Give Thanks!

Growing up in Arizona and then living in California I've never experienced seasons quite the way we have this year.  It has been a lot of fun to really feel the passage of time in the changing of the seasons this year.  As Fall arrived the weather was noticeably cooler, the days shorter, the fields which were filled with corn last month are now wide open, and we couldn't get over the trees.  Trees everywhere changing colors and starting to loose their leaves.  It was remarkable and beautiful and I think that it was why I was so excited to decorate this year, filling our house with pumpkins and candles and pumpkin spice lattes, and just soaking in the last bit of warmth even while creating our own.

We had many things to be thankful for this year.  We were thankful for big things like our healthy children, for one another, for being close to family, for our brand new niece Autumn, born just a few days before Thanksgiving, for the friends who we are still missing dearly, for our country, and for God's Sovereignty.  We were also thankful for simple things like laughter filling our home, for pumpkins and leaves, for kittens, for Mickey and Minnie, for time spent feeding cows with Robert and cuddling with Grammy, and for Wyatt learning to poop in the potty like a big boy. 

Wrapping up October

We tried to make the most of October knowing that all to soon the weather was going to turn cold and rainy and that the days were going to shorten considerably with the time change.  Each day when I thought about staying inside at the end of the day after naps I would remind myself that if it wasn't raining we really should get out so we'd walk to meet Daddy, we'd play with the animals. and on Sundays the kids loved helping Uncle Ryan feed the calves.

Daddy got lots of help scooping grain and pushing the wheel barrel from both Sadie and Wyatt, and Sadie did it all in her "working girl pants" a.k.a. blue jeans and her very stylish sunglasses because after all it is very bright here in Oregon.

Cooper mostly just takes it all in from the safety of his stroller.

 One guess as to who put him up to feeding the cows like this ....

If you guessed Uncle Robert then you were right.  :)

The kittens like to hid in the barn.  Unfortunately for the kids there are lots of loud noises in the barn which they don't like.  Perhaps that's why they hide there. 

 Feeding cows continues to be a favorite, especially for Wyatt.  He would spend all day feeding cows with Robert if he could.

Baby Chicks

One of the things I'm loving about being up in Oregon is the exposure the kids get to nature, to animals, and farming, and seasons.  Uncle Robert got some chicken eggs from the neighbor and hatched them with the kids.  They got to mark them and although they weren't old enough to help him flip them they watched him flip them back and forth each day and definitely had their favorites.  He showed them the chicks growing inside the egg by shining a flashlight through it even before they hatched and then they watched them hatch into baby chicks.  It'll be fun to do it again when they are old enough to understand and help a little more but this was fun too.

Halloween 2013

Can't believe I'm posting our Halloween pictures in December, but I guess that's life with little ones.  It's a bit crazy once in awhile.

 

 My little penguin playing with his 1st pumpkin.

 

This year Mickey and Minnie are the rage around our house.  Sadie and Wyatt's favorite stuffed animals are their big Mickeys and little Mickeys, their jammies are Mickey, their beanies are Mickey, their slippers are Mickey, and I can't tell you how many times we've paused Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so that they could go get their "Mickey the Mouse and Minnie the Mouse."  They of course need to sit on the couch under the blankies as well.  So, it was no surprise when it was time to choose how we wanted to carve the pumpkins that Mickey and Minnie were the #1 choice and that when it came time to throw the pumpkins out there were more than a few tears shed.

 This pumpkin was kind of fun.  It didn't light up as bright as I'd imagined it would, but the kids had a lot of fun hammering the golf pegs into the pumpkin.  Kept them busy for quite awhile which is always a good thing.

 Every night the kids were so excited to light the pumpkins and turn off the lights so that they could see their Mickey and Minnie pumpkins.  I must say I love the enthusiasm that toddlers bring to the simplest of things!

For Halloween this year we decided to go with the Toy Story gang.  Wyatt got cowboy boots from Uncle Robert and Sadie got cowboy boots for her birthday so it seemed like an easy option and they were super excited.  The cutest part was that as soon as they got into their costumes all Wyatt wanted to do was hug Sadie because of course Woodie LOVES Jessie.  Haha!  We may have egged him on a little but it was really too funny!  Cooper was a very cute little Rex although he wasn't so sure about being in a costume.

Robert invited us to join a little group from his church that went out and trick-or-treated a nearby neighborhood.  We went back and forth on what we wanted to do this year but ended up really enjoying being included in this little group for the night.  The kids had some other kids to play with, everyone was very nice, and although we missed our old neighborhood tremendously we enjoyed continuing the tradition of trick or treating and enjoyed continuing the tradition of coming home to chicken tortilla soup thanks to our old neighbors the Tottens.