HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2009

We had such a lovely relaxing Thanksgiving. It was just us 5 this year plus a friend from Erics work, Bob. He's the one that gave Foxy a home, our wiener that wasn't such a good match with little ones. They are the best of buds and that makes us sooo happy.

The Turkey turned out excellent! Brining is the way to go. Oh so juicy. Sitting at the dinner table filling like we did it again, can you believe I did it. I forgot to take any pictures except...

Except for forgetting to take any pictures it's been the best TDay I've had in a long time. I think everyone else enjoyed themselves as well. Tomorrow we are off to family Thanksgiving and hopefully a few photos to share... :)

Award of Academic Excellence

Every month the school hands out awards in different areas for each classroom for deserving students. My Girl! MY 5 YEAR OLD GIRL won the award of academic excellence for the month of October. I'm so proud, Daddy's so proud, we are all so proud of her. On top of that it was a total surprise. She had no idea that her whole family was going to show up to see her receive this award.

Mara is an old hat at this award, last year she received several of these awards. We have some smart cookies in this family! Chalk one up for 2009...

And as promised, Mr. Carey the principal bet the entire school that they couldn't sell 750 book at the book fair. They did, and he kept his promise to wear a dress to school. It was a good day had by all.

The Treating

The Witch, The Turtle and The Flamingo! Oh My! We were dressed and ready for action an hour before it got dark... good thing we decided to have a small fire in the front yard this year. All in all I think the fire may become an annual event... it was good to get them all ready for the evening. No rushing at the last second, gave them time to run around and play and great photos ops!

It was a nice break for Ken to venture out and do a "scary costume" this year... I was just in the mood for something other than fairy princesses. She had alot of fun doing something different and putting all the makeup all over her face. We tried to rat her hair but it kept falling out... something we'll have to work on in the future.

Again, not sure Jack was sure what it was all about. He did love his costume and paraded around like he was hot stuff.. or something like that.

Daddy even put on some green and blue stripes and was a Seattle Seahawk ... wink wink

And the Flamingo was the big hit of the evening. Everyone just thought it was the best costume. It's not everyday you see a Flamingo running around.

And again... there was alot of Love going around. Jacob is the loveiest little boy I have ever met. and the smile on his face, you could just eat him up! I just love this kid! not to mention he is the cutest pumpkin in the world.

Mara had on the cutest "sailor girl" costume. I thought she looked absolutely adorable. Anything this cutie patutie puts on is cute!

And Fran, not sure what he was but his was filled with spirit!










This was the end of our evening. I would say that Halloween was a success!!! The picture says it all.

Trick Or Treat

The Carving

My favorite part! After carving this year I realized just how far we've come in growing up. The first few years of this family tradition it was all I could do to get the girls (especially McKenna) to put their hands in the pumpkins, let alone clean them out. Now they have that nice stringy, slimy stuff from head to toe.

Jack wasn't sure what to do with it. It looked like it was fun to play with but he wasn't sure if he should put his hands in it while I was sitting there. At one point he thought maybe he should eat it. That didn't last long, it didn't taste like pie! This year all but Jack made there own jack-o-lantern faces and did an awesome job I think.

We all had a pretty good night. Gramma Susan got to be in on all the festivities. We were both looking so beautiful that night, not sure how she escaped the photos.

The Picking

This one... This is the one...

No wait! This one... This is it... This IS the one... I don't think he could decide. He wanted them all and I think his hands touched each and every one of them. He was in aww of all the big orange balls.

The big day... you know the picking is almost the most important part and boy did we have fun! We all loaded up and started off for Sequim. We picked this Pumpkin Patch because a few years ago we ventured to this patch and discovered they made fresh, hot, steamy donut holes right there in front of you... which they no longer do. There were a few attractions not there this year due to the economy but it was still a fantastic day.

There was alot of love being given and alot of sun for this time of year... we couldn't have been blessed with a better day.

Isn't she beautiful! I think so. I had to add this shot in even though there are no signs of the big orange balls.

And my little prince. He couldn't decide what was more fun, watching the pigs, the big orange balls or me letting him roam wherever he pleased. He visited all corners of this farm... trust me.

The crew... well most of them that would cooperate for a photo. Aren't they a good looking bunch?!?

Update on the Letter Swap...

I received my letter swap person... she seems like a lovely person from England, I think she has three kids and hand makes good using her own artwork. Take a peek... http://pipany-poltiskofarm.blogspot.com/ What I'm find interesting is seeing bits and pieces of others lives. We are very similar. Liking to make goods, kids, staying at home with them... I need to get busy and get that letter to her... have to admit... a little intimidating... she writes so eloquently.

The first... the Fair and the Bees...

get comfy... we are doing the marathon blog to catch up... I'm so behind

The First Day of School... it was a first day of school for both but a first-first for Miss Caley... first day of Kindergarten! Of course we had to drive (that would be me needing to drive them) I had to take first day pictures... so we all loaded up in the car and headed off. As you can see from the first picture the first day is a bit busier than most, we had to walk a ways to get there. McKenna was the first drop off, her teacher from kindergarten was looping with them to first grade which made it a breeze going into the first grade. We love Mrs. K.



Miss Caley Olson... she cracks me up! This is the bench that the kids sit on waiting for her class to open. Her teacher was out front greeting all the new students and handing out tags that get attached to their backpacks... bus routes, etc. I sat there next to Caley attaching her info making sure all was correct... asked her how she was... fine.... asked if she was nervous.... no... asked her if she'd like her Mom to get out of her space........................she nudges me and says "just get out of here" yep, I think my girl is going to be fine on her first day... nuff said!




So since I had to be there in the am for the photo op and couldn't let them ride the bus to school, I told them they could ride home from school. Below you will see Daddy proudly waiting for the bus to arrive. There was a little snafu with the bus that afternoon and sadly have to say there are no pics. I had to chase down the bus. All it was, was the confusion of the first day of school.

The Puyallup State Fair... another first for the family. This time it was the little misters first trip to the fair. He was a trooper, most of the day he was stuck in the stroller with eyes glued on everything. Also, his first corn dog! He couldn't decide what was the best way to eat it (or attack it)

The girls are really coming out of their scardy stage. Ken started coming out of that shell last year but this year Miss Caley made me so proud. Kenna was off riding something with her Dad, Caley, Jack and I were off on our own and she piped up and said "I want to ride the carousel" By yourself?!?! yep. I'm thinking to myself this isn't going to work, she'll get on there and freak, I can't go on with her, having Jack... She did it. Climbed on, they strapped her in and there she went, riding the most beautiful horse on the whole merri-go-round! So darn proud of her and the best part... she really enjoyed it. She went on a second time with Ken and myself. Caley road the horse, Ken road the bench seat :)

We learned our lesson this year... like everything else ... the fair is so EXPENSIVE! We learned that on certain days you can buy the wrist band that lets them ride whatever, whenever for as many times as they want... we all had such a good day, we stayed till 9:30 at night!

Daddy getting in on the action!

Like I said... Mister was a trooper!

Had to add in this snapshot of my piano man. He looks like a natural doesn't he?

Watch out Billy Joel

A Mess of Bees..... Yes, this is my man! Looking oh so sexy.... and so brave, not to mention how distinguished he looks suiting up to go out and brave the giant nest of bees we have under our shed. He is our protector! We had such a good laugh getting him ready for battle. I'm sure that when the neighbors saw him jumping around our yard they may have had a second look and probably a chuckle or two. We sure did...

This is him in battle. There were thousands of them and they were not nice bees. If you take note of the shed in the background... it is falling apart in front of our eyes.... wait till you see what a future blog hold....that's all I'm gonna say for now...

Letter Writing Swap

This is going to be so much fun... I came across a blog of a Lady in Britain... she is starting a 'letter writing swap'. Basically, she is going to match up people from all over to write back and forth... yes, a pen pal. In todays world it is such a forgotten act, letter writing, pen to paper... remember that? And when was the last time you got an actual letter in the mail box. It such a nice feeling to receive something that someone else actually sat down and created especially for you. (Not auto-printer from someone who could care less) I'm really looking forward to this and hope that in my early education of blogging I did it right... if any of you would like to join in I think there should be a link somewhere on my post... if not let me know and I will make it right. :) When I find out who my match is and start this venture I will share... I can't wait, I hope I get someone from a far away place. Talk soon, Christina

PS... nope, I did something wrong so until I figure out how to do it right.. click on this link to get in on the swap... http://abuncandance.blogspot.com/2009/09/giveaway-and-letter-writing-swap.html

Write On!!!

Camping at the Dunes...

The Oregon coast is one of the most beautiful places in the USA. Our camping trip was with friends and family, there were 19 of us people and 7 dogs. Oh and don't forget the 4 quads. As you can see McKenna and Caley are ready for us to have our own quads... no they weren't driving just a good photo op... they look kinda natural up there. This was the first time we all had gone 4-wheelin' in our family so it was a different experience. The weather was on again off again. When it was on it was beautiful, hot and we felt the need to be beach bound... those sandcastles were calling... the first day the beach called us it was soo hot at camp we packed up, loaded up and started our venture... only to find out it was a good 20 to 30 degrees cooler then camp two miles away. Needless to say Jack and I didn't even get out of the car. The marine layer was so thick and cold and it lasted that way all week until Friday... Friday was the day!

We couldn't have asked for a better day. See for yourself... Jack I think had the most fun. We built a sand (pile) castle with a huge moat waiting for the tide to come in. The moat acted like a slide for Jack... he'd slide down on his bum and climb back up... repeat... repeat... repeat... and yes I let him run in his diaper, full and sand and everything else he could get into. He loved the sand... he would lay in it... run his arms and legs thru it. I think because it was so warm. He wasn't the only one that loved the sand. I found Caley making sand angels and would lay down and rub her body in the sand... It was nice and warm. We all really enjoyed our day.

My gorgeous girl...


My Sand Angel.......

.........Sisters...............

Nick and Mara

....the Three Amigas........

.....Grampa Barry napping under the umbrella.....

...... and a good brother bonding moment.......

.... my main squeeze............

..........Jacob....isn't he the sweetest...................... .... and then this guy showed up. Just about 20 feet off shore... he sat in the sand as the waves came in and out... just watching us and in a way giving us a show... he entertained us for a good 45 minutes.... he was awesome.

Just over this dune is where our camp was, when we rode out of camp and went to the first main hill this is what we would see, (from the opposite direction) you can kinda see the lake at the bottom... it was beautiful!

Horsing around back at camp... Trish and Jake doing a different kind of riding.....

.........and the boys doing their own kind of riding......

The Campfire... with all the kid, dogs and people all going in different directions at the same time, you never know who was going to be at the campfire. Some nights Jack and I went to bed at sundown, but there were a few we got to enjoy the flickering lights. and of course some smores... Jack only has one complaint about that fire... the smoke... it always follows the beauty. Fran entertained us with his guitar, he is so good and it was a really nice touch to the whole mood.

Some of us didn't quite make it thru the campfire... aren't they precious...

And last but not least... Arnel and Sandy... Arnel celebrated a birthday while we were there...What troopers they are to make it thru a week of camping with the makes of us... Thank you for being patient and teaching me how to make the "Coconut Chicken Soup" It's sure to become a family favorite.

Ok, last but not least, least... Meet Kuma. The most patient 149 pound Akita I have ever met. This is him giving Arnel a high 5. My apologies to Scooter, Heidi, Annabelle, Arty, Lila and Foxy...for not making the cut to the blog... Kuma you have a special place in my heart!