Trick or Treat

We had our ward Halloween Party this last Saturday.

It was a super fun party with yummy food and fun games!

(Not to brag or anything.... but my chili won 3rd place)

But best of all there was trick-or treating!

A month ago our relief society had a service auction and I bid on and won a Halloween costume made by one of the sweet ladies in the ward. She made this cuddly little lion costume for Westly. Forest and his best friend Emerson had a blast running around the church and being crazy together.

Aren't they so cute together? We were at the church for a total of 3 hours and in those 3 hours Forest went pee on the potty 3 times and had no accidents!

Yay for Forest!

My Dear Sweet Westly

This post is all about my sweet little Westly.

The first few months with Westly were really difficult, much more than I had anticipated. But these last few months have been really fun! It has been so fun seeing his personality blossom. He is probably the most laid back baby on planet earth. Crying or whining is a rarity. He is happy most of the time and if he is not he has a legitimate reason.

Although Westly might be quiet while others are around, when you get him alone he is quite the talker. He has a lower voice than Forest and loves to say mmmamma and ddda and lots of other gargling sounding words.

With his new cruising abilities Westly often finds himself in precarious situations, as pictured below. (We have since moved the coffee table to the garage.)

Doesn't he have the cutest little sad face?

(Westly is stuck under the coffee table in this picture)

Westly is definitely still in the oral fixation stage and doesn't appear to have any plans on moving on. Some days it is hilarious to watch him attack everything and everyone with his mouth.Standing up is Westly's second favorite activity. He can't get enough of it, unfortunately his legs can which has lead to far too many falls.I never get sick of watching Westly follow me around the house bringing with him a toy or two. Aw! I just love my Westly!

School Time

Forest and I have started doing "school time" during Westly's morning nap time.

We start off school with the letter of the day.

Today was O

I then have Forest trace the letter with his fingers while talking about the sound the letter makes. (When we first started doing school time I didn't teach Forest the sound the letter makes. After talking with my mom a few days ago I learned that it is more important to learn the sound than the name of the letter. I am learning too. Thanks mom!)

Forest then traces inside the letter. He improves at this daily!The finished O. I think he did an awesome job!

(The chicken scratches next to Forest's name is Forest attempt to write his name. I love when he does this)After we finish with the letter we go to the website starfall.com and learn more about the letter of the day and review other letters.

After computer time Forest gets to do an activity. Today was play dough.I don't want to leave Westly out of this post! He is now a crawling machine!Westly is also pulling up on EVERYTHING!!

(notice the chub hanging over his pants! He is such a chunk!)

Westly has also started waving!!

So pretty much my boys are da bomb!

The Search For Almonds

Mornings at our place are usually pretty chaotic. After being woken up by the not so sweet yelling of "MOMMA!" followed by Westly crying, I change both kids exploding diapers. We then parade down stairs usually with me holding Westly in front and Forest on my back... For some reason Forest really likes to be carried in the mornings, this is not my favorite thing. We make it down the treacherous staircase with no fatalities, but the real danger is not the staircase it is what lies ahead of me .. breakfast!

Because I am not a morning person breakfast nearly kills me every morning! Forest will follow me around in the kitchen reminding me for the 100th time that he wants milk in his cereal AND in his sippy cup. He will be near tears with anxiety when I set his bowl and cup on the table. Once the items are set on the table, in their corret places, (Forest is OCD about where his cup and bowl are placed) Forest will do the very tedious task of searching for almonds in his cereal and will take out every tiny piece of almond he can find. The almond search makes me laugh and almost cry some mornings, but as long as I have a napkin ready for the almonds the search for the yucky almond goes by without any major break downs. As soon as Forest starts eating the rest of the morning goes by quite peacefully.

Westly meanwhile is usually like this
waiting patiently for his morning feeding. Aw he he is such a sweety!On Sunday morning Westly picked up his first cereal piece and it magically made it into his mouth!Wahoo!

Just Beachy

We went to the beach with some friends and while we were there we had them take some family pictures.

The Oregon coast is crazy windy and so my hair is pretty much like this in every pictureBridger is such a sweet Daddy

Forest was so funny on this chair

I love Forest's real smile! It is so rare to get a picture with a real smile from this crazy boy!It was really cold out but the sand was warm so this is how Forest got around.

Portland Favorites

Some of our Portland Favorites (in no particular order):

Voodoo Doughnuts

Jakes famous craw fish, seafood, and grill

Waterfront Park

Saturday Market

Hotlips Pizza

Deshutes Brewery

Montage

Washington Park (including Japanese Gardens, Rose Garden, The Zoo, Children's museum, and the Forestry Center)

St. Johns Bridge

Pioneer Square

Jameson Square

and

The Pearl District

The following pictures combine two of our Portland favorites: Voodoo Doughnuts and Jameson Square

Look how cute and chubby Westly's feet are!

Sundays

We took some cute pictures of me and the boys on a Sunday back in May.

Westly is so cute and concerned in this photo.

Bridger and I tried to take a picture of us together but in all of them Bridger's head is cut off. Sorry Bridger..Every Sunday we have Sunday dinner with our friends.

Their little boy and Forest are the best of friends.They loved the watermelon!!