Thanksgiving with the Fam

We were able to have the whole family together this year for Thanksgiving at our place. The food was wonderful but the company was better. We have had so much to be thankful for this year. God blesses us over and over: Gabe had tubes put in his ears and has gone without ear infections for almost a year, full-time job for Marla, new fastpitch coaching job for Mike, a new truck, Brazil trip, several construction jobs over the summer, etc. God is awesome!

Little People Thanksgiving Feast

Gabriel's annual Thanksgiving Feast was so much fun for us again this year. The kids came in to sing a few songs for us including, "5 Little Pumpkins," "Big Fat Turkeys Are We," "My God is So Big," and "Goin' on a Bear Hunt." He LOVES his school and his teachers and we have seen him learn so much from the love that they give him each day.

Twin Falls & Snoqualmie Falls

As you may have seen from our last blog entry, we are starting to discover new hiking trails with Gabe. These trails are definitely not strenuous, but they sure are fun to explore in a whole new way with this little guy. He is starting to walk most of the way, and was a little jealous when we loaned his carrier backpack to our good friends, Todd and Hayley, for their little boy. We hiked down to the base of the Snoqualmie Falls. After all of the flooding, we weren't even able to see the falls from above. The overspray and mist was clouding up the viewing deck.






































































































































On Saturday, we hiked up to Twin Falls where there are several stunning views of the falls. Twin Falls starts out as one waterfall and then splits off into two after hitting a portion of rock that protrudes halfway down. We had a great time and it was such a beautiful hike and a wonderful day for an adventure.

Cedar River Trail

We recently purchased several books on great hikes for kids in the Great Northwest and another on all of the amazing activities for kids in the greater Seattle area. These books are huge and I've already had quite a bit of fun by simply reading through all of the wonderful adventures that we can create together as a family.
One of the "hikes" we took Gabe on was just down the road from us on the Cedar River Trail. It was definitely more of a walk, but we're trying to get him used to the idea that he needs to walk the whole way.
We got a kick out his desperate search for deer and then, of course, his first big boy potty break out in the treacherous forest!!! My friend Melissa caught a great picture of her little girl Haven going potty outside for the first time, and I just couldn't resist the blackmail opportunity to take pictures of Gabe. I especially loved the Thomas the Train underpants down around his ankles and the chubby bum, of course!

Carving Pumpkins

Trick or Treat!

"A SWORD!" In the words of Gabe, he was proud to finally hold up his sword that he has been wanting for quite a long time.
We walked house to house in our neighborhood, each time yelling, "Trick-or-treat!" Then Gabe would walk away looking at Grandma, Papa and Nana saying with excitement, "I got candy in my bag!"
He quickly tired from all the walking, so we hopped in the truck and visited our good friends Tom and Kim who live up the hill from us. Then headed out for our last stop at the Meeuwse Home. . . . . where Matt, their son, was sitting on the front porch waiting for us . . . . . to my knowledge it was just another scarecrow on a porch. But, as I went to pat the scarecrow's leg to show Gabe how harmless it was, Matt reached out and grabbed me! I tried to punch him but he had too much stuffing on him. I hope all of you had as much fun as we did!