Pumpkin and Ghosts-Halloween Decor

Our annual Pumpkin carving Pictures

McKenna's Starry Eyed pumpkin, Tyler's Triangle buck teeth pumpkin and the girls egg carton spiders

This is John's work of art-which began with him and Tyler working on together :) It really turn out to be a work of art!

about 2 years ago I saw these Ghosts in a Parenting magazine and wanted to make them. Of course they looked a lil different, more dignified than my result, but I still think they are pretty cute-especially with the wind blowing.

Pumpkin Patch 2009

We made our annual Family Trip to the "Pumpkin Patch." We have a few favorite places we like to go including Maris Farms where we haven't been for a year or 2 and so our plan was to go there. Unfortunately Maris is not open on Tuesdays, which is John's day off so we set off to Thomasson Family Farm out in Enumclaw on the recommendation of a friend who'd been there on a field trip.


It was every bit Maris Farms' equal, although a little farther but beautiful drive and we decided we would love to move out to that area. The kids loved the place, they (Tyler) got to milk a wooden cow (McKenna claimed "ew"), play with John Deere Tractors in the sand pit, go down the slide, have duck races, do monster bubbles, a kiddie corn maze, petting farm, hay maze, Corn pit, tricycle races and hay ride....whoo that's a mouth full. It was great! And we got our lil family of pumpkins, including McKenna's Square pumpkin (from the movie Spookly the Square Pumpkin). We were there a little over 2 hours and the kids could've stayed even longer if we'd let them.

There were too man pictures to post so enjoy the slide show.

Break-Out

It's official-Tate has not one but 2 teeth that have FINALLY broken through. His bottom 2 teeth make Their screaming entrance into the world, hopefully to be chomping on food soon.

Tate has also started standing as much as possible, anywhere he can hold onto anything.

Tyler's breaking news is she's not only gone dry through the night, but she woke me up at 4 this morning to go to the bathroom. How can you get mad at that? Yes-I'm still that excited about potty training success.

Sisters

This evening we put the girls down at 8 pm, read stories, sang song, refilled water bottles and gave kisses.

After we left we heard the following:

• Tyler calling out for mom, to which after there was no response she asked McKenna to call Mom and a resounding, "no"
• little footsteps running across the floor
• Talking
• Giggling

30 minutes later John crept up the stairs and listened/spied to see what was going on and found 2 little girls in bed together reading stories.

An hr later I snuck up the stairs and found them still in Tyler's bed with Tyler reading and McKenna listening. It was so stinking cute, although it was a quarter after 9 and the girls did get up at 6:30 this morning.

At 9:30 John went upstairs and told the girls it was great they were spending some good time together, but it was time to go to bed. (There's a Dad Moment-also who doesn't remember their parents telling them the same thing when they were little).

9:35- Tyler calls out for one last thing-Potty Break!

A Quick Trip

Delta had a great last minute deal to Salt Lake City and so when my parents called to tell me about it, and then John & Leslie agreed to watch the girls....well I was surprised and excited to jump on board...with Tate in my lap.

It's always a lil nerve racking for me to travel with kids this age, but Tate did great.

The plastic water bottle, his favorite toy!

I flew in on Mark's birthday with plans for a lil pizza party that evening for him, sadly he came down with a flu of some sorts that day and was out of commission and quarentined in his room the whole time I was there. He was a good sport about it alll

I didn't remember to get the camera out-and when I did I didn't because I just wanted to enjoy the time I was able to spend with my family and not ruin it with a flash. I pretty much only saw family including my grandparents who I didn't get a picture of while I was there. It was great to see the look of surprise on my Grandma's face when I walked in the door.

My Mom and I met my younger sister Amber, My older sister Shelly and her family at Gardner's Village to see the Halloween witches, so much fun!

Chocolate anyone?

We had a mini-Payne reunion at Fred & Marion's since 3-sister in-law's were all in town visiting Family.

Steven's wife Silvia & Alex, David's wife Bethany and Maddy, and Tate and I-Kids are born between 11/26/08-2/10/09

It was great to see how Well Marion was doing, to see Lisa and her family, and Ashley & Jordan!!!

Nicholas has a great eye with the camera don't you think?

Tate had a good time with his Grandma and Grandpa Harris and by the end of the trip would even leave the room without his mom, to go see the dogs of course! My sister Brooke got herself a new dog, a 75-lb Boxer named Scout. She's a great dog and even allowed Tate to chase her around the house. Totally should've gotten a picture of that! The boy isn't scared of anything!

While in Utah, Tate learned to wave Bye-bye. My baby is still growing up!

I really did miss my dear sweet husband and my fun loving girls, but I did appreciate not worrying about running after, entertaining or refereeing the girls. All I have to say is One child is soooo much easier than three!

Bedtime Stories

Leslie Posted this blog and I couldn't help but copy and save it for my own enjoyment...besides it does talk about my kids too.
From Leslie's Blog:
Every time I hear a parent say how much they love to read to their child I’d feel a bit guilty…

To me, sitting down and reading was almost PAINFUL…down right torture. FOR ME.

And, then, Tanner grew up. Imagine that.

At the ripe old age of two he will now sit and allow me to read to him.

How this all came to pass – the story goes something like this:

A few weeks ago Melanie took a random last minute jaunt to Utah. I was able to watch the kids from the whee hours of the morning until the evening…Wee hours as in I had to set my alarm clock. I’ve also recently realized I’m NOT a morning person. period.

After spending a majority of the day at our home I loaded up the kids and headed to her house.

HUGE mistake. Both girls were instantly in tears when both Mom and Dad were not home yet. We drove around Sumner for a good hour, and finally the hunger screams of four children sent me through McDonalds drive thru….isn’t this wonderful to read Melanie….yes, I starved all of our children. :/ After full bellies I thought the girls would be happy to head to their home. The short drive from McDonalds to their home I prepped them “Mom is still in Utah and Dad is still at Work.” I may or may not have repeated it a 100 times.

Tears still came fast. They love their parents. I wonder if my children love me as much as those girls LOVE their Mommy and Daddy.

Even though bedtime was more than two hours away McKenna begged (she actually brought me EVERYTHING) to be put in her jammies. Tyler followed right along….and with hours before they’d acutally shut their eyes we all headed upstairs to their bedroom.

(HIND SIGHT, McKenna is so smart. She knows what comforts her. And, as an adult I will admit that getting into my jammies and into my bed still is comforting to me.)

She hopped into bed and asked that I lay next to her…and so I did for an hour.

Thankfully, the other three kids all played good together.

McKenna and I read story after story. And, I realized I WAS MISSING OUT. I determined then that I’d at least read to Lil Girl who has an attention span longer than a two year old.

Then, I came home and realized we didn’t have any books besides board books…I value books and am in near tears when my helion child rips THOSE books…imagine how I’d be with REAL paper pages…so over the last few weeks I’ve been purchasing REAL books. – don’t start with going to the library…I’m not faithful to them and end up purchasing the book with late date payments….more than once!

This past week after jammies are put on and before prayers we all hope onto Lil Girls big girl bed. I sit in the middle with my back to the wall. Lil Girl snuggles in, always to my right – I didn’t realize it was her “spot” until tonight when world war 3 broke out because I attempted to put Tanner over there. Tanner sits on my “wap” (lap). Victor at the foot of the bed. (He usually grabs the book after we’re done and flips through the pictures )

We’ve been reading every night. And, LIGHTBULB I’m reading to my children. Thye’re sitting. I’m enjoying it. No more guilty feelings! Thank you, Tanner….in this ONE aspect I’m thankful you’re growing up!

Since it’s a bit expensive to buy book after book I broke down and purchased Disney’s Bedtime Stories from Wal-Mart. It has over 200 pages of stories about different movies…the stories are short chunks but long enough that last night and tonight I’ve only read half the story. Each story must be 10-15 pages of reading, but too much for the kids timespan and so we’re going to slowly read through this book…unlike how I normally read a book, this time we’re going enjoy each night of it!

The Kissing Hand

McKenna has a new favorite book called "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn.

It's a story about a Raccoon named Chester who doesn't want to go to school. He wants to stay home and play with his toys, his brother and sister, read his books and swing in his swing (and watch his movies if Raccoons had tv). He wants to stay home with his mother. She assures him that he'll love school--with its promise of new friends, new toys, and new books. Even better, she has a special secret that's been in the family for years--the Kissing Hand. This secret, she tells him, will make school seem as cozy as home. She takes her son's hand, spreads his tiny fingers into a fan and kisses his palm.

They read this story and applied it to her lessons at school the first week of school. Since then we've gotten the book from the library, read it every night and then this morning in attempt to calm her nerves I drew a heart on her palm-apparently kissing it yesterday just wasn't enough. :)

Is anyone else's kids having a hard time seperating from their mom or dad to go to school?
Any ideas or suggestions on what to do to help a kid who doesn't want to go to school?
Isn't this supposed to start in Junior High or High School?

Oh my McKenna how We love you!

Conference Weekend-Saturday

Conference which should not be a side note on this post but with 3 small children I feel as though I'm only able to catch a talk here and there and I miss most of what I need and want to hear. I do have a greater appreciation for the modern conveniences of being able to go back and listen to the sessions and even different talks before the Ensign comes out. And even to be able to start conference late when we didn't get back in time for the real beginning of the afternoon session on Sunday.

Saturday Morning I was able to hear and enjoy Elder David A. Bednar's talk "More Diligent and Concerned at Home"
1-Express Love and Show it-say it, mean it, and show it consistently express Love
2-Bear Testimony and Live It-what we know isn't always reflected in what we do.
Declare and consistently live your testimony.
3-Consistency in doing small things can yield great results.

Right before naps we headed "Downtown" (to which John laughs because to me downtown is the strip of cute shops on Mainstreet in Sumner-most would think I was referring to Seattle) to see the show of Scarecrows the shop owners had designed and put out on the street for the fall season.

this last one is my favorite-it's by the Mother's Club of Puyallup- too funny!

Conference Weekend-Sunday's Edition

I love the cool, crisp fall weather and it is definitely here. It's cool in the evenings and getting down in the 30's at night but I love it when the sun's out and it's warm with a cool breeze. Not to mention the fall colors on the trees. I think I post about it every year but I really do love the changing of the leaves. When I was little my family would often pile into our big maroon station wagon with the wood paneling and drive through a canyon with the windows open. One of my favorite family excursions!

We didn't get in the car, Tate is currently not a fan of driving or rather sitting in his car seat. He pry wouldn't mind driving if I let him wander freely, or maybe even turned him so he was facing frontward. We did however take a walk Sunday afternoon taking advantage of the rural life that lives up the hill. With Tate strapped on John's chest and Tyler in the jogger and McKenna (our big girl) on foot we went in search of the Kangaroo. Yes you read right, one day on my run I ran past a house and in the yard I saw what looked like a statue of a Kangaroo. It was small and quite random and I thought how funny it would be if it was real. As the thought left my head the statue took a hop and turned and hopped out of site. I was floored and wished I had a camera knowing John wouldn't believe me. He has since stalked the house in hopes of seeing it on his drive home and one day finally saw it, and then took McKenna up to see it on one of their dates.

Unfortunately the Kangaroo was not out, but the sun was, the cows were out, we stopped and fed a horse some grass and pet him and enjoyed the cool fall breeze. Needless to say everyone slept quite well after we got home and had some lunch.

The World of Blogs

We have another "Blogger" in the house!!!

John is entering the world of blogging from a professional Physical Therapist's standpoint. You'll have to check it out and see what you think. He's going to do a thought of the week and general topics or case studies he finds on interesting on points in Physical Therapy and things that might be able to help you. Plus he'll be taking suggestions from the crowd...you.

His site is: http://practicalpt.wordpress.com/

Read to your Child

In an effort to adopt/adhere to the "Read to your child" campaign we read stories to our kids every night before bed.

Tyler has taken it to a whole new level.

She is in a toddler bed and has pushed books inbetween the mattress and the bedframe up and around her shoulders. Not knowing what this or her shouts in the evening after we've left the room for another book were all about we decided to not question it.

I wish I could somehow record it, but the last couple of nights it has all became clear. Tyler used to sing until she was tired enough to sleep. She now reads books. After falling asleep I find a stack of books in the bed with her, and last night I could hear her reading the book to herself. She's got a great memory and as I listened from the stairwell she was telling the story of Strawberry Shortcake's Halloween Play very well.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary

6 very busy and good years!

(Can't find a picture with just the 2 of us, always a kid in there somewhere)

Looking forward to many more...

(years that is)

Happy Birthday Daddy, John!

Happy Birthday to Daddy John who turned 35 this year. At his request, which I think he makes almost every year but to which I actually honored this year, there were no gifts. Just a lot of love and attention and a night in the mountains.

Our moth/butterfly catchers

We joined our friends the Thorton's at Denny Creek for a night of camping...They are seasoned family campers and are teaching us the ropes. extravagant camping that included fancy Noodles and cheese, cheese sandwiches, and smores.

Silly Faces

Girls found some "violins/fiddles" down by the creek
It was very cold but we survived even with Tate who was a bundle of energy, I was actually surprised at how well he did.

We love you Daddy!

Thanks for taking us camping, it was a great way to celebrate!