Happy Halloween!

We carved up Gabe's little pumpkin on the eve of Halloween. Mike carved the face of Shrek on the front and once Gabe got tired of watching the carving take place, we watched Shrek and ate popcorn. He just thinks that Shrek is so funny!

We had to snap some pictures of Gabe in his pirate costume before we went out trick-or-treating. Then off we went! It was SO MUCH FUN! I had an absolute blast watching Gabriel walk up and try to say, "trick-or-treat!" I just have to say again that it was SO MUCH FUN! I just love being this little guy's mama!The first house we went to was the home of Tom and Kim Olson. She was waiting behind the door with a camera. Then we moved onto our own neighborhood, and lastly we went to Gabe's godparents' home, the Meeuwse family.

. . . and, Gabe crashed and burned on the way home. I think that my little pirate had a little too much rum candy!

Crystal

We have had some beautiful weather lately. So, we thought that we'd take part of our day and enjoy it on Rainier. We decided to take the jaunt to Sunrise, but when we arrived at the gate the entrance was closed. So we backtracked to Crystal Ski Resort and hiked and played around.

This picture was taken at the end of our day. We met up with a newly hired, now possibly a newly fired, worker who told us that we could drive up the service roads to the top to watch the sunset. We figured that we had the rig and permission, sort of, so up we went. It was beautiful to look across at Rainier and enjoy the colors reflecting off of the mountain.

Baking Cookies

Gabe and I thought we'd bake some cookies . . . well, I thought we'd bake some cookies and Gabriel thought that he'd test the dough out and make sure that it was good enough for the rest of us!

Costume Birthday Party

This past Saturday we traveled out to Craven Farm for a birthday party in Monroe. Louise, below with Gabe, turned 3 and as you can see, she loves to smother him in kisses. She is just so sweet! They rented out a barn space all decorated and had mini picnic tables for the kids.

Outside of the barn there was so much to do. They had hay rides and animals. I have never seen so many people at a pumpkin patch before. It's a very popular place for families this time of year. It was so much fun to see the kids all dressed up!

Gabe is a pirate this year, and no . . . that's not cake on his face . . . it's coffee smeared on top of chapstick to look like a stipply beard. I think that I'll do a better job for when he wears his costume to school and for Halloween!

The Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we ventured out to the pumpkin patch with the grandparents. It was much different than last year when we had to prop him standing up with a pumpkin in front of him. This year, he ran and got to pick out his own pumpkin.

Gabe loves his Papa! Anything that Papa does gets a good laugh and Papa does work hard and gets pretty silly for those giggles! They're pretty good pals!

Backyard Stage #3

The backyard is finished until Spring! We managed to bring in the dirt and sod and hang our gate in time for the beginning of our rainy season. Gabe loves it! It's a place for him to play where we don't have to worry about him running out into the street. After amost 4 years of living here, it's about time huh?!