Halloween Special!

We got really really close to actually having two blogs posts in one month, guys.  Ah well.  I'm just excited I'm not writing about something that happened six months ago anymore.  :)  You probably are too!

So I know that we just had Thanksgiving and Evelyn's birthday party, and those are very exciting events with lots of pictures that I should share, but first you get pictures of Halloween and pumpkin patches.  Very seasonally late over here.  :)

OK, so here goes the photo dump:

In the airport coming home from Kansas.

Mikey's bench is installed!

My brother's bench is up on the waterfront now-- it's beautiful.  We had a tiny dedication ceremony once it was finished, which was nice.  We didn't do anything (except wallow) to recognize the 5th anniversary of his passing this last month, though.  It almost seems like a gory day to remember together... but we all do something of our own on that day, I think.

Visiting Grandma Evelyn, and insisting on driving.

We had a crazy month of October weather-wise.  One moment it was rainy and 40, typical Portland weather, and the next it was almost 80 and sunny.  It was crazy.  Evelyn doesn't really care what the weather is doing-- GF is an outside baby.

With the Source Climbing Center Mural in the background.

She is now constantly talking about 'rock climbing last Sunday'-- it's one of few days she knows, and definitely has nothing to do with actual dates, except that we do often take her to the gym on Sundays, so she's accurate.  I don't even think it's the climbing: of course she likes that, but I think it's that most of her favorite people in the world work at the climbing gym and live in Vancouver!

We did two pumpkin patch trips this year.  She loved it so much I couldn't help it.  :)  These are pictures from the first trip, with all of our friends: Michael, Crystal and Aden; and Shane, Julia, Eliza and Emory.  Evelyn is obsessed with Eliza.  She basically just runs around calling her name all the time, trying to get as close to Eliza as humanly possible, including sitting in her lap without asking.  It's pretty dang adorable, and Eliza is such a great kid, she just goes with it and lets Evelyn follow her around everywhere, and includes her in all her games.  We have some pretty great friends with some pretty amazing kids.

Evelyn refused to smile in every version of this photo.

One of Evelyn's favorite things to do.

It's a TIIIINY pumpkin!

Emory, Eliza, Julia and Shane.

Um, of course I put her on a pony.

I mean, how could I NOT?

Definitely a Dunbar.  I'm holding her shirt to attempt to keep her still for a single dang picture.

She decorated her own pumpkin!

A sneak peek at her costume...

The second time we went to the pumpkin patch was with my sister, who loves doing cheesy community and holiday events as much as I do.  And also loves doing them with Evelyn as much as I do.  So, pumpkin patch plus petting zoo:

So I'm a sucker for pony rides.

She LOVES IT!

Thank you Mamaw, for the tea set!  Evelyn is now completely obsessed with drinking tea and having tea parties.  In this one Frosty got in on the fun (I'm fairly certain Evelyn thinks of Frosty as her best friend).  Tea parties are now a daily thing.  With fake tea, of course.  But also fake crumpets.  It's hilarious to hear her ask for crumpets.  Also, I totally thought crumpets were like, delicious, flaky buttery pastries.  They aren't.  They're like English muffins with a fancier name.  TOTAL LETDOWN.

Feeding Aunt Nicky's chickens.  Nicky's house is like Disneyland to Evelyn.

Pumpkin carving party!

Oops.  Random picture from our first pumpkin patch inserted here, and I'd rather caption it than move it.  Evelyn loved this tractor, despite the look on her face here.

Brad complained the most about carving his stupid pumpkin,and his is the most awesome!

Jason's sister Kari came to visit us right before Halloween.  It was an awesome visit.  Poor Kari, we basically made her babysit Evelyn while we were at work for three days, and then made her tag along to all the things we wanted to do over the weekend-- but she was a great sport, and I think she had fun.  :)  It was an excellent way to really show her bits and pieces of our life, and she got some great alone time with Evelyn too.

Evelyn and Aden.  Buddies.

Halloween!  We went up to Shane and Julia's house in Vancouver, because they are awesome and their neighborhood is awesome for trick or treating.  It was POURING, but we persevered.  And by that I mean that Evelyn thought it was amazing, because who wouldn't want to walk down streets that were total rivers?  Splashing around and going house to house and getting candy?  MIND. BLOWN.  She kept leaving people's houses and just saying, 'He put candy in my basket...' like she COULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED.

And then we got back to Shane and Julia's and she promptly forgot candy even ever existed in favor of tiny oranges that looked like pumpkins.

Spider's eggs!

For weeks afterwards all Evelyn wanted was a banana ghost.

Our soggy troupe.

The gang's all here, before heading out!

Our court themed Halloween family.  Yes.  I'm a nerd.

Yeah, so what else?  She is completely and totally obsessed with Frosty the Snowman.  My fault, I let her watch the original animated movie one time... now every snowman is Frosty, and she talks and sings to all of them, and I've had to learn like 5 verses of the stupid song because she basically wants me to sing it to her like a hundred times a day... toddler life, friends.  Not for the faint of heart.  :)

She is CONSTANTLY TALKING.  We've tried to start getting her to understand that sometimes quiet is good to have... it's failing miserably.  The only thing I can imagine is that my mother had TWO children talking at her constantly.  WOW.

At 2 years old, everything can be done on one's own, friends.  Except for speak English correctly, although she is getting much better at that.  Everything is 'My' instead of 'I' though.  But generally girlfriend is talking in sentences, more or less... and she's hilarious.  She's also asking 'Why?' these days... but it's like she doesn't really know what it means, because half the time she just parrots something her babysitter says as a response before I can answer-- "Because Eddie's still sleeping."  Ha! 

She has recently started asking me to cuddle with her on the couch-- talk about adorableness.  Guys.  When your kid can ask you to squeeze them... or tell you they love you without prompting... and now she's saying, "Thank you Mommy" without prompting... it's pretty dang sweet.  If you don't have kids, please ignore the entire above paragraph, as it'll make you want to barf.  Also, you'll think I'm completely obsessed with my child, which I am, but here's the thing-- pretty sure every parent is.  It's some crazy mind control worked on us by babies so that we're excited to have them instead of viewing them like the never ending slave drivers they actually are.

Jason's work is pretty crazy these days-- good and bad on that front.  My work has offered me a cool opportunity-- in February they are sending me to Kenya for a couple weeks so that I can participate in a Program Management training-- woot!  I'm really excited.  Also totally nervous.  But mostly thrilled.

OK, some parting thoughts for you:

At the age of 1 1/2 Evelyn started blaming her farts on her dad.  I'm so proud I just can't contain it.

Evelyn thinks it's totally appropriate to cheers whenever 2 people are holding anything remotely similar-- so, two toothbrushes, for example.  Or two leaves.  Or two forks.

Also, I was trying to explain to her about her birthday so that she would be prepared and know what the crap we were doing when her birthday party came around.  In advance of her birthday, because of my explanation (which might have included references to both cake and presents, the magical items of childhood), I can hear her wake up in the middle of the night and shout, "My birthday coming up!", only to fall asleep again 2 minutes later.  You're welcome Evelyn.

Also, when you ask her what she wants for her birthday, her first response is cake.  Her second is usually grapes.

There you have it folks.  Wisdom from the mouths of babes.  The most important things in the world?  Cake and grapes.