And he finally made it home and went to bed at once. THE END!

Unbeknownst to me, Jonah wrote and published his first story the other day. I found it this morning in the office. Here is the cover. To translate, it says, "By Jonah. Illustrated by Lumpy. The guy who wrote the pictures is Jonathan." (He had no clue what illustrated meant when asked, but I guess picked it up somewhere) Stay tuned for the full story...

"Momma made me a strawberry shortcake hat!"

At the Portland Nursery Apple Festival yesterday. It was only day two of the six days they run it, and we got the last caramel apple. Want to see more pics?

Bepo and Jonah decorating paper plates, I mean, making art.

Jonah with his cute pumpkin Choochey-Face.

This is how it went: "What do you want on your face?" "PINK." "A pink heart? A pink flower?" "Pink FLOWER."

Today was my 4 month OB appointment. Heard the heartbeat, measured my tummy, got weighed (yikes!), and scheduled the ultrasound. In just three weeks we can find out whether to buy pink or blue.

Today we went to Sauvie Island to "The Original Pumpkin Patch" (as opposed to the UNoriginal one)--it was a perfect, smokey, Northwest fall day. The kids really enjoyed the caramel apples...Check out more pictures on our new web album. 

The kids and I were goofing around this morning...Ava had crazy bed-head so Jonah was pretending he did, too. Aren't they cute???


 

BFF (Best Friends Forever) These two (Paige Durias and Ava) are just a month apart and play so well together it's almost uncanny. They love each other and just started swim lessons today together. Ava's never wanted to do swim lessons before (trust me, we tried) but doing it with Paigey was so much fun for her she even JUMPED INTO THE POOL! For our timid little girl this was quite the achievement, and on her first day, too! Yippee! Stay tuned for swim-lesson-pictures to come...

A secret message for Poppop: "This is very scary and really funny for Poppop."

A cheesy grin from Avie.

Our friends Paul and Heather Anderson gave us this Treehouse the other day and the kids LOVE it! It barely fits in the basement but with the colder weather coming we figured that was the best place for it right now. They are playing in it nonstop. Thanks Andersons!

Joe in the "basement"

Ava in the "basement"--Jonah thought he'd stick his head in the picture last minute--sound familiar Mom and Dad????

Looking out the windows with the Lumpy-Twins (Ava: "It's not an elephant, it's a Heffalump.")

Look at my new shoes!  

Bepo Moments...

 

FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!! Jonah was so excited he didn't even complain about getting up early. He came home and said he loves his teacher and made some new friends and "Mom I got to play on the playground three times!"

Jonah wanted me to take a picture of him with his backpack and lunchbox (they clip together).

Brother and Sister together. Ava is really going to miss Jonah while he's at school.

Practicing before his first real soccer game! They played in a Jamboree to kick off the season--it was super fun to see all the little kids chasing the ball--every once in a while one of the kids would get tired of the ball getting taken away and just lay on top of it!

Jonah loves soccer, but he got so tired from playing two games back to back that he finally just lay down on the field and wouldn't get up. An extra player from the other team had to come take his place! It was so funny.

Playing one of the games...Jonah is on the far left in the red shirt.

Scratching his hives...

On Sunday we went to a Carnival at Central Bible Church to celebrate VBS--I know, that was about 6 weeks ago, but it was too hot then, so they rescheduled. Jonah LOVED the big inflatable slide!

Jonah (in blue shirt) and another little boy heading down!

Ava decided right before we were leaving that she wanted to go on the slide with Daddy. They were the last ones to ride...

Jon and Ava at top speed!

Jonah's started soccer this fall...His first game is tomorrow morning! He's so excited and so are we!
Today he had his shots (he did super!) for Kindergarten--he starts on Monday morning. He is going to Portland Christian School right down the street from our house--I am excited it is so close and hope to walk him a lot before it starts to rain.
Stay tuned for pictures of these exciting events...
Oh, and by the way, for those of you who have been praying for his secondary Staph. infection and hives outbreak (poor guy--all at once!) He is doing much, MUCH better, although he is still a bit itchy! The hives (an allergic reaction to one of the plants outside) are about 50% gone and the Staph. infection is leaving with the help of antibiotics. 

Last Sun-Tues we went camping to the Oregon Coast--Devil's Lake, actually, right in Lincoln City. It was super fun and super chilly. Why on earth did I decide that camping at the coast would be a good idea? Oh well, it was still a lot of fun--playing cards, watching the kids ride bikes, eating on paper plates, sleeping on half-deflated air mattresses, eating s'mores-- you know--the good ol' camping life. We went with our semi-new friends the Zeigler's, and I would have to say that camping for three days is definately a good way to decide if you like people. Which we did. Hopefully they did, too (yikes!). But next time, we are going to eastern Oregon and praying a heat wave doesn't hit...

Jonah cruisin' on TWO WHEELS!!!

On the second day the men went to the local skatepark to talk to some skaters about Christ and the Moms taught Jonah to ride his bike. Oh yes.

The Moms trying to stay warm--why oh why did we go camping at the coast??????? haha

Ava diggin' in the sand at the windy beach...

Jonah chasing seagulls on the beach on day two...

Ava just being the Rellie on Olivia's cool Schwinn Trike

Jon pulled the training wheels off Jonah's bike with the encouragement of Jessica and Jaden (also 5 years old) who just learned to ride her two wheeler five days earlier!

The kids riding their bikes on that first night(the sun was out for a little bit!)

The Zeigler family--we had a lot of fun getting to know them better and making those campin' memories (The obnoxious men telling us women to get into our corner--etc).

S'mores!!

Ava with Olivia