Neighborhood park

The key to happiness for our house is the ability for Luke to get his wiggles out. This morning after breakfast and clean up we headed for a walk to the neighborhood park.

 We love the playground. It was so nice to get out and enjoy the fresh air.

 When did my little baby start looking like a big boy? Holy cow.

 Luke is cautiously adventurous. He likes trying new things as long and mom is close to coach him through it. I made it all the way to the top and then looked down. That was it. He wanted mom to get him down.

 Sand....like dirt is a boys' best friend.

 Seriously, he's too big. Stop it. Stop getting so big.

 He decided that it was okay to climb to the top of the playground even though mom didn't. Someone has to take pictures, right?

 This is what I get from him if I wasn't ready to take his hand to slide down the slide. Patience is a virtue not easily acquired.

 Yay for slides! It's so great to have him big enough to climb the stairs and get on the slide by himself. But really, that's big enough....stop growing up.

 Yelling with excitement because he decided he could do the slides without help from mom. No more hand holding, I just had to catch him at the bottom.

 Then came the big slide. The would climb to the top, look for my face to make sure I was there, then yell OK! Go! and shoot himself down.

 We also did lots of running on the grass. We looked at plants and I showed him the leaves on the ground. I tried to explain to him that the trees had "dropped" them. So he picked them up and took them to the nearest tree and said, "Here go!" Such a helper.

I could follow this cutie anywhere. Around the park. To school. On his mission...wait....probably not....I think there's rules for that.

It's a hard life...

Apparently he needed some rest and relaxation after breakfast.

Halloween 2011

This year I was SO excited for the holiday season to start up, beginning with Halloween. But that all got side tracked with the loss of our Sweet Minnie. We kinda just went through the motions this year. But in the end, it was just what we needed. Well, that is, minus losing my super expensive smart phone....seriously, I lost sleep over it.

But I found my phone. And my holiday spirit.

So here's some pictures of what we did.

 We made caramel apples. It was our first time, and we figured out what will be the better way next year ;) But it was still good and fun. The boys couldn't keep their fingers out of the toppings. We had chocolate chips, almonds, and pecans. YUM!

 We took Luke out to our church's trunk-or-treat. He was a little put off by the fact it was dark. And everyone looked kinda weird - explain that to a 2 year old. But he had a blast running around.

 We tried to get him interested in some of the games, but he really just loved running in circles, dancing to music, and just enjoying the atmosphere.

 This is the one game we got him to play. And really, Matt did all the work, because Luke couldn't keep his eyes of the witch that was helping at the booth. Haha!

 He got his first taste of cotton candy. And it was a hit. But he treated it like a lollipop and would only give it a lick. We stayed for only a bit of the actually trunk-or-treating. I had to work that night and Luke was getting sleepy because it was way past his bedtime.

 Halloween night Luke was a little more prepared to wear his costume. We even put a goatee on him. But let me tell you, it's impossible to paint a mustache on a wiggle boy. Good thing we went out in the dark.

Luke was really unsure of the whole process at first. But once he realized people would give him stuff and tell him how cute he was...things went smoothly. He even figured out how to say "Treat!". Then he'd wave and say "Bye!" and move on to the next house. So cute! Can't wait until next year...he's going to have a blast.