I got this "computer" at DI in the hopes that he would leave my laptop alone.  He can open my laptop, & thinks it is fun to type on my computer :(

 playing with his dragon that walks & flaps his wings.  it's pretty cool.

 He likes his Toy Story book.  I bought Toy Story 3 when I went to town on Tuesday to complete our collection.

 Trying to show us how Buzz Lightyear works.

 Brienna baked & decorated his cake while we were in town.  I had bought some tubes of frosting to help decorate when I got home, but Brienna didn't know that.  I think she did a good job without any help & with just using baggies (no tips, etc..)

 And more importantly--Benjamin liked his cake & knew who it was!

 Trying to blow out his 2 birthday candles. 

 Grandma & Grandpa Stewart--it is also Grandma Marge's birthday on the same day as Ben.  So we sang happy birthday to her too.

Benjamin wrapped up in his blanket & started "working" on his computer after we had cake & ice cream.

Happy Birthday to my little man--He is now officially 2, so NOW he can start making those messes ;) 

Trick-or-Treating

In our community, we went trick-or-treating on Saturday evening.

I helped get the kids in their costumes, and then Rusty & I went to Terreton for the evening sessions  (adults meeting) of Stake Conference. (if you want to find out what "Stake Conference is, click here)

 But first we bundled Emmalee up--all in purple.  She really wanted to wear her pretty church shoes, but we insisted on tennis shoes since she would be walking.  (in the past years, I usually drive/follow them in the van, so she can ride when she gets tired or cold).

 Callum's all decked out in his costume.

 We picked the warmer costume of the lion for Benjamin.  I found these cool sword & wand glow sticks at the dollar store for the kids to use while trick or treating.

 Benjamin didn't want to hold the glow stick by the handle ;)

 What awesome kids I have!  

 Looks like Ben is ready to go....

 and he is off...without everyone else!  Brienna was in charge of the little ones while we were gone & she said they were actually out trick-or-treating for 1 1/2 hours!  

Although he started out in the stroller with Brienna pushing him, Benjmain wanted to get out & walk up to each door--by himself.  If Brienna tried to help him out of the stroller, or up the steps, he would fuss (have a fit) & wait until he could do it himself.

But he was more than willing to share the candy he got from trick or treating.

It was a fun night for the kids.

Halloween Costumes

Aunt Pamela bought a bunch of fun costumes this year, so we had tons of costumes to choose from this year.

We have 2 totes of dress-up/costumes that we store in a shed.  

so Brienna decided to be Cleopatra.  And it was a great costume!  She looks very cute :D

Wouldn't she make a great ruler?

 I love the different poses--with great authority!

 Rusty--trying on the clown costume.

 I'll bet he clowns around at school ;)

He did say that next year he won't wear a wig, because he didn't enjoy having a tight-fitting wig squeezing his head.

 Emmalee had a blast trying on all of the different hats & costumes.

 I love her many, many faces!

 another wig--this one was my favorite!  but after everyone tried this on, it didn't quite fit right.

 some of the black wig--used as a mustache.

 nice!

Emmalee was a purple fairy--but when a teacher said she loved the purple fairy, Emmalee replied, "I'm not Purple Fairy...I'm Emmalee!"

 And Callum has bit of attitude in his awesome costume.  He wanted to be a sailor, but we couldn't find the sailor hat.  Then he couldn't decide what he wanted to be so he was a bunch of "crazy" things.  He wore a pumpkin shirt, baseball pants, firefighter hat & coat, a hook, a clown's tie, Superman's cape & the cool sunglasses.

 Now Zane's costume is another story.  He wanted to be Willy Wonka.  But he changes his mind sometimes.  So I told him if bought the hat & glasses, then he couldn't change his mind.  And I also bought the material for his jacket.  

 (The glasses are just like the ones Rusty wore).  The only night I had a chance to sew the jacket was Wednesday night after Cub Scout Pack Meeting.  So at 8:30 pm I found an old shirt, cut it for a pattern & started sewing it.  I finally finished about 11:30.  And I warned Zane if he didn't like it, he wasn't wearing anything else!!!!  But he really liked it.  He even made a "W" out of duct tape.  I thought it turned out really cute, even if I have to say so myself.

 Benjamin was an awesome Barney, the dinosaur.

 I got him to wear the head-hat, but after I got 2 pictures, it never went on again!

And Callum is giving me a thumbs-up--ready to go to his Halloween party.

Halloween Parties at School

Growing up, my mom would make oatmeal cookies at Halloween & decorate them with M&M's.  (It was one of the few times we actually had M&M's!)

 I haven't made these in a long time, so I decided to make them for the treats at Emmalee's & Callum's school parties.

 Emmalee as a purple fairy.

 They were playing "Guess who is the Ghost".

 Emmalee getting ready for treats--and Benjamin (as Barney the dinosaur) in the background.

 Emmalee's kindergarten class.  Her teacher (the "good" witch) is Kristie Nelson, a first-year teacher that is in our ward.  She is our Wolf Leader in scouts & her husband is the Bear Leader.

 Licking all the chocolate frosting off her face.

 (Okay--she didn't get all of the chocolate off her face.)  They were singing a cute song with actions that they had practiced all week.  I didn't have to help at Emmalee's party, so I was able to take a lot of pictures.

 I was the only mom/parent at Callum's 4th grade party, and they got out of their assembly late so we had to be quick with our party.

So I didn't get any pictures of them playing "Pumpkin Toss" (tossing candy-corn pumpkins into a cup, then stepping back a step & tossing again, etc.) or eating their treats.  They actually decorated their own oatmeal cookies & then ate them.