Thanksgiving

Another wonderful Thanksgiving in Medford. We had 29 people there this year (a bit fewer than last year) The peanut hunt was as crazy as ever. Jay/Kaiya found the winning peanut and got the quilt that Grandma Maria made.

Medford

We spent Thanksgiving in Medford and celebrated Jay's Grandma Maria's 90th birthday. Jay and Chloe also got some birthday gifts from Jim and Cassie. We all had a wonderful time.

Jay's B-day

Jay turned 33 this year. We spent a nice quiet evening with the family. We went out to dinner and got a Cold Stone Cake. As you can see Kaiya really enjoyed it.

Uncle Tooter ... oh I mean Sgt. Reese

Jason came over to pick up a new police vehicle (Dodge Charger) and stopped by and talked with John's class. The kids had a great time listening to the difference between state patrol and the local police. Their favorite was when they got to go out and look at his car. It was quite cute to see all these 6 year olds enthralled with all the gadgets on the vehicle. I think they were most impressed by his "big gun" otherwise known as a Shotgun in the car. Thanks again Jas for stopping by John's class loved it!

Chloe's 5th B-day

We had a two day event for Chloe's B-day. On her birthday she got to open presents from all the family and pick where we went out to eat. She actually chose Applebee's (thank goodness we skipped Chuck-E-Cheese). The next day we went to Build-a-Bear with four of Chloe's friends. They all got to pick out an animal and a little outfit. It was quite an experience, then we had B-day cake at the mall!! Notice the lovely monkey cake that Ronni and I made for Chloe, we had a little trouble getting the feet frosted correctly but Chloe loved it anyways.

Halloween

The kids had a great time trick-or-treating. Kaiya was suppose to be Princess Leia but refused to wear the hair so I put her in the duck slicker instead!

Pumpkin Patch and Carving

We visited our first Pumpkin Patch in Oregon and realized how spoiled we were in California with Avila Farms. The kids still had a fabulous time picking out their pumpkins and eating donuts. We also went to a friends house for a pumpkin carving party, where we ate too much and made a huge pumpkin mess. The kids even had cute little arts and crafts projects that they had set up. As you can tell this year we branched out to more intricate pumpkins.

Salmon Festival

Thanks to Mike and Janice McDowell we went to the 25th annual Salmon Festival on the Sandee River. It was fabulous, completely geared to the kids. They learned all about the life of a Salomon and what we needed to do to make sure that the salmon continued to live a long healthy life.

Zoo

We spent Friday afternoon at the zoo. It was clear but cold so we bundled up to see the new baby elephant "Sam". He weighs 425lbs now, so not much of a baby but is oh so cute! We only had time to see half the zoo so we'll see the rest next time we go. Thank goodness for yearly memberships!

Kaiya loves Aunt Krista

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Finally Kaiya let Aunt Krista hold her at Nanny and Pat's house.

Ramdom pictures

Here are some pictures of the family that I thought were cute. Turns out Kaiya loves green beans (raw and cooked).

The novelty of rain

We all know that it rains frequently in Portland but the kids still think it's the greatest thing. Every time it starts to sprinkle they want to grab their rain boots and umbrella and head outside (I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon). I'm reluctant to send Kaiya out since she is not walking yet and tends to get her knees soaked and filthy. Kaiya is quite sad when the kids go out without her but she'll be out with them soon!