Leaves are Fun, Until they Stick to You

They boys were enjoying playing in their pile of leaves until Ben noticed that they were sticking to him. As we've seen before, Ben does not like it when things stick to him.

Leaves are Fun

The new house has a lot of leaves in the yard. Its good to know that someone enjoyed them.

Happy Halloween

This year the boys totally got Trick or Treating. They had the hardest time with not eating whatever they were given right then an there. Ben would sit down right on the sidewalk and try to unwrap a candy bar.

The Boys Like to Eat Things Dipped in Other Things

Every other item eaten that night was also dipped in salsa. This included broccoli, cheeseburgers, chicken fingers, french fries, and crayons. Also, the first time we're somewhere with salsa that's actually spicy we're screwed. Our choices will be either keep it away from the them and they'll cry that they can't have it, or we'll let them have it and they'll cry when their mouths suddenly start hurting for no reason.



I also need to explain the whole double-dipping thing to them.

Matt and Mom on the Hay Ride

IMG_0744, originally uploaded by wetzel9.

Hay Maze

So with the boys being able to walk when we went to get pumpkins meant that we could also go through the hay maze that was conveniently located next to the pumpkin patch.






So the pictures don't capture this very well but this particular dead end in the maze something funny happened. The boys both rounded the corner and came upon this scary cauldron stirring witch. They both just stared at it. Neither seemed particularly scared but after about ten seconds Ben decided that whatever that thing was, he and Matt needed to get away from it *now*. He grabbed Matt by both shoulders and shoved and dragged him back the other way. Matt the entire way seemed to be saying "Wait, what? I'm not done looking at the cooking lady!"




The boys also seem to find the largest straightaway anywhere we go and run back and forth.

Pumpkins!

Last year when we went to acquire pumpkins the boys weren't walking. This year we spent most of the time chasing them around the place. They each picked out their own Matt and Ben sized pumpkins, although Matt tried repeatedly to pick up one of the larger ones.

Second Trip to an Amusement Park: Now With More Actual Riding of Rides

So last year's trip to Kings Island was fun but we were obviously bring-kids-to-amusement-park novices. This year both of them are walking, and we made sure they each had socks on. We even though about trying to sneak Ben onto some of the more advanced rides since he hit the 36 inch height minimum.

Now that the boys have learned to point, we've found the best way to get them to look at the camera is to say "Where's (person's name holding the camera)!?" They point, look at the person with the camera and sometimes even smile.



The Merry Go Round was fun this year, they boys could actually hold themselves up on the ride.





Almost every picture I have the boys are looking around trying to figure out why the ground doesn't seem to be where it usually is.

Matt and Balloons (Sort Of)

These are the pictures you get when Mom is trying to both play with a very-excited-to-play-with-a-balloon two year old *and* take pictures of him at the same time.

 
 

Ben Likes His Sunglasses

He just needs to learn how to keep them on his face.

 
 

Moving

So updates have been sparse lately because we're currently moving. Its a bit of a complicated move that leaves us a month between selling our old house and moving into our new one. Jess's Mom and Dad have been kind enough to let us stay with them over the course of the month, but blogging has taken a back seat to lifting heavy boxes. We did get a picture of us at the old house one last time though.

Duncan Eating

I'm not sure why, but both the boys are fascinated with Duncan eating. They honestly don't pay much attention to him most of the time. I'm always reminding them "Not to step on Duncan" or "don't throw that toy at Duncan" But when he eats they sit and stare. It'll be nice once they learn to talk so I can ask them why.

Mom and Ben Goofing Around

Jess_and_Ben_V, originally uploaded by wetzel9.

Matt Likes the Ocean

So every day on vacation we took the boys to be beach hoping they would like it. Every day they didn't. But they did seem to dislike it less each time. Especially Matt. The last day we gave it one more try, and Matt was feeling adventurous.

He started slow. Here he tries one foot at a time in the puddles left when the tide went out. You can hear Ben in the background feeling a little less brave.



Eventually he would walk through the little stream that the waves were making up on the beach. Ben was not feeling it that day. you can see him in the background with Jess avoiding the sand with his patented "Koala Defense"


In fact, lets take a closer look at Ben's Koala Technique.


Matt got braver after that, letting Mom hold him in the waves coming up on the beach.



And finally he was all about running through the waves. Next year we'll be getting out the surfboard.



Ben never did warm up to the Ocean. We'll try again next year.


All the photos from our vacation can be found here

Yum

I guess I should be happy he's eating his vegetables. But its going to be hard as they get older to keep hiding *my* tomatoes under my plate.