Halloween

Halloween day we went with the Crowleys to Cory's sister's neighborhood block party, then went trick or treating around her neighborhood.

Caleb loved being Buzz. It was good weather on Halloween. Maybe a smidgen too hot to be wearing a plastic costume. Caleb's cheeks were nice and rosy during the day. But that didn't stop him from being Buzz.





He loved to fly when he was Buzz. If anyone said the word "fly" he would be reminded that he needed to fly and we had to carry him so he could fly (as pictured above). But then Daddy made him fly for real.



Our Halloween cohorts, the Flintstones (aka the Crowleys).


Caleb enjoyed the games at the block party. They had a ton more than at our ward party. Caleb even ate chili for dinner this time.







After the party, we went trick or treating. It was a fancy neighborhood, so the houses were kind of far apart, which was tiring for such little legs. Caleb wouldn't carry his treat bag, so I carried it for him and then would hand it back to him at each door. He'd say trick or treat, get his candy, then turn to leave, immediately handing the bag back to me. We did about half the block when we got to a "scary" house that had dry ice blowing across the yard. Caleb and I walked halfway up the sidewalk to the house before he got too freaked out. So we turned around and left that house. After that, he insisted on being carried and really didn't want to trick or treat anymore. We circled back around the neighborhood only stopping at doors that weren't at all scary (though we let Naomi be the judge of what was scary since Caleb now thought they were all too scary). Though he wanted to be held, he was still willing to follow Naomi wherever she went.

Ward Halloween Party

Friday (10/30) was our ward Halloween party. Caleb's costume this year was borrowed from his cousin Trevor. I'd planned on making him a costume but when he tried on Buzz Lightyear for the first time, he was so super excited that we switched (plus then I didn't have to make a costume, so bonus there).



While dressed as Buzz, he refused to answer to Caleb and if you tried to call him Caleb, he'd correct you and say he was Buzz Lightyear.

Caleb only ate chips for dinner while the rest of us had chili.

After dinner, they had several games set up. There was also a moon bounce, but too many big kids were jumping in it that Caleb didn't want to go in. He was a little shy and timid playing the games, since there were so many big kids running around everywhere. But he did great waiting in line for his turn and loved when it was his turn to finally play.

Toss the ring around the witch's hat.

Candy bowling -- Caleb's favorite game which he played repeatedly.

Picking his prize (which half the time he didn't want to do).

Vampire Buzz.

After games, everyone moved to the other side of the parking lot for trunk or treating. Caleb held my hand the whole time and was very good at saying "trick or treat." He got nervous of cars a few times, but at least he didn't make me carry him. Whenever he had the option to pick his own candy, he always picked a sucker. Or Almond Joy. Too bad his nana wasn't there to eat them for him.

Trunk or treating.

Ending the night at our trunk.

Pumpkin Patch

Wednesday (10/28), Liz and I took Caleb and Naomi to a pumpkin patch. The weather was absolutely freezing that day, out of nowhere too, as low as 59 degrees. We were seriously freezing. I had to borrow a jacket from Liz when we got to her place (before going to the pumpkin patch) because I was unprepared for the sudden cold chill. At least I'd brought Caleb a jacket, just in case. But he was still in shorts and flip flops.


The first thing we did was go on the cow train ride. One of the ladies in charge made the train driver wait for this school group to leave, so I had the opportunity to take lots of pictures (while poor Liz was stuck in the teeny tiny cow car with Naomi).






Look! I was there too!


Next we headed over to the moon bounce. Caleb's favorite thing about jumping in the moon bounce was squashing Naomi. This was the first time he wasn't scared to jump in one, probably only because Naomi was with him.



We let the kids run around in the hay maze. They absolutely loved it. Especially since some of the bales of hay had been knocked over, making them the perfect height to climb on and jump off of. The pictures don't really capture it, but they were both running full speed and laughing their heads off.




Naomi took a bathroom break. Caleb did one more quick run through the maze before deciding he couldn't be away from Naomi for more than ten seconds and had to go chasing after her.


After that, we headed over to the little playground area. Caleb really enjoyed the seesaw until I sent him soaring a little too fast and he whacked his head on the board.




Caleb obliged me for one picture of sticking his head in the hole, then ran away to play before I could insist on a redo.


Caleb didn't want to go down the slides, but he was willing to sit next to Naomi in order to take a picture. Then she slid down and he got up and went a different way.


I had to include this shot of Caleb walking in front of us. Sometimes he just cracks me up with his poses. Hand on hip is a familiar one for him. It's his attitude pose for sure.


We couldn't get the kids to sit together with the pumpkins in the corn. We couldn't really get them to sit by themselves either, for that matter.




Stopping to milk the cow before heading home.



Caleb led the way out of the farm. He was beyond exhausted. And grumpy. But I think they had fun because he still associates the word pumpkin with the word patch.

Uncensored

Caleb loves to take pictures. I let him play with our point and shoot camera whenever he wants (secretly hoping he breaks it since we have a warranty on it and then we can get a new one). Usually I just delete all his photos. One day, mid delete, I decided that I'm not an art connoisseur so who am I to say that Caleb's photos aren't art? What makes the pictures I take worth keeping and the ones he takes worth deleting? So here are a few saved photos, all taken by Caleb while we were living in our (first) apartment in New Jersey.

Caleb the photographer

I've been meaning to do a blog post about all the "wonderful" photos Caleb takes. But then this weekend I stumbled upon this sweet photo, taken by Caleb, and just had to post it. He commandeered my camera during a quick photo shoot we were doing and Mirra gave him the absolute best expression.


(Yes, I did crop the photo and what not, so it'd be a better picture. But I love how sweetly she was looking at the camera while he was taking pictures.)