October

To kick off the month of October, we tried out a new bakery, and discovered a fabulous neighborhood park. The cinnamon roll from bistro 76 was one of the best I've had in a long time. The park had a wonderful playground, beautiful fall leaves, and a gigantic field to explore. Maddie and I spent most of the time on the swings, while Colter and Ben played in the baseball field.

Still making large mud pits in the backyard.. watch your step!

                                   

Levi went through a phase of extreme blowouts whenever we put him in the jumperoo. Problem is, he never pooped until we put him in there. I've washed the cover of that thing more times than I can count.

Colter has never been into drawing, so I just about died when I saw his cute pumpkin face he drew.

The kids came down with some colds , so we stayed home from school. Whenever the kids miss school, I try to do a little bit of school at home just so they don't think missing school is super fun. We did some building with shaving cream and blocks, and talked about measurements while making pancakes.

Ben took Maddie out on a little ice cream date. She was kind of in to it!

Maddie loves to draw people and they absolutely melt me.

Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, I drop the two big kids off at school and then I come home, put Levi down for a nap and soak up SILENCE! Is it bad that this is my favorite time of the week? I usually fold some laundry while catching up on a show or clean up the downstairs. A couple of times I've read a book, taken a nap or showered! It is amazing.

Some sort of very involved story. Unfortunately the trains often sit untouched these days.

We didn't make it to Hood River this summer, so we decided to take a last minute trip to our favorite place for a long weekend. Our kids are starting to love Hood River as much as we do. The last couple of times we've stayed at a condo within walking distance of downtown. It is perfect!

                                       

On our way we made a pit stop at Multnomah falls and another waterfall. Colter and Ben walked up to the bridge to take in the power of the falls, while Maddie, Levi and I stayed dry down below. We grabbed some food from the snack bar (which was typical mediocre snack bar food), and Colter declared the pizza from the shop the best he's ever had. Perhaps he likes the cardboard taste. The leaves were absolutely breathtaking.

We coordinated our vacation with our friends, John and Courtney, so we first stopped in at Courtney's mom's house for dinner and play time. They have a gorgeous huge tree out front, that was dropping all it's leaves. We gathered some leaves in a huge pile and had a leaf throwing party!

The next day we went to the farmer's market, where we played corn hole, and I went overboard in purchases. We got some local honey, and some super cute painted flour sack towels.

We also spent time at the sand bar, which went out further than we'd ever seen before.

The next morning we went to the waterfront park, and walked in the woods with John and Courtney.

I took Colter over to Liz's house so he could play with the dogs and then Maddie and I went out for pizza and ice cream that afternoon.

That night we tried out a wood fire pizza restaurant we've wanted to try for a couple of years. It was amazing! They sat us right by the play area (that was clean and quality) and let us order the kids food first so they weren't waiting for a long time. We finished the night at Mike's ice cream. I think that was our 4th trip  :)

The morning we left , we made a quick pit stop at our favorite wooden playground.

Liz sent us home with yummy apples and tomatoes, that we put right to use with some bruschetta and apple crisp.

Ben loves to do science experiments with the kids and he's done some really cool ones! I think this was jumping popcorn.

The mall had a traveling lego exhibit that was incredible! There were lots of different structures made to look like famous landmarks and buildings from all across the US. There was even an area to build and race cars.

I watched Jessie's kids one morning during conferences. They all did such a great job playing various things.

James had a minute to win it party, and I was so proud of Colter for trying some of the games.

The Wornicks joined our family over at Nana's pool for some swimming, lunch and play time. I'm so excited to watch these two boys grow up together. They are only 6 months apart!

Another proud mom moment! Both kids sang their hearts out for Nana at grandparents day tea.

Classic baby in a pumpkin pictures. This guy cannot get any cuter!

Our third trip to the pumpkin patch. This time was with our whole family for the corn maze/fire pit. Colter insisted on bringing his giant dog with him. Luckily, the workers at the farm transported him out to the fire pit in a bin, so he didn't have to lug him through the huge muddy pit.

Another science experiment , this time over at the Heavilands.

Colter loves to try to build elevated tracks off of the stairs. It always makes me so nervous because he usually gets disappointed when things don't work out, and this idea just seems to be impossibly difficult. However, this day was successful and he built a pretty amazing track.

Halloween was so much fun. We went over to Austin and Kelsey's house and had a blast trick or treating. They have the perfect neighborhood. Colter loved locking me and Levi up, and Maddie loved carrying her bag and getting it loaded up with treats.