October

We had a wonderful visit from my sister Janice & kids, my Mom & Amy!  We got to see a few things, although our second trip to the coast we got rained out, we walked to a lighthouse in the pouring rain, then got in our cars and came back home.

We all had a great time, and the kids loved being together and playing!!  We are so glad they came.

Multnomah Falls 

  

 Cannon Beach

 Cape Meares

Popcorn Party

 We had a great Halloween!  It was so fun to have a doorstep to put our pumpkins on.  We also had trick-or-treaters for the first time and a great neighborhood to go trick-or-treating in.

 Our cute girls.  Jessi wanted to be a witch for a long time and stuck with it.  Emily insisted she wouldn't be anything, but decided 10 min. before time to leave that she was going to be Snow White.  Sarah gave no opinion (I'm sure that will change by next year) but made a very cute bumblebee.

In our new house

(Nate's turn to write) We've been in our new house for two weeks, and we love it!  Here are some pictures of the things we love most about it.

#1:  A great view of Mt. Hood in the morning, right from our bedroom & living room windows!  Check out that sunrise!

#2:  Room to run around!  Our first day in the house, before moving in any furniture, the kids ran circles in the living room until they dropped:

#3: A lawn to mow!  I was so excited to use our new mower on the lawn that I mowed in the dark.  The kids are enjoying being able to play on the grass.

#4: A great kitchen for KayLyn to play in.  The whole family benefits when she has fun in the kitchen =).

#5: A garage (correction) shop for me to play in.  Now I just need to fill it with woodworking tools someday.  Better start saving my pennies.

Do-Re-Mi

Jessica and Emily sure make life fun around here!  Who would've thought my 2 year-old's favorite show would be The Sound of Music?  She is always asking to watch "Maria."

Sarah rolls over!!

The movie is longer than it needed to be.  I kept thinking she might roll back over......

What I like doing best is nothing....

"...what I like doing best is Nothing." (Christopher Robin)
"How do you do Nothing?" asked Pooh, after he had wondered for a long time.
"Well, it's when people call out at you just as you're going off to do it, What are you going to do, Christopher Robin, and you say, Oh, nothing, and then you go and do it."
"Oh, I see," said Pooh. "This is a nothing sort of thing that we're doing now."
"Oh, I see," said Pooh again.

 (From The House at Pooh Corner. I just finished reading this book to Jessica a couple days ago--we thoroughly enjoyed it!) We have also really been enjoying doing "nothing" this summer. Here's the girls with their friends Lindsey and Rachel, dressed up as princesses (of course).

Jessica came out in this outfit today saying they were her birthday clothes (she was pretending it was her birthday.) I almost burst out laughing, but she had too serious a face, so luckily I was able to stop myself!

We are just enjoying life before scheduled activities. I'm so glad Jessica still has one more year before Kindergarten!

Buying a house!!

For anyone who hasn't heard yet, we are going to be buying a house. We are soooooooooo excited!! We should be closing in a little over a month. (I think it is going to be a long month....) We only looked at 7 houses--we were pretty nervous we would be looking at 50 or so, but after we saw this one our minds were made up! It has 5 bedrooms (one potentially is an office, but has a large closet, so can be a bedroom.) 2.5 baths It has a nice size backyard, which isn't common around here. It's right across the street from a neighborhood park. So, here's the pictures:

Entry way.

Kitchen--I'm super excited about all the cupboards and counter space!

It even has a walk-in pantry!!

We really wanted an open living/dining/kitchen area--hooray.

The way too big master bedroom

and bathroom, oh well.

Sarah's room (right next to ours.)

Jessica's (maybe Jessi and Emmy's)room--Jessica was so sad that the Tinker Bell pillow doesn't come with the house!

Emily's room? (We're holding out hope Nate's sister Clarissa will come live in it next summer??)

Office (downstairs)

family room (playroom for now.)--upstairs

Utility room. I'm so excited to have a laundry room that isn't part of the kitchen or bathroom!!

Completely fenced in backyard!! It will be so wonderful that the kids can go play outside without us all having to make a big excursion of it.

Garden area!!

Some of the fun we have been having lately:

Sarah loves the bouncer my friend Sydni let us borrow (she also let us borrow it the summer Emily was a baby!) She wasn't a big fan of her baby swing we got her, so we finally took it down. I think the bouncer is a little big, but she sure enjoys it! We love Sarah's big drooly smiles!

We took a trip to the Oregon Zoo this week with my friend Kristy and her kids.

Our apartment pool has been the highlight of Jessica and Emily's summer (and Nate's.)