Grace turned 23 months old in October and she was learning and growing so fast!
- Her speech is finally taking off and she was learning about one new word each day at this point. I had known she was behind in her speech development since she was 6 months old and had finally gotten her some early intervention services in September. It was ironic that her speech took off just after I got that set up. I don't know whether the huge improvement was from the online course I took to teach myself how to help her or whether things just finally started clicking. Either way, she was doing great and it was really fun to teach her all kinds of Halloween words.
- Started to play pretend with all of the toy food and dishes Arya gave us.
- Learned how to manipulate the switches on the animal pop-up toy.
- Loved taking walks around the block and stopping to look at Halloween blow-ups and other yard decorations.
- Loves to run while swinging just one arm when we say, "ready, set, go!"
- Likes going to story time at the library but is very timid when we're there. She's slowly warming up though.
- Went to lots of parks while brothers were still in school and the weather was still nice.
- Tried going gluten-free for 3-4 weeks to see if eczema improved. The rash on her chin might have improved a tiny bit but the diet was hard to maintain so we didn't keep it up.
- Caught Alan's cold and had a very difficult time sleeping since she couldn't suck her thumb with a stuffy nose. That was two weeks ago but still really struggling with sleep. Need a new bed? Temperature problems with changing seasons? Upset tummy from gluten? Something else??? (We eventually figured out it was the gluten and had to take her off again. Now she's gluten and dairy-free. Ugh!!)
Peekaboo!
Waiting for the garbage truck:
Mason had his 5th and final elementary school fun run at the beginning of the month. He doesn't love running but it's fun to do with friends and he does love that Alan times it every year.
I SO wish this picture wasn't so blurry! Love this kid's enthusiasm!
General Conference! This conference was a little sad because President Nelson had passed away just a week prior. I remember feeling a little unsure about how I felt about President Nelson when he was first sustained as prophet about eight years ago. I quickly gained a testimony of his prophetic call and grew to love him though. I will miss his calm and loving manner.
Alan and Spencer were both gone all day on Saturday so just Mason, Grace, and I enjoyed the sessions. Everyone was home on Sunday so I made our traditional pumpkin cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
We visited the Wildlife Refuge that evening for a senior photo shoot for Spencer. I'll put those pictures in a separate post but here are a few Alan took while I was shooting.
The Smiths (who live around the corner from us and are Mason's best buddies) gave us this fun climbing gym. Grace wasn't quite old enough for it yet but I'm sure it will be awesome next summer!
At the beginning of the month, we got the sad news that Mason's favorite animal at Helping Hands Horse Sanctuary, Chad the rooster, had passed away. Mason took the news better than I thought he would and really enjoyed collecting flowers, rocks, and feathers to create a memorial for Chad at our next visit. Amanda (the horse specialist who Mason loved!) had taken a beautiful picture of Chad a few weeks before his passing and Mason typed up a headstone message. It turned out to be a pretty beautiful experience and gave Mason some closure.
The Rose City XC meet is always held on State Inservice day when the kids don't have school. That is great for me since it is in east Portland and takes a good amount of time to drive there and find parking. This is a difficult course and Spencer hasn't always run well there so he was pleasantly surprised with a finish time of 17:10, especially considering he was just barely coming back from his knee injury. Awesome job, Spencer!
Mason likes this meet because he can hang out with Alan in the timing trailer instead of run from point to point to cheer with Grace and I. Grace was obsessed with the golf carts the timers got to use and threw a major fit when it was time to get off and go home. Alan is always just glad when this meet is over. It's a huge one with thousands of runners throughout the day.
Since Alan and I have been training with a running coach (my good friend Allison who is so kind to coach us for free!), we needed an actual race to train for. I hadn't run anything besides 5ks in years so a 10k was the logical next step. We ran the Best Dam Run in Estacada on October 11th. Alan was actually training for a 5k so he only ran hard for the second half of the race. I was nervous since my 5k in September had gone badly. This course was beautiful with a lot of downhill though and it went really well. I felt strong and ran faster than planned, finishing in 47:47. I even took 2nd place (to Allison!) in my age division. I'm definitely way slower than I was when I raced a lot before Spencer was born but it feels really good to be getting in better shape again. This was fun! And, we were so grateful to have Spencer stay home with Mason and Grace. It was a rare date away from home.
Another toddler to appreciate the Halloween tree! I was sure Grace would be constantly climbing on the piano to get the ornaments but she hardly bothered it at all.
Pumpkin chocolate cheesecake in honor of Debbie's bday!
Mason decided to play hair dresser one Sunday evening. Haha!
After 1.5 years of sleeping in a pack 'n play, I finally realized that mini cribs exist! We had been saving our full sized crib for Grace but it was too long to fit in our closet. Mini cribs are the same width but have a much shorter length than a regular crib so we got one. Grace was so happy to have a new, more comfortable bed! Plus, it's way cuter than our pack 'n play.
I don't remember the name of this meet but it was in east Portland on a Saturday morning. Happily, Alan wasn't timing it so he actually got to come with us. Sadly, it wasn't a good race for Spencer and he was very disappointed afterward as the reality set in that he would not be able to run with the Varsity team at State. This was a huge disappointment as he had run with them at State last year and was poised to be the top 2nd or 3rd runner on the team over the summer. I cried for him that day.
Spencer isn't one to mope around though and we had a fun time at the pumpkin patch later that afternoon. It was bittersweet to watch Spencer lead Grace around the patch while knowing this was Spencer's last time participating in this tradition with us. :(
Sweet, sleeping baby
This was a just for fun, inter-squad race on the track. It was another really tough race for Spencer and I cried again as I watched a few JV runners (who Spencer can normally easily beat) pass him. Fortunately, it was senior recognition night right after the race so it ended on a happier note.
Spencer has spent A LOT of time running with most of these boys over the past four years. They have pushed him to be better, supported each other, and have been mostly good influences. :)
Back row: Davis Malan, Eric, Braden Stein, Spencer, Caleb
Front row: Aiden, Carter Allen, Ryan Nations
Right after Senior night, Spencer and I walked to the auditorium for his NHS induction ceremony. It was pretty informal and he didn't have to do anything embarrassing like I did in HS. Haha! We are so proud of how hard Spencer works in everything he does and of his dedication to giving service as a member of this society.
Trying on Spencer's shorts. Haha!
Mason had a couple of days off school for conferences in October so I took him to Biscuit's Cafe for lunch one day. He wanted to go for his birthday but it didn't work out since they are only open for breakfast and lunch. So fun to have a lunch date with this kid who is doing so amazing this year!
Ready for the ward Halloween party: A ref, an owl, and a plague doctor.
I introduced play dough to Grace and she loved it!
She is obsessed with scooters and loved riding around Mudpuddles on their sample. She's always trying to ride Mason's, which is not safe.
Early birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa LeFevre: rain boots! Pretty much an essential for a girl who loves to be outside in this rainy climate.
She also loved playing with the rice bin.
Carving pumpkins remains my least favorite tradition of the year but it does make for some fun pictures. Grace just painted her pumpkin this year.
The District XC meet was in McMinnville this year. It was early in the afternoon on a Thursday so just Grace and I drove down. It's really great that Alan is in charge of assigning timers to meets so he can almost always assign himself to Spencer's meets.
Spencer ran with the JV team and did well. He finished in 16:58 and took 4th place. Definitely a much slower time than he would have had uninjured, but he was happy with the result right after the race. Disappointment about not being able to run with the Varsity team at State the following weekend set in by the time Spencer got home that night though. It was really a sad way to end four years of hard work in cross country.
Coach Stammers, Poole, and Roth coach both the boy's cross country and track teams so Spencer has spent a lot of time with them throughout high school. They have been great mentors and motivators.
And finally, Halloween! I chose an owl costume for Grace because owl sounds were one of the few animals sounds she could make at that point. She loved to say, "whoo, whoo," every time we walked past the owl yard decoration down the street. She refused to stay still for a single picture though. Haha!
Mason INSISTED on paying for half of a very expensive plague doctor costume. The mask is actually what made the costume so it was disappointing that he couldn't wear that to parties or see out of it well enough to trick-or-treat in. So, Mason decided to use parts of it to become Voldemort instead. He painted his face just before going trick-or-treating and Grace was terrified of him. Mason felt really bad about that.
Spencer had zero interest in going trick-or-treating but agreed to go to Eva's house with us before going to the football game with his friends. Eva is so sweet to our kids and it was fun to see her again since we're not in her ward anymore.
After that we met Colt and Urijah in the Pirates of Pinehurst neighborhood. It was packed but a fun atmosphere. Grace just ran around while the boys collected candy. The Smiths were kind enough to take Mason for more trick-or-treating after that and Alan and I just took Grace home. It was later than normal by the time we got home and we didn't get a single trick-or-treater at our house. Sad. Mason came home with a huge haul as always but we were surprised by the number of full-sized candy bars he had this year. So much candy!
