Declan Hercules & Keevah Nyx House: Keevah Nyx: Getting ready for the Great Pumpkin

Hello everyone! This month has been amazing and awful at the same time...really cool Halloween stuff, but also a crazy bad fire near our home. There was a really bad fire in Napa that shut down all the schools for 2 weeks, and caused so much smoke we couldn't go outside for 2 weeks. I wasn't really sure what was going on, but we were always safe. I spent a little time with Gee & Grandpa in Elk Grove where the air was ok, but Mama and Dada did a pretty good job of entertaining us inside with crafts and movies and cooking...though I specialized in creating destruction everywhere in the house. The fires are gone now, and the hills are fairly black, but our town is ok and I think rain will turn them green soon!

I didn't get to go wine tasting with Mama and Dada (who "went tasting as a 'sacrifice' to support our local economy")...but here's a picture of vines intact down below with an entire mountain charred.

I don't remember October from last year since I wasn't even one yet...so this year it is like experiencing it all for the first time. We started off by heading to the pumpkin patch the first day it opened. I quickly learned the word "punkin" and tried to bring every single one home with me. I'm talking a whole lot these days...mostly single words (I have about 50), a lot of words that I know and no one else can figure out (it's my own special code), and some two word phrases (up pease, Mama read, Mama sing, again pease). My favorite word is "again"...it makes my grown ups do things over and over, which is hilarious, and also very useful!
Anyway, back to the punkin patch - I also loved the wagon ride, sitting on the tractors, and especially going down the slides. Declan was super awesome and helped me climb the huge hay pyramid.

Obligatory matching jammies

These Frankenstein ones are our favorites!

Declan Hercules, age 6

Keevah Nyx, age 21 months

Get outta my way!

Giddy-up big brother!

Hay pyramid

Brother almost got an eye-full of smoke!

Getting the cobwebs up for Halloween

I like to rearrange the bones in our lawn every day!

Beyond the punkin patch, we enjoyed life as much as we could in the midst of the fires. Grandpa and Gee come to babysit us once a week, which we love! I also continue to be a climber, destroyer, and general daredevil.

I initiated this game all by myself...I keep pushing the table farther away to see how far I can jump. It doesn't always end well, but I keep doing it anyway! One time, Declan started chanting my name. Now, whenever I climb up to jump, I start saying "House, House, House" over and over to cheer myself on!

Declan being goofy with Grandpa

I still love my gymzone

Hitching a ride from brother on his scooter

Weeeeeeee!

Dada and Declan Hercules making me a special cart, and I'm sitting there just looking cute in my dinosaur shirt

Pushing Raggedy-Anne and Lovey-Bear (made for Mama by my Great-Grammie in 1977), in my new cart

My turn to get pushed in the cart! The stares we get when rolling into the park like this are awesome when everyone else is in their overly-expensive strollers!

Getting into everything

Using my cuteness and general determination as a weapon

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE books (or boks, as I call them)... my first word every morning is "bok", sometimes followed by "pease". "Bok pease" is also my last phrase at night. Here's Grandpa "Bapa" indulging my passion.

Figuring out my animal noises...