Trying this Out

My parents got us a Flip for Christmas and I am in love with it! It's so much easier to grab it out and quickly catch the funny stuff that goes on in this place.

Addiction

He's up to two pacifiers a day. May be time for a little intervention.



I don't know how he managed to keep them both in through all his smiling!

Pumpkin Patch '09

Spencer had his first ride on a school bus last week when his class went to the Country Mercantile. Jason, Sophie, and I met his class out there. As soon as he got off the bus and saw us he said, "The school bus ride was awesome!"

We followed his class around and I loved having Rachael's zoom lens. In two hours, I managed to take 240 pictures! You'll notice Sophie's wardrobe change, it was our first outing without a diaper and she had an accident in the middle of the pumpkin patch! Poor girl. After his field trip was over, we signed him out so he could stay with us as we explored the rest of the Mercantile. Here's the photo overload-


They had to make sure their pumpkins fit in their backpacks!


She was so excited to have her very own 'yeetle' (little) pumpkin.


After his class left we headed to the Corn Maze.






Next we hit the Strawbale Pyramid.





Before we headed inside to pick out some treats we played around with some of the huge pumpkins they had laying by the wagon. They had fun climbing on and around the pumpkins.



They also had fun trying to pick up the huge ones.







They finally found some they could pick up!








After we got home that afternoon, we went outside and played in Grandma Goude's yard. We brought out the three pumpkins and put them in the grass for Carson to play with. He ended up having to fight Franklin (the cat) for them.

Advice Anyone?

I know that by the looks of her, it will be hard to believe that she is causing me some major grief, but anyone that's been around her for very long, will not be surprised at all.

I have spent the last few weeks completely smitten by her and her emerging personality. She is fun to talk to, the things she thinks to say crack me up. She loves her 'lips' (chapstick), her pa and grandma's, her dresses, her movies, her cousins (big and little), and lots of other very girly things. She has grown up so much lately, and I'm crazy proud of her. She relinquished her nighttime bottle (no judging, she's barely 2.5) with relative ease and was potty trained within two days last weekend.

So what's the cause for grief? Bed time.

My kids have always been great about going to bed. Carson's down at 7:30pm, bottle and binky and he's a goner. Spencer and Sophie anytime between 8-8:30. A month ago, I gave her a bottle, tucked them both in, shut the door and that was it. Easy. But, in the last week or so, she's completely reverted. She yells and throws herself all over the floor when I say it's time to get ready for bed. Tonight, she ran through the house (times like this I love only being in a double wide, I only had to haul the 50lb kicking, screaming toddler a few feet to get her back to her room) and then yelled at me "I not see you! I not ever like you!" It's being coming a huge battle.

I have no problem letting her cry it out, but since the kids are all sharing a room, that doesn't work out so well for her brothers. Tonight, after letting her cry for a good 10 minutes, she came to her door, begging for her dad and I spent a good 3 minutes convincing her to let me lay with her. As I tucked her in and quietly sang to her, she was asleep after just a few minutes. I laid there next to her and wondered if I need to give a little in the situation or will that just lead to a bad habit? Is it a small sacrifice considering all the growing up she's done lately? I don't mind laying with her or sitting in her room, but I don't want it to become a regular thing. Do I regress in this one area since there's been so much progression in all the others?

I know that this stage is fleeting, as is her age. I don't mind giving up some of my time to spend a few extra minutes with my kids, but, I do worry about creating a habit that will have to be eventually broken. Ugh, I hope I don't sound heartless! It's just hard to regress.

Any advice?

The story of the first tooth

"The first day that I brought cold lunch, I totally opened my skittles with my mouth and it started to hurt and then I wiggled it and I realized that it was wiggly and the next day I wiggled it, and the next day I wiggled it, and the next day I wiggled it, and the next day I wiggled it, and at least I ate hard stuff and then we came home tonight from Grandma Goudes and I wiggled it and I twisted it before I wiggled it, and then finally my mom pulled it out. The end. Mom, t-h-e the end."

Agent 00-Spencer

Working hard on some spy stuff.

Statements from a spy to his mother:

"Mom, I need a new shirt that no one has seen before."

"Mom, can you take me to Home Depot? I need some bricks."

"Mom, did you remember to put spy stuff on my list for Santa?"


Interview with a spy:

What do you want to be when you grow up?
A spy.

What do spies do?
Spy on people and bad guys.

Who are you going to work with?
Graycie

How old do you have to be to be a spy?
Hmmm, 5 or 16.

Where will you work at?
Just down at the club, where I'm working on it, down by the swing set.

How will you make your club?
With bricks and stuff. First, I have to dig a big hole and then I'll put the bricks where I want them to be.

What will you do in your spy club?
Hmmm, have a computer and a T.V. to see where the bad guys are.

What will happen when you find a bad guy?
I'll capture him, or bring him to the police.

Who will be in your spy club?
Only Graycie, and Colton.

Will you have special spy names?
No, just our regular names. We are actually, 'Spencer-one', because I'm the one that decided about the club, and 'Graycie-tw0' because she's the one who asked me if she wanted to be in the spy club before Colton, and then 'Colton-three' because he was the other one who asked if he could be in the spy club and have spy stuff but he doesn't want to be a spy when he grows up, he just wants to have spy stuff.

What kind of spy stuff do you need to do your job?
Like, spy rope, number one. And weapons and special glasses that can see through stuff and people, to see if they have any germs, and to see through houses. Three flashlights. X-ray vision glasses.

How did you learn about being a spy?
I just learned about it all by myself. And we're going to use karate with bad guys.

What kind of spy stuff do you do at school?
Just spy on the bullies. I just hide and lookout for bullies.

How do you know they're bullies?
I can just see with my x-ray vision eyes and I look out for the bullies. They be mean to kids and push them and call them names. There was a kid that called me a name.

Kindergarten Art

"That's you, like waving to somebody and that's like the wall and that's the store right here and thats' me sneaking out in like, a wolf costume."

One of those moments

I turned around today, while I was cleaning the kitchen, when I heard this adorable little voice singing 'Baa, Baa, Black Sheep' and 'The Itsy Bitsy Spider'.



The sight of her sitting on the couch, with her books and toys all around her, made me stop and think, "This is why I do this." This is why Jason works two jobs, this is why we still rent, this is why I'm a stay at home mom (at least 10 months of out the year). So that on a quiet, sunny, beautiful fall day, my little girl can spend her afternoon with her books, and her toys, quietly singing.



This is why we do it.

Halloween Decor 2009

I'm loving the top of my entertainment center this year. One of my all time favorite halloween decor creations. Unfortunately, I didn't take the time to move the antenna or speakers out of the way! Oh well. I'm hoping to get a good night shot with the candles glowing, but I need to get new candles first.

Regret? We'll see.

I just spontaneously, and very liberatingly, deleted 1,029 emails from my inbox.

And ignored the little red line showing up under the word 'liberatingly' because whether or not it's a real word, I like the sound of it.

And I keep playing over and over in my head my favorite scenes from today-

-When Sophie went running towards her dad in her halloween costume saying, "I'm a bumblebee. I like to fly!" in her adorable Sophie voice, with her newly acquired lisp.

-When Carson pulled out the red barn and actually played with it. He really played with a toy, like a real little boy!

-When Spencer, after talking to Steve on the phone, came bounding through the house frantically pulling on a costume yelling, "I've got to go! I've got to go to Grandma Goude's! There's aliens! Uncle Kent...Lisa's dad...Superman told me! There's aliens! I have to save the day!"

Up and Running

Come see us at the Halloween Store next to Safeway in Kennewick (off of 395 and Kenn. Ave).

I would try to sound more enthused but I'm too exhausted, we've spent the last week setting up and now we're ready for customers!

Edison "Seagull"

Spencer had his very first day as an Edison Eagle, though he still thinks he's an Edison Seagull.


Giving me his thumbs up.


Having his after-school snack.

I always loved coming home to a special made snack, I think my favorite was my mom's yellow cake with homemade chocolate frosting. I was feeling pretty good about myself for baking some brownies, only to have Spencer come home, grab a jell-o and pass on the brownies!

Highlights from his first day:
Getting to go to P.E.
Getting a real tray at lunch time (he's in all day kinder).
Searching the school for the gingerbread man, even going into the office.


Check out those fine cutting skills! Thank you Mrs. Kristen!

Great and not so great highlights from my day:
Finding myself asking "do you have homework today?"
Telling Spencer to change out of his school clothes, and realizing I sound like a real mom.
Breaking up the first of many after school fights between siblings.
Finding gingerbread cookie crumbs in the bottom of the brand new backpack (he said it tasted like tomato soup- he was right.)
Tearing up as we walked away after watching him go to class. It was only a little bit, since I could feel Jason staring at me waiting to make fun of me!

How Carson spent his Summer

A little manual labor, we like to start them out early around here...


Chasing bubbles at Grandma Goude's...


Getting caught trying to climb the steps...


Tackling objects larger than himself...


Rock Climbing...


Posing...



Eating...


Drinking...


A little more posing, a little fit throwing...


Finding his own "emergency binkie" (much more manly than the purple emergency binkie)...


Bike Riding...


Park Playing...


and Growing Up...