October 31, 2008

Halloween Festivities



This year we had two superheros and one pretty princess. I am always amazed when I get all three of them together in one picture looking at me...it rarely ever happens. Usually I have to bribe them big time to get them to stand still long enough for me to shoot a couple of pictures. I think today's bribe was candy!!

EMMA - bibity bobity boo CINDERELLA!






ANDREW - nananananananana BATMAN!




PETER - it's a bird, it's a plane, it's SUPERMAN!





MIKE AND SARA - I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too!



Mike and I dressed up this year for an adult Halloween party given by one of our friends. It really was quite an amazing party with a spooky scavenger hunt too. Thank you so much friends!

This year even though it was raining a little we stood outside and watched the school parade. Andrew hid from me as he was walking past me--he doesn't like to stand out or really get his picture taken. Peter, on the other hand, is happy to smile, wave, and be the center of attention! Go figure.



All of the kids looked so awesome. It was fun to stand outside one of our friend's house drinking hot chocolate and waving at each one our kids as they walked by. So FUN! Later that day I made a fun Halloween Dinner - the menu this year was Mummy Hotdogs and Cemetary Pudding. Last year I bought these fun plates and cups and decided every year we would have a fun Halloween Dinner before trick-or-treating. The hotdogs were a big hit - I even had two of them. OINK OINK I know! Oh, and we listened to our Halloween Mix that our friend made last year...thanks Jamie!





After gobbling down dinner as fast as their little mouths would let them, the kids got their bags and headed out the door with Mike for some good old fashioned neighborhood trick-or-treating! I got to stay home with Abby - to my delight - and clean up dinner and pass out candy to anyone who came to our door. They all came home with lots of candy and we had some candy left over from our bowl. We should have given more candy to each of our little customers. I don't think we had as many trick-or-treaters this year.

A couple of days before Halloween we carved our pumpkins. The boys picked our their own designs and Mike carved them. Here is what they choose:

Emma and her simple happy pumpkin


Peter and his spooky tree pumpkin


Andrew and his scarry man pumpkin


Our pumpkins all lit up - HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Gratitude

I usually don't use my blog to express my deep thoughts but rather the events and joys of what our family is doing. However, I thought I would break away from my norm and jot down a few thoughts that I have been having. I have had a lot of time at night lately to just think about life. With Mike working so much during this rotation I find myself trying to stay busy with various projects so that I don't go too crazy while he is away. Every once in a while I get down on myself or frustrated with things. As I was talking with my mom tonight I was again reminded of why I love her so much. She and I are the best of friends. There is not a day that goes by that I don't talk to her on the phone. She is not only my sounding board but the greatest example of faith, hope, charity, love, and patience. I am truly GRATEFUL to her for her love of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we were talking she reminded me of something President Thomas S. Monson said. He said, "Do not pray for tasks equal to your abilities, but pray for abilities equal to your tasks. Then the performance of your tasks will be no miracle but YOU will be the miracle." I do believe that we go through certain things in our lives to help make us stronger. We can be the miracles in our own lives but more importantly, we can be the miracle in someone else's life. I am so GRATEFUL for the friends that have helped me when I needed it. They have been the miracle in my life. When we step outside of ourselves and think of what our friends and neighbors may need, we are LIVING LIKE WE BELIEVE!

October 28, 2008

My Photography

The time has finally come to share my photography with YOU. If you live in the Seattle area and are interested in booking a session with me, please check out my PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG for more information.

Live, Laugh, Love


Could there be anything sweeter than a little girl who loves her mama?? I have been having SO much fun playing with Abby. Today we played "Superman" and she just loved it. I actually got her to giggle. I kept thinking to myself, "I wish someone were here to take pictures of us playing together." Instead of letting this memory just be a memory, I got out my tripod for a little fun. As I tried to get the camera positioned just right I was running back and forth from camera to the floor with Abby and having a dang good time in the process...and boy was it a workout. Sometimes it's nice to just be in the moment and sometimes it's nice to be able to SEE a memory. This was definitely one of those times. Hopefully Abby will be able to look back at this picture and know how much I loved playing with her!

October 23, 2008

From a Tiny Seed



Last year Mike built a really nice planter box so that we could plant vegetables and flowers with the kids. This Spring we planted peas and flowers in it and enjoyed our yummy tasting peas during June and July. Mike also made a ground planter box so that we could plant watermelon, carrots, and squash. We couldn't believe that we actually got decent sized carrots. Peter and Emma were so excited to help pull the many carrots from the ground. We have really enjoyed teaching our kids about planting a garden and enjoying the benefits from waiting patiently for things to grow. Next year I want to plant tomatoes because I love fresh tomatoes. Who knows...maybe the kids will actually try them if we grow them!





October 22, 2008

Peanut Butter Thief


We LOVE peanut butter in our house. Every time we make sandwiches for lunch Emma is always eager to help me get the peanut butter out. She then proceeds to open it up and stick her fingers in it...YUM YUM! We now call her our Peanut Butter Thief. Honestly, could there be anything greater than peanut butter...NOPE I don't think so!

October 16, 2008

Abigail . 3 months old



Abby is the happiest little baby I know.

She is always smiling and loves for anyone to talk to her. Watch out because when you get her going, she can talk up a storm.

Abby can hold her head up really well and is starting to be strong enough to stand on my legs for a short couple of seconds.

Abby loves her siblings and is so curious as to what they are doing.

She sleeps through the night and takes really good naps.

Abby loves the pacifier...thank goodness.

Abby loves her bouncer.

Abby always has her fingers in her mouth...welcome to the early stages of teething!


Today I realized I better take pictures of my little one before she gets any older. She just had her "2 month" appointment even though she is 3 months old. Of course I just couldn't resist the urge to take pictures of both of the girls. For more photos, click HERE.

October 14, 2008

Jumping

Emma has been so patient with me in sitting in the jogger while I go running. Today was such a nice day that I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to play with her outside after our run. It has been a while since I have jumped on our trampoline. Emma had so much fun jumping and was insistent that I was jumping the entire time she was jumping. Today made me realize how much she loves to spend time with me and how I love to spend time with her. It's nice to have her while the boys are in school. I LOVE IT!

October 11, 2008

The Pumpkin Patch

Every year we go to the Pumpkin patch in our Halloween shirts to pick out our pumpkins to carve. Today was the perfect day to be outside picking pumpkins because it wasn't too cold. Each of our kids gets to pick out their own pumpkin (with a little guidance from us). Emma usually finds hers first because she is not that picky. Luckily she found a good small one and was able to pick it up with a little help and dump it into the wheelbarrow. Peter and Andrew probably searched for a good 15-20 minutes trying to find the BEST pumpkin. Both found winners and off we went. Our pumpkin patch is pretty nice because it is free to get in. All you have to pay for is your pumpkins and any other activities you decide to do. I was a little shocked at how much they were charging for some of their rides and activities. Really---it should all be FREE! The kids favorite thing to do at the pumpkin patch is to go in the Hay Maze. Thank goodness it is only a dollar!








80's Skating Party


Ok I know this is a scary picture---but it sure was fun to dress up for our friend's 80's rollerskating party. What a great idea! Thank goodness for Goodwill and Target who cheaply dressed us up. Mike's rad tights and wig were supplied by our good friends who always seem to have everything you need! It was so much fun to get back on skates. It has probably been at least 10 years since I have been on skates. I used to be good back in the day because my home town had its own skating rink. Every summer we would go skating at that rink, eat cotton candy, buy red licorice, get stickers from the sticker machine, and buy ice-cream. I remember the games they would play and how much fun we had. I was surprised at how fast it all came back. Now I am hooked again and as soon as we can we will be taking our kids to go skating with us.

October 10, 2008

Who would have thought...


None of my children have ever been the type to pull everything out of the cupboards and drawers and not once have I ever caught any of them pulling ALL the toilet paper off the roll. Of course what child doesn't do that?? Well, today was our first and with our third child of all things. Now that Emma is very good at using the toilet, she wants the freedom to use the toilet paper when she is done. She was in the bathroom for literally 2 minutes and this is what happened. Of course I grabbed my camera and laughed a little as I made her roll the paper back up. I'm sure there will be many more sneaky moments coming from this one. Oh the JOYS!

October 7, 2008

Back into Running


FINALLY! I guess life has slowed down enough for me to get back into running. Seriously I don't know why it has taken me this long. Abigail is three months old and I finally feel comfortable putting her in the jogger. The biggest change for me this year other than having a new baby is Peter's afternoon Kindergarten. I am more of a morning person and prefer to exercise in the morning. Running after we drop Peter off to school will be something that I will have to get used to.

Today was one of those running days to document. It was a blue sky day with big white puffy clouds, a bit breezy, but lots of sun shining down to warm us up. I thought I might be a bit cold but as I started to run I could feel the sun warming my legs and my back. I LOVE THAT! Who said that Washington doesn't get sun! I ran 2.5 miles in about 24 minutes...not bad to start I guess. As we were turning to head home down our street I could hear Emma say, "I want one of those puffy heads." WHAT? I had to stop the jogger to look to see what she was looking at. She saw the fluffy dandelions and wanted to blow them. What a funny girl. It's fun to see how she views the world. To an adult they are just ugly dandelions, but to a little girl they are so much more....they are puffy heads that you can pick apart and blow away. Oh to be a child again.







Of course there is always a reward for being so good. Emma loves fruit snacks and waited patiently for them until we were done with our run.

October 5, 2008

Rainy Conference Sunday

We had the most relaxing and enjoyable Sunday watching General Conference on TV. Our only sadness was that Mike could not be with us because he was on call up in Seattle. We stayed in our pajamas for most of the day until I decided that we just must get out of the house and go for a walk. It was sprinkling but no one really cared about that. One of my favorite talks from General Conference was from our Prophet President Monson. He talked about having JOY in the journey of life and not letting important things (family) pass us by. My children and husband bring me such great JOY and I am so glad that I have them. I am going to make an extra effort to truly not waste any moments that I have in being with and loving them.



I am so glad that my children don't mind the rain. I personally love it! Of course no one likes a down pour but when does that ever happen around here?? We are trying to soak up as much outside time as we can before the weather turns too cold.



October 3, 2008

P is for Potty



If this doesn't just make you laugh...well it should! Emma is finally potty trained and many thanks must go out to my mom in helping. Before leaving for Chicago Emma was showing more interest and motivation to use her little potty. While I was in Chicago my mom really helped her. By the time I got home she hadn't had an accident in three days. Go Grandma!!! We continued and by the weekend she was out of diapers and in big girl underwear. Her favorites are definitely her princess ones. So what did the trick?? CHOCOLATE! She is a girl after my own heart. Everytime she goes on the toilet she gets a couple of chocolate chips. She has a memory like no other because she will not let you forget her chocolate chips. Whatever it takes! I can't believe how fast it all went. The boys seemed to take forever to finally figure it all out. Now that we have mastered this milestone we are on to the next one...a big girl bed. Tonight will be her first time sleeping on her mattress on the floor. We still have to purchase her bed. After leaving her room and saying goodnight she fell asleep and I didn't hear a peep from her room. She is a real dream. I am so excited for the morning when she can get out of her bed all by herself and go to the bathroom. Lately I have been hearing her call for me to get her out of the crib because she has to use the bathroom. I can't believe she is my big girl now!