Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Spooks 2017!!!



Well it's almost Christmas and I'm finally getting around to blogging about our Halloween festivities! On top of things, I am not. 

Settle in, this is picture overload of all the fun things we did during the Halloween season!

We checked out a new pumpkin patch this year and LOVED it! We usually to go a patch down in Eugene with my parents but our weekend down there in October was really rainy. So we tried Lone Pine Farms in Canby and had a great time!

We had a bit of a wait for the Cow Train, but it was shaded (it was a hot sunny day!) and the boys decided the wait wasn't bad because they went twice on the Train!

The ride was pretty long (10 mins) and went all over the farm, through the corn fields, by the pumpkins, etc. 

Owen's face is the most amazing thing!! Here's Austin, all jolly and just waving to anyone and everyone he sees, and then there is our #NotImpressed kid! haha

"oh hey, Mom. Hi. Yeah, ok I'll wave. Cool"

They had fun, I promise. 

The farm had a ton of food options and shaded places to sit. This is the typical result I get when I try and get them to pose nice for a picture. 

Dang sun. Owen again, hahaha! Notice who the smart one in the sunglasses is...

Good thing I'm not a famous Instagrammer... my selfies always kind of suck. What doesn't suck though, was the sun and apple cider donuts!

The pumpkin "patch" was just a big area with picked pumpkins all laid out for you to walk through. At first I thought that was kind of lame, but really, it ended up being nice not having to tromp through dried up vines. 

There was a big play area with a Noah's Ark ship to climb in and play on, and several different slides. They could have stayed here all day. 



But, it was time to go find pumpkins! Mr.-Growing-Up-Too-Fast decided he wanted to push the wheelbarrow all by himself. 

Owen was just grabbing every pumpkin he could find and saying "and dis one and dis one and dis one" we had 1,447 pumpkins in our wheelbarrow at one point, thanks to Owen.

The kid's second go-round on the Cow Train! Neal is so thrilled to take pictures. 


How long has it been since you've been on a tire swing???? Seriously this farm had such fun stuff to do! There was also a Nut House... a little wooden shack filled up with several feet of hazelnuts (here is where my Mom would say "they're filberts, Jessica...) that the kids could jump in and play in.


The tire swings were a favorite though!

Getting mail is always super exciting!!


Especially when there is money inside!!! Whoa!!!!


The weekend before Halloween our friends had a party so we all had to dress up! Madam Butterfly, at your service.

The mask was so fun!

Speaking of masks, these two didn't want to wear the costumes we bought them specifically for Halloween, they wanted to wear their PJ Masks costumes!

Into the night to save the day!!

Catboy!!!

Gekko!!!


The whole crew! Neal was King Ralph (remember that movie?)

We didn't get around to carving pumpkins until the day before Halloween. Owen wanted to paint his.

Neal got all festive and did all of the work on Austin's pumpkin... like usual. 

Painting the backside of his pumpkin

My um... "masterpiece" 

We did a very Pinterest worthy pumpkin this year too with drill holes all over! You can see that at some point in the pumpkin carving activities, clothes were shed. 

Owen had to try his hand at the drilling too. 

We made them get dressed to take pictures outside. Austin has been obsessed with the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas lately, so his pumpkin was Oogey Boogey!

"Mom! Da flash!!!!"

What beautiful painted colors Owen!! Went for a kind of mixed up, mushed up grey color scheme, huh? haha

Neal does all the work, the kid gets all the credit. 

Ready for Halloween!!!

The daycare always comes over to my office to Trick or Treat. To be honest, not my favorite activity because it always gets really hot in the building, the kids are everywhere and it's chaos, and they end up with wayyyyyyyy too much candy. Owen had a blast though, so that makes it all worth it. 

We went all the way to the 5th floor and took a break in the chair facing the big window!

Thankfully he wore the costume we actually bought for him for Halloween. Ninja!!!!

Why yes my hair was a mess. I was hot and my feet already hurt.

Finally done getting candy and hanging out in the atrium!

I think the 5th floor was Owen's favorite. So high up!

Halloween night the Bezates clan came over to Trick or Treat with us, as well as Poppa. The guys stayed home to answer the door (along with little Theo) and Kenz and I took the older kids out. Our neighborhood is so awesome on Halloween. People everywhere, adults in costume, guys with a wagon full of beer they were handing out along the way, super decorated houses. It was so fun!

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Life Lately- The First of Fall


Fall has officially... well, "fallen" upon us. Haha. 

My favorite season! Sweaters hide my post-baby belly, and are warm and comfy.. hence why Fall is my favorite. 

Anyways, here is what we've been up to!

Cheers! We always said once Austin was out of daycare (and we weren't paying more than our mortgage for daycare) we'd enjoy dinner out once and awhile and give our kitchen a break. So we wen to Little Cooperstown on a Friday night and all had a good time!

This guy really likes me lately. And his brother doesn't... he just wants Daddy for everything. So my approval rating is only at 50% right now. Sigh.

See? Austin loves me. He writes something like this on the back of almost every piece of paper he draws or colors on. His writing has improved so much already since school started!


Owen's happy! His favorite (aka Daddy) must be around. :-) He was being silly and enjoying the sunshine at one of Austin's soccer practices!


Gramma, Grampa, and Gramma Darlene came up to Portland one day and took me to lunch, so I brought Owen along! He wasn't so sure about the other kids in the play area at Hopworks. We all had a fun lunch though!


Gramma and Grampa also came up for one of Austin's soccer games! Other than having the wrong park and wondering why the heck we were the only ones there and then quickly trying to drive to the park we were supposed to be at... the day was a success! 


Owen and I had a little date one Sunday morning... I needed to run to HomeGoods and we got there too early so we went next door to New Seasons and checked out the pumpkins. 


We also got a brownie pop from the New Seasons bakery! Owen learned not only that I will bribe him to win his love, but that Mommy's mistake of not checking what time a store opens, will usually end up in us killing time with a treat for him... maybe he'll want to be around me more now? Ha. 


When the cat's away..... or should I say, when the big brother is away... the little brother scouts out ALL THE THINGS in his bedroom without having to deal with "Owen!! Get out of my woom!!!!"


From my one child who loves me. Owen, pay attention. 


Early October brought COLD mornings, and soccer games playing in those cold mornings, so the must loved UPS beanies came out of the closet!!


Such goofs. 


We went down to Springfield the weekend of Gramma's birthday so we could celebrate with her, and the boys had fun going to the store with Grampa to get breakfast supplies!


My Mom chose the Mongolian Grill for her birthday dinner and I was shocked when both boys ATE THEIR WHOLE DINNER. Asian food is something Neal and I make a lot at home, but haven't been able to get the boys to eat. Maybe it was the novelty of making their own bowls from all the ingredient choices, or seeing it cooked on the big grill. I don't know, but now we have two little fans of yakisoba noodles and stir fried veggies!


The weekend of my Mom's birthday was SOGGY... thankfully we packed boots so the boys could burn off some energy outside in the puddles!


We also visited Uncle Brian while we were down there and Owen loved trying on his old football helmet! He gave us his best intimidating growl. 


If you don't play in a pile of leaves... is it really Fall??


Ok, don't mind me, but I have to Mom-brag just a bit about my Austy James... he is so far really doing awesome in school and we are so proud of him! I knew the transition to Kindergarten wouldn't be too much of a challenge for him, seeing that he loves new things/experiences, got a lot of socialization at daycare, and was just so excited about this new phase in his life. 
We had a conference with his teacher recently and she said Austin is just such a good kid. He's kind and thoughtful, he raises his hand and is respectful, he has things to say that are relevant to what the class is discussing and he does the right thing even if no one is watching. 
Oh my Austin. For being an active, physical hurricane of a kid.... you are also gentle and thoughtful, considerate and polite. 
Good job, kiddo. You keep being awesome.