Halloween party

 For Halloween we got "adopted" by some friends of Sierra's. Fairies were in this year, apparently, along with princesses. They made quite a sight going down the road together, trailed by three times as many adults and some small kids.

Ian took about 30 seconds to figure out this halloween candy thing. Up to the door, get some candy, stuff it in the mouth. Wrapper and all, didn't really seem to matter. He took being stuffed into the bunny suit with much better grace than his sister did at that age! He even was willing to wear the bunny ears.

On the way home, Isabella passed out, not to wake up until the next morning. Ian? He was up for another hour. Go figure.

 We went with Louis and his mom to pick out pumpkins. Ended up spending a good couple hours there. They had a bouncy castle and a bouncy slide (up and down, up and down), some wagons, some riding toys... Ian really liked wandering around the pumpkin patch and picking up small pumpkins. Isabella picked out pumpkins for everyone, sized accordingly. I had many random strangers comment on how cute Ian was wandering around the pumpkin patch! They both seemed pretty much uninterested in the critters (pigs).

We had our nth annual pumpkin carving party. Seems to bring out the arteest in everyone! Isabella actually did a bit of carving (very heavily supervised) but mostly she just told us all what to do with her pumpkin. Artistic director.

 We didn't end up with too many pumpkin seeds and guts on the floor. Mike & Pam did an *excellent* job sorting through the pumpkin guts and pulling out pumpkin seeds (which got roasted, of course). Fortunately, we had Jeff the Chef from Willow to tell us how to roast them. I ate a lot of pumpkin seeds!

We got Isabella's hair cut earlier in the day (hence the pretty ribbon). It's a kid-cut place, with cars to sit in, a bouncy castle, and toys to play on (and lollipops, of course). Mom even got a bang trim snuck in. Ian, of course, is still not in need of any hair cut. Although he's starting to get a bit of a duck tail in the back!

 Little red wagons - we spent a while pulling the kids around the pumpkin patch in one. They had much more fun playing together at the pumpkin patch than at home - Isabella's pretty good about sharing toys, but there were a few fights about who got which toy.

Other things... Ian has almost all of his teeth now, except the incisors.  Go figure. He has started running, because walking isn't fast enough. We still only have a handful of words (mommy == I want, daddy == dad or Isabella, tank-you == thank you, bubbles) but he's getting really good at pointing. And his understanding is very good - you can ask him if he wants to go upstairs and he'll run to the stairs. Or ask him if he wants something to eat and he'll go to his high chair.

 See? Bunny costume. And no screaming! Isabella had a grand time playing with the other little kid's toys. Nothing like someone else's toys, I guess. Ian liked the little play sink and food. Lots and lots of food.

Bill was gone for a week to far away places, leaving me to chase after the small people. It's a lot easier than it was - they play together for quite a while in the evening. They chase each other around (often pulling a blanket between them), push each other on the toy train, roll around on the floor... Isabella does get upset when Ian tries to help lay out the blanket. She gets it all nice and straight and he comes and lays down in the middle of it, then tries to grab an edge and run away. They also sit and color together, until Ian tries to color on Isabella's things.

Isabella can write pretty much anything now - just tell her the letters and she spells them out. Although she often writes them backwards AND reversed (?) just for fun. She especially likes making "grocery lists" like mom. Ian seems to really enjoy art projects and coloring, too, much more so than Isabella at that age. I had to tape an extra sheet of paper to the pantry door because he was trying to imitate his sister, who has been crossing off every day. (I taped a calendar to the door so she could track when her birthday is.)  He crawls into the kid chair (sometimes sits down!) and draws away. He also really likes playing with the kitchen while standing on the stool. Hasn't fallen off too many times!

Isabella is also addicted to Tux Paint, a kid-friendly drawing program. I particularly like her "cake" series - notice the sprinkles. Sometimes she colors between the lines, but mostly she makes cakes. She even knows how to start it up... While Bill was out of town she spent a lot of time drawing and watching videos/playing games on Nick Jr while I put Ian to bed.