November

We had parent teacher conferences early in November

John showed me himself in the school of mural of kids

Looking very cool!!

And Emma

I liked this writing John did - although it made me feel bad I didn't go play catch with him more

Got good reports from the teachers so things are going well there

Emma played her last and muddiest soccer game for the season

Yes, time to be done!

We also had a nice birthday lunch for Emma at Applebee's - her choice

I got Emma a special Oreo donut for her birthday

She loves Oreos

We had a crazy chocolate cake

And some presents

We had a friend party a few days later - Mario movie, pizza, cupcakes and a few activities including painting birdhouses

Lots of fun!

I also took Emma to the mall to spend some birthday money at Claire's

She got these puffy clip on earrings

Somewhere in there Scott and I went to see Les Miserables in Portland

Fun

Anna wore one of Scott's AF jackets to the camo night football game

It's looking very fall around here still

We got a few new coats from the Columbia store

And we did some neighborhood walks

So many leaves around

Emma got an award at school for demonstrating kindness

Good job Emma!

John started trumpet lessons and Grant started guitar lessons although I didn't get a good picture of him playing.  Hoping the lessons go well.

Scott's keeping on top of the fall yard work

Scott has won the hearts and minds of all the local birds by keeping our bird feeders well stocked

We did some sibling Christmas shopping

Lots of fun ornaments

Emma got a fun cookbook for her brithday - it has a recipe for every day of the year.  One of the November ones was these pie sugar cookies.  They didn't look as cute as the picture but we used what we had and it was fun.

The kids ask for pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes a lot in the fall

And we are starting to think about Christmas - looking so festive!

Anna and Grant helped me put together a Dungeons and Dragons advent calendar for our nephew/cousin.  They were very helpful!

For Halloween we went to Scott's parents house and had a fun get together with cousins.  Here they are playing Left Center Right with actual money.

Clark was one of the big winners - he was so cute with his money the rest of the weekend

We went roller skating with the cousins

We got to go to our nephew's baptism that weekend - that's him front and center in the gray shirt.  Hooray Ben!!  It was very nice and we had a delicious lunch of pizza afterward.  Another nephew (Adam Keeler) got baptized at almost the same time in Hermiston - sorry we couldn't be at both.  Happy Thanksgiving!!

October

 

When October comes we have to have a good idea what Halloween costume we're going to need.  Emma wanted to be a peacock this year - she got a lot of compliments on her costume.  Here is John trying on an old spider man costume.  He ended up being Link from Legend of Zelda

Here are some of our October adventures this year

We went to a local pumpkin patch - Anna didn't go because she had a friend birthday party

We missed her but still had fun

Picking pumpkins - this local farm had some water use issues this year and had to import a bunch of pumpkins - so there were a lot just sitting in a field - not on any vines

We found lots of good ones

Grant and Matthew found some sticks to fight each other with

We had fun in the corn maze.  Matthew and Grant went off on their own.  John and Emma stayed with Scott and I.  The entire time John kept saying "I do my own thing!" and eventually he did wander off and  get lost.  Scott had to go back in and rescue him.  It was muddy in there.

Grant playing in the corn sand box

We launched mini pumpkins

Grant trying the tiny tractor

And we fed and petted some animals plus got some nice warming cocoa fresh pressed apple cider.  We had a good time.

Here is John zooming around the neighborhood one afternoon. He wanted to see if he could run all the way around our circle.

More sports of all kinds - here's Matthew at a tennis match

He has really improved this year!

Emma at soccer - she likes to play goalie sometimes

This boys cross country picture was in the school newsletter.  Way to go guys!!

John knocked a tooth out on a neighbor kids trampoline. :(

Scott and I hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls

It's nice to be able to get out and hike before the rain comes

John and Emma and I made a pumpkin cake!

It looked a bit like a cake fail in the end but tasted good.  The cake was pumpkin chocolate and the frosting was orange buttercream with a chocolate glaze.  We had trouble getting a true orange so the frosting looked beige or skin colored and the chocolate glaze got away from us a bit as you can see.   Everyone loved the cake though and it was eaten pretty quickly.

John and Emma had lots of Halloween fun this year!  Here we are trick or treating in downtown Camas

John during the costume contest at our church harvest party

Trunk or treating at the church party

John and Emma at the school trunk or treat

At the girl scout trunk or treat - though not pictured, the girl scouts kindly let John participate in the trunk or treat.  So way too much candy was accumulated - they had fun.

John had elf ears to go with his costume (like Link has)

You kind of smoosh your ear in their so it didn't look comfortable but John wanted to wear them

Our pumpkins ready for Halloween

And getting ready to trick or treat on Halloween night!!  John as Link from Legend of Zelda.

He had the special ears a foamy sword and he wore some of my boots - close to his correct size.  The boots proved uncomfortable after a while and John wanted to head home a little earlier than Emma.

Matthew had play practice at school on Halloween night and Anna stayed home and passed out candy for us.  Grant went off with some school friends and we didn't see him for hours.  They went to another neighborhood.

Here is Emma - pushing on a bit longer for the candy

Once we got home for the night Emma burst into tears when she noticed an arm band from her costume was lost.  I checked some pictures I had taken during trick or treating and determined where it was probably lost and then back tracked and found the lost costume item.  Truly amazing!!  Emma was happy even though she may never wear this costume again.

We had lots of fun treats and warm apple cider at home.  Matthew and Anna watched the movie Wait Until Dark for some Halloween festive-ness.

Just when I was getting ready to drive around the streets looking for Grant, he came home again, apparently no worse for wear.  He had gotten a ride to a friend's neighborhood with another friend.  Although I knew where he had gone I didn't know the people he went with or when he would be back or have any way to contact him.  I tried to get him to take my phone with him but he declined.  He had fun with a bunch of school friends but next year maybe I'll insist on the phone.  He dressed up as the grim reaper again this year.  Happy Halloween everyone!!