Holy Moly. Today is 11-1-11. Time flies, right? You’ll see from the photos that we’ve just enjoyed Mia’s first real Trick-or-Treat experience for Halloween. What a hoot! She had a party last week at Mama Bear’s ~ her new preschool where we are VERY HAPPY to report that she is doing well! (And she’s been there two months now without any “issues.” Whew.)

Yesterday we visited “The Sewing Ladies” – Grandma’s tribe of like-minded quilteres that meet every Monday. Grandma freaked out the little one by being in full drag – I mean, costume, dressed as a very old lady. But Mia enjoyed the pumpkin cookie and all of the attention. After a rest we started official Halloween night by stopping at Uncle Norman and Uncle Dave’s new place that is just up the street from ours. When they didn’t answer the door knock right away she tried the doorbell. When nobody answered she peeked in their window. Seeing Norman in the kitchen, she decided to open the door herself and yell “Trick or Treat!!” Luckily Norman made it to the door by then. Gotta move fast when Mia is on a mission.

She was absolutely full of joy last night, going from home to home in our neighborhood. We went early and it gave us a good way to introduce ourselves to neighbors. The talking pumpkins and skeletons gave her a few nervous jumps, and one of us had to hold her hand all of the way up each door. It was so chilly that by the time we had spent an hour outside she was less “Cupcake Princess” and more “Cupcake Popsicle!”

As you can probably tell, we are really enjoying our new home and neighborhood. Seems to fit us just right. Between the time we moved in to this home and now we’ve helped my brother get his Tumalo house ready to sell (the home we stayed in when we first moved here). After several weeks of hard work by everyone in the family, he listed the house and has already sold it and moved out! I think we are ALL very tired of packing boxes and moving furniture, but thankful that he found a buyer so quickly.

Now we are looking forward to a QUIET November and December. The plan is to meet some of Bonnie’s family in Hood River for Thanksgiving and have a low-key Christmas in Bend.

We’ll check in again soon! Meanwhile, enjoy the transition from Autumn to Winter. Snow expected here as early as Thursday. 🙂

~ Mama J