Rest of October

November is going quick and Thanksgiving is coming up this week.  I had just a few last updates from October, so here we go.

Saturday, October 22nd we went over to Pauline's house for Ezra's 3rd birthday party.  We had a great time and got to visit w/ Pauline, Rose and their families. 

Ava holding Carter.  

Carter holding a ducky.  

He's getting a lot better at holding things, and of course putting them in his mouth :)

 We started Carter on rice cereal.  He still makes some funny faces when he eats it, but he actually eats it.  Nyles didn't want anything to do w/ it when he was his age, so it was a bit of a surprise that Carter does.

Nyles of course wants to feed him.

Nyles pretending to drive the ATVs.  We had them in our garage a few days while our neighbor Ron looked at them to let Dave know what was wrong w/ them

Dave and Joann were planning to go to Colorado to visit Carrie over Dave's birthday on the 28th, but Joann became sick, so they cancelled their flight and plans.  We invited Dave over for dinner and cake since it was his birthday, and Joann wasn't feeling up to anything at the moment.  We had pizza (Dave's favorite), then I made a Chocolate cake w/ chocolate frosting (also per Dave's request).

                                     Nyles of course had to help Dave blow out his candles. 

We've had some nice weather, which has been nice as we've been working on our yard still.  While Carter was down for a nap we went outside and cleaned out the gutters.  Nyles enjoying playing w/ his construction trucks in the dirt while we worked. :)

 

The gutters were disgusting, full of mud and old leaves.  

Who knows the last time they were cleaned.

Carter has been enjoying bouncing and playing more, at least for a while anyway ;)

 

Nyles has been enjoying playing w/ some neighbor boys his age.  Since Steve is usually home w/ Carter napping, their mothers would come pick up Nyles and take him w/ them.  They've gone to a duck pond many times and fed the ducks.  Nyles of course has had a blast!

Grandpa McGrath reading a bedtime story to Nyles.

 Cute Carter.

Cute Nyles ;)

Family Pictures 2016

Pauline and her family and her mother-in-law came over on Sunday, October 23rd.  We went over to Draper Park and took some family photos each.  She took some for us and I took some for her.  I think they turned out really well!  Thanks Pauline for taking such great photos; much appreciated :)  After taking pics we came back to our place, had dinner, and let the kids play while we visited.  It was a fun evening!  Here are the pics:

  Cute Nyles!

Our cute boys! :)

Couple pics.

Cute cousins!

Oh cute Carter ;)

 

Halloween 2016

We had a lot of fun activities this year for Halloween.  We had my work party on Friday, October 28th.  Steve brought the boys up to my work at Gateway that afternoon for the party.  Nyles was so excited to dress up as a Fireman!  We actually got his outfit the month before and he's been wearing it around the house.  He was also really excited to play the games this year as well.  Each year he's getting more and more involved and aware of what's going on.  He also went through one of the "spook alleys" with me this year; that was a first.  It was a little crowded, but we still had a great time overall!

Nyles in his Fireman outfit, and some vampire teeth ;)

 

Nyles playing some Halloween games.

Family photo!

We also went and picked out some pumpkins at Reams, then painted them for the first time.  Since Steve is allergic to pumpkins (and zucchini/squash we recently found out since they're in the same family), we've never bought them before.  We thought we'd try it this year though, and it worked out fine.  Since we just painted them instead of gutting them, Steve didn't have a reaction.  Nyles thought it was a lot of fun!  I'm sure we'll do it every year now going forward :)

Nyles and Steve focusing on painting their pumpkins.

We put the pumpkins on our door step :) 

On Monday, October 31st, we went over to Melanie/Brandon's house for dinner, then went Trick-or-Treating around their neighborhood.  We've done it every year since Nyles was a baby now, though we didn't actually Trick-or-Treat the first year when he was just a couple months old.  Nyles and his cousin Conor Monson have gradually increased their "endurance" of how long they last Trick-or-Treating.  It was a fun evening as usual!  Thanks Melanie and Brandon for having us over; it was a lot of fun!

Stacie holding Carter.  Phill making funny noises and faces, which made Carter laugh.  Phill gets him to laugh every time!

Cute Carter w/ Aunt Stacie.

Nyles showing us his "loot."

We hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween!!!