Little People small world!

Guess who lives 8 miles from us in Hillsboro? The Roloffs from "Little People Big World". I was completely obsessed with that show when we had cable. Then, come to find out, we live in their same city, it really is a small world. So, we took a visit to the Roloff Farm today to get ourselves a pumpkin. We saw Amy on the farm and got a picture with her. She was SO nice! I had my very first awkward situation with Jefferson when meeting her. She shook his hand and asked his name and how old he was. He told her he was 4, then said "wow, you are really small" and "you have a big head" I was totally stunned and didn't know how to react. She was really kind to him though and helped him understand, they talked for a while about it. He was just innocently saying what he thought, but it was still really embarrassing. On the way home we stopped at the library and checked out many books about differences in people, and races and things like that. I think he's ready to learn about that, obviously. They had animals on the farm to pet and hold. Jefferson really loved holding the snake (Shawn stood at least 20 ft back - scaredy cat), and bunny. They sell tickets for tours of their farm.... maybe next year for us. Shawn picked out the perfect carving pumpkin for us! Isn't he strong?
A side shot of their house, if anyone cares. To top off the excitement, our sister in law, Tarrah (and baby Taven) were visiting Portland this weekend and they went to the Roloff's Farm today too. I think Reagan is scaring Taven.

Multnomah Falls

Yesterday we took a drive to Multnomah Falls, it was spectacular! It's the second tallest waterfall in the nation, 620 ft. The boys thought it was pretty cool. We got so close we were getting wet. We hiked up to the bridge. The hike actually can take you to the very top of the waterfall, but there's absolutely no guard rails, we decided to play it safe. The view from the bridge (my whole body was shaking, seriously!)

We took a walk along a trail and it took us underneath a bridge for a railroad train. I said to Shawn "wouldn't it be cool if the train came right now?" and sure enough, we heard the horn's whistle. Grant and I stayed under the bridge for a while and watched it pass. Grant's mouth was so wide! I don't think he's ever seen a train that close. Wait..... I've never even seen a train that close, at least a moving one!

Halloween Pava Party

We belong to PAVA, a group through Shawn's school for all the spouses and families of students (I don't know what it really stands for, your guess is as good as mine). So, tonight Pava had a Halloween party. This year I decided to make the kid's costumes, so the pressure was on when I found out the party was 10 days earlier than when I had planned on finishing the costumes. So, I am pleased to say that I was able to finish all 5 costumes, have my visiting teachers over, do 5 loads of laundry (and fold them!), make soup for the party, and make a dessert for the party all in one day. The boys actually helped me make the dessert, Frankenstein cupcake cones. We won a prize for these little Frankensteins for the best dessert. Wow! Now I get a free day at some fitness place. I can take as many classes as I want in one day. They have tons of classes like yoga, and even belly dancing. Cool!

The costumes........

Jefferson is an astronaut and Grant is a cowboy. Reagan is a panda bear. The party was really fun. We had soup, ate goodies, played games and visited while the kids ran around. Shawn and Jefferson playing musical chairs.
Here's Reagan with some baby friends her same age. Our family! Reagan wasn't looking, and the boys ran off right after they said "cheese".... we take what we can get!

Hiding Reagan

Reagan usually hangs out in the bathroom with my when I take showers. This morning when I got out I didn't see her. The door was closed so I was confused, but there she was, under the sink. The little cutie had crawled inside. I love this age of exploration! Everything is new and exciting to her. All the boring things I have looked at for years and think are lame are new and amazing to her. That silly cupboard was something so new to her. Oh, I love babies!

An old friend in a new place

One of my very best friends growing up (Deedee) lives just 1 hr away from me here in Oregon. We've been up here since June and we haven't gotten together until just now (I know, not typical of good friends). She has a baby who is two months older than Reagan, so we got the babies together. Here's the girls. The picture quality is really bad because my camera stinks (I ask for a new one every day, and Jefferson told me he would write "a new camera for mommy" on his letter to Santa... we'll see if Santa delivers). anyways.... Her daughter is too cute. The boys actually had a ton of fun because Deedee's husband let them sit on his motorcycle. I was seriously nervous the whole time they were on it, pushing buttons and grabbing at things. I didn't bring my checkbook with me to pay for any damage.

It's an understatement to say that Jefferson likes babies. He is drawn to babies everywhere we go. He really does well with them. He is such a sweetheart and I've noticed that babies actually like him too.

The visit went really well until Grant got an allergic reaction. She has a dog outside and I guess Grant got a little too close. I had to leave really quick because he reacted quicker and worse then ever before, maybe because he hasn't had any contact with dogs for so long, I don't know. His eyes started swelling and of course he's making it worse by rubbing them. Then I noticed that his actual eyeball was swollen. It was the strangest and scariest thing I have ever seen. After taking his medicine, the swelling slowly went down. But it wasn't until the next day that his eye was back to normal, thank goodness!

Gym Time

I got together with some friends (other Optometry moms) and our kids at the Oregon Gymnastics Academy. They have indoor play a couple times a week for kids 0-6yr. My kids just loved it. Grant really enjoyed swinging on the bars. Jefferson loved the trampoline the best. I realized something about Jefferson that day, that he is completely un-coordinated and pretty wimpy. I would never tell 'him' that (of course, he may read this someday), but it's the truth. He couldn't do things like swing on the bars, or rope, or walk on the balance beam, or jump into the pit (things all the other kids were doing), without my help. Maybe he's more cautious. Grant, on the other hand, went right into everything without asking for any help and he was good at what he was doing. And Reagan, well, she just loved the freedom of crawling all around and exploring new textures and things. She was fascinated with the foam pit. She sank a few times and I had to frantically pull her out, but she didn't seem to mind, she loved it! Over all it was a great day and now I know of another fun place to take my kids when it's raining out and they're bouncing off the walls.

Plumper Pumpkins

Grant, Reagan, and I joined Jefferson and his school to the pumpkin patch yesterday. It was tons of fun! First we got a talk by Farmer Tom. He told us all about the farm and pumpkins. It was really boring, but Jefferson loved it. He listened to every word and soaked it all in. Maybe he should be a pumpkin farmer. I mean, when he is telling me that we picked out "pumpkin pie pumpkins" and that he really wanted a "Cinderella pumpkin", I didn't even know they had different names, I just call them all "pumpkins." Well, at least one of us was listening.

We took a hay ride, which was really more of a contest to see how many parents and kids they could stuff into a trailer and who would fall out first onto the bumpy trail. Here I am with Reagan on my back and both boys on my lap. Grant had the most fun and didn't want to get off. They had a corn maze and a hay maze. The boys got really excited and ran in different directions. I lost my kids and panic set it. I hate being the crazy mom who is hollering for her kids, but it's a part I am used to and play well. After that, we stuck to activities where I could see them well. Like petting the animals.

They kept asking me for a pet cow, then a pet sheep, pig, goose. They love animals! Grant was determined to touch one of them. He was leaning so far into the fence at one point that one of the farmers had to tell him to step away from the fence... this upset him. Until he found something more exciting... I love my sister!

We had so much fun. I love the feeling of fall. And going to the pumpkin patch is the start off of my favorite season and holidays. Next week Shawn has a couple days off school and we're planning on going to a different pumpkin patch with him. We'll get a bigger pumpkin there for carving. I think I may make a pumpkin pie out of the ones we got yesterday, which makes sense since they are called "pumpkin pie pumpkins".... thank you Jefferson.

Rea's first big owie

So, I think the worst is over after cleaning up the mess from this morning. Then, we go downstairs for breakfast. I put Reagan in her highchair with a few Cheerios and go into the kitchen to make breakfast, like I do every morning. Then I hear something fall to the ground, followed by a loud bang on the table and something else fall to the ground. (I can't see anything because my dinner table is on the opposite wall of the kitchen). Reagan starts screaming, and I start running. She had pushed the tray off her highchair (which I was sure I secured), fallen out of her seat straps (which I was also sure I secured), hit her head on the table, then fell to the floor. I don't do good with hurt children, especially when I feel responsible. So there I am bawling, holding a screaming child. When I realized it wasn't as bad as I though, I calmed down and could calm her down. As you can tell from the pictures, she's okay now. She doesn't even know what hit her, or what she hit! So, she made it almost 9 months without getting hurt. I think that's pretty good considering the many near death situations her brothers have put her in.