Play all my records, keep dancing all night*

Yesterday was this little girl's first birthday. Like most parents, we have no idea how that happened. Nonetheless, we had a wonderful time celebrating on Saturday, with her grandparents, brunch, a cream puff cake, and some presents. Her brother was, of course, happy to help her with those. 

She is such a curious, happy, stubborn, playful little person and we can't believe how lucky we are to have her in our family.

* Despite the implication, there was no crying at this party.

An invisible man sleepin' in your bed

Happy Halloween!

 He's roaring, if you can't tell

Seems like a mighty long time

Hoo boy, I'm not even sure where to start. Hi. Anybody still checking this thing? Suffice it to say, I haven't quite figured out when regularly writing here can fit into my life. I hope to do it more, but I won't make any promises that I can't keep. So, let's see, I last wrote a proper post in . . . June? Let's have a brief recap.

Summer was hot, we did our best to keep cool. We played in the pool,

and spent a lot of time au naturel.

Silas got his first non-Mama haircut (and aged about a year!).

We did a lot of cooking, both real and pretend (these delicious popsicles were a favorite - we used 1/3 cup of sugar, as suggested in the reviews).

We grew teeth (7 at current count, with #8 just below the surface!) 

and grew bigger.

 We went home for a dear friend's beautiful wedding,

a perfect photo of some of my favorite people

spent lots of good time with family and old friends,

'

and had some family photos taken.

Tres was gone for 3 weeks in August. We entertained ourselves by learning to smile and dressing up, among other things.

Then, the kiddos and I spent a wonderful long weekend in Port Townsend with my parents and sister.

 When he got back, Tres started working from home most days and he's really loving it. We've all been enjoying the slower pace of fall and having more time together. These kids are getting bigger by the minute: eating solid food,

learning to crawl,

 getting dressed independently,

He insisted on keeping his shirt like this - and what is this face?

 watching soccer with Opa. . .

Oh yeah, we also did pretty much all of the usual food preservation stuff - a bazillion jars of jam (well,65 half pints, after I promised I'd make fewer this summer than last. . . ha), froze tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, and canned applesauce. Apparently, I didn't take many pictures, although I do thoroughly enjoy this one.

We've finally been having some fall weather and it has me in full soup and baking mode. We're getting excited about Halloween too! I hope to be back here soon.

A man and a woman had a little baby

And now he's three.  He dresses himself, uses the toilet, loves using tools ("Real, not pretend, Mama."), is obsessed with The New Yankee Workshop, has tons of questions (most often, unsurprisingly: why?), sings in the car, and loves snuggling with us, especially at bedtime. . . and past. We had a fun time celebrating him with our folks this past weekend.

We had a "campfire" and roasted marshmallows,

opened presents,

played games,

ate a delicious dinner,

and, of course, enjoyed some cake.

We sure do love this amazing kid.