Normally we don't do Halloween. In fact, when Caleb is asked by random strangers, "What are you going to be for Halloween?" he just gives them a blank stare, because he doesn't even know what the word "halloween" means. This year, though, since he is in preschool and his school was having a Halloween party where the kids were supposed to dress up, we gave in so he wouldn't feel like the weirdo in his class if he was the only one who didn't come wearing a costume. He loves pirates, so we bought him a pirate costume (since I lack the creativity to make one...). The morning of the Halloween party at school, I read his newsletter and found out that he was supposed to have candy to share with his classmates (duh! But I hadn't thought of it!) So, we rushed (and I mean RUSHED) to the store to get candy before I dropped him off on Thursday. When he got home with his big bag of candy from all his friends, I noticed that everyone else's parents had put together cute little gift bags full of multiple bags of candy while all I did was buy a bag of gummy lifesavers for him to hand out. I told Andrew about it that evening, and he said, "Well, every class has to have one of 'those' moms." Hm.
A friend from church also invited us to a Halloween party at her house, so it worked out well that Caleb had a costume this year. Titus also had one that was given to us by some friends earlier in the year, so he was all set.
This is Caleb with his little girlfriend from church. They were admiring each other's costumes. :)
Titus was not at all happy about wearing his costume. He warmed up to the idea and had a great time, but he started out being quite the pouter.
Here is Caleb bowling with the pumpkin. That pumpkin survived for quite awhile, but then the boys had a great time watching all the seeds explode out of it every time it was rolled.
Titus played corn-hole with Daddy, and had a good time climbing up the ramp to put the bean bags through the hole.
His costume was a little small, but he was still a pretty cute little dragon!
It wasn't our first choice, but we found a really great package deal. As a hint: yes, it will require passports! Yay! Nathan's arrived about a week ago, and his has the best picture of all of ours. It's so cute! I am excited about some nice relaxing quality family time. It should be fun, and a nice break before a depressing winter (we leave the first week of December). Andrew is so excited he can hardly contain himself. He does need a vacation.
I couldn't handle trying to be creative to make two cakes in a row, so we got Titus an ice cream cake. I was decorated much better than Caleb's!
After cake, we told Titus it was time to open his presents. He ran to the couch, sat down, and just waited patiently for his gifts. What a good boy!
Titus also got a dump truck to match Caleb's "thing with roller tracks", but we somehow didn't get a picture of that. Titus' big gift was this roundhouse for the train set. He has gotten really interested in building trains, and has so much patience for it. 
I am glad Titus is finally two, because he is so big and talks so well that it seems as if he is older. Andrew reminded me that it's not good Titus is two though because now we will have to pay admission for him anytime we go anywhere that charges admission. Oh yeah, I forgot. It's getting expensive to take our family anywhere!
Here is my sorry excuse for a creative cake. Not creative at all. At least it tasted good.
This is the one thing Caleb wanted for his birthday. Every time we went to the store where these were, he and Titus both begged for them. I told them "maybe for your birthday". When we brought out Caleb's gifts, he looked at this one while it was still wrapped and told me that he thought "that's the thing I wanted with the roller tracks". He has a good memory for things he wants to remember!
Titus was fairly envious of the "thing with roller tracks", but he knew his birthday was the next day and was very good about not trying to take Caleb's gifts. I guess that's one good thing about having birthdays close together...
The wind was blowing so hard it took him three tries to get the leaf to land in the water and stay there.
Here is our pet pig... I mean dog... shaking off.
This boy is proud of his big stick. Yes, it came home with us. The best ones always do.
Caleb took a picture of us.
The best part of the day was the very end. Titus had been stepping in puddles, after stepping in the lake and getting his shoes and pant legs soaked. I kept telling him to stay out of the puddles, but as we came up to a big one, he disobeyed and started running toward it. I yelled at him to stop, and tried to run after him. It's hard to run while wearing a baby, though, so I wasn't going to get to him in time. Andrew tried to grab him, but missed his arm and only got his sleeve... right as Titus' feet entered the very big puddle. The result? Titus landed flat on his back right in the middle of the very big puddle. I wish I had a picture of him laying there, but I didn't act fast enough. Andrew and I couldn't help laughing hysterically.
Good thing we had towels along. We planned on having to dry Cocoa off, but instead Titus got to use the dog towels. He went straight to the bath tub when we got home.
Titus was not at all happy about wearing his costume. He warmed up to the idea and had a great time, but he started out being quite the pouter. 
Here is Caleb bowling with the pumpkin. That pumpkin survived for quite awhile, but then the boys had a great time watching all the seeds explode out of it every time it was rolled.
Titus played corn-hole with Daddy, and had a good time climbing up the ramp to put the bean bags through the hole.
His costume was a little small, but he was still a pretty cute little dragon!
