Christmas Tree

We randomly drove out towards Sherwood to look for a place to cut our own Christmas tree.

 The place had a pretty view.

 Finally found our tree! Now to saw it off the base.

 Got it on the car...

And took it home, where we set it up and decorated it.

Thanksgiving 2013

The 4 of us went to my parent's house for Thanksgiving this year. It was a sweet family affair!

Gramma set up the salt tray. It was Ryan's first time with it and he loved it. Jake couldn't wait for his brother to give him a turn as he has played with the salt tray many times but it is always fun.

Happy to be together.

 Ryan had the job of ringing the dinner and dessert bell.

 Papa at work carving the bird.

Gramma set a lovely table. 

While Gramma and Papa prepared the meal, I made an apple pie at home. It was a beautiful, completely covered apple pie that I left cooling on the stove. Later in the day, I went into the kitchen and discovered the middle piece of the pie missing. Jake hadn't been able to resist pulling off the crust and eating it! I was so mad but so amused at the same time. 

 Even with part of the crust gone, it was delicous. We also had pecan and pumpkin pies.

Halloween 2013

Skeleton, Zebra, and Jedi Knight went trick or treating in the Village.

 Virginia helps Jake with the map.

 Tossing the beanbag through the hole for candy!

 This was in front of the bookstore. Her dress was made from the pages of books. Really cool.

 Candy break while waiting for friends to catch up.

 Star Wars is very popular.

 Porter, Ryan, Rowan, Jake, and Max.

 Jake bumped into his best friend from preschool, Cole. Cole is not a fan of having his picture taken.

My Dad came over to have dinner with us and go trick or treating. His costume rocked!

 Mike did a great job carving the pumpkins.

This guy refused to wear a costume but was very pleased with his glow-in-the-dark skeleton with candy shirt.

Pumpkin Patch

We usually go to Lee Farms for our pumpkin patchin', but this year we decided to try a different place and went to Fir Point Farms in Canby. This is up the road from where both sets of my grandparents lived, and growing up they would occasionally take me to this farm stand. 

This picture describes perfectly the nature/temperament of my two boys...

We thought it would be fun to go on this cow train ride...

It turned out to be the ride of terror. I'm laughing in this picture but I was also using ALL OF MY STRENGTH to hold on to the cow with my hand and my legs and keep Ryan on my lap. We were driven super fast on a bumpy field around in circles. EEEeeeee!

After that, we needed to be in a soft, padded place. Ryan was very happy with this bouncy house that was only for the 4 and under crowd. (Jake went into the big kid bouncy house.)

Stopping for a snack. It was such a beautiful day!

Glorious place full of hay to jump in and play!

We loved the animals. I think this is the goat.

If you make this picture really big, you may be able to spot the baby goats.

Jake and I went inside the hay maze. It was so dark that they had a basket of flashlights at the entrance! (I saw most of the adults using their iPhone flashlights...)

Spooky...

This was my favorite - the nuthouse. It was filled with unshelled hazelnuts.

Perfect place to wrestle.

Hayride.

Exhausted boy.