Happy Halloweenie

 Brandon worked really hard turning our family into the Avengers.  He was Tony Stark, otherwise known as Ironman out of the suit.  The camera didn't pick up his arc reactor but it looked great.

Captain America

The Incredible Hulk

Thor

 These two little superheroes brought in quite the stash.  They are adorable girls but in costume it lifted their cuteness off the charts.  Daisy was stuffed so big with muscles that she could hardly walk but when she would get a piece of candy she would do her excited dance and people would just give her more.  Rocky was very proud of her Thor costume and was especially particular about her beard.  We had to fix it before we left the house because she was looking in the mirror and felt that I hadn't drawn enough on the chin.  

 We also had a lot of other Halloween style fun this past week.  We went to see all the Jack-o-Lanterns at Kesey square and carved a few of our own.

 We also ate pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and then later had the Howard family traditional dinner in a pumpkin.  Rocky begged and begged to watch a really scary movie so I tried to think back to the thing that I thought was the most scary when I was little and I kept going back to the Garfield Halloween special.  We pulled it up on youtube and now I know that the scariest thing about it are the awful musical numbers.  Rocky was pretty spooked by the ghost pirates but it wasn't enough so we also watched Disney's version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow which pretty much scared the pants off of her.  She is a little thrill seeker though and when it finished she just wanted to start it over again. 
All in all it was a great day and a great season.  I'm sad to see October go because this has been a good one.  Don't worry though because while we were eating our pumpkin dinner we already started brainstorming about our costumes for next year.  Rocky said that she wants to be a dead mermaid..........hmmm....we'll see.

Bonus Video:

Go Ducks!

 We went to another Ducks game and had a blast.  Puddles body-surfed his way up to our back row bench again. 

 Luckily this game wasn't as crowded so the girls stretched themselves out to take a little rest.  I didn't think it was possible with all the noise at Autzen but I guess Rocky made it work. 

I love that stadium.

Fall and Such

 Eugene is a beautiful place to be during the fall.  The leaves are amazing....but don't be fooled, it gets pretty cold.

 

 The rain is probably on its way but for now, we'll enjoy what we've got.

 Bonus Video:

Too Fun and Too Short

Last weekend we had a visit from Oma, Opa, Jill and Jared and it was one of those special times that I hope I never forget.

We went to the Sweet Life and Rocky and Daisy each got to pick out one of the beautiful petit fours.   

Of course we had to stop at Voo Doo Donuts too.  Rocky shared hers with her new pet mouse.  She tells everyone that she got her pet from Jiwwy and that her name is inexplicably Pony Ride.  Pony Ride has only been here for a short time but she has already been carried around to all the best places in Eugene. 

 Jill told Rocky to make a scary ghost face and this is what she got.  I'm scared.

 We went to the pumpkin patch which of course provided for a bunch of great photo ops.

 She looks cute, but watch out goats, she's trying to feed you rocks.

 Rocky was just soaking up all the attention she could get...and making a pretty cool fashion statement. 

 She insisted that I take this picture of the corn because some of it was purple, but now I see that she was just trying to get away with a vulgar hand gesture.  Oh well...it wouldn't be the first time that a Howard woman got caught flipping somebody off.  I won't mention any names, but we'll just say that it must be something that has been passed through the blood.

 We also went to the Saturday Market and it was the perfect morning.  I wish we could have stayed there all day.

I also took a bunch of pictures of Jared reading with the girls and Jill playing games with them but there was something wrong with my camera.  It was just such a fun weekend I wish that I had it all recorded so I could watch it again. Thanks for coming all the way out here.  The whole trip was like a treasure to me.

Crazy Bonus Picture:

A Good Day

 On Sunday the girls looked super cute and I wanted to take some pictures.  Of course we were running out the door like we always are so I only had a second and this is what they gave me. 
Little stinkers.

On Saturday we got to go to the Ducks game and it was a blast.  Despite the fact that we didn't get home until 11:30 the girls were awake and enthusiastic the whole time.  They liked yelling "OOOOOHHHH" and would bounce up and down when the crowd would cheer after big plays.  I'm not sure that they realized that there was a game going on but they did take advantage of being the only kids around and tried to soak up all the attention of the surrounding students.  One guy was really proud of himself because he 'taught' Rocky to give a high five.  I didn't want to burst his bubble and let him know that she has been doing it for a long time, so instead I let him work with Daisy for a little while.  By the end of the game she was saying a version of "Go Ducks" so that was progress.

 We ended up pretty crammed in there but who needs space when you're sitting next to such cuties.  Brandon said that he is pretty sure that next year Rocky will be ready to crowd surf. 

 It was a big moment when Puddles the famous mascot came all the way up to the last row of the student section.  I thought Rocky was going to explode with excitement but she tried to play it cool when they were face to face. 

In other news...Brandon has been working hard on our Halloween costumes.  He is the cutest.

Also, since it was my birthday yesterday I am officially the big 3-0.  It was a great day and I think it was probably the best birthday I've ever had.  Nothing special really happened, but I just kept looking around and thinking that I am so lucky.  It's just that my life is in a good place right now and I have great friends and an awesome family and it feels good to have enjoyed 30 years of amazing opportunities.  Hopefully when I turn 40 I'll feel the same.

And one more thought:  This morning I was trying to discourage Rocky from sucking her thumb.  She loves to pretend so I said that she should pretend that there is something yucky on her thumb.  I hoped that she would pull it out and make a gross face or something. 
She just looked at me and said, "That would be fun, but I think it would be more fun if we pretended that I was a baby and then it will be cool if I suck my thumb."
She is definitely winning the battle.

Even Cuter

 My friend has been practicing with her camera and has been busy taking pictures of all the kids around here.  I don't think she knows how much I appreciate it.  When I see them I realize that these little stinkers are even cuter than I thought. 

Rocky and her little brother...at least they act like siblings, you know love, then fight, then love again.

This is one of those images that I never want to forget.  Thanks M.

 

 

 

 I've told a lot of people that Daisy is always begging for food and this is a perfect example.  She usually climbs all the way onto the table.  This is despite the fact that her dinner was still sitting half eaten. 

 Rocky loves to look through my blog books.  They were the best gift ever!  Thanks Mom and Jilly.

This moose was mine when I was little and was called Tommy Moe, but Rocky has renamed him Mu Shu.  She insists that he does everything with her and has been carrying him around in her shirt.

Mt. Baldy

 For the first time both Rocky and even our little Daisy made it on their own two feet up to the top of a hike.  Okay, so the route to the top of Mt. Baldy is probably not even a mile, but I was still pretty impressed with those chubby little legs.

 ...Daisy's not mine.

 At the top they were rewarded with bananas and a beautiful view.