Leaf Walk

A few days ago I took Allison on a 'leaf walk' we went around and collected a variety of fallen leaves from our neighborhood. Now they are securely stashed away in a book being pressed for another project we will hopefully get to soon.

She used her freshly decorated McDonald's Happy Meal bucket to collect leaves....and for several days afterward she wouldn't leave the house without it. Just in case we would find some leaves I guess. Or a stuffed kitty. Or a sock. Yes, I have found untold treasures in that little bucket. I think it will always be my favorite McDonald's Happy Meal 'toy' ever!

An Afternoon at the Park

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, we had a great weather week last year. And the light in the fall is just special. I'm sure there is a scientific explanation for why but I don't really care about why. I do try to make the most of every minute of the great light I can. And not just for taking pictures! It is so much fun to play at the park on a beautiful sunny afternoon. I'm not the only one who thinks so, either.

Uncle Tills Round II

This past Saturday Allison & I made it to another one of my cousin's soccer games (we're enjoying having him close by). This was actually a really exciting game - they won 2-0 and Tills almost scored a goal! They also beat the team who is 3rd in their league (they were 4th) so they are hoping to be positioned better to make it to playoffs. I was thankful it wasn't raining. Allison had a great time. She even cheered a bit, much to the amusement of the crowd in front of us. Especially when her cheering became commenting on the dirtiness of the players (I mean dirt on their uniforms, not unfair playing!). It was pretty cute. Mark came for the second half as well and let Allison wander around with him, which she loved! Hopefully we'll catch at least one more game before the season is up. And after the season hopefully we'll get to see more of Tills, too!

Allison's second time to one of Tillerman's soccer games - and she got another happy meal. This one actually turned out to come with a useful toy - more on that later. Regardless, I think she's going to begin to associate Uncle Tills with chicken nuggets!

Play Date

Last Saturday Allison & I headed up north just a bit to visit with our good friends, the Moody's. Judson is about the same age as Allison and was very excited to have a friend over to play. Allison was very excited to see and even sort of 'hold' baby Cooper. Cooper was just over a month old (I think!). She is the one I made my purple quilt for this fall. And of course, while we were there I practiced taking pictures. I can't pass up a chance to take baby pictures, especially when the baby isn't very mobile! It was a typical foggy Oregon fall day so I ended up converting most of the indoor pictures to black & white - I was using a really high ISO setting and the grainy-ness looks better with black & white in my opinion.

Eventually we headed outside (much to Allison & Judson's delight). We bundled Cooper up and stuck Allison's old pumpkin hat on her. Doesn't she make a cute little pumpkin?

And we got Judson in a few pictures, too. Of course, he had already been playing around so he was a little wet but he still obliged. And he gave Cooper a sweet kiss.

And Allison & Judson played and played....

All around us.....

They are a pretty cute pair! We hope we'll get another play date soon!

Our Yellow Tree

The fall is my favorite time of year. Perhaps because it feels so fleeting. Just about a week ago the tree out front of our house was turning yellow and just starting to loose it's leaves. Now it is nearly bare. I'm glad I made Allison pose for me before the leaves completely disappeared! I love the color of this tree, especially since all of our trees are different colors in the fall.

She was giving us a big cheesy grin. We were bribing her with her water bottle!

I think she was pleasantly surprised to have a leaf flutter down by her!

We're getting some fabulous fall weather this week and we're doing our best to make the most of it (yes, that means photo ops!).

Glamour Girl

This little girl of ours is turning out to be quite the character! I never know what is going on in her mind and why she loves certain things. On one particular Sunday afternoon she wore her pajamas for her nap (that makes some sense, I suppose) and after her nap her outfit continued to improve. She grabbed her sparkly headband, then a necklace from her Nana the day before, then her favorite sparkly light-up shoes from Gammie. And don't forget the stickers Nana gave her the day before. Yup, that's my girl and that is her style. And I love every bit of it. Even the pink tu-tu she wore to daycare today!

Potato Stamps

Last week we finished our last activity for our 'Jesse Bear What Will You Wear' book. We made potato stamps and stamped designs like the one on Jesse Bear's kitchen floor. The stamps were easy to make, I sliced one large baking potato into thirds and then carved a circle, square and triangle into each third. I bought some inexpensive washable ink pads from Amazon and we stamped away! Mark had to do most of the work of helping Allison while I took pictures. I think he might still be a bit bitter about it, but I'm pretty sure deep down inside he loved it. I'm thinking we may be making some Christmas wrapping paper this way. We ended the night with a much needed bath time.

In the picture above she had just said 'I bite this' and I think she liked my reaction to that statement! Thankfully she learned pretty quick it wasn't a pleasant thing to bite!