A Week in Review

Some of my favorite fall colors.

We are still enjoying our walks around town!

Probably the last time we'll have lunch outside this year.

We carved our pumpkins. Tristan did a great job making a funny face on his with a little help from Daddy. After daddy helped him with the face, he did the decorations by himself (stabbed the knife into the pumpkin a few times.) Our pumpkins are all carved. Jason made an owl looking jack-o-lantern. Tristan's was a funny face. Wade got a Thomas the Train, and mine is supposed to be a cougar slinking through the trees, but uhhh....you have to know what it is in order to make it out. I'll have to take pictures of all of them before they start rotting!

The boys and I arrived home the other day and so this little furry friend munching on our bushes. We don't have bunnies around here (too many coyotes), and this one sure looks like someone's pet. I'm afraid it didn't last long... We tried to catch the bunny and help it, but one look at the boys charging at it, and it took off running.

It was a beautiful day Saturday, so we took the boys up into the hills for a little hike.

We saw lots of evidence of wildlife, but no actual animals other than the 3 you see in this picture. :)

Tristan had fun climbing this mountain.

Saturday night our cousin Rachelle had a bunch of friends over for a fancy dinner before their Homecoming dance. Tristan and I went to help serve the meal. Tristan was excited to be a waiter and help! He looked pretty spiffy too!

Tristan asks his friend, Mandy, if he can take her plate.

Being very careful not to drop anything! He was a hit! All of the high school kids thought it was really fun to have him as one of their waiters.

After gospel meeting on Sunday we attended Ben and Darren's surprise 30th birthday party at Caffe Mela. Emily and Clara made delicious food (ribs!!) and fun was had by all. It was great to get our kids all together.

Dear Patricia and Sweet Jocefin.

Our attempt at getting all of the kids to look and smile.

2 years ago after Halloween there was a huge sale on costumes that didn't sell. I picked up a few for only $2 each! I got a few different sizes for the kids to use as dress-up outfits. Yesterday the boys decided to be a puppy and a bear. I thought Wade looked really cute and snuggly in his teddy bear outfit!

The puppy one is a little small for Tristan. haha and yes, they both have ketchup on their chin.

It Doesn't Work....

I always try to get Tristan to go to the bathroom before we leave the house. This morning we were headed to the store/post office and I had him go in and go potty, even though he'd gone only about 1/2 hour before. He stood there trying to go and finally said, "It doesn't work, Mommy."

Now that baseball season is over (well for most of us, anyway) and football season has started, we have a new sport in our house. Don't get me wrong, the boys still play baseball several times a day, but we have added football to the mix. BRING BACK BASEBALL!! I used to just have to put on a baseball mitt and toss a ball to the boys, who would swing and then chase down the ball, giving me about 15 seconds to get something done before the ball was back in my mitt waiting to be tossed again. I miss those 15 seconds!! Now, we have full contact tackle football. Good luck getting something done when you have two kids bouncing on you stealing the football. Then they get it away and are up and running. If you stop paying attention for a second, you end up with a football hitting your noggin. Wade always gets hurt, several times, which of course means cuddles until he's ready to get back into the game. Needless to say, football is much more of a demanding sport than baseball was. When Daddy gets home, I pull the pregnant card and remove myself from the game. :) What's next....basketball? hmmm should be better...although I'll have my own little basketball by then, which makes everything a little more difficult!

When I was running around the bases at the ball fields the other day (just for fun, with the boys), I found myself breathing hard. I was consoled with the fact that I am breathing for two! :)

Here's a little video of part of a football game. Rylan joined us for this game. (You'll notice Wade wearing a bib...that's his new thing. He insists on wearing a bib around. Weird.)

Family Reunion

The weekend my family was visiting, there was a reunion for the Kitchen side of the family. (Jason's mom's side) We all met in Stanwood at Randy and Amy's, because they just put on a beautiful new addition. Thanks so much for being such gracious hosts!

Here are the Lepaks playing rummy.

The whole Kitchen crew. Of course there were a few families that weren't able to make it.

The Lepak side minus Kale and Jaspar. They were missed, but had just arrived in South Africa, so we understand why they couldn't be there.

The Sanderson side all present and accounted for.

Happy Birthday!!! 60 years old!

A family picture! Finally! My sister has a couple of better ones on her camera, so I'm going to try to get them from her.

We're only missing Kale from this kids and grandkids picture.

Snow!!! Tristan had a lot of fun throwing snowballs at me! He didn't want to aim at anyone else, only me. How do I get so lucky?

On the way back, we took a little longer route so that we could go over the North Cascades Highway. It is so beautiful! The road closes for the winter, so this was our last chance to make it over for this year. Here you can take a little hike to an overlook of Washington Pass.

Siblings

Showing the truck off for the family.

Smallwoods Harvest and Leavenworth

Feeding the goats in the petting zoo.

Mom, Cammy, the boys, and I met up with some Wenatchee/Waterville moms and kids to go to the fancy farmer's market.

Pam and Dakota

Trese and tiny baby Branson

Julianne and Brielle

Wade getting up the nerve to feed the sheep.

The rooster was very noisy, as evident by Tristan's hands over his ears.

Heavy pumpkin!

Sharing a wagon with his friend Brielle

What a gentleman

Not too sure of her chauffeur.

A noble steed.

My knight in shining armor.

Tractors and pumpkins and two little rugrats.

Driving the pumpkin truck.

We spent the afternoon in Leavenworth. My little Bavarian boys got some cute hats. Now all they need is a pair of lederhosen.