Happy Halloween!

Here is an oldie but a goodie.  Ben was 2 years and a few months.







Oh how I miss adorable costumes.  Now it's all Super Mario Brothers and Transformers around here-blech.  Ben does have a pretty cool pirate for tonight.  I'll be back tomorrow.  We'll see if Nate finally dons a costume-all signs point to NO!

Carnies!

Ok, so we missed the majority of the carnies! because we went early on a Saturday morning, but..

we went to the fair!!

  We hadn't really planned on it, Gil and I like to pretend our kids are too little to enjoy things that will just cost us a lot of money, but we went and it was fun.  Going on Saturday morning was great.  All of the rides were 2 for 1 so we really saved a good bit.  Aunt Leslie also had some discount tickets so that made it even better.  And it wasn't crowded-the best part of all.  Ben loved the rides, of course, and we were surprised at how many Nate would ride.

We also saw some cows, bunnies, chickens, and ducks.  Next year I hope there is a night football game so we can stay longer!

This little car ride was so funny.  The cars whipped around the corners so fast, the boys cracked up every time!



The obligatory picture of fair food. We had an elephant ear and it was good!

Gil was here too-he was happy to be the official photographer of the day (since it kept him from having to ride the rides). He we are with Aunt Leslie.

The daredevils went on this little roller coaster-we even sat in the back-yep, living on the edge.

Look at that sweet little face on the lollipop swings.  The kid loves to "swing high" on our swingset, but I did not think he would like this, but he laughed the whole time.  Ben and Leslie were behind us on this one.



Big liked the bumper cars, or he said he did-it looked to me that he spent a great deal of time stuck in a corner! 

We all know that he is just biding his time until he is tall enough for the SCARY rides. When he is, he will have a willing partner in his mom. I just have to get out of my mind that the rides came down the highway on a flatbed a day or two ago-that is truly the scariest part of the fair (besides the people that come at night).

Big Love

I have been in a state of BigHugeLove with these two little boys lately.  I have said it over and over throughout the past 5 years, but I just love the ages they are right now. 

Ben is so curious about the world and learning so much everyday. He is becoming such a "person" and it is amazing to see.  He loves school and is happy to go each day.  I'm not crazy about how I feel that real school is sort of pulling him a little away from us here at home, but that is a discussion for another time.

And Nate is all love and sunshine and light.  He loves to be around us, give and get kisses, and wants us to tickle him all the time.  He is my companion when Ben is at school and we have the best time together.

But what they both really love is playing together.  Nate gets a little lonely when Ben is at school and is pretty glad when he gets up from his nap and Ben is back home.

I've managed to catch them with the camera a few times lately together and it warms my heart.

Both super tired, playing Angry Birds and waiting for Dad to get home. 

This doesn't mean I don't want to thump the sometimes, but I sure do love the little stinkers.

And speaking of thumping, or wanting to do so-we are searching for one of Nate's crocs-the pot is now up to $7 for whoever finds it-and all are eligible.  If you have a few minutes to spare, come on over-we might even go as high as $10!

A rainy day

The boys are out of school today and we woke up to GLOOM.  The perfect excuse to stay in pj's and be lazy.  We did lots of little things, which may have included eating cake for breakfast and playing a game of real life Angry Birds with castle blocks and bean bags in Ben's room.

We all decided to build a fort, something we haven't done in a while.  As the boys get older, their fort requirements get more complex.  Today's fort had to form a complete circle they could crawl through-and have several skylights and trapdoors.  I guess we succeeded because they played in it for a while.

They have really played so nicely together all day, I keep catching them hunkered down together playing games they make up.  Their voices together (in these sweet moments) is one of the nicest things I have ever heard.  I love how Nate is always questioning Ben and Ben so patiently explains (most of the time).  It is so nice right now because Ben is the obvious leader and Nate is just fine with that.  I know that will not always be the case, so I am enjoying this stage of their relationship while it lasts.

We have enjoyed decorating for Halloween, thanks to the Martha Stewart section at Michael's.  Nate wanted to take pictures of some of our spooky stuff.

And some little bats landed on some of our pictures.  Yikes.

Books!

We are so lucky that our two little monsters love books.  Frankly, they weren't really given any choice in the matter, but so far....so good. 

Nate is currently in the stage where he wants to read the same books over and over.  He doesn't want library books, unless they are Maisy books (see the picture Gil painted above his bed?  That's Maisy)  and he wants to pick out his own books.  His traditional bookshelves were not meeting his needs (seeing all of the covers to choose) so his handy dad put up some shelves so he can see the book covers. 

The happy accident part of the new shelves is how much color it has added to his room!  Books are good decorating options.

**Somehow I forgot to mention that these shelves are made out of rain gutters-yep, cheap rain gutters found at any hardware store!

(And please pretend like my little corner of the blogoverse has not been a ghost town for MONTHS!)