great wolf lodge

we got to go to the great wolf lodge for charley's birthday/christmas with aaron's sister & her husband. it was so much fun!! we have already started a change jar to save for our next trip! there was snow in the lobby, reindeer for evb to touch noses, dragon wands & quests for the big girls, talking stuffed animals & of course water slides for all ages. i, however, did not enjoy this part as much as it was too cold for me. 84 degrees just isn't warm enough for this farnsworth blood. :)

charley's birthday

it has taken me a month to post charley's birthday cause we are having blasted computer problems. i have no space left on either my desktop or my laptop. so i was able to finally load these pictures of charley's birthday but i don't know what i am going to do in the future. regardless, here she is in all her 5 year old glory.


I made these sunshine cookies for her actually birthday since she wasn't getting her sunshine cake until her party day. she really liked them & they tasted like summer too!

Reese bought Charley a typewriter for her because that was one thing that she really wanted. can't believe that we found one. she was thrilled!
Headphones from Bama to go with her new IPOD shuffle. also a hit.
played twistee at her birthday party. she & reese were pros.

young gratitude

one mom called me & asked what she wanted for her birthday. i told her to get a ream of paper & she would be so happy. i think she thought i was lying because she called back later to verify. sure enough that is what she got. both the girls shouted "paper!!" i think the other kids thought we were weird.

spelling

reese was so happy when she got home from school this day. she got 100% on her first spelling test. we are so proud.

 

the littlest princess

it is either toby tyler or dumbo...she got all settled down & comfy to watch her show.

 

three little peas

utley adventure - mt. rainier

we woke up sat. morning & hustled out the door. we were going on an adventure. 2 hours later we were at the top of mt. rainier/paradise & it was 37 degrees. we grabbed our bins/boxes of winter clothes but neglected to get coats for the big girls. i couldn't believe how much snow there was up there. it was so breathtakingly beautiful. i cannot image what it must look like on a clear day. can't wait to go back.

halloween recap 2010

my girls were very specific about what they were going to be for halloween. reese told me last year that she wanted to be "eve". what? she clarified by saying that she was wall-e's girlfriend. she never changed her mind. charley wavered a little between being wall-e or medusa from "percy jackson & the lightning thief". she settled on medusa but it had to be exactly like the percy jackson one. good night...try finding a floor length black leather jacket for a 5 year old. so i made a pleather one. evb didn't have much choice she was the pea like the other girls.

at our church party they had a costume contest for the kids & our girls won 2 out of 3 prizes. reese for most creative...aaron did an over the top job. it was awesome. charley won most scary. yikes!

phone message

i was on the phone yesterday with neal & reese brought this sign to me & held it til i gave her an answer. she wanted to know if she could have some m&m's.

reese's writings

these are reese's writing assignments for sept. I LOVE THEM!!! my favorite is the one about charley the pain.

spiderville

it is a good thing that our girls are not frightened of spiders because we are infested. i read in the paper that they make a new web everyday & it is so fun to go out into the yard to see where they are that day. they are so beautiful. one day aaron was mowing the lawn & found about seven huge webs on the side of the house. here are a few pics that he took.

Super Powers

We just dropped off aaron at the airport & we were talking about what superpowers we would want.

Charley - wants to be like Jesus, resurrected (doesn't everyone...man's longtime quest for immortality.)

Reese - wants to have "sweet math skills"...can you say "napoleon dynamite"?

The Humans

I have been meaning to write about this for a long time but I finally remembered as yesterday Charley commented again. For the last six months or so whenever Charley refers to a group of people she refers to them as "the humans".

• "Mom, see those humans over there?"



• "I can't believe those humans were smoking"



• "Where are the humans going?"

Everytime she says it I laugh & laugh. Thank you Disney/Pixar for teaching my child that we are humans!

Worth Waiting For....Part I

So here is the rest of our summer. Things that i have not included are:

1. My birthday - I had the best birthday this year. My mom was here & because I am not super fond of cake she made me the best blueberry pie. It is my new favorite. So delicious. I also got to go shopping with Yahiza to buy new clothes. She laughed when I told her that it was all about quantity not quality. That's just how it is...I get too many things ruined by having three kids that I need disposable fashion. Aaron also surprised me with a new camera. We had been talking about getting a new one for several years we just never got around to it. I guess you sometimes need a holiday/birthday excuse to bite the bullet. I love my camera.
2. I wish I had taken more pictures of our Hawaii Reunion (so sad that the Fitzgeralds couldn't make it). I don't have any pictures of Jenni & sweet Pepper. I think I was just too busy playing hostess that my camera took a back seat but we had a great time & I look forward to the next one with someone else hosting! :)
   

Pig-tappin' Queen
A few months ago we were at the Tacoma Mall & there is a toddler play area near the food court. We took evb there to run around but the big girls wanted to play too. There was a fiberglass pig that the kids could play on. Aaron & I turned around to hear Reese calling to us "Hey, I am pig-tappin', oh I am pig-tappin'". She was on the pigs back tappin' away like she was one broadway. The look on her face was priceless. Since then it has become a bit of a joke in our family & we encourage her to get up & pig-tap. It amazes me how easily she can put on that entertainer face. She loves it!

This one loves sunglasses. She like to wear them on her head. Fashion statements already.

She had this thing rocking back & forth so fast that I thought she was going to throw herself from it. Smiling the whole time...thrilled that she could do something for herself.

Swimming at Alisha's house. evb wanted to get in the pool so bad but she has an aversion to Tom & Tom was in the pool. She wouldn't go in until he got out.

She looks like she is not having any fun but she really is.

We stopped at the gas station after we left Alisha's house. We pulled up to the pump & before I could even get out of the car Reese was trying to describe something to me. I finally figured out that she was talking about a preying mantis that was on the ground next to the pump. I cannot figure out how she noticed it so quickly. The mantis kept the girls entertained while the gas pumped but we had to let him go. Charley surprised me by being so comfortable have the mantis climb all over her. She is really trying to focus on not being "wussy girl". wahoo!

Neal is my hero! I do not know what we would have done without him. May he receive many blessings for his service.
We finally replaced the extremely slippery/dangerous tile that served as our front walkway.

Last year I got some purple coneflower starts from my friends dad. I was not sure that they were going to survive. I was pleasantly surprised when we returned to the house in August that they had survived but they were huge! I think these flowers are so beautiful.

The cabin was a bit crowded but I can hardly remember a trip to the cabin that wasn't. The first time I ever went to the cabin there were probably 30 people there. No room except at the camp fire to nurse a cold bum.

I love this picture of Reese & Isaac.

Peekie Peekie.
Notice that she had to have every stuffed animal/doll available. Sometimes I do not know how she sleeps in her bed at home.