Thanksgiving

The night before Thanksgiving, Adam made a delicious apple pie crust. We knew he'd been cooking not only by the heavenly aroma coming from the kitchen, but by the flour on the counters, on his face, and....

yes, the dog too!

The wishbone contest is taken pretty seriously in the Beck household.

Here Adam is looking understandably triumphant. Madeline could not be found for comment or photo.

The kids loved seeing cousins Sophie and Blake and Aunt Cari and Uncle Tony. Blake is a BIG 3-month-old! Madeline may need a little chiropractic.

Olaf's paws are so impressive. I've been trying to get a good picture that shows their size, but unless you have something to compare them to, they really don't look all that large. In this photo, you can see that one paw is about as big as a preschooler's torso. Cari couldn't believe how big Olaf was when he came inside. Outside, with the backdrop of the Olympic Mountains, Olaf doesn't seem so imposing, but inside, as he looks down on your dinner plate, he appears a tad larger.

Halloween, Etc.

Adam also took this photo of Abby, which I love. She's the only one in our family with blue eyes. It's nice to have a little variety.

Madeline looks close to tears in the picture because Lyle and Adam were going to go as "Lewis and Clark" and she of course was Sacagawea. Unfortunately, Lyle was delayed at the office and didn't have time to get his costume together. Adam felt that Lewis couldn't possibly go without Clark, so it was just Madeline and Abby trick-or-treating this year.

Madeline turned 9 on October 25th and was thrilled with her new bike. Before, on her little bike it was hard to keep up with the rest of the family on bike rides. Now she can really move out.

The Arbor

Abby riding Mike through the arbor. Lyle looked at several different arbor designs and then sat down and drew out what he wanted. I love what he came up with. His measurement skills amaze me--the pieces always magically fit together!

We love the arts and crafts light. The yellow stained glass creates a really cool glow at night.

Here is a photo of one of the stained glass windows, looking toward the guest house. Lyle found the windows at an antique shop here in Poulsbo and incorporated them into the design. He made cut-outs in the benches to match the diamond designs in the windows. We still need to cover up the wire and do some touch-ups.

Paperchase

The paperchase. I think this picture says it all.

The Barn

Lyle and his dad spent many long hours building this barn! They used ideas from a few different plans and came up with a great design. I love the sliding side door and the window boxes.

The hay storage loft can fit many bales and the kids love the pulley "ride" to the top.

This is the pasture-side view of the barn. I love the dutch door.