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We went to daddy's work on Thursday to go trick-or-treating with the nursery kids. Technically, this was Graham's first time and he was sooooo excited! He LOVES his costume and can't stop talking about Halloween and trick-or-treating. He was a little shy when we first got there, but still very excited.
I just love this picture - not really in focus, but you can totally see the excitement on his face :)
Can't wait to take him out again this evening - more pictures soon!
Johnson Farm is quite close to our house...so when the weather was halfway decent last weekend I got the whole family packed up and into car to go visit.
They have this really cool hay bale maze for little kids - Graham was a little hesitant at first, but started running and jumping around in no time...
There are some tunnels to explore in the maze and Wil got right in there with G to check it all out :)
After a good chunk of time in the maze, we wandered in to check out the produce...
Graham picked out a gourd to take home and before we left, we had him stand next to the measuring stick...
Looks like he's about 3ft. tall. It's amazing what a difference 2 1/2 years make. Looking at Eleanor and thinking that it was such a short time ago that Graham was that size....there's no other word for it, it's just amazing. Graham is talking SO MUCH now and so often! He has a lot of thoughts and wants to share them all. He's VERY excited about Halloween - he knows what he and his sister are dressing up as, and more importantly...he knows that if he says "trick-or-treat" people may give him candy!
We're going to try the whole trick-or-treating thing today at Wil's work - can't wait to see how it all goes!
I LOVED this picture of Ellie smiling in her little princess shirt and had to find all kinds of pink, princess goodies to scrap it...
see page credits HERE
Makes me smile - hope it makes you smile too today :)
We were soooo very sad to say goodbye to our beautiful kitty Suki today...
This is part of a layout I did about Suki in 2006 - she really was a beautiful girl :) We jokingly called her our "model" kitty because she was sooo pretty and the thinnest (lol) of our kitties.
She was good to her people and ADORED her older kitty sister, Hazel - from day 1 she was following Hazel around and wanted to be right on top of her (and sometimes she was!) We were always amazed at what Hazel let her get away with. She was very talkative, and I can't say that it was her best feature, but it was who she was!
Suki was a littermate of Talia's (our kitty that passed away a couple months ago) and it appears that there must have been some sort of genetic predisposition that led to them both becoming very ill. Suki has been sick for awhile, but she rebounded for a bit and then recently took a turn. Today we decided it was time to let her go. She was having a very difficult time getting around the house and while she was doing her best to hang in there for us, it just wasn't right to let her suffer.
Suki was only 6 years old, but we think she had a pretty wonderful life - our cats get LOTS of love and attention. We will miss Suki and Talia terribly - I imagine Hazel might too, though she would never admit it :)
A milestone has been reached - Miss Eleanor SMILES at us now!
She was just starting to put together a smile when Warren and Sarah were here, but she's pretty consistent about it now. It's so exciting to see her interacting with us and responding to all of our silly faces and voices :)
Graham's relationship with Ellie closely paralells the ups and downs we experience with him as a 2-year-old. One minute it's crazy, loud, dangerous and frustrating...
And the next minute you witness something that just makes your heart melt....
Those pictures literally happened just seconds apart from each other yesterday morning. Graham so desperately wants to help with Eleanor (most of the time) and I try to let him be as involved as possible without putting her in danger. He's learning to 'gently' replace her pacifier when she loses it, and yesterday he really wanted to share his "guinea pig" (I know it's a dog, but they just got guinea pigs at daycare and Graham wants one too!) so he placed it right there on her head.
After he got down looking at and talking to Ellie yesterday (he says "I'm telling her") he took the guinea pig off her head and tucked it under her arm....such sweet moments tucked away in between the crazy ones!
I'm guessing that this is kind of what it will always be like. He will find moments and reasons to torture the poor girl, but under it all he really does love her :) I have a feeling Miss Ellie is going to grow up to be good and tough though too - I'm sure it won't be long before we see her fighting back.
And so it begins.....
Day 3 (Monday) of the Aunties' visit took us to the coast. We took Graham to daycare and made it to the coast in time for lunch at Mo's in Florence.
I'm fairly certain everyone enjoyed their lunch, and then we wandered up and down the streets of Old Town Florence to do some shopping.
We stopped to catch a glimpse of the ocean before heading back to Eugene. We grabbed some groceries for dinner, including some incredible steaks and a pumpkin pie from Costco. We grilled the steaks, had cheesy potatoes - it was sooo yummy! After Graham went to bed we had the pie and played cards.
We had a nice relaxing Tuesday morning - I got the Aunties to the airport later in the morning. It was sooo much fun having them here - a little bit of home/family was just what I needed :) It's also a lot of fun to show off this wonderful place where we live. I'm hoping Linda and Barb spread the word and convince more of my family to come out and see us!
On Sunday Graham and I took the Aunties to one of our favorite parks to play after breakfast.
The park is right by the river and it was a really beautiful morning - check out the awesome fall colors...
Graham had a lot of fun playing...
....and Ellie slept through the outing.
After our morning at the park we went home to get Graham some lunch and settled down for his nap before the girls headed back out for an afternoon at King Estate Winery.
We had lunch in the restaurant and tasted some wine, then waited patiently for a tour. We were the only ones waiting, so we got a private tour of sorts :)
We have so many beautiful wineries here in Lane County, but King Estate is hands down my favorite. It's hard to beat scenery like this...
On our way back home we picked up pizzas, then enjoyed a nice (LONG!) walk after dinner. I still have one more day to report on, but haven't sorted through those pictures yet....coming soon!
I leave you with a picture of me and my baby girl, waiting for the tour to begin :)
It's been awhile since I updated - first it was because there wasn't a whole lot to talk about after Mum-Mum and Pop Pop left, and then it was because we were crazy-busy while Auntie Linda and Auntie Barb came to visit! I took them back to the airport this morning, so I'm going to start catching up and documenting our visit with them.
Let's start with Saturday....
Graham and I went out to the airport on Saturday to meet the Aunties. The sun was shining when we went into the airport, but when we came back out to the car, it was pouring rain...welcome to Eugene!
We went back to the house to have lunch and get Graham down for his nap. While he napped, the girls all went to explore Saturday Market. It is always fun to visit Saturday Market with visitors and see it through their eyes :)
checking out twirly-skirts
tye-dye everything...
lots of beautiful veggies...
We got a snack from the Dana's Cheesecake booth and found shelter from a bit of a downpour, then when it dried up again we wandered around a bit more before heading home.
Graham was very happy to see us back at home...
We spent the rest of the evening hanging out around the house, had drinks and dinner, and then went for a walk around the neighborhood. Graham went to bed and we spent the rest of the evening watching a movie.
I have many more pictures to edit and stories to tell - will be back with more soon :)
After naptime yesterday we got bundled up in sweaters...
...and made our way out to Lone Pine Farm to find our pumpkins!
It was a very busy day there, so when we arrived I went right over to get our hayride tickets while Graham fed the goats. Thanks Mum-Mum for buying goat treats :)
After feeding the goats we got in line for the hayride - Wil went to grab a snack and Graham played in the gravel we were standing on (during bath time I found 2 rocks in his pants pocket!) When the wagons pulled up, Wil hoisted Graham up to get a better look at everything...
We got on our wagon and headed out to the pumpkin patch...
Graham was soooo excited to see all of these pumpkins and enthusiastically got right out there to look for some to take home.
Wil wandered way out into the middle of the patch to find some good ones and we stuck a bit closer to the wagon. Graham decided he wanted to take home this one - the chosen one!
He was pretty darn proud of his pumpkin and very excited to be out there. As we were riding back to the farm on the wagon he yelled out, "bye pumpkins!!"
Where was Eleanor during this whole outing you might wonder?
She was tucked safely and quite happily away in the Baby Bjorn - I'm so happy that she seems to like it in there :) When we got back from the hayride I found a place to feed Ellie while everyone else paid for our pumpkins. We eventually got everything packed up - the boys went to get pizza to bring home for dinner and the girls went home to get settled back in and ready for dinner.
The rest of the evening included an episode of Jack's Big Music Show, playing "volleyball" with daddy, tubby time, stories, a nice and quiet bedtime for G, and cards. A very happy day....
