Trick or Treat

That's been Levi's favorite saying this week. (Even though the kid still hasn't gone trick-or-treating...maybe next year. I don't really get the point taking a kid as young as he is.)

We went to the zoo on Saturday so Levi could wear his costume and see other kids dressed up.
It was cool and foggy.
Perfectly creepy.
Here's our little spider all dressed up.I should probably mention that at one point (not that long ago) Levi was terrified of spiders.
But when I started asking him what he wanted to dress up as, he insisted it had to be a spider. He's now been talking about it for months. I guess he's over that fear!

Levi and I also decided to make Halloween treats on Saturday.
Since Gabe and I aren't huge sugar cookie fans (and because I didn't want to deal with the mess of frosting) we made gingerbread cookies.I think someone just likes to help mommy so he gets a treat in the process.Here are our finished cats, moons and pumpkins.

Now I've got to go so Gabe and I can watch the third episode of this.
And I'll be up all night tossing, turning and having bad dreams that zombies are after me!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Dodge Ball!

Levi's been taking a sports class at the community center this month on Thursday mornings. It's for kids age 2 to 4 so he's one of the youngest in the class. The first week they played soccer, second week they played basketball, and the third week they played baseball. Well, I got to join Levi and Grandma in class this week because we had evening conferences at school on Thursday. This week we got to play "dodge ball". The coach modified it so it was basically tag. The coach told the kids to throw the ball to get each other out. Levi sure was good at running around the gym, away from the kids with the ball. But when his team had the ball, he didn't really get the throwing-it-at-someone-to-get-them-out idea.
Here's Levi sitting with some of the other boys on his team when they were tagged out. (Along with their coach)
When class is over, they open up the whole gym and have an indoor play park. There's lots of toys to ride on and mats to jump on. Levi's favorite thing?
The scooter!Might have to look for one on Craig's list this spring.

For the love of fall

Fall is my favorite season.
I wish I could say it's my favorite time of year, but returning to work/school sorta bumps it out of that category.
I love fall because along with the clear cool days and beautiful changing leaves comes...
the search for the great pumpkin,
and a strong little boy showing off the perfect one.

Trips to pick apples include...
playing on big tractors,
checking out the cool hand cranked apple peeler and slicer,and enjoying fried biscuits and apple butter.

But maybe the best thing about fall is...
running through the rows of apple trees while eating an entire apple.

Clearly we had trouble getting this kid to stop enjoying his apple and take a picture.
Hope you're enjoying autumn as much as we are!

Go Ahead and Jump!

Levi has been working on his jumping for a while and has finally gotten off the ground. He's getting pretty good now we though you might like to see.

If you are into jumping videos, these may also interest you.

Jump
-or-
Jump

-Gabe

A Happy 7th Anniversary

Time sure does fly.
It's hard to believe, 7 years ago, this important event happened.
We've had 7 really great years. We've been extremely blessed.
I am thankful for this amazing man. He's a wonderful husband and a great father.
We joke when we're alone that all we do is talk about Levi. Of course, there's some of that because we love him and we miss him. But the truth is, we still have a great time together.

Being without our little man allowed us to enjoy dinners after 6pm and listening to this album. Which we both love, but it isn't really appropriate for young ears and a little mouth that repeats everything heard. Oh, and I can't forget the best thing of all...sleeping until 8:30 and enjoying coffee in bed.
This weekend was filled with moments we enjoyed together.
We stop to enjoy the view.We "laughed" as Gabe kicked my butt at every game we played. (Well, he laughed while I tried to hide how frustrated every defeat made me feel. I'm a bit of a poor looser.)We enjoyed one of the many things Gabe does perfectly. Seriously, if you've never had a s'more made by Gabe, you are missing one of the most delicious experiences in life.And we enjoyed some perfect beach weather. Perfect!

Eat it up!

Before I share the photo of the week, I have to share a Levi-ism. He says so many silly things now and I need to be better about writing them down.
One of his favorite expressions is: "Eat it up"! Often followed by naming what he wants to eat up.
Sometimes it's food. Like the big display of pumpkins outside Trader Joe's. Some times it's objects like the trimet bus. Sometimes it's disgusting things like poopy diapers (I think he just says that one because we make a big silly deal about how gross that is). And sometimes it's people.
It reminds me of this book.
The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind
and another
his mother called him "WILD THING!"
and Max said "I'LL EAT YOU UP!"
so he was sent to bed without eating anything.

Well, this was the conversation we had on the way home from running errands this morning.
Levi: Sun is hiding.
Me: Really? Where?
Levi: Behind clouds.
Me: Tell the sun to come out.
Levi: Come out sun.
Levi: Eat sun up.
Me: I don't know about that.
Levi: Hot (referring to the sun of course)
Me: That's right, the sun is hot.
Levi: Daddy blow on it.

Now for the photo. Gabe and I are leaving Levi with Grandma and Grandpa G this weekend. We're going to the coast for the weekend without Levi to celebrate our 7th anniversary. So here's an early photo of the week. We can hardly get this kid to play with anything other than race cars!

Handy Men

Here are my handy men hard at work again.
We got a new entertainment unit a few weeks ago, only to discover that the receiver barely fits into it. So Gabe bought, and installed, a little fan to keep the unit cool. Of course Levi had to assist in the installation.

We might have a little boy who wears big boy underwear here pretty soon. He's gone poop on his little toilet 3 times in the last week or so, and goes pee almost every night before bed. He's excited about getting to wear big boy underwear. Not so thrilled about telling us when he needs to go. That's why we haven't "officially" started the whole potty training thing. This kid has never been too unhappy when he's poopy or wet...we'll see how it goes!

Play with your food

or raspberries at least!More evidence that I'm not kidding when I say this kid is in love with berries. He and I had some really good laugh this week at dinner. He'd put berries on his fingers and then tell me to take more pictures. He is definitely at a very silly stage right now and we're loving his goofy personality.

What I'm not loving is the headache and stomach flu(?) I've been fighting for the last three days. I really hope I'm sick and it's not the stress at work making me sick. I've spent most of the day in bed. Levi and Gabe ran errands without me. Hoping I'll be up to some fun tomorrow. Although I did bring a big basket of work home with me. And, of course, left the most pressing work sitting on my desk.