Keeping the ghosts at bay

It's Halloween, the ghosts are out. We needed to do our part to keep them at bay. Our train whistles, which were part of costumes, did just the trick.

Before we headed out, we drove on Thomas and Percy's Branch Lines, portrayed by Mommy and Daddy.

We had a great time going from house to house and asking for candy.

There was some great candy too, lots of chocolate and sticky, chewy goodness.

Once we got home, we spread it all out before carefully choosing what to eat first.

Pixie Sticks were a big hit, but a challenge to eat.

We had an awesome time trick-or-treating and candy eating. We have so much more candy, too. Awesome!

Eewwey gooey goo

It's that time of year again. Pumpkin carving time.

We got right in there, for the most part. We had to wash our hands a few times, but we always got right back in there and got our hands dirty again.

While we helped get all the goop out, Mommy did all the carving. Notice a resemblance.

Wait . . . we go IN that thing?

Just look at the other thing Aunt Jen-Jen brought us. It's exactly what it looks like.

A giant inflatable ball that we WE get to ride in.

It is totally awesome in every single way . . .

. . . except when we fall out. But even that is kind of fun too.

Hi aunt Jen-Jen . . . balloon?

Aunt Jen-Jen came for her long-anticipated visit. She brought us balloons. Little did she know the ramifications of that decision.

We didn't always hit her, though. Sometime we hit ourselves too.

Costume day

Check out all the awesome costumes our friends wore today to preschool.

We got to wear ours too and had a great time showing them to all our friends and teachers.

Presents: The Last Stand?

We opened still more presents the other day. Check out this awesome firetruck that light's up.

We got a few more talking cards that we opened first.

Then we ripped into our presents.

There was an amazing bus too. It has a car and a motorocycle inside it that you can take out and drive around. It also has lots of lights that turn on and off.

And then there was the car ramp/garage/elevator/car wash. It is super-cool but, as you can tell, it took Mommy a really, Really, REALLY long time to put it together. We promise some photos that show off its awesome-ness soon.

AAAAAHHHHH!!!!! FOOOOOUUUUURRRRR!!!!!

To celebrate our momentous fourth birthday, we headed to a theme park that gives free rides on your birthday. This ride went up and down. Can you guess which way we're going in this picture?

Going up was so much easier and more enjoyable.

We did get to ride the carousel, it's always a favorite.

Grandma came too.

And we better not forget about the big trucks with working horns. They were loud. They were great.

Thanks Grandma

We had so much fun with you while you were here. We love that you'll be just as silly as we are.

We especially had fun working on the puzzles.

It was so exciting when we actually finished one.

It never gets old

This is now the fourth time we've heard this song and seen this routine. Believe us when we tell you, it never gets old. See other birthday song videos here, here and here.

Presents: take two

There's nothing like stretching out present opening as long as possible. We get so excited.

Auntie Monica got us new Missouri Tigers football jersey's . . .

. . . and we opened more presents that contained battery powered trains.

We immediately tested them to see which was faster.

Visit anytime Kinsey

We had so much fun with Kinsey, we love it when she comes to stay with us. We went on a bike ride and played in the leaves with her . . .

. . . and she read us lots of awesome stories. You can come visit us anytime Kinsey.

Guess who ?? !!

Groucho the Clown? Noooooooooo . . . it's Jackson with Groucho glasses and a rainbow wig.

Grandma and Bumpa got us a big box full of dress-up clothes. We took EVERYTHING out of the bin.

We were wizards . . .

. . . and magicians.

They also gave us a bunch of books about dressing up and playing make-believe. So be warned, next time you see us you may not recognize us.

Presents: take one

It seems we've been opening gifts for two days now. That's OK with us. We always open our cards first.

We have to earn the right to tear into our gifts, which we do.

The first ones we opened were called Chew Chew Trains. They come apart and each part is a plate or bowl or mug that we use to eat our food with. It even includes a fork and spoon.

Then, believe it or not, we got our first trains that move all by themselves. AWESOME!!

Get your costume on

We had a costume party to celebrate our fourth birthday. Mommy did an awesome job making our Thomas and Percy tank engine costumes. We wore overalls and a conductor's hat and drove the trains.

Sweet, sweet cake.

Gwen loved the cake . . .

. . . Charley loved the cake . . .

. . . everyone loved the cake.

Mommy made it, of course, it was an awesome spooky train cake. She lit the candles . . .

. . . and we went to work.