Spooktacular Halloween

Last night Gabe and I got dressed up and went to Aaron and Marie's annual Halloween Party. We had trouble coming up with costume ideas. Gabe's best idea was hippie zombies who eat grrains instead of brrains. I said normal zombies will be just fine. So here we are, all dressed up, with our friends Sonya and Joe (black widow spider and her prey). They won the costume contest, definitely put our lame costumes (and everyone else) to shame.

Today we took Levi over to the Children's Museum to play in his costume. They had a costume parade and some Halloween activities planned. He wasn't too interested in the costumes, he just wanted to play. He wore himself out! The last few weeks he's really been fighting taking two naps a day, more specifically his afternoon nap. We put him down when we got home at almost three o'clock. It's now almost five and he's still sleeping. Crazy kid!
Here he is sliding in the baby garden. It was probably his favorite thing. Which is funny because he refuses to go down the slide at the park!And here is our cute little dragon on his way out of the museum. Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Hunting

In between torrential downpours, we went to the pumpkin patch Sunday morning. Gabe was watching the Doppler pretty close. So when the sun broke through, and the Doppler showed a dry spell, we decided to pack up and head out. We took tons of great pictures, so I had a really difficult time deciding which ones to edit and put on to show our outing.
Levi wasn't very interested in the pumpkins. Here he is "looking" in the patch for his pumpkin. He looks very serious, like he's really hunting for the perfect pumpkin.But really, Levi was much more interested in the chickens, turkeys and ducks in a pen next to the pumpkin patch. Gabe, I think that means he wants some chickens as pets! I have to share this one because Levi just looks so darn happy and proud of himself. What a cutie!And here's one of me and Levi with the pumpkin Levi picked out. Actually, like I said, he didn't really care about the pumpkins so I guess really his mommy picked it out for him. By the time we were done pumpkin hunting it was past Levi's nap time, and time to head home. Plus we were afraid the rain would start again at any moment. So, it was a pretty quick trip. It was still fun to explore the pumpkin patch and get a little muddy. Guess we'll hope for better weather next year!

October Catch-Up

Figured this blog has been neglected long enough. I just can't believe how busy we've been this month. I am definitely excited about having a day at home today. Gabe is off helping his friends at the Mt. Hood rally so Levi and I are going to play, clean the house and hopefully start working on Levi's baby book when Aunt Becky comes over this afternoon. It's nice to be here and not have a house full of people. Don't get me wrong...I love entertaining and having people over. But as you are about to see, today is a welcome break.
Several weeks ago now, my uncle John who lives in MN came out to travel with my grandma back home. He was here for a long weekend and I haven't seen him since my sister's wedding (was that 8 years ago?). So we spent as much time as we could with him while he was here. Took him out to apple tasting, had beers at Henry's, browsed the shelves at Powell's and a record store. Things you do in Portland when it's raining. It was nice to see him.
Here we are enjoying the many varieties of apples and pears.
Gabe was out of town all last week doing some trailer testing in Indiana. When he got back we took off to spend our anniversary in Hood River. We went wine tasting, bought some fresh apples and pears, enjoyed good food and beer, drove up to Lost Lake and had a picnic. It was a nice weekend. Here's a few of my favorite shots from the weekend.We arrived home on Sunday around lunch, and the Morrison's arrived moments later. We spent Sunday afternoon and evening playing and visiting with them. Levi just loves his big cousins. He followed them around every where. He really wanted to hug and kiss them, but Savannah and Sawyer aren't too keen on the slobbery baby kisses. Here's some pictures from playtime on Sunday.Levi also got to spend some time with his cousins on Wednesday. Everyone came over in the afternoon and we had dinner together when Gabe and I got home from work. It was really nice to see the family. Just wish we could have spent more time with them. They have so many friends and family to see when they come to visit.
We were hoping to make a visit to the pumpkin patch this weekend, but the forecast is looking really wet. We'll have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.

Mother's Little Helper

Levi has his own drawer in the kitchen that he can play in so he doesn't get into trouble in the other cabinets. In it is a basting brush that he's got all sorts of uses for. Usually it's a hairbrush or a toothbrush. Occasionally it's a broom like you can see in the video below. Levi was determined to help Heidi sweep the kitchen.

Another trip to the Zoo!

In an attempt to put off doing the work I brought home this weekend and never got done, I figured I'd post some pictures of our trip to the zoo on Saturday. This may be the last pictures of the zoo we take for a while. Temperatures are dropping and I'm sure the long winter will be upon us in no time.
Gabe's dad and Joanne came up this weekend to visit and go to the zoo with us. We wanted to take them when they were here for Levi's birthday, but that weekend was busy enough. So shortly after Levi's birthday, we put this weekend on the calendar for a visit and trip to the zoo with Levi's grandparents.
Levi showed his grandparents all his favorite animals. He also walked around the grassy amphitheater. It was hard for him to concentrate on walking when all the bigger kids were running around playing tag.
Most of the animals were out. Here's my favorite one of the giraffes. They're my favorite animal.
And here's the group shot of everyone before we took off to get Levi home for his afternoon nap.