The Last 6 Weeks or so!

This time of year is very busy for us as a family. Not only do we have Halloween and then Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, but it is Porter and my birthdays at the beginning of November. Oh there is also Election Day (but I won't talk much about that since I still want to have friends (Democrats and Republicans alike) after I post this post.

The month of October started with a visit from Uncle Patrick and Mark, Aunt Kirsten and her kids Erique and Keiara. We don't live by any close family so it is always nice when we have family come visit. We had a great visit with them. It is so fun to see my kids play with some of their cousins. We didn't really do anything super exciting but it was nice to sit back and relax with them.







I was able to go on a field trip with Porter to Grandpa's Farm with his preschool class. We got to go on a hay ride, pick out a pumpkin (Porter picked a large one AND he was able to carry it) and pick some indian corn. We had a great time together. I loving being able to go on outings with each of my kids separately.



On October 15th, we headed to the Oregon Zoo. At the Liberty Elementary Carnival last year, I bought zoo tickets at a discounted price (and as a fundraiser.) So we thought we should take the oportunity and use them. We enjoyed spending some time as a family and seeing the fun animals. I even ran (not literally) into a friend from high school that I haven't seen in probably 15 years.






We then went to the pumpkin patch as a family. The Monday before Halloween we carved our pumpkins. When you live in Oregon, you can't carve your pumpkins very early or they get gross too quickly. Sterling carved Caelyn a cat. Lauren carved a pumpkin girl with lots of "personality." Porter's pumpkin had about 50 ears. And my pumpkin has a very big smile. We also had a ROSE pumpkin (I had trouble with the "E".) Thankfully, no stitches this year!









Then there was HALLOWEEN! This year we were the X-Men family. I was Rouge, Porter was Cyclops, Lauren was Storm, and Sterling was the bad guy - Magneto. Of course, the X-Men needed a cat so Caelyn was their black cat. We had various parties. Lauren had one at school. Right after that party, we went to Sterling's work to do cubical trick or treating. Later that evening, Sterling and I went to the Trolley of Terror where a trolley takes you all over Albany's downtown and tells you stories about the haunted houses and businesses. SO MUCH FUN! Then Saturday night (Oct. 30th) Sterling took the kids to a few members houses to Trick or Treat since Halloween was on Sunday. After that we had our ward party. On Sunday, we had friends over for dinner so our kids wouldn't be too sad that they weren't trick or treating.








November 1st was Porter's 5th birthday and on November 3rd was my 35th birthday. We had a big friend party for Porter this year. I learned from that party not to invite quite so may kids. It was chaotic but I think the kids had fun.