Happy Halloween!

What a fun Halloween! Jeremy had to work so it was just the 3 of us! We went to a trunk r treat this afternoon that was fun. Then, we trick r treated around the neighborhood. I think weather-wise this was the nicest Halloween I remember! It was almost 60 degrees and just perfect!  They had super warm costumes that weren't even needed. We trick r treated for almost an hour before the kids said they were tired. The kids did so well! They ran up to every house by themselves, said trick or treat, and usually remembered to say thank you. 

Sharks and monkeys hugging. 

I pushed Elizabeth (and the buckets...) in the stroller while the shark swam the streets of West Pasco. 

When we got home, Nathan and Elizabeth manned the door and passed out candy for the next hour or so. They switched off their jobs. One person looked out the window and the other person passed out candy. Nathan made sure to give away all the chocolate and peanut butter candy that he got for Halloween. 

Pumpkin Carving!

Time to carve pumpkins! 

Elizabeth pulling the pumpkin gunk out of her pumpkin. It's easier to keep clean when they take their shirts off!

Nathan pulling the gunk out of a pumpkin. 

The finished pumpkins. Nathan's is the biggest and Elizabeth's is the smallest. 

She wanted to pose and show how the big pumpkin is "as big as I am!" 

Animal Merry Go Round

The kids had great fun replacing all the pots and pans with stuffed animals. The animals had a great time on the merry go round!

It was funny to see Jeremy's reaction when he opened the cupboard to find the coffee maker. He seemed impressed.

Celebrating Papa's birthday

We celebrated Papa Norm's birthday a few days ago. For some reason, I didn't take pictures! This was the only one I got. It's so cute, it might make up for lack of pictures.

Elizabeth loves Gram's cupcakes!

Nathan's first race!

Nathan has always been interested in the races that Mommy and Sofie run. We found out about the Howl 'N Scream Scram in Richland and it looked like fun. The kids dress up in their costumes and run 1/2 mile. Nathan decided he wanted to run and wear his shark costume. Lots of people were there to watch and cheer him on. Papa Norm, Gram, and Laura were down that day to celebrate Papa's birthday so they got to watch him run. 

Here's the little shark before the start of the race. 

On your mark, get set, go! 

Here he is coming into the finish line. He was smiling and happy that we were all cheering him on. It was so cute! He got a ribbon. 

After the kids race, there was an adult 5K. Laura and I decided to run. Here we are at the start of the race. I'm 333 and Laura is 327. Our photographer forgot to take finish line photos. We were lame and didn't dress up. Maybe next year! 

Auntie Laura's hats

Auntie Laura is such a good knitter! She knitted some nice warm hats for the kids. They do not think it's cold enough to wear coats yet, but they like to wear the hats. 

Elizabeth got a nice purple hat. She loves it. 

Nathan was running around and it was hard to get a good picture, but he's got a lovely green hat!

She was yelling, "Nathan, your hat fell off!" Hats are a big deal. 

Family squeeze picture! 

Elizabeth singing and playing the piano

When we visit Gram, Elizabeth likes to play the piano and sing. I caught it on video this time. So cute!

Halloween Preview

Auntie Laura always likes to get the kids their Halloween costumes. Nathan has been obsessed with sharks lately so he was THRILLED to get this costume. Elizabeth climbs like a monkey so Laura thought a monkey ballerina would be perfect. Gram brought the costumes down, and we couldn't keep the kids out of them.

Here's how they look from the top.

I had a shark swimming around the rest of the day. I couldn't get him out of the costume. THEN, he got a bloody nose. Blood got all over the new costume. It was actually pretty authentic I thought. I should have taken a picture. I washed the shark costume the first day and it still looks great. 

Hugging....(seems suspicious)

And kissing? I think Nathan might finally be loving his little sister a bit more. (Or he just thinks the monkey costume is cute...)

A visit to Papa Norm and Grandma Jane's!

We had a lot of fun visiting with Papa Norm and Grandma Jane. 

Nathan created more art for Grandma's "Preschool Art Museum" that she has on display. 

                                         Elizabeth had fun singing and playing the piano.

As usual, Grandma read 38 Clifford books. 

Papa Norm is putting in a new circle! Nathan loved the backhoe and the big trench. 

Elizabeth observing the new trench. 

Papa got a fun new toy! It's a little Kubota gator type thing. It's fun to drive around!

Nathan can't reach the pedals by himself, but if he sits in your lap he's really good at steering while driving around the farm!

Fall Videos

 

Visit to Papa Ray and Kim's!

We made a trip to Yakima to visit! 

The kids love to swim in the Hot Water Tub. This time, they swam with dinosaurs. 

Papa Ray planted a pumpkin patch for the kids. They picked some pumpkins. It's hard to see here, but Elizabeth is wearing a shirt with a pumpkin. She chose it just for the trip to the pumpkin patch. 

Posing with Papa Ray

Riding on lawnmowers is always fun! It's just hard to fit 2 big kids on one lap. There were some fights. 

Napping

Here is a cute photo of Elizabeth napping.

I'm not sure how much longer she's going to be napping. More and more, she'll just talk and sing. She still naps most days. She's in SUCH a good mood (once she wakes up...) so I love that she still naps because she's much happier once she's had a good rest.

It's always amusing to watch the kids sleep. They're so STILL. It's weird to see them still when they're usually running 100 miles an hour.

Halloween candles

The kids are having a lot of fun playing with these little Halloween candles. They each have 2 little figurines. 

Painting the Fence

There is paper on the fence! It just kind of blends in. 

Nathan the artist 

Fingerpainting is more fun when you're 2

Expressions

Elizabeth has such great expressions! I love to watch her while I read her stories. Here are a few photos I took when we were reading a book. 

Here's her face when the character was naughty. She also does a growl at the same time as the face. 

This is the face she made when the character and his Mommy said how much they loved each other. 

Fun with Playdough

We play with play dough. A lot. Hours and hours are spent with play dough. I can buy a new pack and the colors are mixed within a few minutes. We have a lot of gray play dough. 

Elizabeth's current play dough obsession is feeding play dough to this cookie monster. She has little food molds that she shoves play dough in. Cookie monster eats a lot of play dough!

 Nathan (being older) is a bit more creative. Here is a nice cupcake he made!

Here are the planets lined up. He even tried to make the sizes about right! See how Jupiter is the biggest planet with the big yellow spot in it? And Nathan is of our generation. He will not accept that Pluto is not a planet and still always includes it when drawing/painting/molding the planets.

Pasco Park Play

We've been having such a great time playing at the parks this summer! 

Here's Nathan on the dock at an awesome river front park in Pasco yesterday. We like to go out on the dock and look for fish and plants. 

This bike trail is so great! It goes along the Columbia River for miles and miles on both sides! I'd really like to bike the whole circle sometime. (Probably not with Nathan...I think it's like 18 miles). 

Walking on the trail with Daddy. 

Riding on the trail. These trees are going to be so beautiful in a couple of weeks!

A 4 person seesaw! We have fun on this. We've found the best combination is Nathan/Mom on one side and Elizabeth/Dad on the other. 

Elizabeth quotes

We were exploring the river today. Here's a funny conversation that happened as we headed to look at the boat launch.

Jeremy: Let's go to the boat launch!
Elizabeth (starts fussing): But I don't WANT to eat a boat for lunch.

The kids had fun watching the boats launch. We also watched a guy fishing. He caught a few so Nathan and Elizabeth watched. Nathan even threw a fish back for him.

Next spring, Jeremy and Nathan are going to take up fishing.