Ammon's Birthday and Halloween

Ammon had an awesome birthday. He didn't have school that day, so he got to go to the park for a couple of hours and play with kids in the ward. After Zenock woke up from nap Ammon opened his presents Grandpa and Grandma Deitz and my sisters sent him in the mail . He loves the ISPY bag, and when the weather gets a little colder (like drops 20 degrees) he'll be sporting the new clothes. I should also mention that he is starting to learn how to read. At school they practice a new "sight word" every week, i.e. "my," "like," etc. So the easy reader books Santa brought last year for him have finally been put to use by someone other than me! He loves to practice reading during Sacrament meeting, and he loves to read me the books he brings home about his sight word.

This is his cake. It's a monster truck show in case you couldn't figure it out. The ramps are made out of shredded wheat and pretzel sticks glued together with some nutella since I ran out of frosting. The track is chopped walnuts. The cake part tasted SO GOOD! I think the trick this time was putting applesauce in for the oil. Usually I just add more water instead of the oil, but I like it a lot better with the applesauce. Everyone else did too.

Ammon chose his very favorite meal, ever, Hawaiian haystacks. Cicely and the kids ate with us and then played until everyone else in Brady's family came for cake and presents. Ammon was so cute too. He wanted to have our neighbors kids come over too (they're 3 and 2), so we had some more fun with them. I love how he thinks of others so much...maybe it's because he realizes how much more fun things are with more people. Brady was in charge of the camera, so he didn't think to get any pictures of Ammon opening presents. He got some shirts, sidewalk chalk, a bucket of army guys complete with tanks and planes, a hot wheels track, playdough, coloring book, wooden fighter jet kit to put together and paint, and some policeman accessories. It was a really fun day, and I really appreciate Brady's family and the Hafen's coming to celebrate it with us. Thank you!!

This is our Halloween yard decorating...since we don't have a yard. The spider web stuff is SO COOL! It sticks really well to the stucco, so we didn't have to reinforce it with tape or anything.

My policeman and pirate are ready to go to the ward party/trunk-or-treat. They had so much fun! We ate chili outside in the parking lot. I was so glad we brought camp chairs to sit in while passing out candy. But I didn't think to bring the kids, so we pulled their car seats out and they got to eat dinner that way. They loved it.

This is our trunk all prettied up for the kids...but I don't think anyone noticed much. There was too much excitement about the candy.

I made a costume for me too. Sort of. I cut some felt and sewed it onto a white shirt. Ammon REALLY wanted me to be a ghost, complete with a sheet and everything, but I don't have a white sheet (and I wasn't about to go buy one just for this) so I came up with this idea. Next year Brady is determined for everyone to be characters from the Wizard of Oz. He has asked for that every year, and I've been too lazy to come up with costumes for him and I. I think next year I will start early and grant his wish. I have a whole year to think about how to make Brady the Tin man. Yeah, it'll be interesting!

On Halloween Brady had to work the swing shift, so it was just me and the boys. We went to his sister's house for some yummy chicken and then Sage took them and Madi to a few houses for more candy. (Like we needed more candy after the ward party...but they loved it). I was VERY thankful when bedtime came because all this talk about candy and trick-or-treating wore me out. And now that we have birthdays and Halloween over with, the boys have started asking how many days until the air show. On November 13th Nellis AFB is putting on a show with a bunch of fighter jets and the Thunderbirds (like the Blue Angels but not as well known, and stationed right here). So that's our next event...hopefully Brady won't have to work so he can come too.