gimme candy

Blake told me he was going to be a cowboy for Halloween, despite our lack of a costume. Lane found a toy gun (not sold at Target, where they apparently disapprove of weapons for small children - but hello - we are in Montana!), we had the galoshes & cowboy hat, and my little cattle rustler emerged. Note the fearsome look in his eye. Also, immediately after he proclaimed "I gonna be a cowboy," he told me, "you can be my horse."

So I was.

Ellese had never seen a gun before, but that didn't stop her from being fascinated. Blake's hat was impossible to see out of when on straight, so he'd twist it and end up looking like a little girl on a Sunday picnic.

Reese with her fearsome bow hunters...unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of the bows she had fashioned for them. I think they put them away so as not to scare....

Lily the lion, or...

Naomi with Kale the bear, or...

Jonah the bear.

Reese & Smith, looking juicy.

Sarah & Mason, who was very interested in all the goings on.

Ellese wanted the lemon and ate it enthusiastically, but her faces were hilarious.

Cuddle time with auntie Lane - and yes, her hair really is purple. It's cute.
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Halloween was fun. We met up with a bunch of friends and children at a downtown coffee shop, completely disrupting anyone trying to get anything done. As babies collapsed, one by one, into emotional breakdowns, mothers peeled away, and Keli, Jess, and I headed out to troll downtown Bozeman for candy. There was quite a crowd, but our kids had a blast and were well behaved (no running into the street or anything like that). We finished up by having dinner at MacKenzie River with Zach and Dan. Yum-yum - my new budget has sharply curtailed eating out, so it was a special treat, especially with such good friends.

Blake was sent a little Halloween money by Grampa Steve & Grammie Patsy, so we took that today and rode the cars/motorcycles/trains at the mall, which Blake loves, loves, loves. He got to pick whatever he wanted, and when the money was gone, it was gone. He then climbed into the little ice cream truck for some make-believe play.

I sat in a chair next to the ride and asked for a vanilla cone. He looked a little confused, then turned, pretended to pick one off the wall, and handed it to me. I slurped it and asked for another. He proceed to hand me cone after cone, saying, "Here's a pink one!" or "Here's a brown one!" then abruptly said, "Bye! See you next time!" After turning the wheel a few times, he started to hand them out again...and then said, "That's all you get! Bye!"

When he "came around" again, I was handed a cone, which I promptly dropped. "Uh-oh!" I said, "I dropped it!"

He looked at the floor under my hand, climbed out of the truck, and said, "That's ok. I keem it up," while wiping the floor like he had a rag in his hand. We then carried a cone all the way to the Buckle for Lane, him holding his hand in a fist the whole way, saying, "Careful - don't drip!"

Thatta boy.