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…or “Cookie Teet” as Marshall would say. Marc’s been coaching him to say “Trick or Treat” all week for the big night out. We had an early dinner and had Marshall dressed up by 6PM.

Here’s a photo of us before Ora and I took Marshall outside.

Ora and Marshall in the front yard.

We went first to our next door neighbour’s house and as she opened the door and cooed at how cute he was in his pumpkin costume, he overwhelmed her with cuteness by saying, “Cookie Teet”. She let him choose some candy and after doing so he promptly started shutting her screen door for her. He was ready to move on! About six or so houses later, he was starting to get tired from the long walkways and all of the steps to climb. That’s where Ora, his personal valet, came to the rescue.

Ora carrying Marshall between houses and up flights of stairs.

At one point I offered to empty his candy bag out so that he wouldn’t have to drag it on the ground. Of course he refused and started getting upset as I started to remove candy from it to lighten the load. He continued to drag the candy bag because it was so heavy.

We finally came home after an hour and a half, and after it was evident that Marshall was so tired that he could barely walk.

Here he is getting some candy from daddy. Last house of the night!

Sorting out the loot. We let him have a few pieces of candy and he was very excited about it. He also knew that meant we needed to brush his teeth for twice as long!

P.S. I checked in on Marshall as he was sleeping and he momentarily opened his eyes (probably half-asleep but had his eyes open). He looked at me and didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Then he said the words “coco teet” and I told him yes, he had a fun time going Trick or Treat and that it was time to sleep. He closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

Marc was at an all day/evening conference so Marshall and I took some time to go for a walk yesterday morning. I drove to Edmonds not knowing if their Saturday Farmers Market had already ended. It must have ended for the seaon because there was not a white tent in sight. We got out of the car anyway and walked around the ferry terminal. We were there to see a BNSF train go by (very exciting for M) and to see the ferry depart Edmonds for its trip to Kingston.

A shot of the ferry at the terminal and Marshall in the foreground. It was a beautiful, sunny fall day. Sunny but cold.

Marshall petting his new found brass friend. Less noisy and smelly than the real thing.

Mom, can we keep him? I’m sure Faye and Bella won’t mind.

Shhhh…he’s sleeping.

After our tour of the Edmonds ferry area and Amtrack station we went to Central Market to pick up some groceries. They have tons of pumpkins every year and a large red tractor out front year-round that Marshall loves to sit on.

Outnumbered by large orange squash.

Watch out! Here comes Marshall on his tractor.

The urban farmer, cruising around in a city parking lot.

Karla just sent me a few photos she took of the kids doing their everyday activities.

Here’s one of Ezekiel pulling Marshall and Eden around in the back yard.

Eden and Marshall getting a kick out of digging through Karla’s button box.

It definitely feels like fall time here in Seattle. Cool mornings, leaves turning color and falling from trees, shorter days. I love going for a walk on fall mornings and one of my favourite places to do this is at Carkeek Park, about 15 blocks from our house. The park offers a lot of different terrain but this morning I decided to go to the beach. Marshall and I walked down the long metal staircase built so that people don’t have to deal with the BNSF train tracks that run all the way up the coast in this area. We ended up on the beach that would normally give us a nice view of Puget Sound. It was foggy this morning so we didn’t get a view of anything but lots of sea birds. We splashed around, picked up rocks, and enjoyed being outside.

Before he started messing with the sand.

Throwing sand, getting it all over his coat, and rubbing it in his eyes. To the Canadians of a certain age: Doesn’t he look like someone from “The Beachcombers”?

Climbing up on the natural jungle gym.

My little outdoors guy.

I greeted Marshall this morning with a “Happy Birthday! You’re two years old today!” He was standing in the corner of his crib waiting for me to come in. He smiled and I repeated the birthday chant. He looked at me and slowly said, “cake”. How did he know that birthdays and cake go together? Perhaps from Ezekiel’s birthday earlier this July? He’s a quick study in birthday rituals.

I invited Karla and the family over for pizza, then cake and ice cream. Our house was full of lively sounds of a guitar, harmonica, and kids. After finishing the pizza we got the cake out and lit the candle. Everyone sang “Happy Birthday” and the look on Marshall’s face was priceless. He knew right away that all attention was focused on him and he had an almost embarrassed look on his face. Marshall blew the candle out like an expert as Karla had each of the boys practice blowing out candles earlier today.

Happy birthday, my little guy guy!