HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

A year ago...

TODAY!!!

This week has been jam packed full of Halloween celebrations. On Wed we headed over to the LDS church for a Trunk or Treat. That was Nathan's first taste of what trick-or-treating was all about. Last night we attempted a community event at the NB Community center. It was geared a little bit more toward older kids so we didn't stay long...just long enough for Nathan to chow a disgusting barely warm hotdog and catch a tootsie roll with a fishing pole. Tonight we took him trick or treating downtown Coos Bay. This was probably the cutest, funnest thing we've done since we've lived here. I thought it was great. All the downtown businesses handed out candy to all the little kids. They were all super nice and "oohed and awed" over all the little costumes. We really enjoyed it. We ended up back at the gym I work at so Nathan could exert some more energy in the Group fitness room...it's got balls of all sizes, mirrors, and lots of room to run. He loves it!

Halloween has never been my favorite and I personally hate dressing up. Now that I have Nathan I feel like I'm becoming a kid again myself. I found myself wanting to hit ALL the businesses to get tons of candy and find the ones with the best candy...CHOCOLATE! Dorky, I know! It was the most fun watching Nathan learn to take his candy and know to put it into his pumpkin bucket...he learned quickly! He would try and take more than his share at each place too. He practically ripped it from peoples hands...I guess we'll be working on our manners:)

We had a blast and I'm looking forward to seeing everyones pictures from today. Happy Halloween!!!

Toot Toot

So my blog is a place that I like to "look back" and see what was going on...a nice little reminder. So this blog I'm going to TOOT our horns a little bit. There are a few things that I'm super excited about and wanted to share.

Nathan- poor thing got real sick last week...ear infection, etc. So the whole sleep thing went right out the window. He wasn't sleeping well and so I would sleep right with him ALL night long. I also wouldn't make him cry to sleep. I snuggled him until he was completely out. Well, now to the good stuff!! He's feeling so much better. So two nights ago I decided to put him in bed by himself. I was prepared for the worst. I sang my twinkle twinkle song, laid him down and left. He was a sleep before I got down the hallway:) Same thing the next night AND last night!!! He does it all by himself. I feel like we got a mission accomplished! I'm so proud of my little man for this feat as well as everything else he does and says and is!!

Me- Living in Coos Bay you soon become aware of the history of Steve Prefontaine and the impact he had on this community. His story as well as my own personal fitness goals have gotten me interested in running. We completed the Prefontaine 10K in September and I decided to keep up my jogging. I've mostly been running on the treadmill, but I'm ok with that for now. I put on my ipod and run to some great music. I've been tracking my workouts with my Nike+, If you don't know what it is, you should look into it...it's great. From the first jog that I did I became motivated to beat my time and pace and eventually distance. Yesterday I DID IT!! I beat my three mile time by 1 min 6 sec. Not to mention that I didn't stop at my usual 3 mile distance. I did 4 miles! And I totally impressed myself with my time...4 miles in 34 minutes and 28 seconds. Some of you out there might think that is nothing. But for me, it's impressive! Thanks for letting me toot! (hehe that sounds gross:)

Cass- is kicking ass at school! He only has like 5 more positions to complete and less than 5 months left to go! He had two mock interviews that were critiqued and scored and he got GREAT feedback. I think he's ready for the real deal! This month has been his worst as far as his own health goes. He got real sick at the beginning of the month, then got a small tear in his meniscus (sp?) in his knee and has been battling cold symptoms and ear aches for the last week and a half. Even with all of this, he goes to work every day!! We finally see light at the end of the tunnel and are so excited about the next chapter in our life!! Way to go Cass, Nathan and I are so proud of you!

Halloween Party!

On Friday night, my friend Heather threw an awesome Halloween party for some friends and their little ones. It was so fun and the kids were SO cute.
On the left is Jackson the Bumble Bee, then Lilly as Tinker Bell, Preston as Frankenstein, my Nathan was a monkey, Daphne is a skunk and Meghan is a lady bug. Can you believe they let us get them all in one picture??
Another group shot!

The Beaver family. Don't I have a handsome husband and the cutest little boy in the whole world??

Birthday Party!

We went home last weekend to celebrate my mom's Birthday. Here are a few fun pictures from our trip.
This is me, Kelsie and Maggie...my favoritest little ladies:)
Grandma taught Nathan how to "touchdown!"
We had our good friend Katie make my moms cake...AMAZING!


Here is Kelsie in action. She is so stinkin' cute.

Mom and Bob!!
Cass is cheezin' for the camera...Kelsie actually took most of these pictures. She loves to be the photographer and she does a really good job!
Me and my little love bug!
Me and Kelsie doing a self portrait.
I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!!! We had a great weekend and we miss them so much when we aren't all together. Can't wait for the holidays:)

BABY!

Look who came to visit!! Baby Peyton:) We were so excited to finally meet her and boy did Nathan love her!

He smothered her in kisses every chance he got. This is momma Steph and the kids.
Me and the kiddies:)
MORE KISSES!
He'll be such a good big brother....someday!

Sleeping update!!!

So many of you know that we have struggled with the whole sleep thing with Nathan since he was a newborn. We have worked really hard at getting him to sleep through the night and have tried many different theories. It seemed none of them worked. What did work was bouncing him to sleep and gently laying him down in his crib. This often times took twenty minutes or more. About five nights ago Cass and I had both taken a turn (totaling about 40 minutes) bouncing, singing, rocking, etc. Finally, I laid him down and left the room. There was approximately ten minutes of crying and then silence. He put himself to sleep!!!! Great job. So the next night I figured we would try again. Ten minutes of crying and then sleep! Night three...three minutes of crying. Night four, ten minutes of crying. Last night, two or three minutes of crying and then sleep. I think we did it. I don't want to jinx myself so I will say it's working FOR NOW. I still snuggle him at nap time just because I want to and I am usually wanting a nap or some down time myself. In the last five days his morning nap has increased from one hour to almost two hours. PLUS he still has a second nap later in the day...still only about an hour. Cass actually had to go wake him up yesterday afternoon because it was getting late in the day.
My conclusion to the long journey of sleep (that I know is NOT over) is that Nathan wasn't ready when we tried this before. He's ready now and so are we!! Did I mention that he sleeps for a good ten hours, wakes up and then I bring him to bed with me for another hour or two! I finally get a full night of sleep!
Enough for now.

Fun, random stuff

The other night Cass put together a book shelf for Nathan's room. Cass was struggling with the instructions so Nathan had to point out a few things! Such a big helper:)

Nathan has also learned to "cheese" for the camera.
OH, my funny funny boy. I gave him some dry cheerios in a little bowl, left the room for a few minutes and came back to find him eating his cheerios like THIS:
BFF's Nathan and Jackson had a fun playdate last night. They sat like this for almost a half hour watching a Baby Einstein...or as Jackson calls it "a show!" (look how big Jackson's feet look at this angle. Made me laugh)
Then they finger painted pictures before I threw them in the bath tub. They had SO much fun together.
We have had a busy but fun couple of weeks. I looked ahead at the next few months and things are happening almost every weekend...here are a few things I'm super excited for:
-celebrating my moms 50th Birthday with the family.
-a Halloween party with my "Bay" friends
-HALLOWEEN with my little monkey
-THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
-Twilight movie
-Thanksgiving

And that's all in the next month and a half!!!

Lone Pine Farms

Last weekend we made a day trip to a Eugene pumpkin patch with our good friends, The Allens. We had so much fun with the boys. Below is a picture of our families on the fun hay ride that took us out to the pumpkin patch.


And a cute little family picture IN the pumpkin patch.

Naphy's cute little head in a cut out picture thingy.

BFF's looking at goats!
Daddy's dropping the boys off in the apples:) (this is not the cutest apple picture. I can't figure out why I downloaded this one instead of a cute, happy, smiling picture.)
Playing on a tractor!
Finding the perfect pumpkin.
This is why I love Fall!!

NO JOKE...

Last night I went to the gym. I always take a class around dinner time that leaves Cass in charge of dinner for himself and Nathan. When I got home, this is the conversation we had:

Me: Did Nathan eat?
Cass: Yeah, he had what I had.
Me: Oh, what did you share? (I knew he was eating two Reesers Bean burritos when I left)
Cass: Burritos and a hot pocket...
Me: Did he eat quite a bit?
Cass: You didn't let me finish.
Me: Ok, go on...
Cass: Burritos, a hot pocket, two waffles and a peanut butter and Jelly sandwich.


This is not a joke. This is what my husband and child shared for one meal last night:)

One word tag!

Thanks to my cousin Rachel, I've been one word tagged! Here it goes:

1. Where is your cell phone? desk
2. Where is your significant other? home
3. Your hair color? BROWN
4. Your mother? amazing
5. Your father? golf
6. Your favorite thing? FAMILY
7. Your dream last night? absent
8. Your dream/goal? fitness
9. The room you're in? gym
10. Your hobby? exercise
11. Your fear? death
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? comfortable
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? warm
15. One of your wish-list items? house
16. Where you grew up? philomath
17. The last thing you did? cry
18. What are you wearing? clothes
19. Your TV? home
20. Your pet? none
21. Your computer? fun
22. Your mood? sad
23. Missing someone? always
24. Your car? dirty
25. Something you're not wearing? necklace
26. Favorite store? target
27. Your summer? gone
28. Love someone? yes
29. Your favorite color? red
30. When is the last time you laughed? morning
31. Last time you cried? recently

I pass this award on to: Christina, Steph, Lindsey, Heather, Samantha, Amber, Diana, Whitney

Fun pictures from the wedding (back in June)

Cass' brother got married back at the end of June. I blogged about it but recently got some pictures from Cheurisya, my new sister in law. Here are a few of my favorite guys!




This is one from the weekend they came to visit. These are the Beaver men at the beach!
PRICELESS!!