October Album: festivities galore!

I often refer to October as my “crazy time”… three birthdays that span from October 6 to November 5, with Halloween in between, not to mention this year’s election cycle, plus we decided to host all three birthday parties - large and small, an impromptu dinner party, and Oma and Papa came to visit.  Not to mention that Matt flew to Oklahoma and drove back in our new (!) pickup that we bought for a freakishly good deal from his parents before the whole dang “crazy time” even began.  It was out of control. 

I love this picture – in the middle of the craziness, right after Dean’s birthday party, we went to Sauvie Island to pick pumpkins with Fiona’s class. The day was beautiful, and if it weren’t for this pre-arranged event, I’m not sure we would’ve had time to pick a pumpkin for carving. Or three.

 

 

Leo got to practice saying “pumpkin” over and over and over and over.

And here they are, carved! Can you guess whose is whose? Dean drew his vampire face, Fiona wanted a silly pumpkin, and little Leo’s is the smiling one with hair that looks more like a crown.

So, here is our month in pictures…

Matthew came back at the beginning of October with our truck – and we surprised him with a crazy decorated house.

  

We went to Hood River for apple picking on Matt’s birthday and celebrated with cheesecake in the evening.

  

  

Matthew’s parents helped us celebrate Dean and Fiona when they came to visit, in a joint-pre-birthday party with two cakes, 10 candles (6+4) and presents.

Then, Dean’s actual birthday arrived!

   

We threw him a birthday party in our house which involved projecting “Madagascar 3” on our wall…

  

We went to the Pumpkin Patch the following morning…

We hosted a lively gathering that week…

I chaperoned Dean’s class field trip to Fazio Farms in the rain - thank goodness for the covered hay maze!

   

Fiona got an early birthday present as we were planning her bike birthday party for the first weekend in November…

Okay, now I must pause here.  A week before her fourth birthday, Fiona can pedal on two wheels.  She amazes me. 

  

And then at last, Halloween!  For Dean’s school, they had to dress up as storybook characters, which I think we all forgot about.  So the morning of, I quickly put together this Harry Potter get-up, adorned his forehead with a lightning bolt out of eyeliner, and, voila!  Though he makes a pretty good likeness, Dean doesn’t know anything about Harry Potter.  Yet.

    

Halloween night was a lovely and lucky break from the rain. Fiona, bless her heart, wanted to wear the exact same costume as last year, and she continues to be the prettiest Buzz Lightyear ever. Leo wore a hand-me-down bumble bee costume – the three word phrase that he still loves to say, and Dean, for crying out loud, wanted to be a robot, and wanted to make the costume… in the middle of everything! So I pulled together a box, dryer duct, electrical wire caps, and a paper plate, and a yogurt container for the helmet with fuses. Printed out some “flux capacitor” symbols and went crazy with some silver spray paint. Done.

I think I was wearing this wig to reflect the craziness of all that happened this month.

September Album: Indian Summer

We finished out our summer with a BANG.  The weather was incredible – I always forget what a fantastic month September is.  Entirely under-rated.  Nature’s best surprise. 

Some of our September events are worth remembering, especially as it has started raining non-stop (writing from the end of October): 

1.  We reveled in the outdoors!  We celebrated birthdays and the last days of preschool.  We rode bikes as often as possible.  We played in the park with friends.  AND we completely redid our back patio, took a leap of faith by deconstructing the too-small deck and replaced it with stones and grass joints. It worked! The grass grew in, and it really softens what is otherwise a pretty hardscaped patio.

 

2.  Dean started kindergarten!  He is one excited boy.  He couldn’t wait for this day, and he has hit the ground running!  Dean’s learning so much, his brain is tired by the end of the day!  He has never slept better.  Still up at the crack of dawn, but that’s another story…  Fiona was excited on his first day.  She wanted to ride her bike to school with me and Dean too.

  

 

3.  We returned to Lost Lake!  An end-of-summer  treat!  Our first tent-camping experience after a five-ish year hiatus.  We went with open eyes, having camped with a nine-month old before, and our eyes pretty much stayed open all night with three kids in the tent.   But going with friends made the sacrifice of sleep worth it.  And look at this stunning view!  The kids all truly enjoyed themselves.  So we will be back.