A long November

Maren:
This has been a very hectic month at our house and for our family in general.  Mommy has been out of town A LOT which is always really stressful on us.  Our sweet cousin Adelaide went to heaven on October 29th and the entire family is really having a hard time.  Mommy has been back and forth to Reno multiple times to help out and to see Aunt Deb, Uncle Ian, Smith and June.  Because she knew that she would be really busy helping, Maddox and I were unable to go with her and that made us pretty sad.  We did finally get to go with her over Thanksgiving and had lots of fun!  June and I were attached at the hip and even though we would but heads a bit (we are both pretty strong willed) we really had a lot of fun.  We spent a lot of our time making up little dance routines to show the family in between their cooking.  We also played a lot of games and helped Grammie decorate one of her Christmas trees.  Mommy and Aunt Deb took us to the pool out in Minden and June and I had a great time!  I even went off the diving board all by myself.  At first I was a little scared but mommy put a life jacket on me to give me a little more confidence.  After the first jump I decided I didn't need it any more and just kept jumping over and over again!  They had water slides there that I was finally tall enough to go on but I was a bit scared because they are really dark.  I was a bit worried that I would not be able to see while I was inside them. 


Maddox:
We started this month of with a big celebration for daddy.  Even though sissy and I didn't get to go, mommy and daddy got all dressed up fancy and went out on the town.  If you look close at the pictures I tried to get fancy too!  I picked out sisters candy cane leggings and my fanciest spider man shirt to wear so that I looked really nice.  I even wore my Toy Story cowboy boots to finish it off.
Like sissy said, mommy has been out of town a lot lately and it really has been hard on me.  When she has been home I haven't let her out of my site and I cry whenever she has to go somewhere because I'm afraid that she is leaving for a long time again.  The only benefit of her coming and going is that she was able to bring cousin Hayden back for a few days in between visits.  He and Auntie C's came over to Reno for a while and he decided to drive up to Oregon with mommy in between her visits.  It was really fun playing with him.  He read me books at bedtime and let me wear his cool shorts (of course they were pants on me)!  A little over a week after he was here sissy and I got to drive down to Reno with mommy for Thanksgiving.  It is a really long trip but mommy tried to make it as much fun as possible.  We stopped at a McDonalds and got to play in their play structure that had a really fun slide.  We also watched some movies during the drive to make time go faster.  Probably the best thing we did on our trip was go to the swimming pool in Minden.  I really had a lot of fun there this time and even though the water was pretty darn cold, I played in the kiddie area for a really long time. 

Fall is in the air

Maren:
October is here and fall is in the air.  The mornings are brisk and the nights are getting colder and fall fun is upon us.
Our first family camp was a big hit with everyone.  The weather was perfect... a bit cold but at least we didn't get rained on.  Mommy packed lots of warm clothes and daddy always had a big fire going so we never really had a chance to notice the cold.  I got to do a little bow hunting on the trip but unfortunately wasn't successful.  We got to meet Maria (uncle Frankie's new girlfriend) and her son Brody and the two of us really hit it off.  He is five and started kindergarten this year just like me.  We were inseparable while he was there with us!  We took some nice drives in the area since we hadn't done much exploring there and we had a few really nice hikes, too.
This year mommy and daddy grew quite a few pumpkins in our garden which meant we had plenty to carve.  Nonno came over and was a great assistant for me with all of the cutting.  For Halloween I decided to dress as Elsa... I have a beautiful costume that I haven't worn a bunch and figured I better use it before I grow out of it!  Mommy got me a wig to go with it but it didn't fit me very well.
I also lost my second tooth!  My other lower central incisor was so loose I asked mommy to pull it again.  This time it bled a little bit but I've now got a full fledged window in my mouth!  
This month our school had their annual Jog-a-Thon Fund Raiser for the PTA.  We were sent home pledge forms and I collected pledges to help raise money.  Mommy took me to her work and to a few of the fire stations.  She wouldn't ask for me so I had to do all of the asking myself.  I was a bit shy at first but my efforts really paid off.  In the end, I raised the most money for the kindergarten - 3rd graders and won my very own lap top computer!  I was so excited!!

Maddox:
With the cold weather upon us daddy can talk about nothing but the upcoming hunting season.  He decided that we needed to start our own family tradition like when he was a boy.  Sister had school on Friday so I helped Daddy and Uncle Frankie set camp up for everyone.  I was a huge help and so proud of my efforts.  After school on ended mommy and sister drove up to join us. We spent lots of time around the fire and mommy roasted us some really good marshmallows.  We took our bikes and did quite a few laps around the camp loop too.
Mommy and daddy got the house all decorated for fall and put a scarecrow out on the porch.  He is kind of funny sitting out there all by himself!  Mommy surrounded him with all of the pumpkins from our garden so they could keep him company.  For my pumpkin this year, I decided to use a normally forbidden sharpie marker to draw his face!  I was super excited to dress up for Halloween and mommy made me the coolest tractor costume.  Unfortunately, after she made it, I completely refused to wear it and instead insisted on being Spiderman!  Mommy wasn't too upset because I was happy and felt just like a superhero.  Though some of the scary decorations were a bit much for me!  I was the cutest when we went trick-or-treating.... at every house that I went to, when the person would give me candy I would say "You're nice! I like you!"