All on a Saturday – bath time, pumpkin carving, letter writing to Santa, and pumpkin partying

I took some fun pictures of Charlie this morning before his bath – he was so excited when he heard the water running. I love this age. He splashes, tries to climb, pulls shampoo or soap down… it’s not a calm bath experience, but he’s so curious and happy in the water, which is really fun.

After the bath and any other time I’m changing his diaper or clothes, it is a big wrestling match. This kid does not like to lay down on the changing table.

So I usually have lots of toys to keep him still for a few seconds.

I have some pictures of Eli when he was around this age in a similar pose with the caterpillar. One of these days I’ll find it and do a comparison.

Love this boy.

Then there’s Eli, the pumpkin guts scooper.

He did a great job and called the guts, “pumpkin slime.”

The inside of a pumpkin is pretty cool to a 2-year-old.

Ben is always the master pumpkin carver.

He and Eli went online to find pumpkin carving templates, and Eli chose this Blues Clues picture. I of course didn’t get a picture of the end result and now the pumpkin is outside in the dark and cold night, so I’ll post a pic later.

Around the middle of the day, my parents and Davey brought our old family friends, the Lenzes, over for a visit. Greg and Vickie Lenz lived in my neighborhood for many years when I was growing up and we have lots of history with them. They were always so good to my family and especially Davey.

This week we’ve started getting toy catalogs in the mail for Christmas shopping, and Eli has had a lot of fun pouring over them, checking out all of the cool stuff. I decided to milk the Santa spin all I can, so we talk about how Santa is watching to see if he is naughty or nice… it’s made a slight difference in Eli’s behavior toward Charlie, but not much :)

Anyway, Santa has been on Eli’s brain, which isn’t too different from his Uncle Davey, who has a strong belief in Santa – after all, he’s seen him in person at the mall! Davey looked up the address to the North Pole, but then realized you could email Santa, so he and Eli sat down and wrote a letter from Eli, and afterward Davey emailed it off. It was the sweetest thing and I hope they’ll make a tradition of writing letters to Santa together.

This is what the letter said:

“Dear Santa Claus,

This year for Christmas, Eli would like Percy the tank engine, Elmo DVD movies, dress shoes that fit Eli and he wears a size 6 in toddler shoes. Eli would like a toy bowling ball and pin set for Christmas, children books, big piece puzzles 24 pieces, a toy cash register, a sock monkey stuffed animal.”

I like that Davey underlined “a toy cash register” because that is the one toy Eli REALLY wants for Christmas. Not just any will do – it has to be this one. Mainly because the 3-year-old neighbor across the street just got one for his birthday and Eli LOVES it. Thinks it is the coolest thing ever.

Anyway, I thought the list was really cute and right on track with what Eli has said to me about toys he would love to have or what he plays with at other people’s homes. Shocking that a 2-year-old can have such strong opinions :)

Tonight we went to our ward Halloween party. Eli dressed up as a kangaroo and Charlie wore the lion costume that Eli wore last year. These are slightly out of order, but that’ s okay. First, some pictures of Eli helping Ben pass out candy to the trick-or-treaters inside the church. The doors were decorated and the kids would knock on the door to get the candy.

Eli was excited about this lollipop that he scored at one of the doors.

This was my absolute favorite set of costumes – this family dressed up as Michael Jackson in the various stages of his life. Pretty awesome.

Here’s Eli checking out his friend Ava in the Elmo costume. I love her slippers!!

Eli also enjoyed the story time with Linda Kimball, who read a few Halloween books to a rowdy crowd of young children. One of the books was one she wrote, Come With Me on Halloween, which is a really cute kids book.

One couple in our ward built this huge ship with a fishing setup – there was a very long line for the kids all waiting for their turn to fish. I couldn’t believe how much work went into it – it was really cool.

Afterward, we took a picture of the boys on the boat.

Eli wasn’t in the mood to smile for the camera while being posed with Charlie :)

But the cupcake walk made him smile! :)

This is right before we left – Charlie was tired, playing with my hair and could barely see out of the costume. It was a fun party – the organizers did a great job!