Bunny on a rug

It's been so cold outside that we have been bringing Cocoa Puff the bunny inside to play on the rug so he can warm up a bit. He doesn't like the wood floor so he just hops around on the rug. Puff tries to play with him, but he just ignores her. He's such a cute fluffy bunny!

Happy Halloween

Here are the official Halloween pictures for 2009-- First up we have Hayden the Orange M&M....

Next we have Carson the 'Grimm Reaper' (that's what he called himself, but really it's just the only other costume we had laying around and it's just a random scary mask thing...)

Then we have Zoe the Hobo. She mostly just wanted to have a stick with a bandana sack tied to it.

This is Madeline the Cupcake. Grandma Gwen made this for her and it was so fun. She stayed nice and warm inside her pink fleece frosting too, bonus!

On this day 5 years ago...

I was going through old pictures on the computer and found this one of Zoe. I remember how much I loved this haircut on her! I just thought it was weird how this picture was taken on today's date 5 years ago! She was 4 years old, we had just moved to our house in Buckley, and this picture was taken at Game Farm Park at one of Madeline's soccer games. I remember how much fun we had that day playing in the fallen leaves. Time sure flies...

Take me out to the Ballgame!

Our old friend Judy Thompson gave us tickets to one of the last Mariner game's of the season. It was perfect because we got to see the A's (my other favorite team!) and since the season wasn't stellar, the stadium was a little empty so we sat wherever we wanted! We chose the left field line and hoped for some foul balls. One came pretty close! At the end of the game someone from the A's bullpen threw Hayden a ball and a Mariner field guy threw one up to Carson, so we went home with souvenirs :) The kids LOVED the garlic fries. Good thing we ALL like garlic fries, because that is definitely an indulgence that gets shared with everyone you are wiff, I mean with! There were lots of hits (Griffey had a homer and Ichiro almost batted the cycle), the Mariner's won, and the weather was perfect so it was a great night!

Hayden, Zoe, and Carson were too chicken to get their picture with the Moose, so Matt and I did instead.
The kids thought this big Pepsi sign was cool so we took a picture by it. There are like a million mini lights all over it and it shimmer sparkles.

Funny face tomato

We had SO many tomatoes this year! Here's a funny one we picked... we drew eyes on him. His big nose and 'hair' were just so funny! So what do you do with an abundance of cherry tomatoes? Put them in jars and package them up cute to give away of course! We gave these to the kids' teachers at open house night. These cherry tomatoes had such a good flavor :)

Doin' the Puyallup

We had a great family night at the Puyallup Fair! Look how tall Carson is, he can ride everything now! His favorite ride was the room that spins around so you stick to the wall by centrifical force. He and Hayden went on that at least 5 times. Ugh, it makes me nauseous thinking about it! So the kids rode all the rides they wanted with their Dizzy Passes and we didn't have any lines. We finished the night off by taking the Sky Ride across the fair to the exit. It's fun to see all the lights and rides at night. Of course the other great thing about the Fair is the food. We sampled all the goodies: cow chip cookies, monster fries, krusty pups, onion burgers, scones, elephant ears, taffy, ... ahh... we felt like Templeton the Rat in Charlotte's Web! (I'm SO glad none of the kids puked on any of the rides!)

My summer garden

I am so proud of myself for my gardening efforts this summer. I actually saw it all the way through! (something I have never done before) I weeded and watered and harvested and canned. These pictures show just a little and I must admit the pictures don't really look that impressive, but I know how much I worked at this little plot and so the pictures just don't do it justice! These are my purple beans which are really cool. We call them magic beans because when you boil them they turn green like a regular green bean and they taste delicious! Like with most things, a little color makes it more fun :) I canned about 2 dozen pints of these guys. They were the most fun to pick too. At this point the sunflowers were getting too heavy and falling over, but they were so fun and cheerful. I got them all as little starts from my friend Tina's garden. I'm hoping I will have a bunch of naturally occurring starts of my own next year. The corn didn't turn out that great. We only got a few ears and they weren't very good. I think that it got planted too late. That is mostly the fault of the MOLE I had who kept going under my rows and either eating the seeds or making them disappear into his tunnels so I kept having to replant. And then if I had a little plant growing when he tunnelled again, the plants would fall over! It was quite a battle. We did trap and kill one mole, but I think there was more than one! The two rows of beans are in front of the corn.

This is a view of my 'rocky plot' where I planted an apple tree, potatoes (in the foreground), cucumbers, and pumpkins (in the back). Looking forward to red potatoes through the winter :) The pumpkins were recently harvested and put on the front porch. We got about 12 in various sizes and colors (orange and green). We had LOTS of cucumbers so I made LOTS of bread and butter pickles. I'm sure I have more than my family will ever eat so I will be sharing (hmmm, Christmas gifts?.... ha ha!) The dill pickles I did were REALLY sour and too mushy so I only did one batch. I'll try again next year. Zoe was the best cucumber eater in our family. She enjoyed slicing one up and eating it with ranch dip. It was a good after school treat for her!

One of the pumpkins growing out into the grass and weeds... All in all I am so glad I planted a garden this year. I learned a lot and am really looking forward to next year! I feel so lucky to have to room we do in our yard and it was really fun getting the kids involved too. It was a great summer activity. Also, I have to say thanks to my mom, Gwen, for helping too. She was here most of the summer so we worked together a lot after our morning walks. She bordered both plots with rocks and it looked really neat until the grass and weeds on the outside started growing so fast we couldn't keep up. She also did a bunch of canning of the tomatoes and blackberries!

Wicked!

Grandma Gwen made these Wicked t-shirts for the girls for them to wear to the show. The four of us girls went and it was such an awesome show! The singing was amazing, I mean really, it was just as good as the original cast. It was fun to see how it played out on stage along with the soundtrack we know and love so well!

This was after the show in Seattle at the Paramount. Our seats were pretty high up but still worth it! We were, dare I say, Defying Gravity! Ha ha :)

First Day of School

Here are Madeline and Hayden on their first day of school this year. They are both at Glacier Middle School! They get to wake up early (6:00 am!) and catch the bus at 6:55am. Hayden is a big 6th grader now and playing Matt's old trumpet in band, so that's been a fun experience listening to a bunch of sqawks :) Madeline is still playing the clarinet with the 8th grade band. Madeline is so happy to have Hayden on campus with her.

Aww, could he be any cuter? Hi, my name is Hayden and I'm in 6th grade! Middle school has inspired Hayden to start every morning with a refreshing shower and fix his hair just right with the perfect shake.

Here are Zoe and Carson ready to catch their bus to Mountain Meadow Elementary at 8:30am (a much more reasonable hour!) Zoe is in 4th grade and Carson is in 2nd. Carson really likes his side sling backpack and all the buckles that can be done on it. He does not leave the house until ALL the buckles are done up. Zoe doesn't leave the house without a piece of ribbon in her hair :)

Clips from the Sounders game

Here are two video clips I took at the Sounders game. One is when we had a really awesome shot on goal (and watch all the way until the end when Toronto's goalie kicks it and listen to what the crowd yells). The other clip is of the whole crowd chanting SEATTLE..... SOUNDERS..... back and forth across the stadium. It was really cool!

Sounders Game

Scott got us AMAZING tickets to the Sounders game at the end of August! It was a perfect day, we got a perfect parking spot, and we had perfect seats! Only 3 rows up from the field! It was amazing to see them playing right there! It was a pretty crazy day because Madeline had a soccer tournament in Federal Way so we finished her first game, drove to Seattle and got to the game about 20 minutes in (hence the awesomeness of the perfect parking spot we happened to get for only $4!) watched all the way until the last 12 minutes, left early (avoiding all crowds and traffic), and made it back to FW just in time for Madeline's next game. Honestly, it couldn't have worked out any better! But back to the game, it was really cool. The stadium is packed with rabid soccer fans and they are LOUD. Thanks Scott!!!

This is how close we were to the action!

Bigfoot soccer tournament

Our big vacation this summer was going to Hayden's soccer tournament in Snohomish. Madeline was supposed to play too but her team got scratched at the last minute. We were lucky enough to get Grandma & Grandpa's trailer fixed up a little in time to take it. It's SO much better than tent camping! Having a kitchen and bathroom is the only way to go! The weather was so-so. We got rained on pretty heavily the first night and it didn't get all the way sunny and warm until the last day. It was fun camping on the grounds with about 200 other trailers full of soccer families. It was also neat to see the hot air balloons and sky divers that were just a few fields away! We also were right by the river so the kids had fun wading in it. Grandma Gwen made new curtains and bedding for the bedroom. It's so cute!

Mmm, dinner time! The Airstream Diner has just enough seating for all of us.

Hayden, #22, on the field, helping out his teammate Colin.

Mud Mt. Dam

The view from the end of the path... when it was finished in 1948, Mud Mt. Dam

was the largest rock and earth filled dam in the world!
Maddox and Carson kept wanting to run down the path, but I was afraid they would find a way to fall over an edge so we kept telling them to slow down!

Thatcher got so tired after a long day, he just snuggled up with Madeline on the couch for a nap.

For my birthday on August 7th, we had Scott & Wendi here so we decided to do a BBQ at Mud Mt. Dam for my birthday dinner. I was craving hot dogs from a charcoal grill! Boy were they yummy (and peanut butter cup s'mores too!) We had the park to ourselves so we walked down to the dam view point and also played soccer. It was a lot of fun!

Summer Boating

Come on in, the water's fine! Nothing's finer than Lake Tapps on a summer day! While Erin and her kids were here we went out on the boat. The kids just love swimming around and going on the tube.

Mount Rainier makes a nice backdrop while Carson and Wade are tubing.

Puff loves to go on the boat. She just chills out in the shade and enjoys the breeze :)

This is Elle and she had lots of fun swimming and jumping off the ski platform

A few more summer cousins pictures...

Madeline and Rysa after cooling off in the pool Hayden was able to get some great Monopoly games going...

Mmmm, Malt-o-meal!

Uncle Matt's giant slip and slide was a lot of fun!

Enjoying a little down time watching a movie.

Dragonflies and Dandelions

Zoe and MacKenzie had fun making their dandelion rings and posing.

Berkley was able to get a dragonfly to land on his finger, it was so cute!