Superheros, Princesses and Munchkins

The Ever Expanding Gang

For four years in a row now we have met a group of friends and their kids at our friends, the Davis', home and gone trick or treating. Naturally, we have a group picture of our brood and every year it is funny to see how it has grown. This year we were missing one family and their three little ones, but we did gain a neighbor girl (wonder woman) and two new babies! The little dragon is baby Sam, who is 2 months old, and 10 day old baby Matthew was inside with mama. We seemed to be heavy on the superheros this year:)

Thomas the Tank Engine

It truly is amazing that I snapped this picture of Nikolas actually smiling at the camera. For the last few weeks he has been either screaming, crying, turning away or holding his hands in front of his face every time a camera is pointed at him. FRUSTRATING!!!! So before we headed over I told him that if he didn't look at the camera without hiding or crying then he would have to walk with the kids while THEY trick or treated and HE did not.

Apparently, it worked. He even smiled!

Lukas, the Littlest Puppy

Isn't he adorable??? My good friend, Sheri, made Nikolas this costume when Nik was 19 months old and since Lukas is 21 months it fits him nearly perfectly. Sheri even made Lukas a new collar:)

The Two Troublesome Trios

We have the three big boys; Wyatt, Willie and Nik. Then the three little boys; Nathan, Logan and Lukas. Currently the three little boys just follow the big boys around trying to copy them and generally getting in there way...................and I am thinking it isn't ever going to change......

Cute little puppy

Faithful Fans

Monday night, the boys and I, drove out to Canby to watch Morgan play in a soccer game. Another niece who is playing in a sport that I participated in as well! Too Fun! She even was playing midfielder and forward which were the positions that I played too:) This is Morgan's first year in soccer and is gaining skills and confidence quickly. With a little bit more practice and confidence she is going to be scoring goals left and right just like her daddy did.



I wasn't exactly prepared for the FREEZING COLD weather that greeted us at 5pm that night, so I bundled Nik in his kiki's and he stoicly braved the chill. What a devoted cousin:)

Did I mention it also started to rain?

John, Karen and sister Abby watching from the sidelines.....and freezing their tails off as well.

Little Lukas looking cute in his little pumpkin hat.

Feeeed Me.

Apparently little Lukey thought his belly button was hungry. Either that, or he thought it would be quicker to get food into his tummy through that strange little "hole" in his belly.

I'm Glad It's Not Me Anymore:)

This week the boys and I headed up to Tacoma to watch Zachary's track meet and Alex's cross country meet. They both are excellent runners and it has been fun for me to see my nephew and niece competing in the same sports as I once did.

Zach ran the mile in a time of 6:19, his second fastest time of the year thus far (though later this week he had another meet and ran a PR of 6:07!)

Zachary also competed in the long jump and jumped 13 feet, or thereabouts, I can't remember exactly. He did a great job and then he also competed in the 200 meters and the relay.

"Go Zach! Run Zach!"

Nikolas was a devoted fan and kept cheering for Zach as he went by.

Lukas was a bit more excited about the military planes that kept circling around us. Apparently they were practicing touchdowns or something. It was pretty cool to see those massive planes so close to us.

Lukey also had fun walking along the fence and curb. He was pretty proud of himself:)


We hung out at Kellie's the next two days and then on Wednesday went to Alexandra's district cross-country meet. During the race someone stepped on a bees nest and a bunch of girls were stung while they were running. Alex was one of those who were stung, and not just once, but twice! When I saw her coming in for the last 200 meters I noticed her pained expression and thought, "She's really pushing herself", which was true but mainly it was due to the bee stings on her arm and leg.

She ended up with her fastest time of the year, bee stings and all!

This was Alex's last cross-country race of her high school career and I can hardly believe it. The last four years have gone by so fast, I just can't believe she is a senior and going to be graduating this year! I'm looking forward to seeing what God has in store for this young woman.

Had to slip in a picture of Lukas with his Aunt Kellie:)

Just Barely...

Big Enough To Ride

We all went to the Oregon State Fair with my brother and his family at the end of summer. Nikolas wanted to ride all the rides, naturally, so when we walked up to the first one and found that he was too short I was worried that would be the case for the rest of the rides. Luckily, their were a great many rides geared for Nik's age and with him being at the very bottom of the height pool he just barely squeaked by at 34 inches tall. Little Lukas, didn't fair as well measuring in at 30 inches. Thankfully he didn't really notice what was going on.

Driving Truck

Ready for Takeoff

Hands in the Air!
He was copying other kids, it was hilarious:)

Roller Coaster Ride with cousin Morgan

Finally, something they both can participate in.

The pictures we are missing are the ones of Morgan and I riding 5 upside down twirling, spinning, wizzing rides right in a row! I was actually beginning to feel nauseous towards the end of the last one. I'm getting old.
Other than the rides, we all watched a pretty neat horse drill team show and had some overpriced corn dogs. That was pretty much it. Next time, Morgan and I are going by ourselves and riding crazy rides the whole time, now that would be fun!

Tea and Crumpets

My friend, Jennifer, is having a baby in December so one of her co-workers, (my former co-workers), had a fabulous tea party for her. It was so much fun to sort through all the fancy hats and find ones which matched our outfits. We wore them the whole time, and though mine felt like it was about to pop off my head, I got used to it and it was actually rather fun being all fancy like.

All the wonderful ladies from my former banking days.

Patti, standing with the teapot, has the girliest home I have ever seen! There are dolls and lace and pink galore making her home the perfect setting for a tea party. She spoiled all of us by providing 4 different types of tea along with finger sandwhiches, cream puffs, fruit, scones with jam and lemon curd, lemon pastries and so much more. I'm thinking that tea parties should be a regular event as it was a lot of fun. Of course, good company does help:)

Jennifer and I started working downtown on the same exact day for Commercial Banking, and since we didn't know anyone else we stuck together and ended up being really good friends. In fact, this was my first day back to work (and a new one at that!) since my mom had died. Jennifer didn't know what she was getting into when we went out to lunch together that first day as I then told her that my mother had died only two weeks prior. She was the sympathetic ear I needed and I will always appreciate her for that.
This will be Jennifers' second baby, a boy, who will be joining his big sister, Lexi. Lexi is about the cutest little girl ever and I can only imagine how cute a little boy of Jennifers' will be. If you want to see what I mean you can check out Jennifers' blog here.
Congratulations Fern, on the new little one, and I can't wait to hang out during your maternity leave!

Future Ropegun

Last week the boys and I joined my friend, Estie, her 8 month old, and my friend, Dave, and we all headed up to French's Dome for some climbing. French's Dome is this big chunk of rock that must have come flying out of Mt. Hood at some point long ago and then landed down near the town of ZigZag in the midst of trees. It's quite strange to walk into the forest, down a short path and suddenly you come up against this big ol' rock sticking out of the ground.
With three adults and three kids we thought it would be a breeze getting a few routes in before they all needed naps. While it wasn't unmanageable, I wouldn't say it was a relaxing and peaceful day at the crags either. We had to strap Estie's little girl into the backpack carrier and tie it to a tree so it wouldn't fall down the steep hillside. Then we had to keep our eyes on Lukas the entire time as he thought it was great fun to throw whatever object he could get his hands on and see how far it would roll. That was made even more fun for him as we then would have to scramble down to get said object. Cars, bottle covers, shoes....you get the point. Nikolas wasn't worrisome, but since he wanted to climb it did take quite a bit of time getting him into his harness, tying him in and then waiting as he climbed some and then mostly hung on the rope and swung around. It's a start, and at three years old he is showing incredible promise as my future ropegun. I might end up becoming HIS belay slave!

Dave, showing Nik how to tie a figure eight knot

Climb On!

Nik saw Dave's chalk bag and brush and had to wear it.
By the way Dave, Nik made it home with your small carabiner,
in case you were wondering.....
and he's calling it his......
but I'll confiscate it someday:)

Truly, kids are such incredible, natural climbers.

He's so focused!

Slack!

Nice climbing, Nikolas!

Then we have little brother, who doesn't seem to care that he is too small for the harness still.
He saw big brother climb up, so that means he has to as well.
It looks like the climbing gene runs in his veins too!

I am one happy climbin' mama:)