Good Grief Charlie Brown

Happy Halloween! We had a happy and fun Halloween. I'll post more about our costume parties and pumpkin carving, but Grandma just couldn't wait to see pictures. So here you go mom. Love you. Am I back on the nice list?

Explosion

This little guy has finally decided that books are cool for reading as well as eating. It's been a struggle with him from the beginning. Hailee, from day one, has enjoyed reading. James on the other hand thought eating books were more exciting. We finally did find texture books that he would sit long enough for me to finish. Now, however, he can't get enough of reading. I almost regret getting him to like reading because he now wants to do it for hours at a time. It's been so great to see him enjoying it. When coming home from getting pictures I turned around to see this (picture above), Hailee sure is a great example to her baby brother.

Since Hailee went back to school and James and I have had more time together he has also decided talking would be a good idea.  It seems like his vocabulary has just exploded. He is now asking for things and talking in sentences. One day when we were going to Hailee's soccer class James got down and started running towards the field. On his way he calls back to his sister "Let's go Sissy." It's too cute to hear him finally start using words. I think the main reason for his interest in talking is his sister is gone and therefore no longer talking for him. That and now he's mastered running around and getting into everything the next logical step would be talking.

 Just in case you're thinking with the new strides made in reading and talking that he is calming down a little bit, I'm including the picture taken just this past Monday. I was busy getting dinner ready so we could get ready for FHE with some friends. I grabbed a few bowls when James came running around the corner completely undressed (he was fully dressed when I started dinner). I told him to go get me his diaper and he started going back around the corner. I turned around to fill the bowls and when I turned back around he had the baking soda in his hands and dumping it all over the floor. My first thought is, phew at least it wasn't the sugar. I really hate cleaning up sticky sugar. Then next thought is, I need to get the camera...even though he'll probably kill me later. Then I thought well it's already a mess and I have things to do so I let him go ahead and play while I finished dinner. After all baking soda can be used as a cleaning product. This little guy sure keeps me on my toes. Most days I have to ask Todd, "Is that normal?" Because I'm still not sure what exactly is normal for a little boy, he still surprises me.

Tis the Season

Last year was the first time I tried fresh pumpkin, we got several in our farm share. We all fell in love with fresh pumpkin pie. There really is nothing like it. As you can see by one of Hailee's journal entries: Pumpkin pie = a good day. This year with the weird weather the sugar pumpkins ripened a little later than last year.We only got one pumpkin from our farm share. Fearing that we would not get quite enough pumpkin treats this year we decided to drive out to a farm on Friday to pick up a few more (or 10 more).

Since the farm store closed at 5:00 we decided to kidnap Todd a little early from work and take a quick trip a farm. It worked out perfectly. Todd's boss was on a plane flying home from CA, once his boss got home there would be work for him to do, but in the meantime he was just waiting. A quick trip to the farm was just the perfect thing.

The kids had a great time. Hailee loved helping me pick out pumpkins for our yummy pie and James loved running around wild. They had a little play structure for the kids. They both enjoyed playing on it. James continues to show no fear. In the picture below you can see him going down head first. He landed right on his chin and got a little scraped up, you would think that would slow him down but instead he just yelled "wheeee" and jumped up to do it again.

 

 We are all looking forward to yummy pumpkin treats for the next little while.

Little Brothers

Hailee has a little friend on our street whose mom just had a little boy. Their family is a lot like ours, there are about 5 years difference between Lilly and her new little brother and it's just the two of them. Hailee told me, "I'm going to have to tell Lilly all about little brothers." 

Hailee is an amazing big sister, she loves her brother so much and is so good with him. You might be asking yourself why Hailee decided to wear her swimming goggles one evening when we weren't going swimming. I know Todd and I did. But then we saw her little brother and could guess as to why she was wearing them.

James has a new fascination with sticks. He isn't necessarily using them as a weapon, but he really does love to swing them around. Hailee was playing with him while I was making dinner and decided to take the necessary precaution to protect her eyes. I guess one stick got dangerously (according to Hailee) close to her eye.

She really is such a great big sister. James is one lucky little boy and he knows it too. When dropping her off he always blows kisses to her and counts down the minutes until it's time to pick her up. He gets the biggest smile on his face as soon as he sees the school bus coming.

I am a little worried about what she would tell her friend about little brothers. I don't want her to scare her little friend. She has at least a few months before her little brother starts driving her crazy.

School Pictures

When school picture day came around Hailee was so excited. That evening before we put curlers in her hair, picked out her outfit, and filled out the envelope. In the morning when I was doing her hair I told her that she needed to not run around like crazy at recess (ie, no playing tackle football) until after her pictures were taken. I sent her off looking so adorable and then when I picked her up she looked a little wild. She was thrilled because they took her pictures at the very beginning of the day so she could be as wild as she wanted at recess.

Can you tell she is super pleased with her missing teeth? Lately she has been "smiling" so you can see her missing bottom teeth. I love it that she did it for her school picture. That is my little girl, she is just growing up way too fast.

Saturday Adventures

Todd has been really busy at work lately, early morning meetings and late nights working have become somewhat of a regular thing lately. Since he has been so busy we have tried to make Saturday special family time. After two weekends on farms we decided to switch it up a bit and go to the zoo. It's been a while since we've been to the zoo.  Portland Zoo isn't very big, but it's perfect for our little kids, and you don't feel like you need to spend all day there to enjoy it. Every time we go it seems like there is something different to enjoy.

 The trip started off with a fun trip on the Max. When going to the zoo it's the only way to travel. Parking can be a nightmare at the zoo and the kids really enjoy riding the train.

 This little white Gibbon was really fun to watch. It was so crazy to see him swing all around. His arms were so long.

James really enjoyed watching him swing from ring to ring. I was a little worried about how James would do at the zoo, I wasn't too sure that he was old enough to enjoy it. He surprised us all by really enjoying everything he saw. 

 We met up with some our friends at the zoo. Their oldest is just a year younger than Hailee and their next little girl is just one month older than James. Of course the girls were so nice about getting their pictures taken. James was too busy to be bothered.

Hailee had such a great time running around with Anna.

 
James' favorite part of the zoo was the petting zoo. We've been to the zoo quite a few times, but they have never had animals in the petting zoo. From now on we're going to have to make sure it's a petting zoo day. James was in heaven. I have never seen such calm goats before. They just sat there quietly as the kids ran around touching them. James could have stayed there all day. 

 One of our other favorites at the zoo is the Lorikeet landing. You can buy nectar and go inside to feed them. This time we got there in the afternoon and the Lorikeets weren't so excited about the nectar. (Other times we've been they have been crazy about it.) Not to be discouraged, Todd went to the other side to see if he could coax one down, so the kids could see them. Pretty soon two landed on his shoulders. We soon discovered that they were more excited about biting Todd's ears than enjoying some nectar. After a few pictures the zoo employee came to the rescue. Todd was trying to gently get them to leave, but they were having none of it.

 After we left I was surprised to see the marks the little birds left. (I'm not sure whey his hair came out blue looking....weird lighting I guess.)

James loved all the animals, but he especially enjoyed the animals that growled. It was so cute to watch him stand at glass and growl at them.

After a fun day at the zoo it was time to go home. James was so exhausted he fell asleep on the train home. We had such a good day.

Pumpkin Patch

We have been planning our trip to the pumpkin patch for a few weeks. We went with some friends of ours and had a great time. Our Saturday, however, did not start so well. We woke up to the rain the weatherman had been warning us about. After talking to our friends we decided to wait a little while to see if the rain would let up. Since we were all looking forward to the pumpkin patch it was hard to wait. All of us got a little stir-crazy, but by early afternoon it started to slow down and we decided we would just go ahead and try, even if we got soaked in the process. As it turned out the rain stopped on our way there and didn't start again until we were in the car headed home. We also discovered that Hailee is the only one really prepared for Oregon weather and James definitely needs some rain boots. Other than having to deal with a little mud we had a great time, enjoyed time with friends, picked out two great pumpkins, and ate lots of yummy food.

 We started of the day with fresh roasted corn. Hailee loves corn on the cob, I love the fact you can see her missing bottom teeth. She lost her second tooth at soccer, but we didn't realize it until soccer was over. She wrote a note to the tooth fairy explaining what happened. Luckily the tooth fairy still came, Hailee was a little worried the tooth fairy wouldn't believe her.

 Hailee and Spencer on their way to the corn maze. The weather couldn't have been nicer, cloudy weather makes for nice pictures.

 Hailee was our fearless leader. It's our first corn maze as a family and we didn't realize there were maps. We had a fun time any way and didn't get too muddy or lost.

 James, however, was very annoyed we didn't let him run wild in the corn maze. The mud was so sticky and slippery I didn't think it would be a great idea.

 Alan, Spencer, Hailee, James and Todd

 I wish I would have taken pictures of her boots when we were all done. They got quite a bit muddier after finding her perfect pumpkin.

 Hailee, James, and Spencer off to find the perfect pumpkin. We finally had to let James have his fun too. He loved running around and getting completely filthy. The first thing he did after I put him down was go and jump into a puddle.

 Hailee and Spencer looking at the pumpkins. Hailee found a perfect pumpkin that she can't wait to carve.

 I just love the lighting on rainy days.

 Todd found the craziest pumpkin that he can't wait to carve. His pumpkin is smaller on the bottom than the top so I'm not sure how it will work, but he is very excited about it.

 All finished at the pumpkin patch. Now we just need to figure out how to get two muddy kids home.

 On our way out we enjoyed caramel apples that were so delicious. It was Hailee and James first time trying them. They were a hit. It was a perfect day to go to the pumpkin patch. Thanks to Kristin, Alan and Spencer for going with us, that made it so much more fun.