{happy halloween}

Last Friday night, we attended our ward's fall festival and had such a good time.  It was so well done and we thoroughly enjoyed being there with our ward family.  In addition to a chili cook-off, games were provided for the children and trunk-or-treating finished the evening perfectly.  We decided to dress up as a family this year and chose to be Russell, Carl, and Kevin from the movie Up.  Deals were found at Goodwill for much of our costumes, and the rest we either had or made out of felt.  In total, all 3 costumes for around $30.  

This was before we left to pick up the balloon bouquet on our way to the church.  He wasn't too excited about all the layers but put up with it really well.

I thought these ones of Will helping Emerson get ready were especially sweet.  On top of making him wear all these layers, we put the balloons out of his reach.  He wasn't too pleased but survived the night and loved playing with them once we got home.

This suit coat complete with elbow pads (hehe) was only $5.99.  How great is that?!

 Did you dress up this year?  What did you make your little ones wear?

Everyday

I wanted to have some pictures of what Emerson and I do on a regular day.  I've already posted some of our indoor adventures like stacking and lining things up, but I don't have very many pictures of a major part of our day: outdoor fun.  In the heat of the summer, I could only stand about 10 outdoor minutes in the morning and 10 outdoor minutes in the afternoon.  For the past few weeks we have had cooler weather (in the 75-80 degree range) which means we can be outside for longer periods.  As long as Emerson doesn't run into the road, I'm content to stay outside as long as he wants.  We have had some fun walks lately.  Here are some pictures of our outdoor routine.

Emerson has gotten really good at ascending and descending stairs.  For months we held hands going up and down, but now he can do it on his own. 

All. Three. Flights.

Sometimes it takes us 10 minutes just to get downstairs, especially if he's thrown something over the railing before we even start going down, because then he has to point and yell at it for a few seconds on each step. 

Love this little smiley man.

This is where he is shaking his finger at the ants and telling them all sorts of things. 

Sometimes I'm not fast enough and his chosen toy goes over or through the railing.  We've tried various tactics to prevent this, but really, what's better than chucking something down 3 stories and watching it crash below?  To a little boy, practially nothing.  Sometimes I pretend I don't see just so I don't have to tell him to not throw his toys for the 107,000th time that day.  Tell me I'm not the only one who does this. 

We go on adventures around the complex and find all sorts of gems like broken glass from beer bottles, cigarette butts, and a myriad of bugs and creepy crawlers.

Wide-stepping through the gazebo.

When we're done, we stretch out and cool down, then make the long trek upstairs to {hopefullypleaseohplease} see NAP:TIME on the clock.

cannibalumpkin & frankenpump

on monday night we got together with some friends to carve pumpkins.  we had such a fun time, and our pumpkins turned out pretty well, too.  the few days following the carving we had some really warm weather so our pumpkins only lasted a couple days before molding, but luckily we roasted the seeds and are still reaping some benefits of pumpkin carving ;) mmmmm! 

will has a cannibalistic look in his eye...

he calls it 'the cannibalumpkin'

i took an easier-on-the-stomach approach and made 'frankenpump'

emerson still isn't old enough to wield a knife so he opted to play with toys while we carved, but he did love seeing the fire inside the pumpkins and especially loved throwing the lids all over our balcony despite our asking him not to.  he would even pick up one lid, shake his head no, then look at us to clarify, 'that's right, we don't throw that' before promptly chucking it the other way.  sigh.  we can't help but chuckle a little inside, though.  defiance is cute when it's in the form of a 2-yr-old.  and besides, it's only a pumpkin lid.

happy carving!

It's a web, like a spider's web...

Anybody remember that camp song "Spider's Web?"  I do.  It was one of my favorites at girls camp because it had two parts that were just so magical when combined at the end.

I found the neatest web last week in my complex and just HAD to run home and get my camera.  Do you know how hard it is to shoot webs?  It's dang tough for someone who knows nothing about photography and lighting and all that technical camera stuff.  And I tried using flash and the web just disappeared.  Hopefully you can see it well enough to at least imagine how cool it looked.

I wonder how long it took the spider (whom I couldn't find anywhere - she must have taken a day off after all that work) to make this.  And what perfect timing with Halloween just around the corner.  Bravo, Spidey! Such a work of art!

"It's a web, like a spider's web
Made with silver light and shadow,
Spun by the moon in my room at night.
It's a web made to catch a dream,
Hold it fast 'til I awaken
As if to tell me my dream if of you."

Linear Fun

Some may not know that Emerson is quite the organized little guy.  He is very good about putting his toys away when he's done using them.  With a little prodding, he helps pick the whole house.  Another way he is organized is with his toys.  He loves to gather toys or items of the same kind and line them all up.  Then he'll run into the other room to find me and drag me back to see his creation. 

After showing me each car/truck and having me name it, with much gusto he'll throw his hands in the air as if he were saying TA-DAAAA!

This is where he is showing me his where his teeth are.  I've tried to ask him to smile for pictures but he won't so then I tried asking, "Show me your teeth."  Instead he just pointed to them :)

Here are some more examples from different days:

And of course, ta-da!

He even does it in the bathtub...

 ...and with my nail polish...

...and his blocks.

Oh, how we love this kid!  He is so much fun to have around.  Maybe his skills will come in handy when we move and I need to organize everything into boxes ;)