The kids enjoyed a visit to Santa. Zane learned that Santa's favorite cookies are chocolate chip and that the reindeer like carrots. I was surprised that Zane was willing to sit on his lap. In fact, Nora was more shy and stood behind Zane, pushing him along. Anna was just happy to be along for the ride. 
Grandma Tolman got these cute dresses for the girls. Oh my, how everyone loved it on Nora! I wanted to get a picture of Anna, too, but she was napping and then I forgot.
I don't like this picture because Zane looks so grown up. Please stop it!
Nora does like her pretty things.
Decorating the tree
Decorating gingerbread cookie ornaments.
Hmmm. . . distracted from cutting cookies. This became his own personal "sandbox." Don't worry. If you get a plate of goodies from us, I promise this flour won't be used for that. 
Cutting down a tree (from a tree farm). I just didn't feel like carting three babies up to Mt. Hood this year--especially since Zane does not like to be cold or get in the snow.
Zane LOVES this crane!
It takes two to unwrap any presents around here.
Miss Anna: 10-months-old
Nora and Maggie sharing Maggie's new coloring book
Little Mama and her new baby
Holly and Nora (yep that's Nora in the camo)
Waitin' for our turn--it was COLD!
Nora waiting for her turn on the sled.
The kids' tables
Showing off her new teeth!
Nora following in Grandpa's tracks
Grandpa and Grandma T. were here to visit a couple of weeks ago and we got to celebrate Grandpa's birthday with him. The kids thought it was great fun to have them around and so did I. They got to go to the trunk-or-treat with us (I'm sure they loved it). They used the Celtic Thunder concert as an excuse to come visit us and they so kindly took Kevin and I with them. No pictures of the concert--but here's some pictures of Grandpa's birthday.
It seemed as though for a while we kept getting these wonderful gifts of nice sunny days. I'm afraid that's all behind us now and it is wet and cold! Here are a few pictures of us enjoying some of those beautiful fall afternoons.
For Family Night the Monday before Halloween we carved our pumpkins. Zane said he wanted happy pumpkins, not scary pumpkins so we let him choose some designs from pictures. He chose a smiley face and an owl.
Zane thought the pumpkins were stinky and he wasn't too sure about getting his hands in there, but he was content to watch and "help" Kevin. Nora also wasn't too sure about the pumpkin guts, but it didn't take her long to take over her "own" pumpkin and do it "myself."
They were pretty happy with the final outcome and they loved lighting them each evening (as did the slugs we found each night when we went to check on them before going to bed).
After one failed attempt to go to the pumpkin patch for Family Night, we decided to head out one Saturday afternoon. We walked through the barn and looked at the animals (Nora loves animals) and caught one of the last hay-rides out to the field. Zane thought it was just great to get to ride behind a John Deere and Nora thought it was pretty fun, too. It was a really beautiful, crisp evening and the sun was just setting as we got on the wagon. The sunset was beautiful.
Zane took quite a long time selecting his pumpkin. He has to keep going until we were on the edge of the field, way over by the corn. We finally selected to nice, big pumpkins and were on our way home. Nora found the field a little difficult to walk around, with all the vines and a little mud, so she got carried most of the way.
We went to the trunk-or-treat at church on Saturday evening. Zane was very excited and therefore, so was Nora. Zane has wanted to be a John Deere for as long as we've been talking about Halloween--a little over a month. So, Kevin finally brought home some boxes the week of Halloween. I decided to try and put the costume together Friday morning. Of course, Mom and Dad were visiting, so they had some input (which was actually helpful). I also had a lot of "help" from Zane, Nora & Anna (not so helpful).
After getting the basic construction of the tractor decided, Mom and Dad went out to lunch with some friends. The kids and I went on a trek to see about getting some headlights, green spray paint, yellow duct tape and John Deere decals. Thanks to Stark Street Lawn and Garden we got hooked up with some pretty cool John Deere stickers, but the yellow duct tape could not be found at Target or Home Depot, so I called Mom and Dad and asked them to pick some up at Michael's before they came home. I gave them the address for the nearest Michael's--just about 10 minutes from my house. After it was already too late I realized I had sent them to the wrong store--pretty much downtown. Well, I don't think they were very happy about their extra (almost) two-hour errand, since they kept talking about me sending them clear to Seattle to get duct tape. However, the costume just wouldn't have been the same without it, so we really appreciated it.
Zane was very proud of his costume. At first he didn't quite know what to think. Everyone kept coming up and talking to him, telling him how great his costume was. Kevin and I were pretty proud of the job we did. I think he started to get use to it, though. He loved telling people to put the candy in his exhaust pipe and got a little irritated when people thought he was a train. After we got home Zane told Grandma that "Everyone like my costume the best, but I won't share."
Nora was a lion. She could have cared less about dressing up, but once she realized it meant candy, she was all for it. She was very excited to get treats.
Anna was some sort of big cat--leopard, jaguar or something. She didn't last and happily fell asleep in Grandma's arms.
