Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!!

 Carving pumpkins over the weekend.  Taylor with a knife - pretty dangerous!

 And then there's very dangerous!! I didn't even notice the knife was like this until I looked at the pictures on the computer!  Oops.

 It all ended well.  Apparently Bryce and Chase pre-planned their Mickey themed pumpkins this year.

 Checking out the great pumpkin patch.

 Poor petting zoo animals.  I feel bad for them. 

 Bryce was completely giddy and Chase would just laugh at Bryce.

 We only had one pumpkin bucket but I thought surely they would be handing out bags of some sort, right? Nope.  Poor Taylor had to resort to using a paper cup to collect candy.  Grace brought her a pumpkin today so she was all set for tonight's candy run!

 Looking for Nutzy!

 We did an early trick-or-treat run this morning.  We stopped by my grandparents first.

 Chase and Bryce kind of had it backwards. 

They said trick-or-treat to Grandaddy and then gave him their candy!

 Next we headed downtown.

 With a stop at Dave's office.

 Taylor took a few calls for him while we were there.

 Tonight was trunk-or-treat at church.  We set up a jail next to the police car.

 Trying to get a picture with Kaleb and Kathryn.  This was sadly my best of six different shots.

It started raining pretty hard so Chase and Bryce jumped in jail where it was dry and they handed out candy until the end.

Portraits

It was time for Taylor's 2-year pics, so I decided to try to knock out Christmas pictures at the same time.  I got them dressed up and they were ready to go.  This was her before we left.

And this was her in the studio.  Seriously, why do I keep trying? 

She was having a blast until the lady said to smile.  Oh well.

Back home, loving life.

 In the studio, picking her nose.  We didn't order any - shocking, I know - but I will keep these fuzzy copies of the proofs to show her later one day!

Silly girl.

 This was the best picture of the two of them.  The photographer thought that if she could prove to Taylor nothing bad would happen if her picture was taken, then she might cooperate.  Fat chance.

 Chase, on the other hand, was loving it all.   

He was most cooperative and was even trying to bribe his sister with me!

 

He scored himself a new fish out of the deal. 

 He picked out the boots himself!

It's funny to see how different two kids can be! 

Don't be looking for your Christmas cards to arrive early this year!! I tried.

Clearing the Camera

Figured I'd better clear off the camera now to get these pictures on here.  We started the Halloween festivities today and all that will be followed by Taylor's birthday next week so there will likely be more pictures coming soon!

Taylor is loving that Max comes over to play most days.

Max is not so sure what he's gotten himself into!  He was "shopping" with her.
This is how Max feels after a morning with Taylor. (I think Bryce might feel the same way!)

My two little peas in a pod.

Chase coordinated the green sweatshirts.

Taylor had to keep up.

The ice cream truck finally came by our house last week. 

Now that he knows we're there he will probably be back too often!

Happy with their selections - Dora looks chocolate but is actually strawberry-banana flavored ice.  I was regretting stealing a bite of that one!

Snuggled up watching a movie with Kaleb and Kathryn.  They probably stayed like that for 1/2 of the first preview.  It didn't last long!

Pumpkin Patch

 We took an impromptu trip to the pumpkin patch yesterday.  There were about 8.4 million school kids there (totally not looking forward to field trip days!) but despite the crowd it was a good trip!

Taking the hayride to the pumpkin field. 

The boys were trying their best to look around the camera to see what was happening!

 On the hunt for the perfect pumpkn.

 Two things I learned at the pumpkin patch: 1. There will be no pumpkins small enough to be carried by children under 4.  2. Take bags to carry pumpkins of said children.

 The chosen pumpkin.

I convinced them that we would just take a couple back on the wagon and then they could each pick out a smaller one back at the barn.  Luckily, they went for it. 

 Making eachother into scarecrows on the way back.

 Cheese-ing with Vanessa - our fellow pumpkin carrier!

 Watching the pigs race.  Love the spray-painted numbers.

 You may have noticed Taylor wasn't in many of the patch pics.  She was attached on my hip as though a pumpkin might attack her.  Fortunately, I had a 15lb pumpkin on my other hip to balance her out, so she was hardly a bother.  I'm guessing she was just tired?!

Back home showing off the final selections!

 Toting the pumpkins to the porch.

 The boys decided they were too cool to pose with their pumpkins and of course, Taylor had to join them.

 Here they are not being in the picture, which I told them was fine!

 So then they decided that they did want to be in the picture. 
They just weren't going to look.

Closest we ever got to a smile!