Movember

Dieter did his job to ensure Movember was celebrated in this house!   This kid loves Trader Joe's Cookie and Cocoa Spread.

Opp Cabin Life

 After Wes arrived home from his 2 weeks in Florida (funny how you have to take vacation days to have anything but a vacation...he worked day and night to get the Florida house in shape to sell) we went to the cabin for the first time.  The cabin is going to be a lot of fun.  It is located in a great little neighborhood of cabins, surrounding by some of the best attributes of the South Lake Tahoe area.

 We wore Dieter out with little walks and all the outdoor fun.  He had a little bit of a hard time the first night staying there.  He wasn't quite sure why we weren't going home.

Sunday Best

 It always seems hard to get everyone ready for church.  It shouldn't be.  There are only 3 of us and church is at 1pm.  But once we are ready, Dieter is always so handsome!

 If he had his way, he would just go naked....everywhere!

visitors, we had visitors

 These crazy kids drove all night on a Friday night from Salt Lake to Sacramento.  They woke up spent the day in San Francisco, hoping to get into the World Series Game Giants vs Royals, woke up early on Sunday to go to church and then drove back to Salt Lake.  They didn't into the game, but I think they had a great adventure.  And we were happy to have them stay with us, even if we only saw them for a few hours.  Crazy kids!  

Aunt Amy and Dieter were making silly faces (actually Dieter was crying and Amy was making silly faces)

halloween

 To kick off the halloween season, we had our ward trunk or treat the weekend before Halloween.  I decided I would be crafty and make a dinosaur tail for his costume.  I had seen this on Pinterest and thought I could make it.  I turned out okay for me not being a seamstress.  Maybe I should practice?  Leading up to the party, he would have nothing to do with his tail.  I thought I had made it in vain.  As soon as he saw other kids in costumes, he was ready to join in.  And as soon as he saw other kids in costumes getting candy, he would not take the tail off!

 The young men in our ward were in charge of games and face painting.  Dieter stood in line to get his face painting.  Not just by anyone, it had to be done by our neighbor E, who Dieter thinks is pretty great! Dieter couldn't stop talking about his face painting.  

 Full Dinosaur costume finally came out in time for the parade around the cultural hall. 

 I didn't get a pumpkin this year.  And we didn't go to a pumpkin patch.  So the only photo opp Dieter had with a pumpkin was with the next door neighbor's pumpkin.  And it wasn't much of a photo opp. He was sick of me taking his picture. 

 Halloween night!  Our little Dinosaur was ready to get some candy. 

We had a fun night of walking up and down the street, knocking on doors, saying "trick or treat", and last but not least...eating the candy 

it's ours!!

 We are officially owners of a cabin.  I took a drive up to Tahoe to give the title company the check.  We stopped at the cabin to take a look and explore  We didn't have the keys then, so we could only explore the outside.  We are so excited and can't wait to spend our first weekend up there. 

 This will be the perfect place for a little boy to make great childhood memories.  There are rocks and sticks and a stream and did I mention rocks?

Dieter was a trooper on our quick trip to and from Tahoe.  However, he hates, hates, hates the sun in his eyes.  I let him borrow my sunglasses and he became such a ham!

downtown

 This kid loves to explore,  he loves all things pertaining to trains, and he loves to be independent.  So independent that he thinks he can walk to the train station without holding Mommy's hand.  A couple of Fridays ago we took the light rail downtown to visit Wes, eat lunch and play at the Railroad Museum.

The entire train ride is spent gazing out the window (or staring at crazy people that get on and off the train!)

Wes and Dieter waiting for our train to take us home.

let's go fly a kite

 The neighbor boys came up with a way to make their own kite.  Dieter was all too happy to try it out.  I think he is happy too that it is finally starting to feel like fall. 

big trees

 A couple of Saturdays ago we drive a couple hours up the road to Calaveras County.  The Big Trees State Park is there and it is beautiful!  We had a great time exploring and enjoying nature.  It seems like it has been way too long since we went on a little adventure.  We didn't get to stay as long as we would have liked....so it's a must to go back.  Come visit and it will be a great excuse to get back up there!

 The Tuesday before we went to see the big trees, Dieter has his 2 year doctor appointment.  They took his measurements and he is in the hundredth percentile for his height.  Compared to these trees, however, he looks a little on the short side!

 There was one tree in the park that had been cut down way back before it was a State Park.  The people that owned the land where the big trees stood wanted to show the world how big the tree was, so they cut it (I think it took 22 days to cut it down) and took a big chunk of the trunk on tour to market land.  They wanted to make money.   What is left is the "stump".  Through the years it has been used for all sort of activities:  School, housing, and dancing (think back in the day night clubs!). When Dieter heard there was dancing he started to bust a move himself on the stump!

 The above mentioned stump

 Dieter the explorer!

 One of the trees that had fallen years and years and years ago is hallowed out.  It is large enough that we could walk through it. 

This is some of the length of the tree that we walked through.  These trees are just huge!

 This guy was a great tour guide.  The loop we went on was about two miles.  He was so knowledgable and was very understanding of our cute little toddler who was sometimes not cooperative.  

 A tree to walk through.  Dieter thought it was kind of cool.

a little boy and a basic kitchen utinsel

I love to see this little boy in action!  He always has a plan and I always wonder what is going on inside of his mind.  I don't know what prompted him to use the tongs as a make shift crane, but it's pretty cute!

the grapes of wrath

Last Saturday was the day I HAD to get to do something with the grapes.  I started out with the intention of only doing something with the Concord grapes, but then I forgot about the 8 other grape vines in the back yard.  We had grapes coming out of our ears!

 This was not all of the grapes, but most of them.  I worked on these silly things from 1pm to 11pm.  We ended up with 16 jars of jelly and 7 quarts of grape juice.  All of our neighbors know what they will be getting from the Opp's this year for Christmas.  That's right... a bottle of grape jelly!

Our little boy is 2!

 Oh how we love this little boy!  So much joy has been put in our life with him in our family and home.  I can't believe two years has flown by.  He wanted nothing to do with his picture being taken.  I thought it was indicative of what the wonderful terrible twos will bring to us this year.   

We finally gave up!

His birthday was on a Sunday and since we have afternoon church, we had a really lazy morning.  We got him a little bowling set and had fun bowling.  

 It took him a little bit to realize what the point of the game was and the technique, but he caught on quickly. 

 The ball in the shirt never gets old.  Where does he learn this stuff!

We had the neighbors over for ice cream and cake to end the day.  They are so good to Dieter.  They take him under their wing as if he was their own brother.  I sure hope they don't move!