Good morning!

A little breakfast and belly time. The third Halloween party today. Oh and what's up with Christmas stuff out at the stores already! C'mon people!

The Halloween wind-up!

Kelly school parade with the queen of autumn and a tiny pirate. Also, Madelyn "testing" her jackolanterns in the bathroom (a camel and a butterfly)... Yep, they work!

Halloween at school!

Here is maddie today at school in her "queen of autumn" costume, made by Lisa!

Fall

Sketching pumpkins and warm mittens! If I'm not mistaken, Miles' mitts were mine from back in the day!

Cache Creek!

The fam took an evening walk up cache creek after an early dinner yesterday. We had great weather and had to get out as we are not sure how much longer it will be with us.

Hanging'

Test...

Just testing:)

Smile

Just a couple of pics. Trying out the app for the iphone!

iPhone's!

I know, welcome to the century, right!? Our camera has now become obsolete! I'm still trying to figure out how to post directly from my phone (anyone want to give me some hints?)... I know, I should crack open the manual, but not finding the "study time" quite yet. Here are a few pictures from the week: movie time with Lucas( eating popcorn), Miles playing with Lucas' bro Caio, Maddie's new mittens from G-ma Jude, and Miles' new hat.

Went to a great talk by Micahel Cunningham last night (author of The Hours, amongst other things). Always fun to see authors speak, gives me new insight into teaching writing/reading. Headed to Pumpkin Fest on the town square tomorrow, many pictures to come, I'm sure:)

4 months

Happy 4-month birthday to Miles. He weighs 12 pounds 4 ounces... double his birth weight, hooray! He's rolling, enjoying sitting up with support, giggling, and sucking away at any and everything in sight!

Lest you think that Miles is always mellow and quiet... check out this clip:) Madelyn was trying to tell me that she and Miles were 'related,' but it came out as "roommates" instead.... not sure about the Indian part...?;)

Milestones

A few milestones this week! Look at Madelyn's first attempt to write her full name! Impressive! She's just starting to work on letters at school. And here is Miles at almost 4 months with his strong neck, looking all around! Miles just started sitting in his bumbo today (that purple moulded chair that helps to hold him upright) which was fun to see... little people just look infinitely older when they're upright!
Here's a few more - one of Miles loving up his toy sheep, and one of Madelyn modeling a few new clothes that came in a "hand-me-down" box from a friend. There were oodles of clothing strewn around the living room last night, and yes, Madelyn tried almost every single item on... the family's fashionista!

West Nest

We headed up to Ennis, Montana for the weekend to relax and celebrate Angus' first birthday. Madelyn had a great time exploring the place as a 3-year-old... new toys, bunk beds, helping to feed angus and to make whip cream, picking flowers in the garden... endless fun:) Michael got some fishing in on the Madison River, and I got some knitting and painting in here and there. Miles slept the entire way there and back making for some pretty easy travel. Our first full-fledged family-of-four vacation... well done crew!

pictures of the kids

Apples and Hippos

Today we all went out to Kelly to roam around, scoot-bike, and fish (Mike). Madelyn, Miles and I stopped by the Landales and were offered some apples straight from their tree - quite a treat anywhere, but especially in our area! After biking around and eating sammies at the Kelly Store, we came home and yep, made an apple pie! Madelyn was quite proud of her efforts (see picture) and will be sharing the last apple for 'show and tell' tomorrow along with 'how to make an apple pie."

Other news - Madelyn finally figured out how the peddles on her bike work today.. it had been challenging to keep her feet on them because they spin around as well as turn... SO.... I duct taped her feet on to the peddles and it worked like a charm! Sounds cruel, I know, but it was just for a minute until she got the feel of it, and them we took it off with great success:)

A hippo that I'm donating to a local fundraiser... kind of cute:)

Jenny Lake with Tate

Yesterday we went on an adventure to Jenny Lake with Tate, Bode, and Hatilie. We set out for the ferry ride, but alas, they doc the boats starting October 1st. We did, however, make it just in time for the "boat show" and got to watch them back the trailers into the water and pull out the boats for the winter. It was a great time, although a short hike... Here's a clip of M and T setting out in the beginning of the adventure, and of course, by the end of the adventure, there were no pants to be seen but lots of fun chaos. Madelyn continues to be allergic to her pants!:) We had to rein it in with bribes of ice cream at Dornans:)