Our little huskies

One of our favorite pictures of Daniel as a baby is of him wearing a fleece husky hat in the winter while out for a walk one day. Of course we had to recreate the photo with Matthew, now that the weather is chilly enough to wear thick hats and mittens. What cute little huskies!

Happy (belated) Halloween

Here are some of our Halloween pictures. We were out of town on Halloween, so we trick-or-treated the following week at Great-Grandma Eva's house.

Our little fireman and his dalmatian puppy.

Daniel was worried that Grandma wouldn't have any candy left for him.

We stopped by the Newman Center's Halloween party before heading to Yakima for the weekend. We couldn't get Daniel to stand still long enough to get a good picture.

Matthew and Fr. Jordan hang out.

The fireman and dalmatian spend some time with the cast of The Office.

In Yakima for Halloween, Daniel and his friend Noah had a great time handing out candy all night. Then Daniel got to come up to the door to trick-or-treat, too. (Looks like we forgot to put his boots on, though...)

Who turned off the lights?

A mystery developed the other night at dinner.



While we ate, I made an off handed comment about how I've noticed the back porch light being left on at night for the past few nights.



The only conclusion I had come to was that Michele had been turning it on (rookie husband mistake) since the nights had been getting darker sooner. I assumed she didn't like how "spooky" our back yard looked. I don't know why I came to this conclusion, but since I certainly wasn't doing it, I thought that's how Michele would rationalize it.



"Hey Honey, I wanted to ask why you were leaving the back porch light on at night?"



"Um...I haven't, and actually I thought it was odd that you were leaving it on."



"What?! It wasn't me! Its been turned on each night for a few days now so I thought it was you doing it."



At this point we both look at Daniel who was in the process of putting a crouton in his mouth. He says nothing. Michele and I now both get the same idea.



"Um, Michele, I haven't been turning the back light on at night. Have you?"



"Nope, I haven't turned it on." (we look back at Daniel)



"Daniel, have you been turning on the light at night?"



"No, I didn't turn it on!"



At this point, Daniel turns to the only person left in the room that hasn't professed their innocence. This person is also barely able to hold his own head up.

(Daniel) "Matthew, did you turn the light on?"

Matthew babbles some baby talk and drools. We believe he said 'no'.

Daniel finally cracks under the pressure...

"Yes! Yes! It was me!"

Case solved.

Another day with Daniel...

Michele: "Daniel, we really need to trim your nails again. They're getting too long. They're like claws now."

Daniel: "But I need claws to be a tiger!!"

------

Daniel: "Mom, what did you buy at the store today?"

Michele: "Oh, the usual grocery items. Things like canned tomatoes. Do you like canned tomatoes, Daniel?"

Daniel: "Um....no, but I do like cans."

Pumpkins

It's been awhile since we've shared any pictures...we've been busy! We'll try to update more in the next few days. Here are some pictures from our trip to the pumpkin farm in Nisqually with our good friends Erin, Ryan and Bridget Simmons. (Can you tell which pictures were taken with our little camera and which were taken with Ryan's super-nice camera? :)

Wagon ride to the field.

I've got one!

These are ALL my favorites!

Dirty hands!

It was a rainy day at the farm.

Hayride with our friends!

Oh, Daniel...

Some tidbits of conversation with Daniel over the past few days:

#1
"Daniel, you did a great job eating your dinner and you were a good boy all day! You can now have that cookie we promised you."

(in an excited voice)"YAY!" (in a mellow voice) "...um...but how big is it?"

#2
"Daniel, tonight we're having Chinese food for dinner!"

"Good, but it will make me fat."

Nachos

Today we had nachos for lunch. Daniel specifically requested that his nachos have only un-melted cheese on top...

More birthday fun

Here are some more pictures from Daniel's birthday week:

Birthday pancake for breakfast!

Cool birthday glasses from Aunt Bea -- and a chocolate doughnut, too!

Helping to make birthday cake #1.

Eating said birthday cake.

Cool! Soccer shoes!

Soccer shoes, PJs, birthday glasses.

Daniel's first kick in his new soccer shoes.

Helping to make birthday cake #2 -- chocolate cupcakes!

Playing his new guitar from Grammy and Grampy.

Daniel's first date

This is what Daniel knows about dates: Mommy and Daddy leave, Daniel stays at home and is sad because he misses them, somebody else comes and watches him while we're gone.

This morning, I overheard Daniel saying this to Lovey (his lovey), while setting up some of his toys around her (yes, Lovey is a she):

"It's okay Lovey, I'm just going to go on a date so I can spend some time with some of my friends. Don't worry, Lovey, you wont be here alone. You'll be here with the dinosaurs and crocodiles--they'll take care of you while I'm gone."

Sweet, but I'm not sure why he picked the most menacing of his toys to be Lovey's babysitters. Does he think we do the same? Hmmmm...

Happy Birthday, Daniel!

More to come later...