H-A-double L-O-W-double E-N spells Halloween!!

(l-r) Trey (11 mos.), DeeRay (14 mos.), Jackson (22 mos.), Alissa (14 mos.)
Parker with the kids
Baby Kate as a little lamb for her first Halloween.
Our lovely hostesses: Carly the thug and April from the 80's. Thanks ladies!! We had a blast!

Costumes!! (P-Logger, B-Cowgirl, J-Tiger, K-Lamb)

The four of us together... 2 boys, 2 girls... even numbers so far... lots of Halloween fun with family and friends.
This is our little friend DeeRay (about 14 months old) talking so sweetly to Baby Kate. (He just loves babies and it's a good thing because his mommy is about 8 weeks pregnant.)

Ninja DeeRay & Jackson the Tiger

Turtle Brownies, Snoozing, Carving Pumpkins...

As previously mentioned, Jackson LOVES to help me with EVERYTHING. He is Mommy's little helper and Mommy's buddy. Definitely going through a MAJOR Mommy's boy stage right now, which is testing Parker's patience. Most of the time it's okay because I LOVE being with Jackson and having him to everything with me. However, there are some times that it is helpful for him to just hang out with Daddy. For example, when I'm taking a shower, going to the bathroom, or trying to get my homework done (which I should be doing right now).
We made (with the help of good ol' Betty C.) Turtle Brownies, which I love, for our Halloween party tonight.

This is what Kate was doing while we were making brownies and carmel corn and carving pumpkins... what a good little baby! She is such a sweet little girl! So far, so good.
Parker was the man with the knife. I'm always a little nervous that I'm going to slip with the knife. That pumpkin goo gets slippery! So, I cut open the tops so that Jackson and I could start removing the guts. Then, Parker finished them off with cute faces. Jackson's had stars for eyes and a baseball for the mouth. Those are two of the most popular requests when we're drawing/coloring & that's what he wanted on his pumpkin!

Carving Pumpkins... FINALLY!!

Okay, so we've had a crazy busy week. It took until Halloween morning to actually even buy pumpkins. At least we finally got to it. Sometimes school just takes over! And then we had a last minute road trip to Ontario to look at a house Tuesday evening... that's almost 2 hours both ways... it was a long day/night! Anyhoo... here are a few pictures of carving pumpkins. No, Jackson didn't get to use the knife, but he had fun pulling out the goo.

House hunting and "Cheese!"

I guess Jackson has noticed that Mommy likes to take pictures and he wants to get in on the fun! So today he asked me to take a picture of his puppies. We actually took quite a few because it became a game. That is the nice thing about digital... good ol' delete button! However, I kept this one because it will remind us how important these little puppies were to Jackson years from now.
Parker was offered a job in Ontario, OR (the last town before you cross over into Idaho on I-84) working for the federal government under the USDA. We have been trying desperately to find a house that will be a good fit for us... we're not fond of apartments, so they're pretty much ruled out... we've been lucky to have avoided them to this point and don't want to experience one with kids. Then the big issue is finding something in the price range that we can afford and not be living in a yucky part of town or in something that should be completely gutted. We're making yet another trip to Ontario tomorrow to house hunt. Wish us luck!! And beginning in January, we expect friends and family to stop in and say hello when you drive through! We are a perfect stopping place!

Peek-a-boo!!!

Lately, Jackson has been hiding behind anything and everything. Then he finds me and says: PEEK!! Not sure why, but that's what I have said to him since he was little. I guess it's a shortened version of peek-a-boo and he has caught on. Anyway, it's pretty cute. He's even drinking his sippy cup and playing peek-a-boo. Way to multi-task, Jackson!!

More punkin patch fun...

Jackson tried and tried to pick up these big pumpkins, but with no luck!


the EDGE of the punkin patch...
what a handsome little boy!

Punkin Patch...

not the best pictures, but I can't remember the last one I have of the four of us... yeah, we should probably get family pictures taken... hmmm... I'll have to think about that.

Jackson's best friend: "Mr. Puppy"

This little TY stuffed dog is known around our house as "Mr. Puppy". He is one of Jackson's very best friends and goes almost everywhere with him. As Jackson approaches his 2nd birthday, Puppy has been staying home more often when we go run errands, etc... but around the house and definitely to bed, Puppy is there!

PlayDoh (& sun in our eyes!)

a few more of little Kate...

a few more of cute/silly Jackson...

Just can't get enough of her sweet face!

Reading... a favorite & preferred activity!