Halloween Festivities

Zeke's costume was simple and unique this year:

And we have loved decorating our new place.

We had a lot of fun at a ward party and trunk-or-treat last night. Zeke and I made one trip around the parking lot collecting various candies, one otter pop, and one bag of microwave popcorn (which I think is an awesome treat). Zeke really got in to the trick or treat spirit this year and learned to hold up his treat bucket and say something resembling 'trick or treat!' and we are still working on the 'thank you' afterwards. Then we returned to our car and Zeke was happy to sit and help Aaron distribute Smarties while munching his own. And we made some amazingly beautiful and delicious cupcakes to share.

Mommy, Take My Picture!

2 1/2 going on 16

Today in church the sacrament prayer had just been said and Zeke says "Zeke bless it". Explained that he had to wait until he was 12 to recieve the Aaronic preisthood and then 16 to be set apart as a priest before he could bless it.

Looked over at Manndi and said who knows what his attitude towards the whole thing will be like then. Blink and we'll probably be there. :D

It's Autumn Time

Love the leaves, all season long.

Sign Post

A couple of weeks ago while Zeke and I were outside I wandered out to the sidewalk to look down the street, and Zeke came with me. When he saw the street sign just up the block, he insisted we walk to it. So we did.

And he played in the rocks...

Then we walked to the next street sign and Zeke insisted that I take a picture there too.

And then we found a stop sign, and Zeke stopped to visit.

We turned the corner, saw some more street signs, and turned around to come home. I tried to point out the speed limit sign but I think the big rock was more interesting.

I never thought of going on a sign walk, but apparently Zeke did - and I'm glad he shared it with me.

Here a Book, There a Book

One night not too long after we moved, I offered to read Zeke some bedtime stories. We both enjoyed reading books and did it again a few nights later. That was all it took, and now we officially have a bedtime story routine. Zeke won't let me put him to bed without reading at least a couple of books. (Really he deserves most of the credit for keeping the routine going.)
I've found that I really enjoy our reading time and I should have made this happen about 2.5 years ago. We usually read about 10 or 15 minutes, longer on the few nights that we are actually on time with the bedtime routine.

Zeke's favorite books (this week anyway):
- Are You My Mother?
- I Love Trains
- B is for Bear
- Fish Eyes
- 123 Peep

Our favorite books to read to him (not appearing above):
- Hand Hand Fingers Thumb
- But Not the Hippopotamus
- I Like It When

Planes on the Lake

About a month ago we went to a fantastic float fly. The weather was perfect and Utah Lake was actually pretty in spots.
Now if only we had a float plane ...

Shopping Shopping

We went grocery shopping last night and Zeke found a shopping cart just his size.

He pushed it along proudly, gathering goldfish crackers, pancake mix, bread, paper towels, bandaids, sausage, raisins, and a few other things. He also tried to gather a few random loose eggs we found in the refrigerator section, but we made him put them back. We quickly found out he only had two speeds, running and stopped. To his credit, he was very good about stopping when we told him to, but we still had several run-ins with the store displays. He insisted on pushing the cart all by himself, and any attempts to help steer the small cart were met by shrieks of protest and immediate prying off of the adult guiding hand. Probably the funniest moment was in the produce section, where thee store had anti-fatigue mats down to help mitigate slippery floors and Zeke had to drive on the 'road'.

Our last stop was the pharmacy, and while I was at the counter Zeke was driving crazy and Aaron told him that he would be in the big cart if he crashed one more time. As I finished up, Zeke crashed into a sign and almost knocked over a display. He promptly received the promised consequence, and we had a complete breakdown between the joint supports and the travel-size toiletries. Zeke was so upset at being taken away from his shopping cart that he didn't hear Aaron telling him he needed Zeke to walk his cart to the checkout. Finally Zeke got returned to his cart and after some convincing walked down to check out.

It was the most exhausing shopping trip we've ever been on. Several of the other shoppers commented on how cute Zeke was with his little cart. I have to wonder if the other parents were thinking to themselves, 'Sure glad it's them and not us'.

Where the Water Flows

End of last month we had a say-farewell-to-Carrie-temporarily party, consisting of picnic dinner and nature walk. The scenery was beautiful and we all had a great time.

We were outside, there were trees, there was water, we went walking, and Grandma and Grandpa brought root beer, so Zeke was a happy camper!

I'll have you know I coordinated this family picture (love the self-timer setting on our camera!). It was high time we had one too - the last one we had was well before Zeke and Carrie.

What a lovely way to spend an end-of-summer Saturday.