Ammon's ABC's

Ammon is learning the Alphabet, which means that Carter thinks that he is also learning the Alphabet. Ammon is doing very well and knows many of his letters. Carter call any letter, "ABC." Here they are singing (and dancing) to the Alphabet song.

The First Snow

Over the weekend, we had our first snowstorm! The boys were so excited. Carter kept saying, "it noing, it noing!" I started playing Christmas music. Ammon got bundled up in his coat and hat and went outside with Caden to build a snowman. It was very, very, cold but the boys had fun!

Nemo Pants!

Carter loves Finding Nemo. He recently discovered that Ammon has Finding Nemo underwear. Once or twice a day Carter will get into Ammon's underwear drawer, find the "Nemo pants" and bring them to me saying, "Nemo pants on, Nemo pants on." One day I put them on over his diaper and he was so excited he didn't want to put his pants back on. He walked around all day pointing at Nemo. I thought it was so cute so I took these pictures. (warning: they're a little racey!)

 

Trick or Treat

I had so many Halloween pictures to share, they wouldn't all fit on one post. Here are some more.
Ammon and Carter at another Halloween party!
This year it was so cold, we went trick or treating at the mall. It wasn't as fun as being outside but it was nice to have the stores so close together and to be inside. The weird state of Iowa does trick or treating on the night before Halloween from 6-8 pm. They call it Beggars night.
Carter wanted to walk around the mall all by himself. He had alot of fun with the "big kids," but by the end of the night he was exhausted.











Carter's dinosaur tail was bigger than he is! Whenever anyone made a comment on his costume he would say, "I dysodor." 

Halloween

We did so many fun things for Halloween this year, I have about a hundred pictures! Here are some of my favorites.
Ammon was so excited the first time he wore his Harry Potter costume. He is ready to cast some spells!
We went to the "Pumpkin Patch Party" at the library and the kids had a blast. They had lots of fun games and crafts for the kids. In this picture, Colby is helping Ammon fish for spiders.
The school district also had a fun Halloween party at the elementary school. The kids were able to play games, decorate cookies and listen to scary stories.

Ammon poses in the clown cutout at the elementary school party. 

Pumpkins!

This year, the boys and I carved pumpkins on Halloween day while Colby was at school. The boys helped clean out the inside of the pumpkins and picked the shapes that they wanted for their eyes, nose and mouths. Ammon said he wanted a scary pumpkin (the middle pumpkin) and Carter wanted a happy pumpkin (the one on the left)
It was so windy on Halloween night, we couldn't get our Jack o Lanterns to light so the next night we went outside and lit them so we could get a picture.
The boys loved cleaning out their pumpkins, but they were both a little hesitant to get their hands dirty. About five minutes into it, they both called it quits and I ended up cleaning out all three pumpkins by myself!
 

Wrestling!

Ammon and Carter love to wrestle with Colby, they are always playing on the living room floor. The boys are becoming very tough and pretty aggresive (which isn't neccesarily a good thing), they are all boy! Here are some fun pictures of them rough housing with daddy.


 

Haunted Houses!

We had a couple of other families over on Monday for family home evening and decorated these haunted houses. The dads built the houses using graham crackers and hot glue, then the moms and kids decorated them. Thanks to these gummy body parts, they turned out pretty scary. We had a fun night. Since we've had our haunted house on display, I am
constantly catching little boys climbing up on the kitchen counter trying to pick candy off of it. I have also found half-eaten whoppers (which Carter has decided he doesn't like, but keeps forgetting and picking them off the house anyways) all over the house. I finally had to throw the house away when the roof caved in
because Ammon tried to take the gummy eyes off. I guess we'll have to try again next year!
 

Grandpa Neel's Funeral

The weekend of October 7, the boys and I flew to Utah for my grandpa Neel's funeral. It was a very emotional weekend for me and as luck would have it, both of the kids got sick the first day we were there. Despite the bad circumstances, it was fun to be able to see our family and I was very grateful that I could be there. We were able to spend time with both the Stewart and Frost sides of our family, and many of my aunts and uncles from the Neel side were also in town. It was great to be able to spend time with family members that I hadn't seen in years, as well as spend time with my immediate family. I am so grateful to be a part of such a wonderful family. I am grateful for the legacy that my grandfather left and the example that he was to me.

A Fun Afternoon

While we were in Utah, we spent an afternoon with the Frost family. The kids had so much fun spending time with Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts, Uncles and all their cousins. We went to Mcdonald's for lunch (which Ammon loved!) then we went to the Treehouse museum for a Halloween activity called The Enchanted Forest. It was fun to see the boys play with their cousins, and it was very sad to say goodbye. We are looking forward to seeing everyone again in December.

Slippers!

The boys love their warm, fuzzy slippers. They are perfect for cold, Fall nights. Ammon has Darth Vader slippers and Carter has Shrek slippers. They love to wear them when we go outside at night. The one problem with slippers (as Carter has discovered), is that they are slippery!

White Coat Ceremony

Colby's white coat ceremony was held on September 16. It was really neat! It was a ceremony, very similar to a graduation, except it marked the beginning of his medical education rather than the end of it. My visiting teacher offered to watch the kids so I didn't have to chase them around. It was so nice to be able to go and watch without any interuptions. It was almost like we were on a date (except for the fact that we didn't see each other most of the time, but that's just a minor detail!) We both feel very blessed to be able to be in Iowa and for the opportunity that Colby has to get an education. We miss all of our friends and family, but we know that we are in the right place!