Happy Halloween!

 Happy Halloween from the Bruderer Bunch!! We had another awesome party this year thanks to all of these great folks. They all pitched in so I didn't have to do it all on my birthday!

 Ghostie treats and monster mouth appetizers. I am finding that I am taking fewer and fewer pictures at this party every year. I think I my hands are a bit full these days!

 Oh  my darling boys . . .

 Ben desperately wanted to be a "ghost wife." No, that is not a typo. He wanted to be the "ghost light" like on the Mater Cartoon Short on the Cars Movie. But he is convinced it is the "ghost wife" and not the "ghost light." The cars in the movie play a trick on Mater and hang a lantern on his tow hook and convince him it is the "ghost light." Lucky for me Ben thinks it looks like a regular ghost. So all I had to do was whip out and old sheet and cut it up!

 Cole was an itsy bitsy spider . . .

 and I was his web!! Aren't we so cute together?

The biggest news is that Cole is officially walking!! Today was the first day that he started to prefer walking to crawling. It's so fun to watch him learn something new, but so sad to know that my baby is growing up!

 Ben did a costume change before his cousins came. He wanted to be a firefighter before he wanted to be a "ghost wife." So he had two costumes!

 Cousins!!

 Calvin and Weston were fearsomely adorable pirates.

 Sally came as Rapunzel. This is the absolute perfect costume for this girl! Check out her frying pan! LOVE IT!

 Watch out Cougars!! Adri is ready to take the field with the next generation of cheerleaders!

From left to right we have April: Halloween Diva, Halloween Marilyn or a wild Aunt Sheryl. The choice is yours. Jason as Wolverine and Amber as the Magic 8 Ball. She was legit. You could ask her questions and she pulled the answers out of her necklace!

 The softer side of Wolverine. Awwww.

 Pirate Daddy Scott Bruderer. When we went trick or treating all of the kids kept getting so excited about seeing the "real" Captain Jack Sparrow. Scott loved every minute of  it.

Farewell Halloween! We are already anxiously awaiting your return!

Cornbelly's Corn Maze

 Oh my goodness. Cornbelly's is AWESOME!! I don't know how I have never been before. Every single one of us had so so much fun! There was so much for us to do and it was all included in our basic pass! Unlike the fair, where everything is going to cost you. . .

 The cutouts were too hilarious!!

 Note how Cole is appropriately a pig?

 The cow train was so cute! All of the boys rode on it. They had so much fun. Scott said it was a bit bumpy, but Cole had fun.

 The horse racing was definitely a favorite and a workout! Cole did not want to get off . . . ever. Ben got a little frustrated he couldn't go as fast as daddy. But he still liked bouncing around.

 Oh the air pillows! We all bounced. I have never heard Cole laugh so hard. I would bounce him really high and he would just giggle and giggle. Ben was lightning. He ran, jumped, bounced, crashed and then did it all over again.

 There was this awesome playground built on hay bales. Ben was all over this place. He tried all of the slides and climbed up all the different ladders and stairs.

 The power and speed of this particular slide took him and me by surprise. He came flying out the bottom, hit his feet and flipped right over. It was so funny. He thought so too because he did it at least 5 more times. He kept saying, "Mom! Did you see that?"

 Cole is obsessed with slides. He made Scott and I take him down quite a few times. He kept pointing wildly and looking me right in the eye to let me know that he wanted to go again.

 Tire swings are cool, but when they are shaped like dragons and motorcycles, they are AWESOME!

 Cole loved climbing all over the cool wooden playgrounds they had all over. There was a train, a semi, a fire truck, a monster truck, a pirate ship, and a backhoe. Sadly, there were a zillion kids so we couldn't just let Cole go nuts because he would get trampled. He was pretty devastated about it too.

 The boys tested their musical abilities as a pan band. Ben of course had to be loudest one!

 Ben got to milk a cow . . . kinda. But look at his technique! He is a farmboy! Yeah right.

 Ben and Cole both loved the duck races. You pumped the water into the slide and send the rubber ducky to the other side and somebody would send it back. Cole wanted to jump in the water and play. Luckily Ben was satisfied just pumping. He literally pumped for about 30 min. His arm has got to be sore.

 Oh yeah. I exist. Sometimes. Scotty took these shots of me and Cole. LOVE them!

4:00 am

Ben came in my room at 4:00 am this morning, talking at full volume of course because why on earth should he whisper? So I took him into his room to lay by him so he would go back to sleep. But he was ready for battle.

Ben: "I wanna go watch Special Agent Oso."
Me: "No. It is the middle of the night."
Ben: "I hate sleeping. I awake. See. I wanna go watch Oso."
Me: "Nope it is broken. We can't watch shows in the middle of the night."

We go on like this for about 10 minutes. Ben realizes he is losing the war so he throws this out at me.

Ben: "Mom. I going to get a box. (Makes a box shape with his hands.) And I going to trap you in it and give it to the police."

Seriously? What is with him turning me into the authorities in the middle of the night! So what did I do? Slipped him some melatonin and slept in his bed with him until he woke up at 7:00 am ready to go again. Sigh.

pumpkin patch

 Going to the pumpkin patch is my favorite Halloween tradition. When I was a kid we just went to the grocery store. So boring! It is much more fun to trudge through a dirty field to find just the right pumpkin! Ben has been begging to go for weeks.

 The highlight of the pumpkin patch for Cole was the goat. I don't get what it is with him and goats but he loves them. He sees them and just laughs and laughs and laughs.

 Neither of the boys were in particularly cooperating moods for pictures. Ben just wanted to pick every single pumpkin and take them all home with us and Cole just wanted to crawl in the dirt.

 Ben really really wanted to pull the wheelbarrow. The problem was that it was WAY to heavy for him.

 Cole liked the view from inside the wheelbarrow. And it kept him out of the dirt.

 He loved using the big while pumpkins for drums.

 Ben's one and only smile came when he got to go on the tractor ride. It was really bumpy, but both boys loved it.

Ben couldn't wait to get home with our pumpkins and "sword" them. Apparently, that means "carve" them.