Happy Halloween or Christmas?

Our family's Halloween costume theme this year was Christmas. Aidan was dying to be Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, and yet refused to wear his cool blinking light nose that Jason made from an LED light.






Carter wanted to Santa but also Frankenstein, so he decided to be Frankenstein dressed up like Santa. However, every house he went to someone remarked on his great "Grinch" costume. Keaton was a gingerbread man and actually kept his hood on all night. Jason was an elf, and it is still be debated as to weather or not it was a more emasculating costume than "Wee Willie Winkie". I was Mrs. Claus.
We had a great time trick-or-treating all around the neighborhood, and loved our stop at the "crazy halloween house". We then had our annual Halloween party on Nov. 1st. We had a large group (8 families in our little house!) and we ate chili, corn bread, apple bars, finger cookies, buffalo chicken dip, and a garbanzo bean chocolate cake (for Carter and surprisingly good). Here are some pics of us on Halloween and the night of the party.

Hudson Valley

We went to the Hudson Valley in New York for our annual fall extravaganza. Mom, Dad and Zahra met up with us and had a great time. We went to Philipsburg Manor (a revolutionary war home), Sunnyside (Washington Irving's house), Kykuit (The Rockerfeller mansion), The Culinary Institute of America, and we capped off our weekend with the Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze. The Blaze gets better and better every year, and never ceases to amaze me. I loved the pirates this year, Carter loved the dinosaurs hatching out of gourds. Aidan wanted to be carried, and we had to keep Dad from falling every other step. (Dark, uneven spaces are never good for a natural born klutz.)

Fall is for Apple Picking

We took the boys apple picking 2 weeks ago, and came home with 60 pounds of apples. Aidan had recently made applesauce in school and "taught" Jason how to make it. (He told him to put in 3 apples, a big cup of sugar and cook it for 8 or 2 hours.) We then spent the next day canning all the applesauce that 60 pounds of apples make.
The boys had a great time picking and it always feels like fall when you settle down to some homemade apple treats.

Sharing a Moment

Keaton is starting to get very demanding about getting his fair share. If anyone is eating something, he screams a high-pitched, blood-curdling scream until he gets some too. The older boys have finally realized that if they give in quickly, the screams stop. Here are Aidan and Keaton have a sharing moment.

Finally the wedding!!

I know I am way behind on keeping you involved in our lives, so I will now post about another highlight of our summer. . . . Clay and Aria's wedding.
It was truly beautiful, and we are so happy that Clay found such a darling girl to marry him. The kids were so excited to be at the wedding and the reception was a hit with the paddle boats.
What a great end to a great summer!

Ramptonville Oregon Coast

We spent an idyllic week with all the Rampton clan on the Oregon coast. We rented a huge house on the beach and were able to spend the entire week with the ones we love the most. We had a great time crabbing, (we actually caught and ate some) kite flying, eating, judging the annual ugly picture contest (www.uglypicturecontest.blogspot.com), eating, hiking, doing puzzles (Jason), hottubbing (Carter and Aidan), eating, ultimate frisbee, going to a cheese factory, and eating all the while. Here are some of our finest moments. Thanks for a great week gang!

How does your garden grow?

I have found that it is impossible to get 3 children to look at the camera at the same time and have them smile! If I were very adept at photoshop I could make it work, but that is one thing I can't manage to fit into my day.

The boys are loving the warmer weather, and they love to be out while I work in the garden. However, Aidan has decided he is deathly afraid of bees. He make me douse him in "bug spray" before he will go outside. (Plain old water in an old bug repellent bottle works wonders.) Even then, he scream a bloodcurdling scream anytime he sees anything that might be a bee. Sometimes it turns out to be a fly, a flower petal, water, or my favorite ... invisible bees. We're trying to rid him of the paranoia, but hey, some people are still afraid of crickets at the ripe old age of 56!

Carter and his favorite tree.

Carter loves to climb the crabapple tree in our front yard. He been scrambling into the tree since the summer he was 2 years old.
Although it doesn't give him any pause at all anymore, you still find him sitting and hanging out it his favorite tree.

Spring comes to our house

The absolute best thing about spring is the beginning of gardening season! As soon as I see little buds and small green stalks pushing their way out of the ground, my hands start itching to get out and work in the garden.
These are pictures Jason took of some of the prettiest parts of our garden. I have already started digging out more grass for a new garden in the back. Soon the kids won't have any more grass on which to play.

Wallowing in the mud

Aidan cannot keep himself out of the water. It is like a magnetic attraction. If there is water around, he comes running. If he hears the bath water running for any reason, he runs into the bathroom with half of his clothes already off.
The other day, Jason was working in the yard and decided to let Aidan water the lettuce we just planted. Within a few minutes Aidan had filled a small hole with water and was covered from head to toe in mud. He was entertained for well over an hour and all smiles when he had to have a bath to clean himself up. He loved wallowing in the mud.

Keaton pictures

Keaton says "Hi" to all his far away relatives!!!