Halloween Fun

Elliot's first Halloween experience this year! We carved some scary Jack O' Lanterns.

We went to a pumpkin party at the local Botanical Gardens. There was chocolate as you can see from Elliot's chin.

There were also a few remaining dahlias in the spectacular dahlia garden.

Then we got dressed up! Elliot was a robot, made especially for him by Jeremy.

At school they had a party where all the kids dressed up. As soon as Elliot came out with his costume on, he was mobbed by admiring kids! He felt like a celebrity.

Then they all paraded down to the end of the street and posed for a picture.


Then we went Trick or Treating! He was extremely safe with all his reflective gear on.

From Hovel to Heaven

Recently, we had our kitchen renovated. It was a seriously long, dusty, noisy and completely wonderful experience. We lived out of our living room for two months with drywall dust filling our lungs and hammer knocks haunting our dreams. Above and below is the old kitchen. For future reference, the facing wall backs onto the dining room.

Note, if you will, the incongruity of the cabinets, countertops and room make-up. The kitchen had been "updated" a few times over its 90+ year lifetime. The tile and light cabinets above were added in the '70s by my parents; the fridge is in what used to be the mud room (before fridges were invented they used the long cooler cabinet on the right of the above pic).

And the demo begins! Pic taken while standing in the dining room. Notice there's no wall now.

The back door moved over about 4 feet; drywall and much needed insulation put up.

Woohoo! Paint and cabinets! A skylight!

And we're all moved in! Elliot is thrilled to be able to have breakfast every morning at the bar.

I'm thrilled to have miles of counter space and more storage than I can fill. Even though we're still hacking up sawdust, it was so worth it!!

First Day of School! ...and some catching up.

Logan Family Adventures has been a teensy bit MIA lately, if you haven't noticed. Well, we've been busy!

Waaaay back in August, we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Canada. Elliot was obsessively amazed with the amount of SmartCars there so Grandpa took him to a SmartCar dealership. The salesman was less enchanted with Elliot clambering around in the tiny car than we were...

Grandma taught Elliot that it is fun to lay up to your ears in the bath.

Here's a picture of me and my ever growing bump at the fair in Canada. This pic was taken about a month ago; I am now 29 weeks (7 mths). Yikes! This second one is going by so fast! I'm a little bigger now, but not much.

Last weekend, there was a little fair here. The day was sunny and warm and Elliot had a great time dancing on the mulch pile.

At the fair, Elliot and Ben wandered around like the big boys they are growing into. This picture was taken by Allison, Ben's mom, when Elliot and Ben thought they weren't being watched. How mature they acted while on their own!!

Here is a picture of my garden. Beans, kale and cosmos can be seen. The garden did well this year, if a little neglected. We have pints upon pints of pickled green beans, had many salads of cucumbers and snap peas and will hopefully have a good crop of winter carrots.

Here is a nice sampling of the many varieties of green beans I grew. I love the little pig's tail yellow wax bean!
Elliot discovers the mud and !oops! loses his shoes!

Ok, so the BIGGEST news of the year is that Elliot started school last week! He's going to the local Montessori school. It was like 0 to nothing in one day, but he's doing great.
The first day of school, Elliot returned home to a Schultute (above). According to German tradition, kids get a paper cone filled with school supplies on their first day of school. I filled Elliot's with gummy bears, pencils and a little tractor. It made the sting of the first day a little softer for him.

And here's a picture of the kids at an apple farm on Elliot's first ever field trip. -sob- I'm getting choked up thinking about it all!!!

Elliot will be a Big Brother

This Christmas, we will have another addition to our family. Elliot is getting ready to teach his new baby brother all the ways of being a little boy in this day and age. Train tracks are the first order of business.

The little feller's set to arrive Christmas day, which we have mixed feelings about. Our friend Shannon (who has that birthday) says it's great because you have the whole family together every birthday. We'll see!

Anyway, we're all super excited to have a family of four soon!!!

Peacock Face!

After seeing the peacocks at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas and also going to a farm with a few, Elliot has been obsessed with peacocks. Apparently, we have one living under the kitchen table right now.

One day, Elliot came into the dining room, sat down on a chair and declared "peacock face!" (see picture above). This persona is now used when he is being mischievous or feeling frisky.

We're not sure what gave him this idea, except in order to get him to eat his (fill in the blank with food he doesn't like) we say "peacocks love to eat that". So I suppose we're encouraging this peacock behavior. And what kid has never had an alternate persona they can blame naughty things on?

Monster Trucks!!!!

Our county is completely engulfed in flames right now. There are billows of smoke pouring over the mountains with winds unprecedentedly (is that a word?) blowing west. We are quite literally the only part of the county that is not burning.

Last week we had a major thunder storm that left about 150 fires burning. We were sitting outside eating popsicles when all of the sudden a tiny black cloud rolled in and started to hail on us. Hail a half inch in diameter! It lasted only a minute or two and then rolled on, but it was crazy! Elliot is still saying "ice fell from the sky!"

But before this crazy natural occurrence, we went over the hill to watch Monster Trucks. It was very loud, very dusty and very much redneck heaven. We had a blast!!!

The best part of the night was surprisingly not the monster trucks, but what they called "sliders". The back wheels were removed from these old junkers and replaced with a steel plate. This meant the car had to pull itself with its front tires and its back slid around like it was on ice. They bumped and rammed each other and cheered for themselves. It was hilarious.

Here are a few pictures before it got dark.

Lots of News

First things first. Last month, we had a visit from my parents.

Elephant kisses for Grandma.

It happened to be VERY hot that week. We nearly broke records when it reached 95 one day. Getting over 70 is a big feat for this windy ocean town, so we took advantage of it.

Last weekend, we spent the day at the Fair! A cute annual event created to raise money for the local school district. Family fun everywhere...

Elliot and the giant slide.

The pony ride.

Go Fish. (an assured winner!)

And what day at the fair would be complete without cotton candy (which he didn't like)...

and strawberry ice cream (which he did very much)?!

Just a few days ago, we were in a nearby town at the local Buddhist community. The grounds were peaceful, relaxing and filled with peacocks! They are screamers, those birds, but look how beautiful. Elliot tried to get close, but neither was sure it was such a good idea.

Snakes, Snails and Puppydog Tails (that's what little boys are made of)

Elliot has been up to a lot over the last few weeks. We've had lots of company, sunshine and mud puddles.

The biggest news this week is that he's started potty training! The last few days have been hit and miss, but more has gone in the potty than on the floor, so I guess that's all a Mommy can ask for. He's very proud of his accomplishments, as are we. Maybe we'll be able to have no diapers at all soon?!

A few nights ago, our neat new friends Anaswara, Jason and Malia (age 4) came to visit. We have never seen Elliot so compliant and utterly taken with another child.

Here's "Strong Man" Malia carrying Elliot around the dining room.

Here's "Baby Elliot" being craddled in her arms. Yes, we couldn't believe it either. He won't even let ME do that anymore! Haha.

Also this week, as you can see in the picture above, Elliot got his own bed. We weren't sure how the transition would go and if he would miss the secure bars of his crib. Alas, he did not! He sleeps better now than ever before and hasn't fallen out once.

One day, Elliot decided his toys (and shoes) were too messy and they needed to park by the door.

Lately, I've been into making my own bread. Elliot loves bread. I walked into the kitchen just in time to see...