Trunk or Treat

Every year our church has a city wide halloween outreach called trunk or treat. It's absolute chaos but the kids love it; complete with fair food and rides. This year we found out that on wednesday night they open it up for free to those who attend church there. It was Nate's birthday as well so we spent the evening with the Oldham's.
I'm so glad we went this night instead of on Saturday. It was much more manageable and you could get a hotdog, chips, and a drink for a buck!
Kellen really enjoyed the rides as did HK.

Mommy and the boys on a train.

Hay rides!!


The Oldham's on the train

okay, so Kellen was pretty pumped to ride this mini dragon roller-coaster. He really liked it at first but halfway through the ride......

totally freaked out! I felt bad for him and on the way home that night he kept saying "I did not like that Dragon ride." So I said to him that maybe next year he'll like it because he will be bigger - but he did not agree.

And we can't forget the two precious not so little ones! They were very good boys and stayed in their strollers. They did get to get out for a bit and ride the hay ride.

Thank you for a fun evening and HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE!!!!

Halloween Party at MMO

Last thursday Kellen had his Halloween party at mother's morning out. For some reason he didn't want to wear his costume that morning but when I told him Ariel (otherwise known as HK) would be there, he changed his mind. Later I found out that he was upset because he couldn't take his sword or his hook to school.

These two houligans....they are quite a pair.

ahahahha This one cracks me up - Kellen admiring HK's attire.

I think they had a pretty good time. They went on a parade, decorated pumpkins, and must have had too much candy because Kellen would not eat lunch, nibbled on dinner and woke us up at 2:00 am to tell us his tummy hurt really bad. One children's pepto bismol later and another hour he decided he was ready to go back to sleep.

Mischief Managed

Keagan has been quite a little busy-body since he started crawling. He's already pulling up to everything and has even climbed onto Kellen's trampoline. I'm really going to have to start being more careful about things that are left out. Here are some of the adventures he's been on lately:


Keagan found the tassles on one of my pillows. He managed to pull apart the entire thing. I knew it was too quiet.


"No Mommy - I didn't do it!!!


This one speaks for itself.


His favorite new toy


And Kellen's new toy. He got a insect catcher from Nana Dudley this past weekend. He hasn't caught one insect or fish with it. Perhaps you can see why - there are much BIGGER fish inside.


"Seriously mommy??"


He loves to pull himself up to the window - especially to see the dogs when they are outside.

The other day it took Keagan an hour and a half to fall asleep for his afternoon nap because he had learned how to stand in his crib. He kept screaming and laughing....and I kept going in there to help him back down. Then I gave up and decided he was going to learn how to get himself back down. He fell sleep sitting like this. Needless to say we lowered his crib last night.

He also loves the trashcan. Good thing it just had newspapers on the top.

I have since banned this activity but I had to get a picture at least one time.

Pumpkin Carvings

Karsten finally had a free night this week and we took the time to finally carve our pumpkins. We did pretty well considering we only had to throw one pumpkin away. It was a dud. It was so rock hard you coudn't even get a butcher knife in it. Kellen requested a spider so Daddy worked pretty hard on that for him.
As you will see the boys started off with clothes on but by the middle of our work I got smart and shed them.


All the boys working hard
I was proud of Kellen. He actually stuck his hand in there and didn't get grossed out!


I want to see what's in there too!!!





So Keagan LOVED it. He thought sticking his hands in the bowl of goo was great times. I had to keep putting his paci in his mouth so he wouldn't eat the seeds.

Yep - he really did that - all by himself.

Mommy - can I have this for dinner??? I kinda like it!

(Yes, this was a two part process)

The next evening we finished up and got the pumpkins lit.

Keagan's little pumpkin says BOO! (It was the only thing I could think of that was small enough).


Kellen standing beside his beloved spider pumpkin.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Left-overs

These are a few pictures left from our week in Plains. I'll let most of them speak for themselves.




Great Grandma Dudley admiring Keagan's chunky legs.


I guess now that Keagan can crawl Kellen thought he would make a great horsey????


Look at me!!!

Great Grandma Gardner. (we call her triple G)

Great Aunt Kendra and Grandpa Gardner.

I thought this was hilarious. Somehow Kellen thought it would be fun to feed Pa from an old sippy cup. And of course Pa obliged and was drowned in milk.

update

I forgot to post Keagan's lastest well-baby vitals:

Weight: 21.6 lbs! (is their a problem with this because he's only 4.5 lb lighter than Kellen!!)
Height: a hair under 30 in.
Head 44 (in or cm?)

He's in the 90% for height and 64 % for weight. He's one solid boy!

First Ride Of The Season

One of the reasons we went to Pleasant Plains last week was to spend some time with Pa in the field. Of course that didn't work out to well. The weather was absolutely terrible and the fields were too wet. It finally dried up and we got to ride for 45 minutes before we left Monday afternoon. Kellen was definitely disappointed with the lack of combine time.


Kellen sitting in the exact same spot I used to.


Look at that corn going through the auger!!!


At the controls

Keagan and Kellen enjoying the combine together.

This is one of Kellen's favorite pictures - two more combines and two auger wagons!!!

Kellen loved watching the corn come out of the combine and into the wagon. He would tell Pa when the combine was full and when we needed to dump it. He asks me to pull up this picture on the computer so he can stare at it! Hopefully we'll get a few more rides during harvest. If it ever stops raining!

9 months

Keagan - you have been very busy lately. I can't believe how much you have grown! This month has been a big one for you. You got your two fronth teeth and started crawling. Then yesterday you pulled up on one of the toys in the living room. You were so proud! You are fascinated with the trampoline and are trying very hard to get onto it.

This morning you crawled all the way into your brother's room and have been chewing on the kitchen stuff ever since.

You are taking two naps a day now and sleep like a champ at night. You're personality is really starting to shine through. You still love to eat. You are eating stage 3 foods and love puffs. You have had some table food and are working on a sippy cup. Some days you'll drink from it, other days you just want your bottle.

You really DON'T like things taken from you. You're definitely starting to protest things you don't like. You laugh a lot but you also cry a lot. You love to hear your own voice for sure!

Keagan - I love you and can't wait to see what the next month brings!!!

Go Baby Go!!!

While we were away this weekend, Keagan started crawling. It's still a little rough around the edges but he's getting there. He's been trying for a month and the moment I leave he starts. I was in Springfield this week and had been at Nana and Papa Slater's house. I had left the kids at their house while I dropped off a movie and went to McDonalds. As I was in the drive-through, Karsten's mom called me and said "Brooke - Keagan's crawling!!" Of course he is - because I'm not there!! She had put food on the floor to motivate him!! It was just precious.

Talk to Jesus

For awhile now, every time we would go by a certain store when we were in the car, Kellen would holler out "mommy I want to talk to Jesus!!" I was very confused because when I would ask him if he wanted to pray he would say "no." I really didn't know what he meant. I felt that I had tried everything in order to understand what he was saying. I usually know what he's saying most of the time and people look to me to translate - but this one stumped us all. Finally, one evening in dawned on Karsten that he was asking to go to Chuck E. Cheeses!!!
SO, when we went to Springfield this week Kellen asked Nana if we could "talk to Jesus" and of course, she said yes. We made it a family trip.

I think Pa had just as much fun as Kellen did.

I put Keagan on one of the horses with the animated race track and he was mesmerized!! His face and reaction was hilarious!!!

After Chuck E. Cheese we went to Golden Corral. I think Keagan was sick afterward because he seriously ate more food than all of us combined!!! (No - we didn't eat at Chuck E. Cheeses. Kellen hasn't figured out that there is food there and I will keep it that way for as long as possible.)