First of November

Discovery Park adventures.

May Dayz

Misc April Goodness

December Dayz

Other than the five or so Christmas celebrations, we did things like...

Refining spoon skills, visiting the Macy's trains downtown & hanging out in the reading box.

 Winter walks, guitar lessons, cooking with Kasra & an outing with Gavin.

 I had a night out with my dear friends -- an annual birthday tradition for Jen.

 Exploring our first lowland snow.

 And touring the zoo lights at Woodland Park.

October

October is a favorite month of mine, as fall comes to the northwest with brilliant colors & sunshine-filled days. Warm drinks & pumpkins, cozy boots with skirts & tights, chilly mornings with chimney smoke, mums & cabbages & bright leaves in every hue. I love it all. Right now, as I write this, the wind has picked up & is swirling leaves across the ground, tossing them up to a stone grey sky. Since taking my job with Heifer, this season is also one of the busiest as we participate in the Combined Federal Campaign & gear up for holiday giving & events. This October was even busier than most with multiple events surrounding the visit of Heifer's West Africa Regional Director, as well as trips to California & Little Rock. During all this Levi was also attempting to give reviews to 25 employees.
On October 2nd, exactly one month before her 93rd birthday, my Grandma Mary passed away. Within a week, the Winston/Whetstone family flew in from Anchorage, DC, Santa Fe & Oregon to celebrate & remember G'ma. I will share more about this in a separate post.

For now, some photos of October events.

California -- a lovely time at Hidden Villa, making plans, carving pumpkins, hosting volunteers, hiking in the hills & remembering that I have amazing colleagues (even if I only get to see them twice a year).

Then I got sick of my hair & chopped it all off. Fortunately a friend on Facebook posted about donating hers to Pantene's PonyUp program & gave me the idea to donate 8" of my hair to help provide wigs for women fighting cancer. Win-win.

  Mid-October included a week of hosting Rashid Sesay, Heifer's West Africa Regional Director, in Seattle. Five presentations, including a dinner & a much coveted invitation to the Microsoft campus. Rashid is currently very busy working on a multi-million program proposal for the drought & famine stricken Sahel region of West Africa. It's an amazing project that will reach across four countries and provide new techniques for land & animal management to slow down the desertification that affects the region.

Our nephew Myles' first birthday!

PEPS (Program for Early Parent Support) babies' birthday party.

A whirlwind 48 hour trip to Little Rock -- a dear friend's wedding, a couple meetings at good 'ol HQ, & much needed silliness & snuggles with Catherine.

Pumpkin Patch outing with PEPS friends!

More to come soon about October...

September Dayz

One massive September post to bring us up to date...

Labor Day weekend

Fun with grandparents

The Seattle Great Wheel!

First bat & ball

Date night at the same $3 theater where we went on our first date, almost exactly 13 years ago.  :)

Family Wedding

On September 7th my cousin Patrick married his lovely bride, Lainey.

 The wedding was a small, charming affair at an adorable schoolhouse on Bainbridge Island, with no kiddos. Levi, being a good friend of Patrick's, was in the wedding. That meant that two nights in a row we were out with no baby, for the rehearsal & then the wedding itself. While childcare & ferry navigating were at times challenging (thank you, Soltanis!), it was rather nice to have two evenings away together.

Friday's rehearsal

The big day

Setting up the "make your own trail mix" table -- so cute.

The happy couple

All the cousins at one table = highly entertaining.

 While it was sad not to have Blakey at a family event, I really enjoyed being able to have involved talks with cousins & others. And since we had a ride back to the ferry, we got a bit happy with the help of the 10% Belgian! Fun times.

Sara did the "clean plate club" proud, in Grandpa Ed's memory.

The siblings

Congratulations, Lainey & Patrick!

We're so happy for you! 

Tillie's 7th Birthday

Our silly Tillie girl decided she wanted a clam bake for her 7th birthday. So we all gathered at a lakeside park to celebrate, complete with a delicious seafood stew that her mother put together. Add rowdy kids, balloons, a pet caterpillar & general silliness, & it was a fun afternoon.

Blake must've walked the equivalent of 2 miles all around the park with his push car.

This kid makes the funniest faces. :)

Starcrossed Cyclocross Race

The first repeat event of Blake's life!

Things have changed a bit since last year's race when he was one week old.

Ailee & Chris' Wedding Reception

Friends since preschool!

 Everyday

Outings with Grandma, playing in boxes, Facetime with Grammy & Grandpa.

Visiting the twins, playing with Calvin, running errands with mom & dad.

Walking everywhere with his little scooter (& very proud of himself).

Lots & lots of reading.

Eating our fruits & vegetables, sagging our pants & generally just being adorable.

And now for the two biggest events this month...

Boo & Andy got engaged while on their vacation in Cinque Terre, Italy!

Blake is very excited for Funkle Andy ("Fake Uncle") to become legit!

And to make sure he's ready for his duties as ring bearer...

 Yep, our little boy is walking!

It was over two weeks ago that he took his first, highly-encouraged steps, between Levi & me. A week later, he spent one productive afternoon practicing standing up unsupported over & over until he had it down. He's been fully on the move now for a week & we're just waiting for the day he starts sprinting.

Compiling the month like this makes me realize how busy it really was!