Broccoli, Pumpkins, and Don't Forget To Vote

Halen wanted a pirate pumpkin, I wanted a political one, so here's our compromise, Obama with an eye patch.


Liam says, ' i really love broccoli.'


'i really really do.'

Super Heroes

Not only are they cute, but they just might rescue you the next time you're in trouble. Our friends threw a kid friendly vegan halloween party. All the little tykes running around in their costumes was too cute. We're anxiously awaiting the real Halloween. The vegan mini mall is hosting a fun-filled trick or treating Halloween festival!!! I love Portland.

Pumpkin Farming

We went to Liepold pumpkin farm again this year. It was a ton of fun for a place located in Boring, Oregon. Hay rides, corn mazes, kid play areas, pumpkin slingshots, and more. We met another kid and his mom from the vegan family meetup group. Halen had lots of fun with him. Liam likes to eat hay and roll pumpkins.

Liam Walks and Claps

Cookies

First bite of a Sweetpea Bakery Vegan Jack-o-lantern sugar cookie.

Almost done.

Sugar Coma! Uggghhhhhh.

Summer Recap

Lots of stuff got left out this summer, due to all the tons and tons of fun we were having! No time for blogging of course. So, now that it's a pre-rainy season rainy day, I'll give you a small recap. Liam learned to use a spoon and is very excited about it. He's been a stubborn eater since the start, only wanting to feed himself and only eating Indian food. Seriously, if it aint got Garham Masala in it, he don't want it. He spit out any ground up baby textured food I ever tried to feed him. It had to be chunky and he preferred to do it himself, no matter how messy that got. Moving from fingers and hands in Indian food to a spoon was a big happy day for us all. We picked peaches one day, apples and pears another. We hiked around Trillium Lake. We went to the amusement park a few more times, ate lots of burritos and danishes and vegan potlucks and brunches. goodbye summer, hello fall.

Vegan Etsy

The holidays are coming. This year, I'm going to try my hardest to buy everything handmade, direct from artists. VeganEtsy is a great place to do that. It's an etsy team of all vegan artists, selling all vegan stuff. Pretty cool huh? Here's a small sample of what's available.

then, of course, there's my shop...

Happy Shopping.

Blog Bog

Sorry. I have lots to say and talk about, and of course cute pics of my cute kids, but I just haven't felt like it. Soon. For now, I'll leave you with just one cute pic of brotherly love.

First Steps

It's too soon! My baby is starting to walk, all on his own. Ahhhh.

Am I 16 Yet?

Both of my boys are itchin' to drive. Yikes.

Campers

We went camping. Liam was dirtier and happier than he's ever been. Halen was a little over tired, due to heavy duty hikes and being too excited to nap, but still had lots of fun. I thought I was managing what Liam was putting into his mouth adequately, until I changed a poopy diaper and found a small rock. All my boys are true outdoorsmen. Dan loves making fire. That's all he wanted to do, even at 6 in the morning, when I wanted to stay snuggled in my warm sleeping bag with my warm baby, he was up tending to the fire. We went to a 'walk-in' campsite at Devil's Lake, on the south side of South Sister. There are three Sisters, mountains in the Cascades, South Sister being the tallest. It was the perfect family camping compromise for us, Dan and I being more into backpacking than car camping. I always felt like car camping was just camping in a parking lot. This was different, there were 9 tent sites, all separated from each other by trees and giant lava rocks, all a short walkable distance from the parking lot. It looked like we could have backpacked there. It was absolutely beautiful.
We hiked about halfway up South Sister, to Moraine Lake, where Halen took an icy skinny dip. It was a really difficult hike, 1200 feet elevation gain in 2 miles. I was breathing heavy. Halen did the whole thing himself. He rode on daddy's shoulders some on the way down, but was a serious trooper on the way up. Fellow hikers were impressed every time they passed us. Halen was a social butterfly, saying to everyone we passed, "I'm just fine" or "I'm doing okay," whether they asked or not. A few guys came up behind us right as we were entering in to the woods after being in the open for awhile. Halen said to them, "hey guys, are you coming into the forest with us?" I love all the things he says. He's just so cute.

Swimming and a Symphony

We rode our bikes along the path by the river, to the waterfront park downtown. The youth symphony and the big people symphony were putting on a free show. We met up with some friends, shared a bit of food, and listened to some music. Then we all left early so we wouldn't have upset kids. Halen absolutely loves live music. He loves the clapping part. He gets real excited about being in a crowd of people all clapping at once.
The next day we went swimming in the neighborhood pool. We'd never been before. I'm not a big fan of sharing the pool with rowdy older kids when I've got little kids. I used to take trips to the neighborhood pool with my niece and it was always more trouble than it was worth and a little scary. The older kids aren't ever being bad or anything, just being kids in a pool, acting like they're supposed to. Anyway, we never went because I was always sure there'd be tons of kids there. It closes Labor Day, so I figured I'd give it a try, going early in the morning on a weekday. It worked out. We were the only ones there. The kids had a blast and took really great naps when we got home. Two days later I still feel like I need a nap. I guess I'll just pour another cup of joe instead.