Nov 2017

We drove out to Sweet Creek Falls near Florence for a hike.  Most everyone was in good spirits, although from the pictures you can tell that Aria wasn't happy to be hiking. 

We had Thanksgiving this year at my parents house. The Myrolds and missionaries were there to enjoy it with us. We also had fun playing board games, and the kids basically feasted on acini de pepe until they couldn't eat any more.  Derek and his family showed up later and we finally got to meet little Maverick, who basically slept the whole time.

Nova got a new doll that she's loves playing with. She enjoys being the mommy. :)

October 2017

Cookies

Ryzen kept asking Tara to let them make Halloween cookies, so she indulged him. :) 

Aria loves cuddling up with our cat Mira in her bed every night when she reads.

Thistledown Farm
We took the kids out to a local farm to get our pumpkins this year.  We enjoyed a horse drawn hay ride out to the pumpkin patch, and quickly identified the pumpkins.

Tara and I got a baby sitter and went on a date.  As part of it, we went for a walk along the creek to the west of our house for the first time.  It was quite pleasant. 

Nova loves hopping on swings on her tummy and gliding away.

Now that fall has arrived the kids had fun raking up some of the leaves and stuffing their shirts.

Aria is way into tumbling and loves to practice her moves in the house, on the trampoline outside, or at Get Air.  Tumbling is currently her passion. She recently master doing aerials on the tramp and is very excited.

Tara went with Zade on a field trip for school to a pumpkin patch. 

Tara took a run by the Willamette river and caught this great picture of white geese in the trees. She also got several other nice shots of the changing leaves. 

At Bethel Park, Zade had fun making a Halloween sand monster.

Tara dressed up as a witch for a Halloween party. 

For Halloween, Zade decided to be a Dementer from the Harry Potter books, Ryzen was a shark, Aria was Lizzy Hearts from Ever After High, and Nova was a cat.

I usually do all the pumpkin carving, but Zade was old enough this year to try his hand at it.  He really wanted to carve a skull design, and after I helped him get started, he knocked out most of the rest of it by himself.  I was impressed with his diligence.  Aria wanted to carve a cat, but lost interest after around 5 minutes. :)

Here's the fam at the Trunk of Treat. 

On the actual day of Halloween, we took the kids out to the Allen's neighbhoorhood and went trick-or-treating with Gianna, Sonoma, and Rocky.   The neighborhood was really well decorated, and the weather was perfect.  The kids had a great time, including Nova, who I carried from door to door so she could keep up with the older kids.