Happy October!

Colby thinks that Halloween is the kind of holiday that can be celebrated in one night of trick or treating. I believe that Halloween should be celebrated the entire month of October. After reading this post, you will see who wears the pants in our family!

Tonight we had the Nances over for "dinner in a pumpkin." ( a great Stewart family tradition!) After dinner, we carved pumpkins. Here are our masterpieces.



The kids all sang "five little pumpkins" in front of their Jack O Lanterns.



As you probably guessed, the parents did most of the actual carving.



To kick off the Halloween season, we had some friends over to decorate haunted houses. Carter, Ammon, Cannon, Karlee, Oakley, Ashlyn, Caden and Austin were all very proud of their houses.



The boys did most of their own decorating this year, and they did a great job. Other than the roof almost caving in due to an abundance of candy pumpkins and whoppers on top of it- things went pretty smoothly.




We have already been to lots of fun Halloween parties. Des Moines University had a party for the students kids. They had lots of fun games and served goldfish, juice boxes and sugar cookies. Ahhh, the perfect snack for a 2 year old. The boys had a blast playing with Oakley, Madison and Ashlyn and chasing around the Incredible Hulk (who our two little Spider Men have decided is the "bad guy")



Carter's preschool class had a great Halloween party complete with sugar cookie decorating, trick or treating and a costume parade.



Caden and Austin had a fun party with lots of friends! Megan made cute Halloween food like peanut butter and jelly fingers, mummy dogs, jello jigglers and spider crackers. The kids decorated Halloween masks and did a pinata.



We also went to a Halloween party at the YMCA. The boys had a blast painting pumpkins, jumping on inflatables and playing games. Ammon liked to feel all the "yucky stuff" they had hidden in caldrons.



Like I said, a whole month of Halloween fun! We can hardly wait for Beggars Night and the Trunk or treat!

*a disclaimer for those of you who are unfamiliar with "Beggars Night:" In Iowa, they trick or treat on October 30. They feel it's safer for the kids because people are not out partying for Halloween. Lucky for us, our ward is also having a trunk or treat on October 31 so we will have two fun nights of trick or treating. Colby is not thrilled and thinks we should boycott one or the other. I, on the other hand, love this idea. I love Iowa.

Halloween greetings

Carter learned this Halloween song at preschool. He is growing up so fast!

Des Moines Marathon

Last weekend, l ran my first (and possibly only!) marathon. It was an amazing experience. It was a beautiful fall day and a great race. My finish time was 4 hours and 53 minutes, which was slower than I had hoped, but I was just happy to finish. Colby was very supportive and came down with the kids to cheer me on. I was able to see them 3 times during the race and at the finish line. I couldn't have done it without my wonderful husband and 2 darling boys, my running partner Celeste, my sponsor Paul and the Macaroni Grill, Aerosmith and Def Lepard (nerdy, I know- but they motivate me). I have to add a disclaimer before these pictures: alot of these are pretty cheesy, but I wanted to show proof that I actually did this!



Getting ready for the race, holding my race number, and feeling really nervous.



Celeste and I running through one of the parks.



The kids were so excited to see me, they were running up and down the road and giving me high fives.



Part of the marathon course (I think it was about mile 18) ran through the Drake University stadium. There was a live band and a broadcast of runners on a big screen overhead. It was pretty cool.



The marathon started and ended downtown. There were tons of people cheering on the runners, it was a huge adrenaline rush.



On the home stretch, running toward the finish line.



This is really cheesy, I warned you. Me crossing the finish line.



One more crossing the finish line. This was definately one of the coolest experiences of my life, actually I think it's number 5 behind 1. marrying the love of my life 2. the birth of my kids 3. graduating from college and 4. traveling to Russia and Europe. It might be tied for #4, either way, definately in the top five.

The Pumpkin Patch

Last week, we went on a fieldtrip with Ammon's preschool class to the pumpkin patch. The boys had a great time and both got to pick out a little pumpkin.



Ammon and Ashlyn gettting ready to board the bus



Ammon was very excited that he got to ride on the school bus. Carter on the other hand, was sad that he couldn't go with Ammon.



Ammon's preschool class on a giant swing.



After Ammon's class had their picture taken on the swing, Carter had to get on and have his picture taken also.



The kids had a great time playing in this giant pit filled with corn.



I was vacumming up pieces of corn and finding corn in the laundry for about 4 days.




Another highlight was climbing on this giant haystack. They are fearless!



I am so grateful I have the opportunity to do things like this with my kids and be (mostly) a stay at home mom.

Thank Heaven for Grandmas

Ammon and Carter are so blessed to have two Grandmas who love them and spoil them (in a good way!) This week they got a package from Grandma Stewart and a package from Grandma Frost. Now every day Carter reminds me to get the mail! They were so excited to receive these packages and now they are all set for Halloween.



The boys were so excited about all the Spiderman stuff that Grandma Stewart sent. Carter couldn't believe that the flashlight even had Spiderman batteries!



These skeleton bikes were a hit! The lollipops are long gone, but they both have the bikes in their special cubbies on their beds.



The boys had to put these transformer shirts on as soon as they saw them.



I thought these masks were scary, but the boys love them!



Thank you to Mom and Susan for being so kind and remembering our little peanuts out here in the midwest. You really brightened our rainy week.

Working hard and playing harder

Colby has been studying day and night lately. He has had a pretty rough test schedule. I took these pictures to document that he even studies through meals. (And those of you who know how much Colby likes food know that this is a big deal!) In twenty years when Colb is successful, no one can say that he didn't work hard to get there.






The boys have been playing even harder than Colby has been studying. They have so many friends that live close by, we constantly have other kids over. Every day Carter asks me who is coming to play.



We try to take advantage of the nice weather as much as possible and play outside.