Halloween Fun at Our House

The kids are in bed and I'm sitting on the couch surrounded by candy... oh my.  I don't have much to say, but I do have some pictures to share!  Let's start with the pumpkin.  Last night we had a pumpkin carving night with the rest of the Toews gang.  It was complete and utter chaos-- crazy hyper toddlers, pumpkin seeds and guts everywhere, sharp knives-- yikes!  Don't worry, we didn't let the children wield the knives, but it was difficult to keep them at a safe distance.  I'm not much of a pumpkin carver-- Doug enjoys the excuse to pull out his knife collection so I let him take over.  This year he carved a goose in the shape of a C for Caleb...

My job was the toast the pumpkin seeds-- just a little sea salt, some fresh ground pepper, an hour in the oven and you have a delicious and healthy snack.  I really should be eating those pumpkin seeds right now rather than all this candy...

 

I didn't get Emerson a costume... there wasn't much point.  Instead I created one out of a few items found in her closet.  Emerson was a polar bear cub... a REALLY cute polar bear cub if I do say so myself...

Then we decided to take a few pictures of Emerson in her Sunday best.  So cute... how could I resist?

And once Daddy appears in her line of vision Emerson lights up.  

She saves her biggest toothless smiles for Daddy.

 

Tonight Caleb and Emerson met up with their cousins to do a little trick or treating.  It was quite a zoo out there tonight.  Ha ha ha.  Lame, I know.  As you may be able to tell, it was nearly impossible to get the kids to stand still for a picture prior to trick or treating.

Just for comparison's sake-- here are the kids at Halloween last year.  As you can see, these costumes have been put to good use.

This year Caleb was a giraffe.  He spent the afternoon practicing his tall neck.

 Keziah was a hula dancer.  What zoo wouldn't be complete was a hula dancer?

 Micah once again rocked the zebra.

 Emerson was a convincing polar bear cub.

 And Silas was a ridiculously cute elephant.  He toddled after the bigger kids for most of the night-- watching his feet more than where he was going.

This year the kids ran a tight act.  They would all approach the door together.  Micah would ring the doorbell (since he's the only one who could reach it) while the other two would knock on the door.  They would all shout "trick or treat" in perfect unison when it was opened and for the most part they remembered to say thank you.  Every so often I would hear some random comments from the kids-- such as Caleb asking a lady why her house was so dark.  Those "why" questions just don't stop.

A fun night was had by all.  In the end, the kids didn't really care too much about the candy, they just had a great time together.  And now I'm left with a ridculous amount of candy that neither Caleb or I should be eating.  Oh dear.

Car Wash

It's another rainy day in this town which means that we stayed home this morning.  I was feeling a little desperate to come up with an activity to keep Caleb occupied.  All of a sudden I thought of the perfect activity that would not only be fun for Caleb, but would also accomplish one of the chores I had been wanting to do. With all the sickness in this house, I wanted to wash Caleb's toys-- especially the ones that see a lot of action.  So... why not let him have a car wash for all of his cars and trucks?  He was definitely on board.  I laid out a couple of old towels in the kitchen and put out some soapy water for washing.  Then Caleb lined up all of his vehicles that needed to be cleaned.

One by one they all had to drive up the ramp into the soapy water.

Then they were each given a good scrub...

And finally they were driven out of the water to the parking lot on the other side for drying time.  After all of the cars were washed, Caleb decided that he wasn't quite ready to abandon the activity (and who am I kidding, I wasn't ready for him to be done either!) so I decided that they all needed to go through the rinse cycle.  So the water was changed and the game started all over again.

Should you decide to try this at home... here are a few things to keep in mind:

• keep extra towels nearby for spills-- cause you know they're going to happen
• use a heavier container for the water (I used a glass pan) since it will get bumped around
• don't use too much soap or the bubbles will consume your kitchen

One day Emerson, you too will be able to get in on the action.

My Big Little Girl... and My Big Helper

Emerson had her two month shots this morning.  She definitely did not enjoy them, but calmed down really quickly and is now peacefully sleeping in her room.  She was weighed and measured before the immunizations were administered... and the results are in!!  She now weighs 12 lbs 12 ounces and is 23.5 inches long (she weighed 7-13 and was 20 inches long at birth in case you're wondering).  That puts her in the 81st percentile for height and the 85th percentile for weight.  Her stats totally blow my mind when I think back to how small Caleb was.  He only weighed in at 8 lbs 10 ounces when he was 2 months old.  He was so tiny!

Awww... look at my cute little cherry pie :)

Caleb came along with me this morning.  I'm still feeling pretty sick and miserable, poor Emerson was getting poked with the needles, it was an early morning appointment-- one of those morning where I really needed him to be on his best behaviour.  And he totally blew me out of the water today.  Last night I told him about Emerson's shots and how he would need to be a helpful/supportive big brother.  At 5 am this morning I heard him waking up in his room-- I was NOT happy.  He's still functioning according to Saskatchewan time so I had some sympathy, but 5 am is still 5 am... too early!  I went into his room and explained that today was Emerson's important day and that he needed to stay in his room so that she could sleep a little bit longer.  He accepted this line of reasoning and went on to sing every song he knew for an hour and a half in bed.  Then he fell asleep.  Until 8 am.  I'm smiling as I write this.  Then he went on to happily do everything I asked of him, the first time, not the tenth time I asked.  He happily went to the bathroom, changed into his clothes, ate his breakfast, cleaned up his toys in the living room, and then went on to make his bed (more like "make his bed"-- Caleb style:).  He was determined to be a helpful big brother.  He even told me that he thought I should have another baby because he's decided that he wants to have two sisters.

When we arrived at the clinic, he wanted to be a part of the action.  He was right there when Emerson was weighed and measure-- cheering her on.  When we went into the room he sat still in his chair-- then went on to pepper the nurse with every question imaginable.  Why does Emerson need a needle?  Why does it go in her leg?  Why are you taking Emerson's sleeper off?  Why is Emerson crying?  Why?  Why?  Why?  Oh the poor nurse... Caleb can stump just about anyone nowadays.  He really wore out the flight attendants on our flights over the weekend.  But the nurse gave him a monster truck sticker and that seemed to distract him for a while.  Caleb has happily been playing with his legos since we got home so that I could take care of Emerson.  I am so proud of him.  He has his moments (like all kids do) but he loves his little sister and is taking his role of "big brother" very seriously.  Let's see how things go for nap time :)

Prairie Fun

We're back home now... I am currently sitting in my living room wearing my pajamas, suffering with a terrible cold and ears that haven't popped after the plane this morning, enjoying a quiet house (the boys are at Castle Fun Park) sorting through our pictures!  While I'm at it, I thought I'd share a few more with you all... 

We don't get to see Uncle Joel as often as the others since he is usually busy working and doesn't come visit as frequently as the others in the family.  Joel won over Caleb's heart in no time with the tractor and swather rides.  Soon they were studying tractor books together in the evenings.

Emerson got to meet her Uncle Joel for the first time...

Caleb has a new favorite store... the John Deere store.  Every John Deere toy you could ever imagine can be found in this store.  Only in Saskatoon.

Caleb particularly liked the John Deere weed whacker. 

I love that he's wearing his plaid farm boy shirt in this picture :)

Emerson was not as impressed with the store... although I did spy some pink John Deere shirts...

One afternoon Caleb and I accompanied my Dad as he completed his daily farm chores.  Caleb was promised compensation for his work by my Dad so that he could add his wages to his piggy bank at home.  I was not offered compensation for my labor, so I opted to just photograph the event.

After searching the dozens of rubber boots in the garage for an appropriate pair, I found some green ones with cute little anchors.  Caleb's wearing his Diego boots.

Let the chores begin!

First up... moving a few round bales into the pasture with the skid steer.  Caleb assisted Papa with this task by riding along in the skid steer.

Caleb and I then watched from the fence as Papa positioned them just right...

How can I resist smooching those cute rosy cheeks?

I don't realize how much I miss the prairie skies until I'm back home...

Can't exactly remember what we were giggling about here...

Caleb and his Papa.

Can you see those hills in the background?  Take a guess as to what it is.

Surprisingly, it's worth money :)

Here's a close up.

Caleb was so concerned about the blueberries scattered all over the ground.  Oh my cute three year old city boy.

Papa filled the back of the truck with grain to feed the growing lambs.  Caleb got to help drive the truck back to the barn.  Boys learn to drive truck pretty early on the farm!

Watching from the fence as the lambs ran into the pen to eat their grain.

Baaaa... the sound of my childhood.

Next up... a ride in the tractor.

I'm pretty sure helping with chores were not that much fun when I was growing up.

Caleb decided to be Uncle Tyler's side kick last week.  Uncle Tyler spent many hours playing lego, playing cars and trucks, teaching Caleb games on the Wii, and riding the quad.

While Caleb had fun in the barns outside, Emerson was entertained by her aunties inside.

And to wrap up the week, we all decided to join Caleb for a pajama party.  It took a bit of scrounging around in our old bedrooms and my parent's closet, but we managed to find appropriate pj's for us all.  Well... maybe Tyler's get up was borderline appropriate.

We took the first flight out of Saskatoon this morning-- 6 am.  That meant dragging myself out of bed at 3:45 this morning to get to the airport on time.  As terrible as that was, it was really nice to arrive home at 8:30 in the morning.  We were all excited to see Doug.

And we're all excited to be home.  Well... maybe not Emerson.  She got quite used to being held all day every day.  Today we are calling her little miss cranky pants.

Can't wait till' her 2 month shots on Tuesday :)