Our Ten Month Old + Big Brother Iver

Our pulling-herself up, scrambled egg eating, adoring her siblings tow-headed girl:

Post-bath outside time.

Checking out our pumpkins.

Iver strolling Stella.

Exploring our neighborhood pond -- despite the recent downpours.

Hoedown Festival

We kicked off Fall with a romp at Oxbow Farm.  After a full afternoon of parades, hay rides, food trucks, and hanging out with friends, we loaded back into the van with 6 pumpkins and 4 tired kiddos.

Working up a sweat in the House O' Hay.

Our Hoedown Crew.

Jorja and Scout managing the pumpkin cart.

All six of us -- in one photo.

Denni and Stella on the search for the perfect "Cinderella Pumpkin".

Face time.

Fall Festivities

Fall is one of our favorite seasons around here.  Basically between September through New Year's, there's one holiday after another to get excited about.  First up, it's Halloween.  In fact, Kristin kept saying it was already October -- despite it still being in the middle of September -- as the rationale to bust out some crafty activities on a sunny Sunday.

Last weekend, the rest of society caught up with the season's celebrations and we attended a Hoedown Fall Festival at the farm where we get our weekly share of fruits and vegetables.  Once again, we had great weather.

Even though we still have over three weeks until Halloween, you never know when preparations for the next holiday may start ...

Our Nine Month Old

Our on-the-move, two tooth, awesome little girl:

Giggling her way to her tummy.

Zeek lurking near her feet.

New Contributor to Hoot n' Howl

As I just wrote on my blog, Kristin and I have decided to merge our two blogs into one since neither of us has the time to get everything posted that we would like.  For instance, I have months of photos and videos on my iPhone that I keep saying I will put onto the blog but never seem to be able to.

The good news is that since we're both semi-competitive people, Kristin and I will undoubtedly post more regularly if we know the other one has (that's a joke ... sort of).  I think the blog will automatically say who writes what post.  If not, my guess is it won't be too hard to figure out who has written what!  

For my first post on Hoot n' Howl, here are a couple of pics from this past week.  Stella clearly enjoying some quality independent sitting time, and Iver at his absolute favorite place in the world: an active construction site.  More with the twins next time.

Back To School and Iver's Two

Our Second Graders.  It's been a great start to the school year with the twins in different classrooms (A's in Room 8 and J's in Room 9), biking to school, and reuniting with school friends after an awesome summer.

A and J counted down the number of days until the start of the school year -- they made it!

The Littles aren't quite ready for school, but they love the drop-off and pick-up adventures.

Stella tasting (and loving!) beets for the first time.

Iver celebrates his 2nd birthday with a great group of friends (and his beloved cup of milk).

Party cupcakes.

An awesome family hike to Franklin Falls before the start of the school year.

Our little hiker.

Immersed in the fall's spray.

Happy Hiker #1.

Happy Hiker #2.

A brief walk in the salt water during our August day trip to Bellingham.

And rock throwing.

Our Eight Month Old

Our happy, vocal, self-feeding, on the cusp of crawling (her seated forward fold is impressive) littlest girl:

Day Trips

In an attempt to "travel" with all four kiddos -- along with the amazing abundance of stuff that they often require -- we've narrowed our excursions down to day trips.  Despite the occasional what-were-we-thinking moments, these adventures have gone surprisingly well.

Climbing the driftwood in Port Townsend.

Iver tossing rocks into the water -- over and over and over.

Exploring the barracks -- which still terrify me.

Ferry watching from the dock.

Iver and his best friend Bun-Bun.

Lounging in bed back home.

A family visit with Jayleen and Alli (off playing with the twins somewhere in the yard).

Our Seven Month Old

Sitting up, solids, and poised to crawl.

Seven in Seabrook

This past week the six of us headed to the Washington coast for a bit of beachcombing, hiking, biking, swimming, frisbee, badminton, and "Gnome Village" explorations.  The days certainly brimmed with kid-friendly activities, but the evenings were reserved for wine and hot tubbing.  All of this punctuated with the twins turning 7 on Friday.

Our first walk on the beach (i.e freedom from the 4+ hours in the car).

A seagull taking flight.

We might be missing faces, but A and J certainly enjoyed monkeying around.

Meg's moment.

Exploring a treehouse.

Gnome Village in the forest -- we added a few touches of our own.

Lot's of finds along the forest trails -- evidence of both gnomes and fairies.

Me and my kiddos.

Jorja was super helpful with Iver on the trails.

Digging a hole, building a retaining wall, and checking to see if the water will make it in.

 Iver enjoying the beach.

Stella hanging out with me in the Ergo.

Loving her time at the beach.

Preparing to create their own stepping stones at the "Crafty Camper". 

Blue skies.

Meg and Anders engaged in a "game" of badminton.

Birthday cupcakes with family.

Bows and arrows -- and new decorate-it-yourself bike helmets -- for my 7 year olds.

Birthday cake  -- post-pool party -- with friends.