halloween costumes

here's princess ariel:

and mr. moustache (he had the BEST costume that we made out of a paper bag, but he wanted nothing to do with it, go figure): so there ya' go. halloween 2009. :)

pictures shmictures

here are some random pictures from this past month. first, damian and me:

and here's my dad with 3 of his 7 and counting (both my sister and i are preggers) grandchildren:

mom & maddie watching cartoons, well at least maddie is:

here i am, waking up & finding maddie fast asleep on me:

damian with the kiddos:

another sleepy picture of the kids:

maddie got up, but noel actually fell asleep right there on the floor:

most of these pictures are of someone asleep or looking like they need a nap! ha. i just noticed that as i wrote the captions. well, i guess that's about right considering that we have so many narcoleptics in the family. :)

a sad day for pumpkins

this morning i let samson out front to go potty and noticed that two round, orange vegetables were missing from our porch. after a brief moment of confusion, wondering where damian moved them to, i realized their fate. they were smashed in the road along with many other neighborhood pumpkins. i tried to keep the kids from noticing thinking that maybe they just wouldn't ever notice. but that didn't last long since maddie always comes out to say hi and talk to her "friends" when i let the dog out. she noticed right away and cried, followed by noel who quietly said, "awww." it was a sad day for our pumpkins.

Happy 4th Birthday, Madeline!

yesterday was maddie's 4th birthday. she woke us up at 6:30 am, very excited that it was her special day. so here she is, bright and early, opening her gifts:here's princess ariel maddie:

we took her to kids club where she and damian played like crazy on their indoor jungle gym until they were sweaty and exhausted (she was the sweaty one, dame was the exhausted one). then we took her to cold stone for a birthday ice cream.

she really did have a fun day, despite the scowl on her face.

happy birthday, madeline!

maddie's new friend

yesterday maddie got to ride rocky*, a very gentle pony that friends of ours have on their ranch. it was such a treat to take the kids for a visit. they love farm animals and now maddie loves rocky. *maddie is telling me that the pony's name is rocket, not rocky. when dame gets home i'll have double check and then adjust this post accordingly. :)

pumpkin patch

saturday we took the kids to the pumpkin patch! it was a beautiful day to do it. the sun was out, the ground was dry, perhaps a little too dry --we all got a bit of a "tan" from dirt getting airborne during the hay ride. but better dirt than mud, i suppose. anyway, we tackled the corn maze first. maddie was our navigator. after getting us good and lost, she decided she didn't want to do the maze anymore. that was fun. ;) here we are at the beginning of our adventure:

after the maze we got a couple hot drinks and said hi to the animals. petting livestock and handling food is always the best combination.

this was a very sweet donkey.
next stop, the hay ride. although facial expressions may suggest otherwise, the kids really loved it. dame's expression is accurate though.

i'm just now realizing that i didn't get a picture of us with our pumpkins. i guess you'll have to stay tuned for that. ha.

barber shop dad

noel got a buzz cut from damian tonight. as you see, he's a bit nervous. i wonder if that's because we just read the story about samson in the bible... ah, that wasn't so bad. see his hair! :)

BBQ 101

"alright kids, now are you watching? first let's get the briquettes in here properly..."

"next, we soak 'em up with lighter fluid..."

"there ya' go, maddie. you can never put on too much..."

"okay, noel, you got the matches? good!"

"okay, now, stand back --this is how you strike a match. see the flame?"

"good job! beginner's bbq is over. next time you kids can do it on your own!"

our beautiful gifford pinchot

this past sunday we took a day trip out to gifford pinchot national forest. it's my favorite place to explore. this time, we drove east along the columbia gorge, headed north towards mt. adams, and then back west through the forest following forestry roads, going past the ice caves and many old lava flows from mt. st. helens.

at the foot of mt. adams, we pulled over to eat our lunches by a stream we found. so i took a few pictures and soon realized that i forgot to charge the batteries on my camera before leaving that day. it died shortly after this first stop. i tried not to be too upset, but i did miss out on so many beautiful pictures of mt. adams, the changing colors of the leaves in the forest, mt. st. helens, and pictures of the kids enjoying it all. but here's what i did get: damian's backside. haha.

everyone's hungry!

not the most flattering shot, but here's a picture of how big my tummy is getting:

our stream:
after driving a while longer with my camera off, i was able to get a couple pictures at goose lake:

and, go figure, the only deer we saw was at a gas station. :)

my view from the top

hm, maybe i should paint my toe nails... anyway, this is my view lately. it's funny that sam is down there. he usually is, but the unusual part is that i can't typically see him so i'm always tripping over him.

on a side note: maddie just looked at this and asked, "is that your fat belly? that's pretty gross." thanks mad. ;)