Faster Than A Speeding Bullet... (Where Oh Where Did October Go?)

Can you believe it is November?  These first few days have met me with exhaustion, detoxing off of the last month of extreme busyness.  I know Josiah must be feeling it too, he slept in until 9:30 this morning after taking a 3 1/2 hour nap yesterday.  Needless to say we've been taking it easy and are regrouping ourselves.

October was a very busy month for us!  Between Josiah's birthday and all the Harvest/Halloween activities we were going at full speed and then some.   This is my personal favorite time of year and often the last chance to get outside before the weather changes and we took full advantage of it!  I mean, who doesn't love going to the pumpkin patch twenty times?  Okay, maybe not twenty, just two.

Because there was so much that went on I will use this to highlight the holiday festivities.  You can check out the entry devoted to Josiah's 3rd Birthday from earlier in the week.

Baggenstos Farms

Sherwood, OR

This was our first trip to the pumpkin patch.  We joined Auntie Jenny and cousins Emery & Luelle.  This is also where Auntie Jenny tooks Josiah's 3 year pics!

 The Pumpkin Patch

Sauvie Island

We went to another pumpkin patch with lots of our friends for a full day!!

 Josiah, Mia & Cousin Zoey

 May, Mia & Josiah on a mission!

 Kindred Spirits!

 Josiah LOVES his baby cousin!

 An attempt at a group shot...yeah.

 Mommy & Son

Storytime & Boo Bash

We spent the Wednesday morning before Halloween at the library (in the mall) at storytime and then the afternoon trick-or-treating downtown Camas at the "Boo Bash".

 Partial group shot after storytime.

 

 Josiah & Emery riding in style!

 At the Boo Bash with friends Mia & Eli

 Dairy Queen was handing out free cones...yummy!

 

Harvest Party

The Well Community Church

 We went to the the Harvest Party at our church for the third straight year.  They had this the Friday before Halloween and we had some of our good friends join us.

 

 Taken at the photo booth.

(Nate couldn't join us...it was Poker Night @ Red Rocket!)

 May, Mia & Siah

 Attempting to eat a doughnut hung from a string.

 Bowling with "Miss Mandi".

 "Fishing" for a prize.

 "What do you feel?"

 Lifelong Friends!

 Mikayla, Josiah & Mia

Halloween Party

Grandpa & Nana's House

Grandpa & Nana have a Halloween party every year (the night before this year).  They always have a "theme" but I don't require Josiah to dress up specifically for their theme, honestly he has no clue who Julius Caesar is.  Josiah was kind of burnt out on his fireman's costume because he had been wearing it for three weeks straight between his birthday and Halloween so he decided to take a break and wear his Ducks football jersey (he found the hat in Nana's play room).

Go Ducks!!

Halloween...finally!

At Cousin Emery & Luelle's House

This was the 2nd annual trick-or-treating extravaganza at cousins Emery & Luelle's house.  All of their cousins from both sides come early and eat pizza and good snacks before heading out.  This neighborhood is the perfect neighborhood for trick-or-treating and it didn't disappoint again this year.  Heck, a full sized candy bar even found its way into the buckets this year.

Group shot before heading out!

 

 "Trick or Treat"

 The boys, especially Emery, were enamored by this dancing/singing skeleton.

All of a sudden Emery is dancing and singing "Super Freak" with the skeleton...it was priceless!

"This is FUN!"

 These two could have gone all night.  Everyone loved their costumes and instead of putting a piece of candy in their buckets, they were putting handfuls!!  

See that Thomas the Train bucket?  It was full to the top!!!

I don't know why I found it necessary to take a picture of this.  After Josiah went to bed I dumped it all out his bucket and there it was, a big pile of candy!

(He'd forgotten about the candy by morning and hasn't asked for it BUT daddy found the stash!)

Go Ducks!!! (Continue reading before you judge...)

I will start off by saying to all my friends who are Oregon State grads and Beaver fans, know that I love "The Beavs" too!  If I had gone to a game at Reeser Stadium I would be blogging about that.  You see, I consider myself bi-partisan when it comes to The Ducks and The Beavers due to the fact that my brother is a graduate of Oregon and my sister a graduate of Oregon State.  I want to keep the peace and not take sides unless I must, like during the Civil War game.  Who I cheer for during this game is dependent on which sibling paid me more and outfitted my child with their team.  Just sayin'...may the best briber win!

I will say that I am much more of a fan of college football than the NFL and that probably goes for basketball too.  There is still something pure about the collegiate level players versus the tainted and often egotistical professional players.  Don't get me wrong, I would never turn down the opportunity to go to an NFL or NBA game, just stating a fact about myself.

Okay, about the game.  Nate won a contest at work last month (for his entire district) and had his choice of either Ducks tickets, Beavers tickets or tickets to a show.   He chose the tickets to The Ducks game.  The great thing about this game (vs UCLA)  is that it happened to be the first game Oregon played since they were ranked #1 in the nation (on the AP Poll)!!  Nate really wanted to take Josiah so we took the chance that they would let him in without a ticket since he was over the age of 2.  They took one look at him all dressed up in his Oregon gear and they happily sent us all in.

Well, the Ducks didn't disappoint and they pretty much blew out the Bruins!!!  Go Ducks!!!

Way to go, Nate!!!

Autzen Stadium

 Tailgating with dad..."Ohhhhhhhh"!

 Future football player?

(Mom's gotta think about that one.)

 Tailgating with mom...he looks less than thrilled!

 Watching the band enter the stadium.

 Headed down to our amazing seats!

 Watching UCLA enter the field.

 Josiah is pointing and yelling at UCLA, "Go away!!!".

 Here comes The Ducks!!

 Obviously these guys don't worry about their abs?

 Phil Knight (Founder of NIKE and UofO grad.)

 Very sportsmanlike!

Watching the game from our seats.

Go Ducks!!

My Favorite (Non) Cooking Blog

I just wanted to give a "shout out" to my lil' sis.  She has recently started a blog and it has quickly become my favorite blog.  I think everyone should check it out!!

http://jennycantcook.blogspot.com/

Three Year's Old Already?

Even though it has been a week since my "baby" turned 3, I am still in disbelief!  I know, everyone with children tells you that it goes by fast, but I didn't think it would go by this fast!!  I have spent the last week looking over pictures and watching videos with Josiah of him as a baby.  He knows the baby in the video is "Baby Josiah" but I am not certain that he really gets that "Baby Josiah" is really him...he's too much into being a "Big Boy" these days that it is inconceivable to him that he could have actually been a "baby".

I wanted to have photos done for his birthday.  My sister so graciously followed Josiah around the pumpkin patch (and even outfitted him for a few pics) and did an amazing job!  (Thanks, sis!) Here are a few of my favorites...

When trying to come up with an idea for Josiah's birthday party (I come from a family where parties are a BIG deal!) I was tossing around a few ideas and I came across an idea online, a fireman party that includes a trip to the fire station.  Josiah is into firemen as he points out every fire engine or ambulance he sees when we're out (he's even visited our friend Kris at the station where he's a firefighter) so I thought, "Bingo, this is it!".  After doing a little research I discovered that it is quite common for fire stations to do tours for such an occasion, in fact my sister had just taken my nephew to a party that consisted of a trip to the fire station.  So, this should be easy, right?  Wrong!  I first called the fire department in the city in which I live and was immediately denied, "We don't do tours for preschool aged children".  Really?  Isn't it preschool aged children that idolize firemen?  Uh, okay.  I was further unimpressed with the fire department of my city when they proceeded to tell me that they hope to have a day sometime during the year just for preschool aged children.  Hmmm, didn't I mention a birthday party, not some random field trip?  Whatever, time to brainstorm.  After realizing that "Plan B" of having it at a Portland station was not a possiblity I had an epiphany.  I called the station of the town I grew up in (Canby, Oregon) .  Sure it is 40 minutes away, but they are all about community so surely they would be all over it.  I called and guess what?  Not only were they willing to have 12 three year olds to their station, they welcomed it!  So, the plan was on.

My expectations were beyond exceeded.  I want to thank the Canby Fire Department for the amazing job they did with the kids.  You guys are absolutely amazing!  I left that day realizing that there really is something about a smaller community that I miss.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Josiah!!!

 Wearing a "real" helmet!

 Driving the truck!

 Enamored by the "real" firemen!

 Group shot...almost everyone!

 Checking out the ambulance.

 A fireman birthday is not complete without a fireman cake!

Happy Birthday my lil' fireman!

(How do you like the fingers in the cake?)