1st Halloween

My mom, sister, and I, took our kids to a community Trunk-or-treat. Never again! It was very lame. HUGE lines for each trunk.
Morgan decided to be superman for this event. Anna was little orphan Annie, Matthias was a racecar driver.

Lydia was a lion. This is the same costume that Morgan wore when he was just one. I added a bow, though. Oh, note Morgan's red underpants over his costume. Man, I get a kick out of that.

Stephanie and I had to leave early, to go to a choir practice. (We got into a choir that will be doing a Christmas program for the prisons) So Mom stuck it out at the trunk-or-treat for awhile with the kids. Go Mom!

Morgan's "Real" Birthday

 On Morgan's actual birthday, he got to have his birthday party at Jumpin' Jungle. We'd been planning to do that for months and months. I didn't want to pay the price to rent the party room, so I just paid admission for the Morgan and his cousins. And we lucked out! His birthday fell on a Tuesday, and for the whole time we were there, nobody else came. It was awesome! We had the entire place to ourselves. If you want a good time to go to Jumpin' Jungle, try Tuesday afternoon.

Lydia loves balls, way more than Morgan ever did. I think she might be a tomboy. She wanted to chase and throw the balls, or ride in the cars.

 Here's Kaien playing baseball.

 Ammon in a car.

 Pretty girls, Emmy and Anna.

 I played the gladiator thing with my brothers. I'd like to think I won...

 I caught this perfect shot of Christine helping Chris helping Ammon. Ha!

 Mom even got in on the action.

 The two littlest. (Until this past Tuesday that is. Christine had her baby!)

 Matthias.

 Morgan and Emmy, the two cousins closest in age.

 We did presents after over an hour of playing. All the kids were sweaty and red.
Morgan got an outfit from Grandma. He was preparing to be grumpy about getting clothes, but after a few warning words and looks from me, he changed his tune.

 Some hotwheels from Chris's family. You can never go wrong getting those for Morgan.

 

Since we couldn't have cake at Jumpin' Jungle without renting a room, we went back to the house for dinner and dessert. Morgan wanted spaghetti and meatballs, and garlic bread.

 Here is the cake we created. I haven't forgotten the Fondant Fiasco of 2011, so we're going to stick to simple cakes from now on.

 He got them all out in one blow. Happy birthday, Morgan!

Morgan's "fake" birthday

Morgan got to celebrate his birthday twice. He turned five on the 25th, a Tuesday, but he got to have a Nelson family birthday party on Sunday. He refers to the Sunday party as his "fake" birthday.

Aaron and I decided to go in together to get him his first bike, so I was invited for the festivities. 

One of the only things that Morgan asked for for his birthday was angry birds. Specifically, the blue one, and a pig. So he got them.

 Then he got a little water bottle to attach to his bike. He thought it was a sippy cup. :)

 He liked his helmet when he unwrapped it, and said he'd wear it when he rode his tricycle around.

 After that, he had another present, but we said we'd go outside first to count cars or something. The bike was waiting on the porch. The plan probably would have worked very well, had Morgan not seen the bike through the office window previously. Before unwrapping any presents, Morgan saw the bike, announced that someone had left their bike on the porch, and accepted our false story of, "Well, maybe they parked the bike here and then went to play at the high school." I'm sure that threw him off, for when we went outside, he saw the bike, touched it, and spent time looking for his next present. It was funny how long it took him to figure out that the bike was indeed his, especially with all the hints he was getting. When he finally got it, he was very excited.

 The bike is pretty big for him, and he can barely reach the pedals when they are on the bottom. Also, the training wheels don't work well with the size, so the bike tips frequently.
Morgan usually rides while looking at his feet.

 Lydia got to chill out with the ladies. And the leaves.

 

 I've practiced a few times with Morgan, and he's getting a lot better. He's faster, more confident, has the momentum of pedaling down, and enjoys it. And even when the bike falls and I don't catch it in time, (oops!) he just hops up, says, "I'm okay!" and gets back on. That's my boy.

Painting pumpkins

Remember those pumpkins we got from the pumpkin patch? Well, we painted them. I find it much easier, less messy, and more fun, than carving. And Morgan can participate more.

He's all ready to start.

 Painting the blue hair, with a look of intense concentration.

 Finished product! Aren't they cute?

 And here's mine.

Farmstead

Tomorrow is Morgan's birthday, so there will be another big post coming soon. I figured I should stop procrastinating the post I've been planning on writing about our trip to the Farmstead Pumpkin Patch.

It was just me and the kids. We got there about 4:30, and the weather was fantastic. Before we did any of the cool stuff that Morgan had his eye on, I said we had to get in the giant rocking chair for the photo opp. 

Then we headed to the "corn box." Morgan didn't want to leave it, he had so much fun. Lydia was still just waking up from the car ride, so she was just kinda hanging out.

Then we decided to check out the rope spiderweb.

Morgan asked if he was the spider. I made the mistake of saying, "sure." So he tackled Lydia, the fly. I got him off of her and while making sure she was okay, Morgan went and "caught" another fly, just a random boy playing. That is when Morgan was retired as the spider. Later on, he wanted to go back to the web. I told him he could, but he couldn't touch anybody! Instead he just chased the little girl around, while growling, until she whimpered in fright. Needless to say, we didn't go back to the web after that.

 We did the awkward horse tire swing.

 Morgan became a farmer with a face-less wife.

 I made the kids pose by the pumpkins, but didn't get very good pictures.

This was Morgan's first pony ride (and Lydia's.) Morgan spent the entire ride talking to the gal leading the pony.

Morgan took several pictures for me while Lydie was riding, but most of them were just of me standing in the way of Lydia, and there is a lot of green fence in the way. :)

There was a huge bounce pillow. Morgan had fun, but really had to use the bathroom. And the pony ride made his asthma act up, so jumping was rough. Lydia screamed when we got off.

 They had a corn cannon and a pumpkin cannon. We did the corn cannon because Morgan could reach that one. We didn't hit any targets.

 Then we caught the hayride. Here we are on it.

 It took us to the pumpkin patch where we got out and chose some pumpkins.

We caught the hayride back to the main area and did the cow train.

 

We did a haybale maze a couple times. We did phase one of the corn maze, which was surprisingly easy. I had a system where we only turned right, and I think that ended up being the most direct route.

When we had finished everything there was to do, Morgan requested that we go back to the corn box.

 We couldn't leave without cotton candy.

 

Morgan asked to go back soon. I don't think he will, but I'm headed back on Friday. :)