Halloween 2009

For Halloween we did our traditional carving of pumpkins, but as you can see, the boys only wanted to color them this year. We were able to plant pumpkins in our garden this year and were blessed with plenty to pick from. The boys had fun. As you can also see, they really got into their designs.

This is what Zayne did during the carving process and he was all smiles for the attention. However, he had no idea that the camera was on him, or he wouldn't have been smiling. Daddy is taking the pictures while Mommy is acting like she is going to get him. What great smiles.

The boys were great troopers for Halloween. We had a much busier day then we wanted, especially since the boys woke up with runny noses and coughs. But we made it. We visited both sets of grandparents and then ended up out trick or treating for an hour and a half. Longer then planned, but we got to see those who wanted to see us. Needless to say, we were all ready for bed that night and looked forward to the extra hour of sleep in the morning. Not that the kids know what that means. But we tried.

For Halloween Cyrus chose to be the Bumblebee Transformer. He has never seen the movie and has no idea what a transformer really is. But he really liked the costume and it was yellow. That was all that mattered to him.

Here is the Quentin designed/mommy pieced together costume. Quentin was playing his game SPORE and designed this creature (alien with lots of arms). He printed it out and told me that is what he wanted to be for Halloween. It took work and creativity, but he wore it and enjoyed it. I'm just glad the costume survived the whole holiday.

Front view of the costume. The arms had to be reattached a few times, but other then that, all went well.

Here is Zayne as a frog. He wasn't sure what was going on and didn't really want to be bundled up like this. But he was a great trooper.

October fun!

So I was getting pics of Zayne on his belly, one of my favorite positions for pics, and I caught him trying to get on his knees in the crawling position. See below. I can't believe my baby is that old yet. He also loves solids and is making time away easier if it is meal time.

This weekend we laid sod under our swing set. Finally! I was getting tired of the mud and dirt being brought in after play. Justin did a great job. Thanks love, you are awesome. It looks great and the rain after wards worked out great.

Before. Of course with Quentin's poses.

After most of the way.

Cyrus loves to push Zayne in the laundry basket and thankfully Zayne loves the ride. I couldn't get Zayne laughing like he was. He seems to shy away when the camera comes out.

August and September

Summer has come and gone and here we are already a month later into the school year. I swear time is moving faster and faster with each passing day. My first born Quentin started first grade this year and is loving it. It has been quite the experience having him gone so much, but it has also allowed more one on one with Cyrus and Zayne. And I know that they have been enjoying it. Quentin chose to be himself and do a silly pose for his first day. In fact I forgot to snap a picture before he left for school, so this is actually after his first day and he is still happy. Always a good sign. This is also the reason for the succor in the mouth.
In August, right before school started, we took advantage of the $2 Tuesdays at Thanksgiving Point with the cousins. Here are the boys down in front of the water falls in the gardens. We also attended the Dinosaur Museum, but I didn't have any decent pics from there. Zayne is in the stroller if you didn't guess it. We also went to the Hogle Zoo a couple of weeks ago and they all seemed to enjoy it. It was a hot day though so I was glad to have purchased and recieved my double sit and stand stroller. What a great purchase, even when my kids normally walk every where. It was definitely worth having for those tired times.
I can't believe my baby is 6 months tomorrow. Which means that he gets to start trying solid foods. Here are his first attempts. As you can see, he wasn't a big fan or not quite sure what to think. He is doing better now since we have started adding in the fruits and veggies. Hopefully it will keep up and he won't be so dependent on me. With that in mind, he has also gotten his first tooth and is starting to have his second one break through.

Oregon-Washington Trip

As you can see, we finally made it to see Ivan and Terri and their families. Here are a few of the many pictures that Nicole, Ivan's wife, and we took. Nicole did a great job of getting some pictures of the whole family for us. Thank you so much, Nicole. This picture of Justin and I are up at the light house in Newport Oregon. As you can see behind us, it wasn't very clear that day. Although it didn't seem to clear up much at all the whole time we were there.

This is the family at the docks. Some people had just caught some crabs that were wandering around the docks that the boys got to see. Then just below us and to the right were some platforms with at least 30 Sea Lions that were sun bathing and barking. It was pretty cool. The boys enjoyed seeing these animals and were asking to see some more when we were trying to leave.

Here is the family again at the light house. We had a lot of fun.

Here is the family at the Oregon Aquarium. Good old Quentin decided that he didn't need to smile. So he had a great face in this one. We got to see many different types of animals. But I think the boys favorite was being in the tanks where the sharks and sting rays swam all around us. They also liked seeing the many different types of colored fish and star fish. We also happened to be there when they were feeding the sea lions. Pretty fun.

Here are the boys at the beach. Their favorite thing to do, was to throw sticks in the Ocean and wait for the tides to return it to them. They did this over and over again. It is like having their own pet, minus the mess. We didn't get to build sand castles because it was so wet and cold, but we will do it again another time. Maybe next time will be in Florida at their warmer beaches.

The boys getting dirty in the sand. They had a blast.

Quentin, Jessi, Mitchell, and Cyrus at the Lighthouse. They had a lot of fun running around and playing together.

Here we are sitting on a piece of petrified wood at the Gingko Petrified Forest in Vantage Washington, where Terri and her family live. Ryan, Terri's husband, is a park ranger for this park. Their son Konner is in between the boys. They had a lot of fun.

The boys got to do one of their most favorite things to do. Throw rocks in the river. Terri and family live just off of the Columbia River. So we got to be near enough to the water to throw rocks. They had a blast and did their best to sneak in the water and get wet when their parents weren't watching. Quentin had no idea I was taking this picture. What a poser.

Here is Zayne just chilling with his daddy while everyone else threw rocks in the river. What a cute little boy. I love that hat on him.

Above is the view out the front door of Terri's the first night we stayed in Vantage Washington. Justin had to run out with the camera when he saw it.
Below is a view of Agate Beach in Newport Oregon. This was the view from our hotel. We had our own entrance to this beach from the hotel.

We had a lot of fun on our vacation and wished we had had a little bit more time to spend at the beach and other places. But it was a great visit and we appreciate Ivan and Terri's families for being such gracious hosts. You guys are awesome. We hope to come see you again.