Celebrating Fall

We've done a lot of things over the last couple months to celebrate the season.

In September we went out to Johnson Brothers Greenhouses nearby for a harvest event. They had cider and cookies and a free flower potting station for kids. 

When we arrived we realized we didn't have Desmond's shoes. We both assumed that they were in the car because he typically takes them off as we are going somewhere we've given up on putting them on until we arrive to our destination. So we just doubled up on the socks and carried him half the time, he didn't seem to even notice.

The boys loved digging in the dirt, picking out flowers and planting them. They especially loved watering them with the piggie watering can. The gal that helped them through it was great with kids. We browsed a bit and headed on our way to warm up. The boys were very proud to display their creations out front.

We get a LOT of leaves at our house, from the very beginning of fall and into the winter. The orange and yellow leaves are thanks to our giant maple tree out front. It dumped two times what you see covering our yard and driveway in the pics below. The boys really enjoyed playing in them, and thankfully Ben was able to get the majority off the yard before the rain made them soggy.

We have a lot of leaves in our backyard too from several small trees. Kai loves to help rake them up with Ben. There is another gigantic tree just waiting until we get all these leaves up to make it's contribution. 

There have been a handful of sunny afternoons, warm enough to head to the park. I love watching these two play together, such little buds. 

More recently we made a visit to one of the farms down the street from us to pick up pumpkins. Unfortunately the whole experience of riding the wagon out to the pumpkin patch and picking a pumpkin is too expensive for us. Thankfully our kids don't yet know what they are missing. They are totally thrilled walking up to the pumpkins on display at the store front and we are just as pleased to use free pumpkin vouchers we received from our mortgage advisor's office.

After getting pumpkins we stopped at a park on the way home and enjoyed a few more moments of sun. Then the boys colored them (we don't carve yet!) and set them out front for display. 

Last Wednesday we stopped at the other farm down the street for their last day before closing until spring. They have a play ground and goats, so the boys thoroughly enjoyed playing there. Thankfully it was nice and sunny, and not too cold.

For Halloween we didn't really have much planned for costumes, I couldn't get the boys to commit to anything so I didn't make or buy costumes. At the last minute I convinced Desmond to wear Kai's old Batman PJ's with the cape for his costume, and Malakai wore this awesome spider shirt that Grandma Debbie had made him. It was NOT a costume though, he was NOT spider man. Just Kai, in a spider shirt. He was very serious about that.

Ben and I didn't do costumes, but he did wear a Batman T-shirt to match Des, which rendered him the nickname, "Batdad" at the Harvest party that night. Our church puts together a HUGE harvest festival for the community out at Camp Harlow (which is a ministry that they run). There were tons of games to earn candy in several different buildings, plus a petting zoo with a lemur, bunnies, a wallaby, tortoise and snakes. Des feels the same as mama when it came to the snakes.

We are planning as long as we can to take our kids to the Harvest party and avoid the door-to-door trick or treating trend.

I'm so thankful we made the extra effort to get out and enjoy the fall weather before it turned into the rainy cold mess that it is here in the winter, which is surely just around the corner!

photo friday: summer is upon us.

If you live in the Pacific Northwest you know that this summer has been even more mild than usual. While other parts of the country were experiencing epic heat waves, we were sitting under grey skies that would occasionally burst forth with rain. We'd get a glimmer of summer weather for a day or two and then the clouds would roll back in for the rest of the week. It was kind of strange. I liked the break at first. It was a nice excuse to be inside get things done in the house, but then it got old.

The past week the weather is finally starting to look like our typical hot July/August weather. We really only get about 6 weeks of "hot" weather so we've really been looking forward to being able to swim in the afternoon and be out back late into the evening.

My only complaint, and it's the same every year, spider-town. That's what I call our yards when those little brown spiders set up camp everywhere and there are dozens more every single day. They also get huge insanely fast. It's gross. We've only had one week of sunshine and I'm already tired of knocking down webs and squashing creepies. It's especially bad when Kai runs into them face first, which happens at least once a day. We tried a mixture of vinegar + coconut oil that I read is supposed to keep them away, but it hasn't done a thing. We'll be purchasing citronella next this weekend. If you have any tips on natural spider repellents to keep our patio and Kai's outside toys clear, I'm all ears!

Anyway, here are some photos of our week of sun, hopefully it lasts at least a few more weeks.

Last week Malakai was fighting nap. I went in to check on him after a fit...he had fallen asleep like this.

 

Last night a friend of ours from church dropped off a new-to-us toy. I love second hand stuff and generous friends.

{Thanks Miner Family!}

It was such a warm evening we sat out until 7:30 while Kai explored the stairs, slide, swing, and "car" (the part with the steering wheel) of his new play structure.

Afterwards he had a much needed bath to rinse off the layers of sunscreen + dirt. Ben routinely does bathtime but I sat in with him for a bit to snap some pictures of the fun he was having...he just looks so cute in the tub.

Today we didn't get outside until 11am and it was already close to 80 degrees. After playing in the sun for a few short minutes all Kai wanted to do was sit in the shade on the deck and mess with the dirt and spiders. Then he actually asked to come inside.

{nevermind the can of air on the table...I was fighting off spiders}

So I grabbed a new toy from his birthday stash (we bring things out one at a time). This is the Melissa + Doug stacking train, one of his gifts from us. He enjoyed taking it apart and putting it back together and saying "choooo" while I watched for a bit and then got to making lunch.

I'm ready to break out the kiddie pool and wade with my toddler, have more friends over for backyard BBQ's, sit out on the swing later than usual, take walks as a family at dusk, and just enjoy the outdoors before we get shut in by the cold weather and the responsibilities of a newborn babe (don't get me wrong, I'm so looking forward to meeting little brother).

Tonight Ben + I are headed out for our 2nd date in less than a month...it's like a miracle or something! It will also be the first time we've gone to a movie together on opening night. We are moving on up in the world! If you think of us tonight, pray Malakai will go to bed for Grandma + Grandpa at a decent hour, as he's been zero to...I've lost count. Basically, he doesn't do it...ever.

Happy Weekend!

photo friday: finally spring

I've been agonizing over blog posts + facebook updates from those of you in warmer climates talking about your lovely weather and calling it "summer" already. In Oregon's Willamette Valley spring is a bunch of rain mixed with some sunshine (which makes vibrant rainbows), but mostly cold.

This week we were finally able to experience the spring that the rest of you have been talking about. Unfortunately yesterday I was feeling quite miserable so we stayed inside, but this morning we went for a walk to the park and played outside for a good hour and a half. It was warm enough for me to take off my sweater on the walk home!

We ate lunch with the back door open, airing out the house, and I felt too productive to take a nap wile Kai snoozed, so I worked on things for my job and calling doctors, nurses + schedulers to figure out Malakai's consultations + surgery stuff for the next couple of weeks. Plus, we're finally getting our flu shots! Well, I am, and Kai is getting his booster. We're so late that our doctor's offices were both out of the vaccines so we're going to Public Health.

Of course I grabbed my camera while we were out this morning and snapped some photos of play time at the park and a few things blooming out my front door.

{looking cool in daddy's shades}

{top left: asking me "please" for help...then he learned to go down by himself!}

{he loves to climb!}

{he kept putting the bark in the holes on the stairs, driving the car, sitting at the table}

{he discovered a stick, it was the most fun he's ever known}

{pink hyacinth lining the walkway to our front door}

{the first tulip}

What has spring been like where you live? 

Happy Weekend!

photo friday: snow + sun

The weather in Oregon is often described as mild. Truly we don't get many crazy storms and our temperatures are rarely at either extreme. What is not mild about the weather here is it's moodiness. Often, not just in the spring, it will be pouring down rain, then the sun will come out, then about 20 minutes later it will do something random like hail.

The last couple of days we have had snow. We rarely get snow, so it turns most of us adults into giddy children, or scary drives. Maybe both. On Wednesday night is started snowing here just after 10pm. Yesterday I took Kai out to play in it, but it wasn't enough to keep daddy home from work. Although all the local and surrounding schools were closed. ((snow day!))

By 11:30am a lot of the snow was gone and it looked kind of like this (but with even less snow)....

Beautiful, sunny, even a little bit warm if you were right in the suns rays. Then at 11:45am, I kid you not, it looked like this...

and I thought maybe Ben would have to head home early to make sure he didn't get stuck at work. It was sticking instantly, the wind was blowing tons of snow everywhere. Malakai + I watched it happen in a matter of minutes while we ate lunch. I anticipated that Ben would get to play in the snow with us after all, but then by the time I got Malakai down for his nap, about 12:20pm, it looked like this...

See, moody weather. It totally amazes me that it can change it's mind so quickly! By the time Ben got home around 4pm everything was gone but my mushball of a tiny snowman.


Then, last night, around 8:30pm I was sitting on the loveseat with my back to the window when Ben came in from the other room + whispered, "Look outside! Look outside, right now!" Not only was it snowing again, but it had been snowing long enough to accumulate an inch or two already. I LOVE surprise snow! It quite by about 9pm and I don't think it snowed again all night, but it stayed very cold and in the morning our yard looked like this again...

But it's just after 1pm and I bet you can guess what it looks like outside now. If you're thinking sunny and dry, you'd be right. What a strange, strange couple of days it has been. It has certainly kept me on my toes!







P.S. totally unrelated, but in case you missed it, Blabla Kids offered a discount to my readers until Feb. 28th. Just wanted to remind you before the deadline gets here!

Mima

Somehow I missed posting about our last "swim" of the summer on Mima's birthday {my mom}, which was September 25th. The weather was beautiful, just a week after our rainy lake weekend. It got up to 80 degrees, but unfortunately the cold weather prior to that day made the inground pool a little dirty. So we broke out the kiddie pool... for Mima to cool off in the sun.

Then Malakai joined her. And G'Pa came out to play too.

Later we showered my mom with her birthday gifts.

Then we ate dinner. And someone was VERY tired. He spaced out like this, even while the family was having a very loud conversation in the kitchen a few feet away. 

It was a fun day of celebrating my mom + enjoying the last day out by the pool. 

just down the street

When we first saw our house our realtor made sure to drive us by the park down the street on our way out. It's only 2 blocks from us and is perfect for kids of all ages. It has the typical playground equipment complete with a baby swing and smaller structures for the littlest ones. It also has a full basketball court, a huge grassy hill (that even I wanted to run up and roll back down), a field, and a sandbox with a water pump. So cool, right?

We finally made our first trip about 3 weeks ago when we finally had nice enough weather that lined up with our schedule being a little more relaxed. Right now the most Malakai can do is swing and play in the grass, but he absolutely loves the swing. It makes me heart swell to see him giggle while he's in it.

He laughs so hard that you can't help but laugh with him.

{I may have mentioned this before, but the shirt he's wearing here is one of my faves because Ben + I bought it before we were even trying for a baby. It was too perfect!}

The next day Malakai and I took our first trip to the park just the two of us. It was really sunny and I hadn't purchased sunscreen yet, so we spent almost all of our time spread out on my super huge beach towel in the shade of a tree.

 

I just love that the park backs up to a dead end street (no traffic!) and a beautiful orchard.

Since Malakai couldn't climb the play structures with the big kids, he climbed me and his stroller instead.

It was a lot of fun, but it's always more fun with company. So last week we went with some friends. 

{This is Haley, 13 months. Her mom Jessica and I met on The Bump when we were expecting these two cuties}

Today looks like it'll be another nice one. The perfect excuse to ignore the laundry and head back out to the park with my little man.

PS don't forget to cast your vote for Malakai P today and every day til 5/17!

oh yeah, by the way

Malakai turned 6 months on Saturday.

I haven't been all that eager to write about it because I don't like thinking about it. I've been looking forward to this age for a long time. He's learning so much and is active and playful and will even snuggle with me sometimes when he's sleepy. But now that it's here, I can't help but be sad that half of his first year has already flown by. Before I know it he won't be a little baby anymore. I'm doing my best to savor the moments while they're here because I already miss the time that has passed.

Anyway, enough of that mushy stuff. We did take some pictures on the day he turned six months (1.16.10)

Memorial Day Weekend

Last weekend we had a three day weekend for Memorial Day. Ben and I house sat for my parents, they went away to the coast for their anniversary and we stayed with my siblings at their house.
I spent a lot of time out by their pool and tanned pretty quickly. On Monday I was outside from 11:30am to almost 4pm and got a sunburn! The worst part is that I burned my belly! It's healing now, but it's so itchy I can barely stand it. Thank goodness for mary kay's after sun gel...it's awesome stuff.
I'll be out by the pool again this weekend for a family get together...I need a maternity tankini to protect my belly, any recommendations?
Here's a picture of Ben and I by the pool and that 32 week belly of mine before the burn.


and here I am with my mom's maltese- Bella. She LOVES to sit by my belly.