Halloween Time!

Well it's August now and I'm posting about last October! Agh! I need to catch up.... 

Last year after the Pirate Cruise in Fort Myers, Mason was set on being a pirate. Addison decided she wanted to be a pirate too. They were pretty good pirates! 

We went to the Trunk or Treat at the big church in West Des Moines. We had to wait in a long line but the kids did good. I didn't get any pictures of the trunks, but there were some super cute ones! There was one where there was a cardboard monster in the back of an SUV with a hole where his nose was. Then you had to "pick his nose" to get the candy. It was pretty funny! They also got to see and get in a fire truck. It was a nice event! 

Then we went to Sam's club and when I wasn't looking, they filled the cart with squishmallow slippers. ha! 

With their giant pumpkins! 

Then we went to a Trunk or Treat at the outlet mall. This was unique and pretty cool! 

All the vehicles were super unique, car-show type cars. This was just one of them. There were lots of spooky decorated ones too. It was fun! 
 

Pumpkin Patch

One picture I missed of the combine from our farm trip. Mason really enjoyed watching it, maybe this year he will ride along! 

Photo op at the pumpkin patch! 

Mason enjoying the giant sand pit at the pumpkin patch. I believe Addison was doing the big slide while we did this. 

Family picture on the hay rack ride. I do not want summer to end (not at all) but I am excited for the nice fall days at the pumpkin patch! 

Mason on the combine slide at the pumpkin patch. 

Addison wanted me to take a picture of her dress and send it to my whole family, so naturally, Mason wanted to join! 

Ryan modeling his Juicy Wiggle shirt he caught at the football game! It was a pretty proud moment, I can't believe he caught it! 
 

Quick trip to the farm

We went to the farm for the day last fall. Grandpa Ron and Conner were working at George's across the road. Mason couldn't believe Grandpa Ron was climbing up the grain bin to fix it. 

After this weekend, Mason was dead set on an auger and grain bins from Santa (spoiler alert, he got them for Christmas and then got a better set from Grandpa & Grandma for his birthday. They are set up in the living room, complete with corn - ha!)

Eating ham..... took this picture for Aunt Nicole..... she gives the Julius family a hard time for eating ham with our fingers :) 

This girl loves jumping on the trampoline! She works hard on going from her knees to seater-rumpous and back to her feet. 

Mason wasn't keen on riding in the tractors but loved walking around looking at them or watching them work in the field. 

 Addison and Conner. Conner was driving the grain cart that day. We watched him fly across the field.... haha! Neither kid wants to ride with Conner as he drives too fast :) 

Potty Training

Oh this poor girl..... She got sick the day after a football game on a Sunday morning. She had a some crazy illnesses in 2022. Normally, I wouldn't post a picture like this but wanted to mention the crazy illnesses she had. In the months of August, September, October, and November, Addison got sick around the 9th of the month. And then was sick for about 3 days. Throwing up constantly. It was AWFUL. SO. BAD. I'm not over-exaggerating when I say constantly. Ugh. 

So I started trying to track activity, food, etc..... then in December....she stayed healthy! The cycle ended. It was so weird, but I'm so glad it's over! 

Mason working to change the crib to a toddler bed. 

He was pretty excited for his altered bed! We needed to get him in a toddler bed so we could potty train! 

It's potty-training time! So we pushed the couch back, rolled up the rug, and took off the diaper! Three whole days entertaining Mason in the living room. So he got to play with kinetic sand :) 

And he played house while Addison was at school. 

 These are all the toys he took to his room. And put them on the hamper so I can't throw dirty clothes in there. Ha! He did good with the potty training. It was stressful for mom and dad (because we want to do it right) but he did catch on. He also caught on really fast to the nights and naps. Daycare was impressed so that was another parenting win :) We will take them where we can get them!! 

Reiman Garden's Pumpkin Walk

Addison and I went to Reiman Garden's for their Halloween Pumpkin walk for the 2nd year in a row. Their pumpkins are pretty impressive! Chase is on the left and Cy on the right above. 

Addison chose her angel costume for this night and once again, the M&M's pumpkins are her favorite. 

Shrek on the left and Ghostbusters on the right. Beautiful night for the walk. They have themed areas, Halloween music, and little video shows that Addison enjoyed. 

More M&M's :) The M&M's are in the Willy Wonka themed area, where they hand out candy. They have candy shoots that Addison thinks are pretty cool. And they hand out good candy! 

Mason was potty training this weekend, so Grandma Rita came to take Addison shopping for a couple hours (since we were all stuck at home). They went to Lowe's and picked out an inflatable :) 

The Mickey goes in and pops out of the pumpkin. Mason was pretty excited when he saw it the first time. The kids love spooky houses, so I wanted to start decorating :) 
 

And more football......

Mason figured out how fun it is to throw things over the railing to the basement. We tried to teach him to only throw balls.....

And some more football! Good picture of the kiddos :) 

 Grandpa Ron and the kids with Reggie Hayward

Mason getting a ride into the game. 

Just the little kids! Mason loved this sweatshirt and always kept his hood up. He loved keeping his hood up on any sweatshirt

Building a haunted house

Going for a gator ride after the game. Mason got a new hat from Conner too. 

I couldn't believe how much he looks like Nolan in this picture!! I actually had to do a double take, as I'm posting this 8 months later, I thought it was Nolan for a minute! 

Pretending to ride the cars at the mall because Mom & Dad won't put money in them - ha! 

Met up with Caleb and Lauren for a day at the pumpkin patch! 

Found a Haunted House kit at Target, we haven't done that before! We had a good time with this one. Pre-Built houses are definitely the way to go! Ryan and I swore we would never buy one we have to build again. Ha! 

Ryan and Mason used the fondant and the cookie cutters we have to make some little bats and ghosts to put on the house! 

 And some entertainment while we built the house, Mason showing us his splits! Ha!