Goin' on a hike!

The kids were tiring us out last week and Patti and I needed to get out of the house. On our way back from a diaper run on Saturday, we stopped and took a short hike as a family. Patti slung Maggie and Patrick Bjorn'ed Stella. Will was very proud to be leading us around without being carried.

One of Will's shows had a hiking episode recently and Will must have repeated one of its lines - "Goin on a hike!" about a hundred times (maybe more). He was so cute, though. We had him collect different leaves that he liked so that he could compare and contrast them at home later. He told us all of the different colors he saw on trees. He pointed out tree roots to us. It was pretty awesome.

These huge leaves were elephant ears on Will a second before this shot.

Patrick likes this trail a lot because it reminds him of home. He and his cousin spent most of their time in the woods near streams and creeks. He's thrilled that Will seems to like it a lot too.

Happy Halloween - your parents will not mind if you do!

Happy Halloween everybody!

Will followed up a great third birthday with a fun Halloween today. Despite waning interest all day, he dressed in his Cat in the Hat costume and didn't regret it. Adding to the fun, Stella and Maggie were Thing 1 and Thing 2 and we turned the girls' stroller into the thingamajigger.

Check out this smile only moments after a meltdown over having to wear his hat.

Will went trick-or-treating with his little friends on the street.

Stella and Maggie didn't care for the stroller (after only 2-3 houses) so Patrick took Stella and the thingamajigger home and Patti, Maggie and Will continued on up the street. Will ended up pretty happy with his stash.

Here's Will's Carson Street pals hitting up our neighbor's home for treats.

Will is 3!

We were freaking out a little yesterday afternoon as we watched snow and sleet coming down for an hour or two, but today turned out to be perfect for Will's third birthday. It was sunny and a balmy high 40s but Will didn't mind at all.

We decked the yard in a Thomas/train theme. Patrick dressed up as Sir Topham Hatt. Grandma, Mimi and Pop were all here. Will dug his homemade train signs and train tracks leading up to the house. Check out the new slideshow for more pictures.

Will's friends played with our homemade trains (they were very fun while they lasted, which wasn't long...). Only Toby survived the afternoon intact.

Patti rocked the yard with themed goodies and cake. We're overly proud of the "3".

Most importantly, Will had a blast running around with his friends. He's been fighting a cold for the last few days and being cooped up all day yesterday was rough on him. He ran and ran and ran, and then ran some more. He even made sure to say goodbye to all his friends when they left and to say "thanks for coming!"