Halloween 2016

This year our family really laid low on the social gatherings for Halloween.  It truly is so hard to do things, outside our house, with Ruger.  Doing things with any toddler adds "excitement" but Ruger brings things to a whole new level.  I'm truly so grateful for David and that we are raising Ruger together.  I may have Ruger by myself during the day but David always runs after him when he is home.  I don't know how single parents do it.  I really don't.  And I especially don't know how they do it with a very, very active child.

So yeah, we just went to our ward/church trunk or treat and then walking around house to house on Halloween night.  We had invites to community and business activities but seriously....no thank you.  I'm sure we'll get back in the habit when Ruger gets bigger and is a little less likely to run off with a stranger, walk into traffic, or nose dive into the pavement.  

Ruger was a Daddy monkey.  Levi was, well, he was Levi.  He just wanted to wear as much "Levi's" product as possible.  So we went with Levi's shoes, pants, and shirt.  Brigham was a banana.  Which was hilarious because when he was a toddler he used to say, "I wanna banana, I wanna banana, I wanna banana!" over and over again, as fast as he possibly could.  Hyrum was Pikachu which turned out adorable because his cousin Spencer, in Oklahoma, was one as well.  And it was the exact same pajamas costume too!

Here we have Baby Monkey, Daddy Monkey, and Grandpa Monkey!

Ruger's babysitter and girlfriend ;) Maddie, gave Ruger this monkey a month or so ago.  When she brought it over to him, she had it around her neck like this picture (it has velcro on it's hands).  Ruger is incredibly smart.  And I'm telling you, it's not just the mommy in me saying this.  He knows exactly what we are talking about almost all the time.  And he catches on fast.  All it took was for him to see his Maddie (or "Ah Ma" as he says it) wearing the monkey like this and he immediately believed that is how you always use it. 

So I build his costume around his personality, me always saying that his Dad is a monkey, Maddie's gift and then Brigham wanting to be a banana.  Wa-lah!

Ruger was super cute when we put on his costume.  He didn't care too much for it and really didn't like us to put the hat part on.  But then I brought out the monkey and put it around his neck and told him that we were going to see Maddie that night at the trunk or treat, he immediately stopped pulling at this hat.  Sad thing, though, is that when got to the trunk or treat and she wasn't there :(

I found a shirt with a girl and 4 monkeys on it...so that was my costume.  If it only would have had a Daddy Monkey on it, my costume would have been complete!

These pumpkins were what was left over from Hyrum's garden this year.  It worked out perfectly with 6 left.  As I was setting up our van for the trunk or treat Brigham said that the blanket behind the pumpkins looked like there was a body under it.  Fitting, I guess :)

Something to add to the significance of Ruger's costume is that while he was running around at the trunk or treat, Brother Bitter said that he looked like a little spider monkey.  I just laughed and told him that it was funny that he said that because during the summer was when I first called Ruger a spider monkey.  David was gone night and day during the weekdays all during the summer for work.  He came home on the weekends and Ruger would not leave his side.  Especially during the first day home.  When David would have Ruger on his hip and would need to put him down, Ruger would wrap his legs around David's waist as tight as he possibly could and hang on for dear life with his arms.  David would bend over and let go of Ruger but Ruger refused to let go.  It was so adorable!