Not it...

Hannah and Brent live in this great old neighborhood in Yakima and have some giant trees in their yard. I am so glad I can call "not it" to rake their yard, but it sure makes for a fun morning playing in the leaves.

Leaf angels.

Claire is about to be buried...

...and Emmett is loving it!

Up to her waist in leaves!

The three big kids ran into the front yard and Claire tried to "run" after them. I loved that I caught her peeking through the fence at the kids.

Driving through a winter wonderland...

Shannon and I are 'vacationing' in the Palm Springs of Washington. That's right...be jealous. We are in Yakima. We've seen Hannah a bunch this fall, but it has been a long time since we have journeyed up here to her neck of the woods. We figured it would be a fun time to come - before the weather gets bad and the trip would be too hard for us. So imagine our suprise as we were driving through the gorge (in quite the wind and rain storm) looking up on the hills seeing snow. We didn't think too much of it at first and even thought it might make for a good photo op with the kids. Well, once we got a little higher we quickly realized that there was no way we would be stopping for pictures. Neither Shannon or I have had much experience driving in the snow... and we were pretty unprepard (no chains, no traction tires, not dressed for winter weather). We were a little nervous, but the big girls were in the back seat saying prayers asking Jesus to keep us safe, to keep the snow out of the car and off baby Claire, and to not let any snow get on our tires. Thankfully we were all driving together, in a car that is slightly better suited for the elements than either of our cars (thanks Susie for the loan). It took a while getting up and over the pass, and I was very glad I wasn't the one driving as I would have panicked and just headed home. We made it here safe and sound. We might buy chains for the trip home, or come a different way, but hopefully the weather will change and the snow will melt before we head home.

I must say, however, that it was beautiful. The snow covered evergreens mixed in with the colorful deciduous trees was something I have never seen. (I didn't have the camera close enough to capture the pictures of fall meeting winter, so you'll just have to imagine it).

 Our only true complaint is that the girls didn't sleep a wink in the almost 5 hours we were in the car. We were hoping for a nice, quiet trip north. Instead we had three girls that were begging to go to sleep at 6:30 pm. All three girls were asleep before Emmett even made it to his bed... that has NEVER happened. It led to a wonderful, quiet night for three very tired mommies.

Oh, and right as we were putting the big girls to bed, Claire found the bag of fish crackers and helped herself. She was really, really proud.

Happy Halloween...

From October 31:
Our Halloween isn't what we had planned, but we had a great day as a family. After church we had lunch at Flying Pie (some of our favorite pizza) and then headed to a park where Grace and Merrick played while Claire and I napped in the car. Eventually it got too cold to be outside, so we took the kids to Players. We had no idea, but there was a Halloween special and kids in costume got free game cards. We ended up playing for almost 2 hours - all for free.

 

 

 

 

After we'd used up all of our $$ at Players (and picked out our ever-so-important prices), we headed over to my mom and dad's neighborhood to do a little trick-or-treating. It wasn't quite dark, but the kids were starting to flood into the cul-de-sac to collect candy. Grace didn't need to be told what to do... she just took off to the first door she saw and knocked until someone answered. (Merrick had to tell her that 3 or 4 knocks was enough). Claire had no idea what was happening, but happily hurried up walkways with her sister.

 

Claire thought this puppy was cute and fun... until it ran out of the house and ate the pizza she was carrying.

 

 

 

Just like last year my dad walked around the cul-de-sac with us.

Neighbor dick dressed up like a pirate and sat in his pirate ship to hand out candy. The "snow" in the pictures is actually bubbles.

Last stop - grandma's front door. 

After trick-or-treating we packed up and headed to our church for the harvest party. Grace, who hadn't napped in days, fell asleep before we got on the freeway.

The harvest party was fun, but way too crowded. The girls loved the "puffet" show, but the lines for the carnival-type games were nuts. If we had known that, we would have just let her trick-or-treat all night long. 

 

And the two ducks... My friend Monique made her son the duck costume a while ago and gave me the idea for Grace's costume. For about three months Grace has been telling people she was going to be a duck for Halloween and I just wasn't sure how I was going to pull that off... until I talked to Monique and she showed me "B's" costume. It was perfect! Thanks for the great idea.

 

Walking...

From November 3:
Last weekend Claire decided it was time to stand up and walk. She'd been taking steps between objects, but now she tries walking first. She is getting more balanced every day and her walking is becoming sturdier. She'll be running in no time.

I think we are going to see of a lot of this view in the future... this girl has places to go and things to do!

Internet sensations...

So my mom and dad are now on Youtube (not really on purpose, meaning they didn't upload the videos themselves). Anyway, Claire thinks these videos are fantastic. I think we watched them 7 times yesterday.

And in case you want to see the originals... Who knows, maybe they'll go viral! And if you need a good ballroom instructor, I happen to know one.