Halloween in The Hood

We love how Hood River does Halloween, so we just had to make a visit! We had a blast as usual. We went out to dinner with all of our game night friends-man do we miss them all! Ryan went on his last ride of Post Canyon for the season. We went trick or treating in down town Hood River and saw lots of old friends! It was a great visit! Thanks to the Brennan’s for always welcoming us into there home to stay when we visit! Love you guys!

Little Leah dressed as a witch

Mario and Luigi

Brody the Dinosaur

Trying to get a pic of all the kids together

yup, a happy bunch!

Ayden helping Brody out

Daphne and Fred, from scooby doo

Playing cards after trick or treating

My hubby insisted that we do “homemade” costumes this year. I was of course very hesitant, not cause I didn’t think they would turn out, but because I’m just plain old LAZY. But after the fact I’m very happy that he talked me into it. I thought the boys costumes turned out better than the store bought ones and our costumes turned out awesome too! Thanks babe for making me do it! We had a great Halloween!~

 

Carving Pumpkins

Though we didn’t get any pumpkins at the pumpkin patch(we are too cheap!) we did get some pumpkins and had a fun little carving pumpkin party w/our friends! I can proudly say that my pumpkin turned out better then Ryan’s this year-which is a first! Yeah for me!

Tawny, Lydon, Michelle and Clint

Cam, Kristy and Haylee

Ryan and Ayden

Our finished pumpkins, I’m sure everyone is wondering what the heck Tawny’s pumpkin is?!! We had the same thoughts after she got done with it! LOL. Though she claims it’s a mummy, I don’t know if I believe her! hahaha

Jackson passed out before the carving was done, though later that night we found out why when he woke up burning with a fever, which we “think” but have not confirmed that he has the piggy flu!

 

Pumpkin Patch

We ventured to the pumpkin patch w/some of our friends. The kids had a blast and Ryan left wondering again why we had so many kids! LOL. We didn’t realize before we went that it was going to have so much going on. There was a corn maze, tractor ride, cow ride, games, food, playground, goats and of course the pumpkin patch itself. It was a beautiful day and I was glad to get out of the house!

The whole clan

Trying to keep up with Leah

Jackson and Ayden w/there new BFF Taylor

The boys on the cow ride

Leah being a goof

 

School Pics

The boys school pics have arrived!! I think they turned out great. Though Ryan is making fun of me cause I did Ayden’s hair in a nice 80’s flat top look. What can I say, I don’t know how to do boys hair! LOL. I did Jackson’s hair the same way last year for his kindergarten pics, so I guess we’ll just make it a tradition! Wow my boys are so handsome!!

Ayden(Kindergarten)

Jackson(1st grade)

 

The Girls from the Hood

I am so grateful that we still live pretty close to Hood River that I can meet my girlfriends half way and have a girls weekend!! Tammy, Melanie and I met in Portland on Saturday and did some shopping and ate at The Olive Garden(of course!!) and went to the hotel and waxed, did Tammy’s hair and sat in the hot tub and of course got NO sleep(well I got no sleep)! We then shopped our hearts out on Sunday and then parted our ways later that day.   The greatest thing that I love about these girls is that it doesn’t matter that I don’t see them for months at a time, we are still able to get together and enjoy each other’s company as if we see each other every day. Distance is nothing when you have a great friendship! Love you girls.

I have noticed that the older I get the less people value friendship.  I love  having girlfriends and spending time with them doing whatever.  I am more than grateful that I have made friends w/girls who cherish friendship as much as I do. I may not live by family but my girlfriends and there families have become my family. Family is great and I love mine dearly but I don’t live by them, so to those of you who live by family, think about your friends that aren’t related, how is that friendship?

Melanie and Tammy

Shopping around

who doesn’t want a close-up?

 

Mommy & me play school

Leah and I have started the mommy and me play school w/Early intervention! Yeah!! Thanks to my friend Tawny who watches Brody and Ayden for me, I get to spend 2 full hours w/Leah at play school-and of course she LOVES it! There is a little boy in the class w/DS and he is 2 months older than her, it’s great to have someone to talk too. The physical therapist came to class and was surprised by how much Leah can do, she said that Leah’s probably the most physical 3 year old w/DS that she’s ever worked with, LOL, I guess being surrounded by brothers is paying off!  Her favorite thing to do at school is play in the kitchen and at the bean table. I’m excited for this year to spend w/her at school and of course I look forward to next year when she can go ALONE!! LOL.

playing at the bean table

playing w/the cars

stacking blocks

pushing the blocks over-her favorite thing to do!

 

eating!

I feel like I’ve finally figured out how to feed a baby! It only took 3 kids to figure it out! LOL. Brody is by far the best eater out of all of my kids and I love it! We feed him whatever and he always likes it, makes for a happy mom since I’ve had such issues w/Leah. I had to take a few pics of him eating the other night cause he was so cute! and of course a few of Leah too!

 

Jackson turns 7!

Happy Birthday Jackson! Wow I can’t believe that I have a 7 year old-where did the time go? We did a soccer party at a park and it ended up being a lot of fun! We did some drills, then played a few games, played at the playground, had cup cakes and opened presents!

Jackson w/his soccer cake(that Ryan made)

Jackson and the party crew

opening presents

more presents

 

Poop!

I put the babies down for a nap and a half hour later I walked by their door and smelled poop. I opened the door to check who it was and Leah popped up and said “hi”! I then realized that she was naked including NO DIAPER!! Further examination showed that she had removed her clothes and diaper and the dropped a bomb on her pillow! She put her hand in it so it was also all over her face and body and blankets. Soooooooo gross!!

 

I’m not a dog?!

One morning the babies got up really early, so I put them in the toy room and went back to bed. Soon I heard screaming from both babies and got up all angry and yelling at Jackson “What the crap is going on?”, Jackson answers with: “I opened the doggie door and Brody got out and now Leah wants out.” Kids are they great?  I’m surprised that the younger ones survive! LOL. Now Brody thinks the doggie door is his own personal door to the outside world-too cute! I got a pic of him today trying it out some more.