Pumpkins!

Parker and my dad carved pumpkins this weekend.

This is the ONLY scoop that Parker took out. He thought it was more important to play t-ball in the grass.

Bonker's, the dog, LOVES fresh veggies from the garden! Fresh fruit too! I'll see her outside, and I'll think she is chewing on a tennis ball, but when you get closer to her it's always an apple! By the way, she's my parents dog.

Watching PopPop carve "baby brother's" pumpkin.

From L to R

Mommies pumpkin, Parker's pumpkin, Daddies pumpkin, and Keaton's pumpkin. My dad carved them with Parker while I went grocery shopping.

Grocery shopping is my alone time. Today we decided to skip nap time at school and meet our neighbor Michelle and her youngest daughter, Gabriella at the pumpkin patch. It was a beautiful afternoon! I have to remember to go on a weekday next year! There was barely anyone there!

Keaton's first pumpkin patch trip was pretty uneventful for him. At least I think it was...I can never see his face when he's in this carrier.

Parker loves to do mazes while I am on the computer at home, so when he saw a maze that he could actually run through!!! Whoah!! He could barely contain himself! We must have gone through it at least 10 times! On the top of the hay bales!

He was so nervous putting his hands up in the air! But he had no problem jumping off of it over and over again!

Not quite strong enough to take this one home!

At this pumpkin patch, they have a boat and a train that you can ride to the pumpkin patch and back. The goal is to take the train one way and the boat the other way. While we were eating kettle corn with our neighbors, we watched some families on the boat. There was this welded shark that would come out of the water and spit water out towards the boat, and it really freaked Parker out. We watched it many times, and talked about how it was pretend, and Gabriella assured Parker that he wouldn't get wet. (they had already gone on it) Parker decided to go on the train to the patch, and the boat second. After we got our pumpkin, Parker decided that he wanted to go on the train back again. No problem, he loves trains...

As soon as we got off the train, and paid for our pumpkin, he decided he was ready to go on the boat. As we were boarding the boat, he got freaked out again, and asked me to hold his hand. It was the sweetest thing. Just the way he said it, and the moment.....

To bad we weren't prepared for the dragons that came out of the water, they were scarier than the shark. But, "I will just close my eyes."

Parker is a great problem solver.

You can't really tell, but he is looking at kittens for sale. He stood there looking at those kittens with his hands behind his back for quite awhile.We saw pigs (LOTS of flies), Bunnies, the Kittens, a Rooster, and Goats. Parker took many pictures of the animals. But we'll save those for another day. While he was taking a picture of the rooster, it started cock-a-doodling! I forget that Parker has never heard a real rooster before! Or seen one! He's never seen pigs or goats either! But the real shocker was when I had to explain to him that corn grew in corn fields! He's seen pictures of corn fields, and has eaten corn, but never put the two together! I have a city boy!

Parker problem solving take 1017:

A little boy wanted his mom to take a picture of the rooster, and she wouldn't. Parker looked at our camera that was in his hands, and so graciacly said, "You can use my camera. Here, you just press this button." I tried to get a picture of the boys together, but the sun was in their eyes. Also it's hard to trust a 3 year old with a baby that can't sit up yet. Parker kept on wanting to let go to block the sun out of his own eyes. Oh well, next year daddy will be there! Right Daddy?

What we do when we're awake at 4am

Parker (and Keaton) woke up at 4 am this morning.....yeah.

I figured since I was WIDE awake, and I had gotten my 3 hours of sleep, I should turn on the tv in our room and watch some quality infomercials...

Look who I found!!

The whole "testimonial" commercial making process was quite the experience for us. It's fun (funny) to see a finished product, and us on tv!!

Parker and I could not stop laughing!

We of course called Matt at work, and after he got over the shock of us being awake, was excited to know that I was recording the last 20 minutes of it. We then called my dad. Sadly, he had a different infomercial on the same channel...

Parker's been awake for 1 1/2 hours now...time to try to get him to go back to bed.

boys...

This is what Matt and Parker do when a camera is on them...

Pretend to be asleep

Stick their tongues out at me

Plug their ears

Then Parker turns into a dog and licks Daddy

and Keaton laughs at them the whole time! All you mommies with girls are pretty jealous huh?

Keaton tries "food"

I read that if your baby is showing interest in food at 4 months you can try giving them rice cereal. So Monday, at dinner we gave Keaton his first rice, milk, and vitamin creation:

mmmm, looks fun

mom, what the hell was that?

yeah! let's try it again!

All you have to do is repeat those 3 pictures for 10 minutes, and it would be as if you were there!

Except for the one time he gagged...but then he laughed.

It's closed?

Saturday afternoon Matt and I decided that it was a great fall day to load up the car and take Uncle Jarred, Parker, and Keaton to the zoo. What we didn't know is that at 3:45ish on a beautiful fall day in Oregon, the zoo would be closed.

We couldn't just load everyone back up into the car (trust me...a wheelchair and a double stroller is not the easiest thing to take in and out of a car) so we decided that Daddy needed to push Uncle Jarred's wheelchair uphill to check out the train at the Forestry Center.

Then we went down hill to turn the big wheels at the Children's Museum. And let Parker run around the cement slab to the side of the museum. Sometimes I wish I had the imagination of a 3 year old. He turned the area into a pretend obstacle course that Matt and I took turns racing him on. After we had a few races we headed back to the car, deciding it was time to play the instruments at Best Buy and go out for Mexican food.

A quick Hiking trip Tillamook

My dad and Parker have gone to over 30 different waterfalls since summer began. Some of the waterfalls are just short half a mile hikes, others are about 5 miles. When they go on short ones, and I know the weather is going to be good, I invite myself and Keaton to go with them.

We picked Parker up from school early on Friday, and headed west to Tillamook.

My dad said there where 2 other waterfalls he wanted to stop at on the way to Munson Falls. The first one was Stafford Falls (I think). We didn't hike to it, because you have to walk over a small creek (the Wilson River maybe?). And I don't know about you, but I just watched Into the Wild....so I will NOT be crossing any creeks or rivers with my 2 small children. Extreme I know, but I'm just thinking about their safety.

So, my dad pulls his car off onto the shoulder of Hwy 6, and Parker and he climb over the guard Rail and look at Stafford Falls from the Hwy.

As we where getting back into the car, some very noisy and very big semi trucks went pass us...

Then it was off to Mossy Rock Falls. I'm not sure if these are the real names of the Falls or just the names that my Dad and Parker made up. This one was really pretty. It too, was just off the side of Hwy 6. I don't know if it was a slow moving vehicle turn out or just a large gravel rest area to stop and enjoy the falls.

We got back onto Hwy 6, then South on Hwy 101, and stopped at a rest stop so Parker could use the restroom, and Keaton could have a meal. Parker declared to everyone inside the bathroom that, "this place is STINKY!" Not sure if it was all the cows or the people...

A little bit further down Hwy 101 is Munson Falls State Park. It's just a little park, I think I saw 1 picnic table, and you could maybe park 8 cars without blocking anyone in. But it was SO beautiful. I don't think Beaverton is very smoggy, or anything like living in a big city, but you could just smell the fresh air when you got out of the car! My camera doesn't come close to showing how gorgeous everything was.

I love this picture of Parker in mid-step.

"Do you hear the waterfall?"

Me and my boys... After we explored a little more, we were off again. This might of been the real reason I went with them on their weekly hike...

I'm not ashamed to say, "My name is Melissa, and I am addicted to Tillamook icecream." I think this is definitely a trait that has been passed down through the generations. I've never known my grandfather, my dad, me, or my son to pass up icecream.

Someday Keaton will join us too!

Parker could've stayed all day and just watched cheese being made. He kept on telling me that when he is big he is going to work downstairs with them.

It was a great afternoon! I feel so thankful to live in the northwest where there is so much to do and see!

Parker the Photographer

Parker LOVES to take pictures of things around the house. Sometimes I wonder if it's just random pictures, or if he has a reason for taking pictures of certain things. Here are a few (ok more than a few) of my favorites. The backseat of PopPop's car

His baby brother, Keaton in the backseat of PopPop's car

His foot

His new favorite toy from his cousins. I think he took this picture for insurance reasons. You never know when your Star Wars spaceship might get stolen and you have to file a claim.

Here are his feet, my legs and giraffe at the dentist. A picture of the x-ray that he took of my teeth. I love our dentist! Who else would let a 3 year old take an x-ray picture of their mom's teeth?

Our neighbor Cal at Chuck E Cheese

and Cal's beer

His Great-Grandpa Bob sticking his tongue out

My parents front window. I think Matt is walking in the front door. (we need to clean their window)

His "Dog Cousin," Pudge

The smoke alarm in his room

And last but not least....his feet...again.

I hope he doesn't develop a foot fetish.