halloween birthday fun and a nickname announcement

so i had a birthday. i celebrated the 10th anniversary of my 21st. we had a rollicking good time. i gathered many friends and we trampsed (i know...trampsed isn't a word...yet. but we didn't exactly traipse and we didn't exactly tramp, ya know?) throughout downtown portland for an adventure which involved large quantities of alcohol, a few crazy taxi drivers, naked ladies and doughnuts. i had a blast. the next day my lovely parents took marc and me to a football game in eugene, and yes, we were both crazy hung over. but we were fine after a lovely hair of the dog provided by my thoughtful mother. she is a genius. as we all know. we had a great time nursing our hangover at a college football game. my mom knows so much about football i was a little frightened, but in a good way. i don't know if marc was as impressed as i was. maybe all women are like that and i am missing something? we walked away with some new tees and a full belly of hot dogs, kettle corn and some good heartburn. we saw the most fantastic shirt that said 'ted bundy was a husky.' we had so much fun spending the day with my parents.

if you have never seen it, this is what we look like hungover.

i almost posted a bum craigslist add after, in my head it went -- me wearing the green u of o sweatshirt, you wearing your nice green and gold cap. you kept yelling at the ref and eating popcorn. i was right behind you. next week same section? --- of course i didn't, but we thought about it.



since we hadn't really spent much time with kids all weekend due to birthday festivities, on sunday we trekked out to sauvie island to find the perfect pumpkin. grandma and grandad joined us and we had a fantastic time. the pumpkin patch is never the same without them. this year finn picked and carried (for some part) his pumpkin all by himself. marc and finn had some good bonding going on over the search.




grandma rox and declan had a good time together as well. the hayride was great as soon as the weather cooperated and quit raining. we had a few downpour moments, but then we ran into the barn and visited animals or we went and bought some fantastic produce to hold us over for the week. marc made the best brussel sprouts with bacon that night, one of my favorite dishes in the world.




and for those of you that are interested, i think we may have a nickname. meet boo. deckinator does not work now, and neither does just plain 'd'. we still like deuce, but not until he can beat up his brother. not sure how it has come about, but it completes our other son, bug. i almost want to post a picture of finn at this age, they really do look so much alike, yet their personalities are already different. declan has a bit of a temper, whereas finn and the word temper have never met. already they are the best of compadres. declan will not take a bath peacefully unless his brother is around. of course finn is happy to help. his brother is one of his favorite play things, and the same goes for declan. parenting is pretty awesome. i couldn't be happier. although, i did have a panic attack today thinking that finn will want to drive ten years from now. not so far away really.