Happy Halloween!

They discovered the joy of being at home and passing out candy to trick-or-treaters. I think it was their favorite part of the evening! Chris is just waiting for someone to show up.

You may recognize these firefighter coats from their 2nd birthday. They just love them, and wanted to wear them again for Halloween. They looked like REAL 'fighter-fighters'.
Yes, I got into the spirit too with this lovely stuffed and cozy cow suit that I borrowed from Claudine. Very comfy, I must say.
They're off and running at the Kennedy School. We went there first, then to some houses in our neighborhood.
Yikes! Spider rings and vampire teeth. I'm scared!!
Lookin' good, Dan!

Chicken!

John Finn, eat your heart out!
For the past few days we have had a feathery visitor pecking around in our alley and in the grass next door. We don't know where it came from, but we're sure having fun looking at it and making chicken sounds. I have to say, I think that the chicken is even more exciting than the spider that's still at the kitchen window.
I don't know why this has struck me as being so funny to have a random chicken cruising around, but it is. Maybe because it's about the last thing you'd expect in urban N. E. Portland. baaaaacaaaaaa! Eggs anyone?

cruisin' Ainsworth

These boys want to RIDE. They used to be happy circling their tricycles around on the concrete in the back yard. That's doesn't cut it anymore. Last week they rode around our block without any help up the slight incline. Then, they ventured out and went around 2 blocks which seemed like a really big ride. On Wednesday they really wanted to go down Ainsworth, so we rode to 27th. THAT seemed like a big adventure. But today they hopped on their trikes and went to 30th and Ainsworth! I think they thought they were half way to Seattle. Just this summer the City of Portland replaced all of the corner curbs on Ainsworth with ramps, so our destination possibilites are endless now. Their little legs really go fast. I think they'll be ready for big boy bikes soon.
There's always time to park the trikes and get off to toss some Fall leaves!

Heaven

Today we went to play at the Slater household and we went a new route which took us up and over Burnside. We were admiring the beautiful trees with all of the fall colors on a sunny October day. If you know Portland, you know that there is a huge cemetery at the top of the hill. As we were driving by, the boys couldn't help but be curious about all of the big headstones.
"Mommy, what are those?"' (here it comes, the big death question. They had asked before when we drove down Fremont, but this time they really wanted to know.)
"Well, those are headstones. They are for when people die. It's where they go so that they can go on up to heaven."
In their very pragmatic 31/2 year old brains, it didn't make sense.
"Are there stairs to get up there? I don't see any!" "Is there an elevator?"
"Well, no, you get up there by kind of floating and drifting in the sky". That's enough info. for this age.

Lots of thinking going on in the carseats behind me.
"I don't' want to go there, I reallllly like it here on the earth". " I like our planet."
Nate was really trying to make sense of it all. He remembered that grammy is there, which Dan has talked about with both boys.
"I realllly like it on the earth, I don't' want to die." Nate kept saying.

What do you say to that?
I told him that hopefully it will all happen in a long, long time, and that everyone has to die someday. But for now, we're really happy being on the earth and this planet.
Some things are just really hard to make sense of, especially when you're only 3 1/2.

pumpkin patch and grandparents

Granddaddy and Nana were here from Tampa for the weekend and we had lots of fun with them! The weather was pretty and rainy on Saturday, so we stayed close to home and played lots of games. The main outing for the weekend was to show them Kreugers Pumpkin Patch. We went on Sunday and the weather really cooperated. Nana had never been to a pumpkin patch, so she was a real trooper and went on the hayride out to the pumpkin field. The boys also rode the ponies and we got their first big, obnoxious, gooey caramel apple. They were in heaven and didn't quite know what to do with the things!
Ah, what a lovely family if I do say so myself.
The boys love being read to, and Nana was more than happy to do that job! Cozy in their jammies right before bed.
On Sunday g'ma and g'pa came up from Salem for a visit and dinner. Happy boys with loving grandparents!

my little friend.....

This spider has been my favorite thing lately. She has kept the same web for the past 6 days. She (I assume she's a she) has been hanging around in her web right outside the kitchen window, and since I spend plenty of time working at the kitchen sink, I've come to know her quite well. She is right at eye level. She is a very BIG spider, and she comes and goes as she pleases.

The boys have grown to love her too. We always check first thing in the morning, and at different times during the day to see if she's there. I guess we'll call her Miss Spider.

ooh, he's a magic man..........

My husband loves magic tricks. Tonight he's got a new one. Should David Blaine be worried?

the mailman and a little torque

Our mailman Mr. Jerry delivered the mail while we were outside playing. Speedy delivery!!!!
The boys love to ride their scooters and tricycles out front on the sidewalk. We've all come to the conclusion that Chris is the fastest driver, while Nate has more torque. I was filming this video of Nate showing off his torque when he didn't quite have it....Chris was a very kind brother as he hopped up from my lap to give the guy a push.

Friday night dinner with friends

The pictures above are from after the kids dinner when they all decided to get crazy under the dining room table. They thought it was just so much fun. The pictures don't really give the feel for the energy level around here!

Last night we had dinner with the Perry's and the Mistkawi's. Mike, David and I have known each other since our days as Walker Wildcats. That's a lot of years!
We had already planned to have dinner with the Mistkawi family when the Perry's called to see if we could have dinner with them. So I thought that the best plan was to get all of us together and have some fun! David and Mike hadn't seen each other in years, and they actually were in Scouts together in grade school. The kids had lots of fun and we actually made it through the night with no tears from any of them! We'll definitely have to get this group together again.

the last of the tomatoes

This weekend Dan and the boys pulled up what was left of our garden. It looks so empty out there now! I had picked the last of the green tomatoes a few days ago and put them in the windowsill to ripen. This morning Christopher noticed just how pretty they looked---one red, one orange, one yellow and three green ones.

another zoo trip

We met Mark, Claudine, Catie, and Will at the zoo this a.m. It was pretty much the 8 of us and the animals...........A beautiful Fall morning with lots of room to run.
We love wart hogs!
Isn't Will a handsome little guy? He was all cozy.

Here we are! We had to have a peacock take the picture since there was really nobody else cruising around the zoo. He did a pretty good job.

writing in the tub

We've had these letters floating around in the tub on and off for over a year now, and tonight they finally decided that they wanted to use them to write something------ their names. Good job, guys!

raking and running

The sun came out for a bit this afternoon, so we went outside to rake some leaves and race in the grass. Chris really wanted to wear his 'new' cleats. Hot rods!

computer saavy boys

Chris and Nate are computer junkies. We got a mouse to attach to our laptop, and spending time on the computer is their absolute favorite thing to do around here. They have been going between two different websites which are http://www.playhousedisney.com/ and http://www.pbskids.org/. These websites are geared to kids and have great games to play....they know most of the characters from t.v. It's amazing how quickly they learned how to use the mouse and navigate their way around.

On OPB there is a new show this Fall called Super Why which is geared to pre-readers and does a lot with letter sounds, early reading skills. They just LOVE this show, and we found on the website some coloring pages of the characters. They have carefully colored them and have created a gallery by their beds.

Such smart boys, and getting smarter every day!