happy birthday finn!

Finn woke up on the morning of his birthday to streamers & balloons throughout the house! So fun for a kid that likes to kick & hit...things. ;)

Cedar was interested too. :)

He got to open one present from us before going to Mummi & Pappa's house for the morning...

A dinosaur book that plays noises in surround sound! A big hit for our 3 year dinosaur fan!

Cedar was interested too! :P

halloween

We met up with my sisters & their kids at the Valley River Mall to make the rounds at all the stores.

We got there 30 minutes after trick-or-treating had started & about half the stores were out of candy already! We were pretty shocked at how many people were at the mall. Here Finn is getting a sticker, since this store was out of candy. :P

Finn also had stubbed his toe earlier in the day so he didn't want to walk.

After the mall we trick-or-treated at Memaw & Papa's house!

Sisters + Mom

The guys!

Memaw & Papa gave glow-necklaces to all the kids. Fun!

The grandkids
Baby Dragon (Cedar - sleeping), Boo! (Tyler), Ninja (Ronan), Kitty (Memaw), Belle (Sadie), Skeleton (Papa), Pterodactyl (Finn), Black Widow (Griffin), Batman (Cohen)


After visiting my parents, we trick-or-treated at Mummi & Pappa's house! They surprised us by being dressed up too - they were all wearing old costumes that Kenton had worn as a kid/teenager. Outi was there too, wearing a joker costume, but didn't want to go public with her costume. :)

Close-up of Cedar, since he spent much of the evening snoozing in his car seat. I love that his dragon costume looks like a sleepy dragon. :)

more solids

Cedar quickly figured out how to use the mesh feeder! We stuffed it with chunks of acorn squash & he went to town!

Finn was curious. :)

Sweet boys.

What a lovely invention. Cedar was content & independent for 20 minutes! He certainly didn't want to be done & was happy when I helped him get every last bit. I hope his love for healthy veggies lasts... :P

pumpkin carving

Wow - have we been busy?! The last few weeks have been filled with activity & I can't believe we are already well into November! On the Tuesday before Halloween, we carved pumpkins at the Green's house. It was fun to let Ethan, Macey & Finn help scoop out the guts & design the jack-o-lanterns!

The Mamas & Stephanie did the cutting. The Dads & Colin watched the littlest ones. :)

Finn & the jack-o-lanterns - ours is the one that looks scared!

Finn & Me - we also carved a spider on the back side of our pumpkin - by Finley's request, of course.

the barn party

Every year the Schar family hosts the Barn Party at their farm, for our church. All the kids (& some adults) dress up & play games for candy, explore a hay maze, go on hay rides & eat hot dogs, donuts & cider. I've been going since I was a kid & this was Finn's 3rd time. :)

My little pterodactyl!
Finn picked out this T-rex costume at St. Vincent de Paul's for $4 & declared that he wanted to be a pterodactyl. Kenton helped me come up with the alteration design & I added wings, a "cone" head thingy & cut off the sharp teeth. :) Not too shabby for $4 + some spare fabric from my mom.

A pterodactyl in the wild. :P

I couldn't stop taking photos of him.

Every angle just cracked me up!

My view of the baby dragon in the back seat.


So cute!

We stopped at Kenton's parent's house to pick up some pieces to add to Kenton's costume. Outi caught this great shot!

Our family
Cedar is missing the top half of his costume, Kenton is a forest fire fighter (wearing some of his dad's authentic gear!), & I'm a fairy (with a few more layers than the typical fairy). :) We were going to go with a theme, since Finn originally wanted to be a knight. Kenton was going to be a wizard & Cedar & I would fit right in. Then Finn changed his mind, so we ended up being a bit random.

There's my baby dragon! Cedar's first Barn Party! :)

Waiting to play some games.

Bean bag toss with Pastor Steve. Finn kind of cheats. :P

Getting his face painted.

Some custom work by Jeff Harris - a pterodactyl, what else?? :)

Batman Cohen

Boo Tyler (from Super Mario Bros)

On the hayride.
Cedar spent most of the evening chewing on one of his "claws" :P

Belle Sadie

One last photo of our family.
Lots of photos, but we had a really great time. Some other highlights for Finn were the bus ride from the church to the barn, playing by the campfire, going upstairs in the barn with Cohen, & the "glo-bracelet" from one of the families at the party. He used it as a light saber, of course, & got to sleep with it that night. Fun memories!

happy birthday papa!

We celebrated my dad's birthday on Monday, October 19th (the day after his birthday) with his classic birthday dinner request: sloppy joes & tater tots! Yumm!


Cohen & Finn sticking close to the cupcakes, trying to wait patiently. :)

Papa & his 7 grandkids
Sadie, Cedar, Tyler, Finn (whining because he can't pull the chair out), Cohen, Griffin & Ronan

The birthday Papa!

Wearing a gift from the Chases & us - an apron to wear while working on his bikes!

Family portrait - smiling parents, sad kids. :P

Totally separate day, but I wanted to share this sweet, smiley photo of Cedar. So happy, even though he's wedged in between couch cushions & his track suit is all bunchy. :P What a good sport!

night out

My friend Ben (from high school) was in town (all the way from Thailand!) visiting his family. He only comes home every couple years, so we were excited to spend some time with him. :) We got a group together & went to dinner at Mezza Luna (such yummy pizza!). After dinner, we went to a brew fest where we met up with Stu & Jacque.

Helen, Carolyn, Katrina & Jacque -
all wearing our varying shades of green coats!

Kenton, Ben, Stu & Jesse

It was fun to have an evening "out on the town" without the kids. They stayed with Mummi & Pappa & had much more fun with them than if they'd been dragged to a restaurant. :P We picked them up afterward & brought them back home, where they had a chance to meet Ben (a second time for Finn, though it'd been almost 2 years). Finn made quick friends with Ben & even reached for him at church the next morning to be held! Guess he knows a good guy when he sees one. ;) Thanks for making time for us, Ben! It was fun.

outside with dad

Kenton got some great photos of the fall colors in the backyard before the leaves fell. He often takes Finn & Cedar outside while I cook dinner. Keeps the kids entertained & the Mama sane. :)

Kenton's favorite tree.

Spit bubbles.
Finn's really into spitting & spit bubbles & making sound effects with spit, etc. Such a boy. :)

Cedar is thoroughly entertained by his big brother. He finds it so amusing when Finn runs. I love watching Cedar watch Finn. They really get a kick out of each other. I know they won't always get along, but I hope they are good friends for the most part.

Another shot of Kenton's favorite tree.

Such a sweet big brother. Finn is always willing to help & loves doing things for Cedar. He even reminded us the other day that Cedar needed his pacifier before leaving the house. Thank you, big brother Finn! Where would we be with you?!

One last shot of some of the fall colors we see from our kitchen window. Soon the trees will be bare, so it's nice to have one last burst of color!