Halloween

Jacob and Claire were Luke and Leah Skywalker (note that Leah wanted to carry a light saber).  One day after Kate and Liam were at Alice's house, they returned home wearing cute pumpkin costumes that Alice had used with her own kids, so they went as pumpkins.

 

Things have been very busy over the past few weeks, both at work and at home, so we weren't sure if we were going to carve pumpkins this year, but Jared realized that it would be worth it, if for no other reason than so this year wasn't remembered as "the year we didn't carve pumpkins."  Jacob chose a baseball, and Claire chose a self portrait of her missing teeth.

In the background of this picture, you can make out, to the left of the baseball and directly behind the baseball, 2 enormous pumpkins grown by Kate West.  Last year, she gave Jacob and Claire pumpkins, and Jacob commented that they were quite small, so she decided, "I'll show Jacob," and she grew a couple 50 pound pumpkins!  Kiddos wanted to carve those, but the parents decided that would have been way too much work this year.

End of a fun season

Soccer season has come and gone, and it has been a lot of fun.  We managed to avoid the rainy days almost all season long (outside of one very windy and rainy day in September).  Jacob and Claire both improved their skills, and both of them scored a couple goals during the season.

We don't have many pictures from the season, but here's a picture of Jacob's team, which Jared coached again.

Nana and Papa come visit

After a week touring the Northwest, including trips to Spokane, Seattle and the San Juan Islands, Nana and Papa came to play for a week.  We tried our best to fill our week with fun things.

One day, we went to Bauman Farms to play.  Bauman Farms has lots of decorations and other things to look at, including a large teepee, a big wooden fort (including a little jail) and some animals.  The goats were quite an attraction for the kids.

There are huge slides at Bauman Farms.  We spent a lot of time going on the slides.  The very first time, Kate decided she would go on her own.  She didn't like it (and let it be known the entire way down!).  She later tried a few other slides on her own and liked them about the same!

We probably rode the slides 25 times or more.  Kate and Liam started riding with adults.  It was also fun to dive down the slides headfirst.

The sliding continued outside, and on sleds, on the pumpkin hill.

We took Papa on an obstacle course through the hay.  There were slides and little crawl areas.  We did a dark maze and a little corn maze.

We ended up doing lots of activities, including Papa introducing Jacob to coin collection, with a new penny collection book of his own, and cookie baking and piano playing with Nana and Claire.

Climbing out of bed

Liam can now crawl out of his crib.  He also loves to play with Kate in her crib, so they end up in one another's crib quite often.  Kate can't crawl out yet, so unless we put Kate in Liam's bed, the party normally happens in Kate's.  Often, it happens (multiple times) after they have been put in bed.  It has made bedtime a little more challenging.

 

Another thing that has developed is that Kate and Liam have started to become little buddies.  For a long time, they didn't seem to realize they could be little buddies, but recently, they've played in one another's beds and they sit up talking to each other, and they're playing with each other more.  It is fun to see them becoming buddies (and partners in crime!).

Pictures of the babies

CHEESE!!!

Teletubby

Lining up trains at the park during soccer practice

Swinging at the park

Goofball

We were trying to connect with Taylor on Facetime, and Kate noticed Taylor's picture on Dani's phone and decided she would imitate it!

A walk in the rain

It has been a very rainy end of the month - it started rainy and ended rainy.  So, we decided to put on our boots and go for a rainy walk.  It ended up not being all that rainy, but we still got to stomp in a few puddles and enjoy the wet weather. 

Notes from Claire

Dani often writes little notes in Kiddos' lunch boxes.  Claire has recently followed her example, and a few notes have been found around the house.

"I love you Claire"

"From: Claire

To: Jacob

Why I made this: I love you"

Grandma and Grandpa stop by

John and Vicki took a long road trip to visit John's brother, Rob, then traveled up the coast to visit us here.  Portland isn't a very frequent "travel through" destination, but we were certainly glad they did.

We didn't take many pictures of the visit, but we did capture 2 activities that happen frequently (Liam eating and Jacob playing games!)

Little game players

Jacob and Claire have recently become obsessed with playing games.  It has become a Sunday tradition to play a game after church with daddy while the babies sleep.  Over the past few weeks, they've tried quite a few new games.

They also have involved Kaylee in their games.  They've played games like Uno and Bonanza in the back yard with her.

When John and Vicki came to visit, they played The Reef.

Jared has tried teaching them increasingly complex games, and they seem to catch onto the rules.  Some of their favorites are Ticket to Ride, Scotland Yard, Dominion, and Settlers of Catan.  Jacob won on his first try with Dominion and Settlers, so he's pretty excited about learning new games.

It is interesting to watch how Jacob and Claire do games involving trading.  Jacob is definitely in charge, but they both are very generous in trying to help the other person through their trades.

We're raising some pretty competitive board gamers!

Insta-Babies

Thanks to our camera phones, we have more pictures than ever of our kids to share with the world.  Here's a little sample of some of the picture that have been Instagramed (okay, there's one that wasn't).

Kate always looks like she's up to something

Even the wild looks are pretty cute!

And last, Liam is a cheeseball.