Ink Pencils

are what Daniel calls pens.

Reason 234,578,994 Why Daniel Can't Go to Bed

"An octopus came into my room and put a cold booger on my leg, now I'm too cold to go to sleep."
-Daniel

I'll make you a deal

In the last few months, a relative gave us a copy of the movie "The Land Before Time," which I remember watching when I was little (and older than Daniel) and I was scared in quite a few parts. However, we foolishly did not put the movie away before Daniel saw the cover and now every few days he tries to convince me that he can watch it without being scared. This was today's attempt:

Daniel: Mom, trust me, I wont be scared if we watch that dinosaur video.

Me: I don't think so, Daniel.

Daniel: I'll make you a deal. We'll watch the video and I wont be scared.

Me: We've been over this before, Daniel. I've seen the video and it was scary. You'll be able to watch it when you're older.

Daniel: No, you haven't seen this video before!

Me: Daniel, the movie came out in 1986. I was born in 1982, that means I was four years old when it came out and I remember watching it. How old are you?

Daniel (defiantly): I don't know how old I am!

Me: [silent]

Daniel (to himself, in a whiny, defeated voice): It takes too long to be a grown-up...

Sweet

Matthew loves snuggling with his lovey (named "Saggy Baggy" by Daniel, inspired by the Saggy Baggy Elephant story). Too bad he hasn't slept this peacefully for a few days since his not-yet-showing teeth and a cold have been bothering him.

Crime Prevention

We have had our cars broken into/stolen a few times, and since then have been well aware of the protection a "club"-type device provides. Being the astute observer that he is, Daniel now takes precautions when parking his vehicles, too. In fact, I think his method would be more effective. Who would try to steal a car being guarded by a dinosaur?

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!