Halloween fun around the house and at Disneyland!

We are excited that Halloween is almost here. We made these delicious tombstone brownies at Grandma Egg's house about two weeks ago. Yum!


Matthew continues to enjoy opening and shutting doors. Look at that smile.


Matthew is learning the value of good dental hygiene. It's never too soon!


Last week, we had a super fun trip to Disneyland with Scott's family. We flew down to Anaheim with Scott's parents and met up with the rest of the family there. Here is Matthew talking to Grandpa Egg while we were waiting at the airport:


Here we are at Disneyland!




Come on, Scott, am I really that scary?


After a tearful/traumatic meeting with Geppetto, we didn't let Matthew look too closely at Jack Skellington or Sally:


Riding the train around Disneyland:


Our little Mouseketeers:


Scott and I were excited to ride Casey Jr's train, but Matthew was grumpy from lack of a proper nap:


Even Dumbo couldn't cheer him up:


Matthew and Grace looked very cute in their Halloween PJs.

Recent Pictures

Matthew playing with friends, Jeremiah and Daniel, in the backyard:


They had so much fun running around:


Daniel pushing Matthew over:


These injuries are NOT the result of Daniel's push. But they were incurred not far from that location.


Matthew and I were going into the backyard and Matthew ran ahead and tripped. He bumped his head against the concrete and scraped his knee. It was very sad! He's all healed up now.

Here's a fun picture from Tom's birthday celebration:


And here are some pictures from the night I was in charge of bathtime (usually Scott's jurisdiction) and started playing with Matthew's hair:

Fun Times with the Eggs

There are some things that happen every day at our house. Like, for example, Matthew snacking on cheerios (in the morning) or goldfish (in the afternoon) while standing next to the couch:


A significant amount of Matthew's playtime is spent in front of our front window. Either sitting on the windowsill:


Looking out the window, removing pictures off the table, getting handprints on the window:


Or standing on the windowsill:






He also loves spending time looking at books. His latest obsession involves taking all the Little Golden Books, along with a couple dozen other books, off the shelf in his room. Then he'll read among the huge pile of books. He is not satisfied unless the floor is covered with books.


Occasionally he branches out and clears out other bookshelves around the house. Last night, we went to Barnes & Noble and I had to restrain him from doing this in the childrens' book section of the store.

We celebrated Scott's birthday a week ago. He requested a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.


We had a dinner for him on his birthday with his parents and my sister and her family.








After the party, Matthew was playing with some of the gift cards Scott received. We later discovered them here:




Normally the trash can is just on the other side of the gate. Luckily, the gift cards didn't land in the trash can. I've since moved the trash can further away from the baby gate, and its a good thing because Matthew now regularly throws toys, blankets, socks, shoes, books, etc. over that gate.

Last weekend, the Elders' Quorum in our ward held a pinewood derby. Here's Scott with his car.


It didn't win any prizes for speed, but it was loaded with style!

Yesterday, Matthew had loads of fun running around the backyard with his friends Jeremiah and Daniel:


And, finally, my favorite thing that Matthew has learned lately is how to do all the actions to "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" - although he often freezes up when I try to video him. Here's the best video I've captured so far:

The Latest

Well actually, "the latest" encompasses a lot since we've had so much going on lately. I hardly know where to start. Maybe I'll work my way backwards.

This past weekend we had our house painted. It has needed it at least since we moved in 18 months ago. Here's what it looked like then:


On Thursday, the painters came and did the prep work on the house - it looked pretty sad after that:


Matthew and I enjoyed watching Scott taking pictures of the house through the back windows:


On Saturday, the painting commenced and - about nine hours later - it looked like this:




We are so happy with how it turned out. It's weird not to drive up and see all the old paint chipping away (weird in an awesome way).

Two weeks ago, we had a family reunion with Scott's family, which was a lot of fun. Matthew got to spend some quality time with his cousin, Grace. We took them to visit Grandma Egg at work:


And they went for a swim in the pool:






It was a little tricky for Grace, since she hasn't mastered sitting up on her own yet. She managed to stay in place for a few pictures, but she was not very happy after getting "dunked" in the water.

We left the kids with Scott's parents one night and went to an A's game with Marc and Katie:




We also had my parents in town during the time Scott's family was here, so we had plenty of fun things to do that week. My parents were watching my sister's kids so we went over to their house a lot and went to the library and played games. Unfortunately, I don't think I took any pictures of their stay except this picture of Matthew one day after we visited them:


At the beginning of August, we went to the zoo with Matthew's cousins. They were, as usual, very sweet with him.






I couldn't resist including this picture of Nick. I can't help smiling when I see it!


So those are some of the major events that have made August a fun month around here. Our church responsibilities have also made our lives interesting. In the past month, both Scott and I have received new callings. I was asked to be one of the early-morning seminary teachers for our ward and Scott was called as Elders Quorum president. It took a few weeks for the shock to wear off. :) Seminary started today, but the other teacher is teaching today and tomorrow so my first day is Wednesday.

And I saved the best for last:

Swimming!

Today we had a fun day swimming at Grandma's house. She bought a fun little pool just Matthew's size, a hat to match his swimsuit, and some cool sunglasses. He was all ready for some fun in the water!

A Few Pictures from our Family Campout