thanks to Nana and Papa for watching Matthew!! yep, that’s right we escaped for a night up to Vancouver – just the two of us… or really the 3 of us! It was a quick but nice getaway and the weather was beautiful. We stopped and strolled around White Rock on the way home and enjoyed a great lunch too.

beautiful

 

Tony’s sister was unable to use her tix to the Sounders game last Tuesday and offered them to Tony the night before. He took Matthew as well as our friend Colin and his son Greysen. They headed down to the game and really enjoyed the whole thing. The little boys especially enjoyed the confetti when the Sounders scored! – Thanks Amanda!!
 
the boys on their way home at 10pm! somehow they both stayed awake!

On October 3rd two good friends from my mommy group threw me a gorgeous and very thoughtful baby shower. The details were fantastic and the day was just beautiful. Friends turned out to wish me and baby girl well. We shared great food and laughs too.
  
Shannon made the cake… check out more of her work at www.sugarplumcakery.net

a great group of women

Mariam & Cheryl – thank you, thank you!

You can check out the album(s) here
http://picasaweb.google.com/matthewpowter/AmySBabyShower#

http://picasaweb.google.com/mariambrautlacht/AmySBabyShower10310#

Today I took Matthew and we met up with friends at the Seattle Gymnastics Academy. He had a fantastic time and especially loves swinging into the foam fit. As always he was fearless! Here is a video I put together of the pictures and videos from the day. Enjoy.

Today Tia went with us to the Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett (where we just got a memebership) we also met other friends there too (Mariam & Greysen) and we all enjoyed the roof area and the sunshine and warmth on the first official day of Fall. Matthew had both Nicole and I in stiches and he showed the way running crazily through the museum unsure of what exciting activity to do first. He ended up spinning in circles overcome with sheer joy and eventually stumbling before deciding on the first activity of the day!
  
the boys had snack time and Nicole had them both giggling like crazy – so of course I had to take lots of pictures – they were so cute!
 
more

 
having fun on the slides
 
dinos with Tia
  
the water of course was a total hit as always
 
looking so old (and wet) but having a great time!

the rest of the cute pictures

i know, i know I am still a few weeks behind overall but I couldn’t resist sharing these cute pics. What a fun day!

We headed to the Potholes again this year and on my mom’s birthday! We had a nice drive over in the motorhome and Matthew, mom and I all slept! (thanks Dad) – I was out really late at a girls night the night before so it was nice to catch a snooze.

We checked out camping spots the year before and knew which one we wanted and mom reserved it back in December and we had the best spot there! It was great, had a beautiful view of the water and tons of lush green grass to play on.
 
playing in the grass – Matthew loved his freedom and all the attention of course and had a great time playing ball.
 
the sunset the first night – and the new car
 
Daddy joined us that night and his tent once again transformed during the day into the batting cage. Daddy and Papa both brought their golf clubs and it only took moments for Matthew to be obsessed with golf too.
 
The next day we stopped by the store and got him his own set of club and the boy is hooked. He has quite the golf swing and kept himself very entertained. 
 
He also LOVES the playground there too.
  
The huskies (football) played on Saturday and we all made the trek to MarDon to watch the game in their bar. The whole thing was pretty humerous (except for the actual outcome of the game).

Matty enjoyed watching people play pool and when the table was not being used he enjoyed just rolling the que ball around… then a woman there paid for him to get all of the balls and he was thrilled, rolling them from side to side and eventually getting them in all the pockets (which locks the balls down once again). so our little pool shark when right back to the same lady and asked for "more money please" and what do you know? she paid for him to play again! pretty funny.
 
the potholes

 
Daddy and Matthew had a great time digging ang playing in the sand – Daddy would build the castles and Matty would destroy them
 
Dad sleeping… I mean relaxing….

done with that,

mmmmm watermelon
 
it takes a lot of work to get good pictures sometimes… just funny what you will do as a parent

the steaker and me at 29 weeks
 
Sunday we headed out to the potholes themselves and staked our claim on a nice beach and enjoyed the sun and the sand. I just love it there and the sky is amazing – very much like Montana.

Tony, me and the baby bump

Nana, Papa & Matthew (and the boat)

That night Papa agreed to watch Matthew and Mom, Tony and I headed to the DMB concert. It was strange to not have Nicole there since it is our thing, so that was weird, sitting GA was werid and dancing on a hill in the cold while preggo was just kinda painful, but all in all a fantastic concert and wonderful time!
  
as you can see – staying with Papa was pretty painful for Matty too – didn’t get spoiled at all!

Monday the boys went golfing and mom and I worked on more sewing projects for baby sister’s room, Tony headed home and back to work after that and we camped out one last night.

more ice cream
 
such a cutie
 
Now I do realize the motorhome doesn’t exactly count as ‘camping’ but there is no way I would trek 4X a night across a campground to pee while preggo nor sleep on the ground. the airmattress was uncomcomftable enough. I was happy to be heading home and back to my bed on monday. Plus we woke to rain and colder temps after a wonderful weekend of fantastic sunshine and nice weather. A great trip for sure!

this was either another two-year old toddler temper tantrum about packing up to head home, or just a delayed reaction to the disappointing husky game… you choose
 
a link to more pictures… http://picasaweb.google.com/thepowters/Potholes2010#

 

One of Tony’s former employees and a good friend Ethan got married to Lauren a few weeks ago and we took Matthew to the big event. It was a gorgeous evening (couldn’t have been nicer) especially for an outdoor wedding. It was beautiful and the ceremony was heartfelt and touching and we were happy to be able to be included in their special day.
trying to be good during the ceremony – but he couldn’t help but get excited about all the planes and hot air balloons overhead

pretty flowers

abstract family portrait

my men
 
gorgeous venue in Snohomish

super cute wedding favors… they had personalized Jones Soda bottles made and in flavors that matched their wedding colors (their last name is Jones too, so it worked!)

that night also happened to be Tony’s 10 year HS reunion, so after all the big events of the night we left and dropped Matthew off with Nana and Papa and headed to the ballroom to the reuinion. I was almost denied entrance to the club/bar due to my ‘condition’ the bouncer said "you know you can’t drink right?!?" wow. I guess they don’t see many preggo women going ‘out’ – we didn’t stay too long as it was at that point my 5th hour in heels, but Tony was able to see and visit with lots of old friends.

He is just talking up a storm, all the time and it is so fun to be able to communicate! Although he is a 2 year old as well so large parts of the vocabulary consist of "no, nope, no mine" or my fav "no welcome" which means "no thank you". He continues his sports obsession, although he has branched out by now including basketball, tennis and golf. He talks about Jake Locker (UW quarterback) as if they are good buddies, if there is anything on baseball related he’ll say "Go Ichiro" or he’ll just request to watch "Cal Rrripken" – still his favorite thing to watch is an instructional hitting video put on my Cal Ripken. He loves to hear all the feedback given to the players and repeat them later. For instance I was trying on a shirt the other day and he said "Mommy, choke up!" – so life is entertaining as always.

The sweetest thing is the amount of compassion/sympathy and empathy he’s devolped too. He is very concerned if anyone gets hurt or even has a sad face and insists on giving kisses and hugs until you reassure him you’re all better. I am hoping these will be useful qualities as we move ever closer to baby sister’s arrival and my recovery from a c-section. He is such a lovebug though, still cuddling and hugging and giving kisses, but he’s tough too. No crying when he got his last shot and I watch him when he falls down now and see the determination on his face to keep from crying. He is getting to be such a big boy, although there is something so sweet when he still comes to me "Mommy, owwie on me finger, you kiss it?"
 
He also loves trains, cars and anything construction or tool related – I am looking forward to some girl activites in this house
 
If he sees anything pink he’ll start saying "a baby sister room!" I think he’s catching on. He loves going into her room and is so proud that it is his artwork which adorns the walls "me paintings!" – our little artist at work
 
He continues to be an absolute joy and makes me laugh all the time – I love my little man!
 
just a bit more cuteness
 

date night for Matthew and Ella that is…
 
Ella and her mommy Nichole met up with Tony, Matthew and I at Red Robin on Tony’s birthday (Ella was sick and missed Matthew’s bday party) so they joined us for a little birthday celebration and Matty and Ella had a great time together – as you can see they are so darn cute!

  
Matthew even shared his birthday ice cream sundae – how sweet

the rest of the pics… enjoy

a few days before Matthew’s birthday, Papa took him down to the UW to watch an official husky football practice. This is the only picture as they had to sign up and forfeit the camera and cell phone. Matthew got to see his idol "jake lockter" and saw lots of "run, frow da ball, tackle!" Papa even took him to Dick’s for dinner. What a lucky boy!