Happy Halloween!  We had a great one.  Well, technically it is tomorrow, but the ward trunk or treat counts for us, although we will probably dress up Zeke to pass out candy on Monday.  Zeke understood slightly better than last year, but still didn't seem to fully appreciate the magic.  He loved his costume and dressing up, and he loves the skeletons and scary decorations in our neighborhood (he says "hi" to the skeletons, even the creepy ones and has no concept of Halloween as a scary holiday).  But I was expecting super excitement at all the candy and there wasn't really much of that.  He just went from car to car an put candy in his bucket more out of obdience than delight.  Of course he was happy to eat it afterwards!

Because Zeke didn't fully understand Halloween we had a hard time finding out what he wanted to be for Halloween.  We found a Buzz Lightyear costume for $3.00 and went for it.  Of course a few days later Zeke declared that he wanted to be a MOOSE!  Where did that idea come from?  I think the motivator was the deer in my Dad's garage.  But luckily we were able to convince him that Buzz would be pretty cool too.  Trustin spent oodles of time making Buzz's wings, complete with battery powered lights!  Zeke loved it.

Ashlynn was our little baby penguin and naturally she was quite adorable and had no clue what was going on. 

Happy Halloween!

The Progression

So once upon a time... we decided to buy Zeke a twin bed, and we fretted about how the transition would go.  The time had come: a baby was on the way, ready to steal the crib, and Zeke had learned how to escape the crib, head first.  Still, we were nervous.  To our pleasant surprise the transition was remarkably easy.  Zeke loved his big bed and had no trouble sleeping in it (can you see where this is going?).  Not only would he sleep just fine in his bed but he wouldn't even get out of it, ever. After he would wake up he would sit there on his bed and call for us.  Then we'd come up and he'd climb down.

Then one day, it all changed. 

Zeke overheard us telling somebody how incredible it is that he never climbs out of his bed.  The VERY next day, you guessed it.  (Smart kid, eh?). 

See stage one: under the bed

Followed up quickly by stage two: sleeping by the door. He slept here every bedtime/naptime for weeks, we couldn't even open the door to peak at our little sleeper, except by sneaking a camer around the door.

Then we felt guilty because Zeke started saying "no lock door."  The lock disappeared with the admonition that he still needed to stay in his room.  He sort of obeyed.  see stage 3

That lasted a while, but then we hit stage 4: slowly creeping down the hall.  It was quite adorable really, he would bring his pillow, several blankets, his bedtime toys and set up his little bed in the hallway every night. 

I don't have a picture of the next one, but Zeke requested to sleep on the stairs.  Strangely, I said no.  This coupled with the fact that nap and bedtime were all preceded by several hours of playing and running around the hall and opening and closing his door and then finally falling asleep in the hallway  which meant walking on pins and needles from the rest of us and eliminating the possibility of Trustin and I watching movies in the living room after bedtime and premature ends to naptime if the phone rang led to the decision that Stage 2 (lock on the knob and kid sleeping by the door) was a rather lovely stage.  It has returned. 

First Day of School, and more

We made the mistake of putting Ashlynn in blue jeans and tennis shoes.  Suddenly I had this feeling like she was all dressed up for her first day of school.  I should not be allowed to feel like that when she is two months old. 

 hint of a smile

 See, she is way too old already.

Finally we caught some of her big smiles on camera! 

Yep, this kid is definitely ours.

The next few are photos from a ward activity up at Mt. Charleston.  It was so great to be somewhere with trees and cool area and nature.  It made me miss Pinetop.  We had a lot of fun and I wish it was just a bit closer so we could head up to the mountains all the time.

Zeke had to jump off pretty much every fallen tree we encountered.

And so Ashlynn did too.

A little baseball with sticks and pine cones.

Here's my whole life.

McKelle --- "I am going to exercise"

Zeke ---"Where my pink muscles are?"

Watch out for this kid.  He's tough.

Lately Zeke calls EVERYONE "that guy."  Men, women, children, prophets, book characters, parents.  Most common phrase "What that guy doing?"

Perhaps one of life's greatest enjoyments.

As for us: I started a ridiculous online course that is threatening to take over my existence or at least every single moment of Zeke's naps.  Trustin is still just working.  Nothing too exciting here.  But I do have a growing appreciation for freezer meals.

This video is kind of dim but catches some smiles.

Zeke's New Bed

Zeke recently decided that beds are overrated.  He now chooses to sleep on the floor in front of his bedroom door.  Every nap.  Every bedtime.  This is a mystery to me.

Blessing Day for our Sweet Girl

Trustin blessed Ashlynn this past Sunday.  It was a beautiful blessing for a beautiful little girl.  Grandma Brockbank made her blessing dress and it was exquisite.  Listening to the words of the blessing made me so proud of my Ashlynn and I can't wait to see her grow and learn.  She already means the world to me but I've found with both of my kids that every stage is "the cutest stage ever" and they just keep getting cuter! 

A little quick catch up

Here is a quick little catch up in photos:

Ashlynn almost went swimming for the first time, but then we decided that the water was too cold for her, so she just came with us to look cute.  She was quite successful at that.

 

 Sleeping Beauty.  I love it when babies or kids sleep with their bottoms in the air!

 Getting ready to read a bedtime story.

 Zeke wanted to have Ashlynn in the hamper with him...  Does this look safe?  Perhaps not. 

 Went to the carousel again.

 We are home!  Hooray!  It took six weeks to fix our house but we are so glad to be home, even if it does mean we have to start making our own beds and weeding the garden.  And here we are making cookies.  Zeke is my great assistant chef.

 One of the things Zeke missed the most while we were staying in the hotel was his red bike.  He is loving being reunited with this old friend.  A little thing we love about Zeke these days: He is handsome.  He is nothing but handsome.  If we say "Zeke you are so cute"(or any other adjective) he responds "No, Zeke handsoo!"

 We made riding bikes a family affair.

 ...for the whole family.

 Moving back in prompted a bit of Spring cleaning beginning with finally dealing with our massive pile of things that need to be shredded.  The best way to take care of that was by roasting marshmallows.

 Ashlynn's first time in the bumbo.  And she has finally started smiling. 

Finally, we got lots of great family pictures taken out at Lake Las Vegas by Trustin's dad.