The Great Candy Grab (AKA Halloween 2012)

Monkey man Jack and Cheerleader Ali, wondering just what the heck all the excitement is about...

Ryan digging in his treat bag for the one Starburst Dad put in there for him (Save for later? What kind of crazy talk is that?!)  All firemen wear Crocs, right?

Sawyer, just along for the ride.

Our first stop - what are we doing again?

Jack's enthusiasm was a little low, so he lagged behind most of the time.

Ryan gallantly helping ring the doorbell for Ali.

Aidan and Ella and their dad Neil.

Jack was excited to "Touch the ghosts!" and would have stayed here happily all night.

This neighbor didn't have his light on, but the kids insisted on ringing the bell...

...only to be disappointed when no one showed up.

The next house made up for it, though, with bones and a graveyard and other gruesome elements.  They weren't ready for the early trick-or-treaters, though, and had no candy - but he did have little bags of fruit snacks, which my kids like better than candy anyway!

They also had this crazy battery-operated vampire bat, which didn't freak out the kids as much as I expected (though Jack is not exactly wild about it):

Ryan actually thought it was pretty funny:

The sun is setting; neighbor Chip helps Ali and Ryan pick out just the perfect treat.

Admiring Ali's kitty-cat Jack-o-Lantern.

The excitement catches up to Monkeyman, who decides to pitch a fit right on the kitchen floor.

Fireman/chef Ryan takes the bowl I had mixed up cornbread in and, after pouring in milk and water, declares that he is making his own dinner. Um, okay then. Guess we know what next year's costume should be!

 

The boys were excited every time more "friends" (as Ryan called them) came to our door, and he put very generous fistfuls of candy into their bags.  Fortunately we passed out the last of the candy right at 7:30 so we were able to turn out the light and attempt to settle down for the night.

Tykes on Bykes

I realized I never posted these pictures from July.  The new trend in bikes is for toddlers to start out on "balance bikes" - short little bicycles with no pedal or chains.  The idea is that they'll learn to balance first, using their feet to push themselves along, and then when they graduate to "real" bikes you don't have to use training wheels since they've already learned to balance themselves.

I had wanted to get a balance bike for Ryan for a while, but they're very expensive (particularly for something that actually has FEWER parts than a regular bike) so when I saw them highly discounted on one of those daily-deal websites for moms, I ordered one.  This one is a TykesBykes brand.

It arrived in pieces of course, and Ryan was very excited to help Sam assemble it (these photos are from my iPod, so excuse the poor quality).

 

 

 

Ryan was a little impatient for dad to finish assembling the brake (which turned out to be pretty useless anyway since he has neither the grip strength nor the mental/physical coordination to operate it properly)

 

 

Finally we took it out on the patio to test out:

We thought perhaps it would be more fun to go out front and ride on the driveway.  Ryan carefully wheeled his bike through the garage, across the driveway and out to the sidewalk, where he promptly leaned it up against a rock in the flowerbed and yanked the tricycle away from Jack.

Jack was happy enough to ride the scooter car, which he does with gleeful abandon (but fairly precise accuracy!).  Neither kid has ever pushed the pedals on the tricycle, which was another indicator to me that the balance bike might be more popular.

Ryan has gradually gotten more comfortable riding the bike, particularly after we watched a bunch of YouTube videos of kids on balance bikes.  Ryan's friends have balance bikes, too, and we like to go to a nearby park that has a fairly flat, wide, and - most importantly - unpopulated sidewalk to ride bikes.  Jack tries his hardest to keep up on his scooter car (he makes the funniest "car noises") - he'll get a bike of his own for Christmas and then I think it will be WATCH OUT WORLD.

Today we met David and Will for another ride around the park (it's .77 miles according to the sign) and some fun on the playground.

A rare moment of forced immobility while Jack and I caught up... and they're off again!

 

Jack kept truckin' along, oblivious to how far ahead the bigger boys were, or how close these enormous (and fearless) geese were getting...

Jillian and Ava Grace joined us after we got back to the playground, and she asked, "Do Will and David always wear a helmet when on the playground?"  Unlike my kids, those two had kept their helmets on while swinging and sliding!

As we were getting ready to leave Jillian pulled out a package of fake mustaches, which Ryan and Ava had quite a time with.  Will applied his everywhere except his upper lip (across his nose, on the front of his helmet) and Ryan looked at me like I was trying to hand him a live leech...

Magnum, P.I.

Musee des Enfants

The boys bring home some elaborate art projects from preschool and we were running out of space on the fridge, so I picked up this curtain wire and clips to create a nice display spot.

 

How thrilled was I when Ryan brought home a glitter project (answer: NOT)?  He is developing excellent fine motor skills - he can write a lovely R and is working on the rest of the letters in his name.

Jack's class went on a nature walk and then sealed their "treasures" in a laminated pouch.  Miss Ruth wrote in her daily note that Jack was the only child who commented on how warm the plastic was went it came out of the laminator.

We'll swap it out as more art comes home, then make the difficult decision of what to keep or toss (the 3D styrofoam sculpture quickly got tossed as Ryan decided to scrape off little pieces of styrofoam all over the house).

Trains or Treats

While Sam and I spent a weekend in Crested Butte celebrating our belated anniversary and Sam's upcoming birthday (photos here), the boys stayed with Bill & Nancy.  The Colorado Railroad Museum had a special event for Halloween, so the boys got to test out their costumes early.

Halloween is not a big deal in our house, so the boys had no say in their costumes - Jack's monkey was a hand-me-down from Ryan and Ryan's fireman costume came from my friend Julie - and the first time they wore the costumes was on Saturday morning.  I guess they liked them!

 

 

Then they were off to the museum.  I guess I didn't send enough layers to wear under the outfits, but it's a pretty standard Colorado occurence to wear a parka with your costume!

 

 

 

Jack was very excited to ride the train - that's the first thing he told me about when we got home.

 

Pumpkin Festival 2012

Today we went to the Pumpkin Festival at the Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield.  We've been to this festival twice before and always have a good time. We never actually buy any pumpkins, but there are a lot of other fun attractions.

First up, matching outfits (thanks to Amy Mancini for the hand-me-down sweatshirts!)

Then a photo op with Grandma and Grandpa.

Jack was excited to ride a pony, while Ryan was decidedly against it (and many other activities to come).

Sam and Ryan went to explore a display of machines, including a 1/3 size hay baler and this contraption, which we never quite figured out its use but Ryan was fascinated by it. 

Next up, the jumping pillow.  The boys faces lit up the minute they climbed aboard, even though it was very hard for them to keep their balance, particularly when bigger kids were jumping nearby. 

Video evidence of grins and giggles, despite brain-jarring bouncing:

The last grins before a big girl wiped out Ryan and sent him into hysterics...

I conned Jack into riding the "teacups" ride - he had a pretty good time until I spun us around too fast.

We met Eli and Ava at the plane ride - again, Ryan wanted nothing to do with the adventure but the younger three had to be pulled away.

After a stop for funnel cake we headed to the arts & crafts area, where the boys made "monster hands" out of plastic gloves and popcorn...

... and had their first experience with balloon animals. Ryan, of course, asked for a turtle, but Jack surprised the balloon artist when he asked for a crescent moon (like the light in his room).

He looks skeptical in this photo, but he really was over the moon (ha! get it?) about the crescent moon... until he dropped it on the gravel trail and it popped.

Ryan loved his honu, too, but the head popped before we left the festival and only compounded what was turning out to be a challenging day for him. 

Photo ops with an historic truck...

... and on a hayride (pulled by historic tractors, which the boys loved.

Ava Grace on the hay ride.

Last look at the tractors before heading home.