snow

It snowed on Tuesday. We got to walk to preschool  in the snow and Isaac thoroughly enjoyed it. It was actually warmer than it had been the previous week when it was frosty outside in the morning. Isaac got really excited about the snow several times and just wanted to touch it. I realized that this may well be what he has thought every year about snow, but that he was just able to express it more coherently this year.

water

First of all, I have to say, WOW. Apparently there are a lot of people looking at Isaac's blog lately. Serial lookers? What is with all the people from Russia? Seriously, I don't know anyone from Russia who is in Russia right now. Maybe I need to revisit those privacy settings. I don't want to password protect this blog because I know there are multiple people who read it but don't comment, but... apparently there have been 23 views from  Russia in the past week. Google stats. Interesting. Terrifying. 

Anyways, last weekend we went to the "ducks park" as we affectionately call Alton Baker Park. The water level in the Willamette was very high. We saw a lot of people out there fishing (in the ponds, not the Willamette), and we even saw a guy land a trout. 

 It was so endearing - one of the guys in this picture below said to Isaac, "Look at that BIG fish the guy caught!" I couldn't help but think to myself, "My, that fish is pretty small compared to what I am used to. But maybe to Isaac it is still big." Isaac brought his own chair so he could sit in it.

 Just because we don't get enough pictures of Papa. He was really cold. That's why he looks less than content in this picture. Also, those steps that go to the island in the middle of the duck pond? Covered in water. Wow. 

 If you look closely at this picture, you'll notice that the two benches are now on the edge of the river. Part of the path was flooded. The water coming out from the left is where the water comes out from the ponds. I'm sure it does this every year, but it was disorienting to me. 

 We walked over this bridge too, which is apparently called the Peter DeFazio bridge, after our congressman who has been in congress for a really long time. I have to say for the guy, although he never ever agrees with me on anything I write to him about, he at least takes the time, eventually, to write me back. And it seems personal enough. I do like that, I guess. I'll take what I can get.

Anyway, the view from the bridge gave me a somewhat panicked feeling, like my fear of heights, I guess, but in a different way. The river was just so much higher than I was used to, that I think it was more of a fear of a flood, or the strong current washing us away somehow. 

We had a good walk, but man, it was cold. Luckily Isaac stayed warm, and after about 45 minutes out there, we all decided that it would be a good idea to go home and warm up. 

I put this on Facebook, but have to put some of Isaac's little mis-use of words. I don't remember exactly the sentences, but just the context, so forgive me if they are a little different than you read before. 

"I'm going to snickerdoodle around here." (sneak, I think. He was trying to get past my legs.)

"I'm going to chuckle the chair back over here."  (slide/push)

"It's like an ovaltine." (oval) 

big brother

Isaac loves being a big brother! He likes to hold baby Sonia and "sh" her and take good care of her.

 "Why is she not smiling?"

 Reading with Mama. I found a new "Little Bear" book - the same one I had when I was little. That was fun to read with Isaac. What is funny is that we both fixated on the same details. :)

 Isaac at his fourth Thanksgiving! He loved the cranberry sauce this year. Probably ate more cranberry sauce than a person should... but it turned out okay.

 One of the family picture trials. 

 "Look! I wrote my name!" Actually before this Isaac really did write his name, and it was perfectly (well, almost) legible, letters in the correct order and everything! Then of course he scribbled over it and erased it by the time we could get the camera. I think I know who will be signing Christmas cards this year.

Napping together. They just warm my heart. I think the very nicest thing your child can have is a sibling. I know not everyone gets one and I am sure there are perks to being an only child, but Isaac and Sonia love each other so much. There is a special connection with your siblings :)

Handsome man and boy. And you know Isaac gets all sorts of comments about how handsome he is when he wears his little suit, so it completely reinforces dressing up very nicely every time we go to church.

Oh yes, and it was cold here a few days ago, for a few days. Temperatures are starting to get below 40. Not my favorite set of temperatures, those ones below 40.

 Pumpkini pie. And no, that is not a typo. This is a pie made from the UGS (unidentified gigantic squash). We are now calling it a pump-kini, although it actually tastes okay, and I have heard pumpkini are not so good tasting. If you notice the finger marks, you will see that Isaac approved. Therefore, I will be saving and using the UGS offspring. On an interesting side note, it seems like there are two different outcomes from this same squash plant, and they have very different consistencies. This one almost looked like spaghetti squash flesh, whereas the round one Nana used had more "spongy" flesh. 

Also, I made this pie using absolutely no ingredients from cans. That is right. I even made my own evaporated milk. Just had to brag a little. Especially because at this point after having Isaac I was having difficulty with daily functioning. I guess it is easier the second time around. Although, this pie did take many days to make, between preparing the squash, waiting for a good time to turn the blender on, making the evaporated milk (okay, they were actually out of it at the store. This is why you do not wait until the day before Thanksgiving to buy evaporated milk. Everyone else also wants to buy it.), and finally making the pie. Still, it feels like an accomplishment. 

 Isaac took this picture of Sonia while he was holding her.

 Oh, and we went through some old boxes of toys and found some gems. Like the Groucho Marx glasses here. Good stuff. Now I just have to go through the current toys and box some of them up, throw out the ones that are clearly broken beyond repair, and possibly donate some that I don't think either kid will ever use.. Maybe...

There is another not so coherent post, in true petitcompaore style. We hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for more updates in the near future :) Maybe even more coherent updates. One can only hope. 

clever boy

"Look at my hat!" 

Oh great, it's an "emesis bag" hat. Classy. I guess we are lucky that I have it and didn't need to use it back on Tuesday. I definitely felt like I was going to need to. 

Isaac loves to try to play with Sonia. He sings her songs, he tells her to watch him do things, and he shares his toys with her. This is funny to me because she is pretty much always asleep, so it involves putting the toys in the bassinet with her. 

"I took Baby Sonia in!"

"Huh?"

"I took her with the blanket"

"Oh, you tucked her in."

Isaac is always trying to irregularize past tense verbs nowadays.

 This is from the day before baby Sonia came. Mama made quince syrup (it was supposed to be jelly but when I realized that it was not going to gel, I decided syrup was okay) and huckleberry jelly (essential for Isaac - his favorite kind). 

 He is making a little place to put the jars in. 

 Right after I made the jelly and syrup, I noticed that the fruit on this dessert plate (hand-painted by my great-grandmother - Avo - which we pronounced "va") was actually a quince, not a pear. Apparently she would make quince jelly quite often because her mother had a tree. Grandpa (Wally) really liked it. It does have a very nice flavor. If you do find quince though, please don't eat it raw. Papa tried to do that....that is not how they are meant to be eaten. 

This last video shows Isaac and Papa. Papa is good at teaching Isaac concepts that go along with big words (as well as other concepts). Recently, it has been "protein" or "carbohydrates" - identifying which food gives you which one. We also have talked about "vitamins and minerals" (from veggies and fruits). Today they were talking about "liquid" and "solid". Very nice.

Baby Sonia

Our new baby is here! We just love little her. For more pictures, look over at petitecompaore (should be in the list on the side). I'll post more later. 

le weekend

I guess we did other things besides buy a car this last weekend. Like, we went to watch Uncle Mikey race. 

If you didn't see it on Facebook, I'll put the video here about Isaac's take on the presidential race:

This was totally not set up too. I actually wanted to get Isaac saying "Obama Rom-uh-ney", because this is about the extent of his awareness of the elections. Sometimes he has gone around the house randomly saying that. So, this next video is much more prompted to record how he said these things for posterity.

I don't even know if he knows that Obama and Romney are two people. Cracks me up actually - at one of the preschools I went to they had one of those little Scholastic weekly handouts about the election. The teacher even complained that this means absolutely nothing to kids this age. My only political comment is that I am ready for tonight so it will all be over and I will stop hearing Peter DeFazio/Art Robinson and Dwight Coon/Val Hoyle ads on the radio and seeing the signs everywhere. In my opinion, those two races (more local, obviously) have gotten a bit too nasty. I was almost too tired of all four of them to pick between the two. Almost.

On to the real races, with real men... er... boys...

These were the state championships for cross country, and this was the 4A race. I think Newport boys ended up scoring 10th as a team. Not too shabby. Siuslaw sure was good. I wasn't surprised they won since 4 of the top 10 individual runners were from Siuslaw. 

 I tried to take a lot of pictures, but this is the only one really worth sharing of Uncle Mikey. Look at the other guy's face as Uncle Mikey passes him up in the final 100 meters. 

 There is really nothing Isaac likes better than watching Uncle Mikey race, and hanging out with Nana, and baking cupcakes for Nana and Uncle Mikey. That is what he had in his little bag. He said he would like to make cupcakes to share with Nana and Uncle Mikey (and Boompa, although I told him Boompa was in Alaska), so we did.

 We also went to Isaac's school's "Autumn Fair". I think I spent too much money. But they did have fun. Here Isaac is dancing with some of his little friends. Papa asked him the other day, "Isaac, how many boys are there in your class?" Isaac responded: "Three" and went on to name the other boys and himself. "And how many girls are there?" 

"Oh," said Isaac, "I think one hundred." 

Well, there are a lot of girls, but not that many. 

 Isaac also got his face painted later. Not sure why he looks tense here, but he is supposed to be a tiger. 

It was a good weekend!

Halloween

 First a picture from after baby Sonia's shower :) Auntie Anna set up such a nice shower, and so much attention to detail! I tried to get a picture of these lollipop favors, but someone stepped on it (accidentally, in the car) before we had a chance... hence the smudge...

Isaac's pumpkin patch pumpkin (left) with our "baby Sonia" pumpkin (right) 

From our community garden plot. It was a "Jack be Little" pumpkin plant that didn't make it as far along as I would have liked. Hence, a very little miniature pumpkin. Perfect.

Isaac went trick-or-treating with some friends from preschool. It was cute to see all their little costumes! We had to borrow a bucket because Mama of course forgot, even though the pumpkin bucket has been out and about for at least a month.

Isaac's cape actually broke shortly after the above picture. One of the ribbons came off! I didn't think about how sturdy it might need to be for a whole day of preschooler wear. I still need to fix it. He was content to trick-or-treat in his Batman hood though.

Here he is in the full outfit before all the wear and tear! He said he was Batman, but I'm kind of thinking he thought he was a bat.... Just based on some of his comments. Less about saving people and more about what bats normally do. 

Of course after that, there was All Saint's and All Soul's Day, and those kept us pretty busy (I'm not kidding, try going to Mass on a weekday after work - it does cut down a bit on your evening time, although that certainly isn't a bad thing). Then we had this last weekend, and we finally bought a new car, which was good, but also very time-consuming. Oh man. One good thing about daylight savings time is that we now are starting to get Isaac to bed at 7:30 instead, meaning he gets to sleep by 9. I think this extra hour of sleep will be good for him. Especially with a new little someone coming in the next few weeks who will not care what time it is :)