Did the Puyallup

Yesterday we made our annual pilgrimage to the Puyallup Fair. I suppose this is where I'm supposed to say we had a blast, but to be honest it was a bit disappointing for me this year.

The food at the fair has always been a big part of our experience, but without Justin’s dad there to encourage us to partake we didn't. Eating a whole bakers dozen of scones isn’t very likely with only 3 of us allergy-free and able to eat them - so we decided to skip them entirely this year (because how can you only buy a few scones, when it is so much more economical to buy a dozen?). Eating corn on the cob wasn't an option with the cluster of cold sores on the corner of my mouth. We did get a basket of curly fries, but they were a disappointing soggy mess. Of course we found ourselves in the dairy barn drinking free chocolate milk (and eggnog) several times, but when we went back to get our traditional ice-cream cones we noticed they had an allergy sign posted so we opted to get ice-cream on the way home instead. And unfortunately I forgot to go back and purchase a block of fudge before we left.

I know that going on rides is a huge part of the fair for most people, but we usually don’t go on any. I think the girls were a little disappointed but unfortunately for them their parents see it as a huge waste of money. It would have cost us over $10 just for them to do one silly ride.

We walked through all the vendors, but found that since we are moving and purchasing a new home there really wasn't much we were interested in or in need of. The items I wanted to find just weren't there. In years past the fair was a great place to find adorable western chief raingear, but now that it's so popular they opt to sale at Nordstrom’s for a much higher price.

I wanted to find a cute handmade hat to keep Katie warm this winter. I know there are an overwhelming number if people that sell this sort of hats online at etsy, but I would rather be able to try it on prior to purchase. But alas, it was not to be found.

It wasn’t all a drag – we saw a few shows – an impressive magician and an entertaining circus act. You may recall these performers from last year

The weather was perfect. Katie did awesome and was perfectly content just sitting in her stroller all day (and she even took a little nap). The big kids really did have a great time. Jason was super excited to see the animals… until we got there. He wouldn’t even get close to the horses or cows (maybe they were too big?) and the sheep were too loud. He was very interested in the pigs and even wanted to revisit them before we left.

The only animal he dared touch in the petting farm was a little bunny.

By 5:30pm Justin was thoroughly bored and ready to call it a day – thus ended our shortest trip to the fair ever.

Random

1. On a recent trip to Sam’s club we came across this:

When would a chair of this size ever come in handy?

2. My kids are very lucky to have an indoor gymnasium; we call it D-A-D

Unfortunately Dad has looming deadlines at work so we don't get to see too much of him these days.

3. This is one of Jason’s favorite shirts. He refers to it as his - "dog eat R" shirt

It's very appropriate...

Can you see the fierceness in his face and the anguish in Abigail’s?

4. As I mentioned in the previous post, Katie is not sleeping through the night yet. In fact the last few nights she's woken up 2-3 times and at 5am she's ready to p-a-r-t-y. So instead of just nursing her back to sleep I’ve had to stay up and rock her till she is convinced its still nighttime and eventually closes her eyes. As a result I am very tired come time to get up and get the girls off to school. I realize this is just a phase, but I thought babies (and their mamas) were supposed to sleep longer as they got older.

5. In true Fletcher form, the more food the better:

I’m still not sure if Jason will be a leftie or a rightie. As you can see being proficient with both hands certainly has its benefits.

6. I really enjoy those of you that leave comments on our blog. Especially when you call my baby adorable and beautiful.

7. This little guy insists on taking showers, he is done with the bathtub. I used to stick him in the shower with one of his sisters so they could help him wash his hair, but he's over that and wants to be on his own. I find it a little strange that he is showering on his own yet has no interest in potty training.

8. It might surprise you that I willingly picked 7:30am piano lessons for Abigail. Yes, that is 7:30 AM. I don’t think I need to remind anyone that I am not a morning person. It was either that or I’d have to actually drive her (and her 3 younger siblings) to lessons every week after school. This way we still get lessons from the comfort of our own home. And I have no shame answering the door in my PJs.

9. I don’t normally watch any daytime television. But I did record Oprah’s season première earlier this week. Because it’s her final season, I knew there would be some sort of grand giveaway. I watched it this afternoon and as a turns out she and the 300+ guests in the audience are all heading to Australia for an 8-day ultimate vacation. My first thought was: how can I get tickets to get in the Oprah audience because they score BIG time? My second thought was: can every member of that audience seriously head to the other side of the world for an entire week? Don’t they have children to take care of? As these questions ran through my mind Katie made some cute little sound and gave me one of her ginormous, gorgeous smiles and then I had another thought: I don’t want to travel around the world. I am happy just were I am in life. I am grateful for moments of clarity like that that really put life into perspective. I am incredibly blessed.

5 Months Old

At 5 months old Katie is still swaddled when she sleeps. I'm thinking this is a really long time to still be doing this, but she seems to like it (although I haven't tried otherwise).

Saturday I convinced Justin to take all four kids to Abigail’s soccer game while I went out to brunch with an old friend who was in town over the weekend. You may recall Katie and Justin don't have the best track record. To my delight I didn't receive a single panicked text or phone call during the entire 3 hours I was gone. Katie did awesome (and so did her Daddy). When I pulled into the driveway I found Justin in the garage feeding Katie her first bowl of rice cereal. We talked about introducing foods this weekend, but I didn't think I'd miss that first bite moment.

I think with the other kids I was always excited for them to reach the 4 month mark and introduce food, but I've really been avoiding this with Katie. Partially because she's content just from nursing (have you seen those chubby thighs and those cheeks of hers?), but also because I don't want to see her grow up. To already be at the stage of spoon feeding seems unbelievable. She loved it though and didn’t take her eyes off Justin and that bowl until every ounce was eaten. In fact while I was running errands later that night Justin again broke out the cereal. I suppose there's no turning back now.

Katie is getting down a rough sort of routine consisting of two naps a day; however I'm still waiting for those blissful 10+ hour spans at night.

Katie loves to screech for joy

Has started arching her back toward me when she knows I'm about to pick her up. It won’t be long now and she’ll be raising up her arms for me to pick her up.

She enjoys playing in the megasaucer we recently got out (big brother also likes to play along)

I really should just put away any article of clothing 6 months or smaller cause they are not working for this girls curves.

Is grabbing onto things - hair, dishes at the table, her binkie

Sticks everything she get a hold of into her mouth

Moved up to size 3 diapers (I think size 2 would fit, but Sam's Club only sells a 1/2 size and she has definitely outgrown those)

She keeps me busy but I love every bit of this girl and I’m so grateful to be her Mom.

Loss of Labor

Today was the first day I’ve had to do laundry on my own in years. I suppose I could have left the clean clothes in a pile for the girls to fold and put away when they got home from school, but I guess I was feeling generous.

And besides I wasn’t completely on my own.

Back to School

Wednesday it was back to school. Abigail has the same teachers she had last year when she was in a 2/3 split class. There isn't a split class this year for third grade so this is the first year Abigail is in a normal classroom since kindergarten. We love her teachers and are glad they wanted to keep her again this year. They already know what she is capable of and they want to see her challenged - we are excited for another great year.

Carly just had an hour orientation on Wednesday. She was excited to get her own desk this year (they share tables in Kindergarten).

Yesterday was Carly's first full-day of school. Her first grade teacher seems to be really nice and I'm sure Carly will have a great year.

Carly and Abigail wanted to walk to and from school without me tagging along. They knew exactly where they were supposed to go and have a group of friends they meet up. Off they went.

These girls really are the best of friends. I’m sure the changes our family will go through over the next year will increase the bond these sisters share. I’m so glad they have each other.

The next 7 1/2 hours were surprisingly quiet. Here I thought Jason was the loudest of the kids, but without his sisters home too get him rowdy (or get on his nerves) he quietly played all day. He and Katie both napped in the afternoon which gave me time to catch up on a few things before the after school chaos began. We had about 20 minutes from the time the girls got home from school to go through school papers and eat a quick snack before heading to the soccer field for the next 2 hours. Then we get home with just about an hour to fix and eat dinner, do homework, and get to bed. So long schedule-free days…

5 Minutes Just Doesn't Cut It

Today was Abigail’s first day of school and it was already after 8pm last night when I noticed I hadn't cut Abigail’s long, straggly, comb-it-if-you-want summer hairdo. We had five minutes to wait for our pudding to set so we hurried upstairs to get it done. I think it's safe to say that no haircut should only take five minutes.

Thankfully Abigail isn't too picky and her only comment was that it was really, really short. When I was in first grade I was devastated when my mom chopped off my long hair. I was so upset I kept my hood on clear until lunch when my teacher made me take it off - I was so embarrassed.

After the kids were in bed last night I admitted to Justin that I thought I'd butchered it, to which he replied, "Well, at least you saved money." As warped as his comment sounds, it did help me feel better.

Thankfully, it didn’t look that bad this morning.

The bright side is that she won't need another haircut for a long, long time (oh, and I saved us a few bucks).

As I looked through my baby book for a sample picture I came across the picture below:

Not too bad, huh? It’s short, but not horrendous.

Then I turned the next few pages and found this:

I’m wondering if I was an exceptionally spastic child. I mean how else do you explain that hairline?? (Mom, I expect an explanation when you get back from traveling around Europe) No wonder I was traumatized.

The Day that Changed Everything

Our summer started out quite perfectly. We didn’t have any grand plans and I was excited for laid back days. I was determined to keep things simple and enjoy having all my kids at home with me.

My low-stress, carefree summer was severely shaken on the morning of Saturday, July 17th. Justin had just gotten home from scuba diving and asked me what I wanted to do that day. I suggested we could go look at model homes (assuming he understood I was referring to the homes he and the girls rode by on their recent bike ride.) He interpreted my suggestion as looking at homes close to his work. I was okay with that assumption and off we went. We decided to visit a neighborhood we looked at 3 years ago in Snoqualmie (20 minutes from Justin’s work). Thank heavens we didn't purchase 3 years ago cause home values have really plummeted. We looked at a few builders, and after several hours had found a floor plan in a new neighborhood that we both loved. If only life were that easy. We don't make any decision without looking at all our options (do you recall this post)? Thus started weeks and weeks of research… we looked at resales, short sales, and new construction. We visited neighborhoods in several cities that would shorten Justin’s commute and offer housing we could afford. We discussed financing options, upgrades, selling our current home, school ratings, and where we would go to church. Suddenly I had tons of research to do, options to weigh, and a potential house to sell... stress, stress, and more stress. And since my mind obsesses about things the possibility of moving took over my life. And that honey-do list was just getting longer and longer and much more pressing.

As we looked at all our options nothing felt as good as the new construction in Snoqualmie we saw on day 1. So we investigated further and asked a bazillion questions. We knew that house from top to bottom. In order to protect ourselves from costly expenses down the road we wanted to include all our changes and upgrades in a potential offer. Which meant we had to go through the process of thinking through every detail of the home even before knowing if it's possible to get it within our price range. Enter more stress and difficult decisions. On August 17th we decided to make the builder an offer.

The negotiation process was a long 17 days. We pushed the limits and made hefty demands. In the end, our efforts and persistence paid off (and largely thanks to a generous agent who forked in nearly half her commission to bridge the gap that was keeping the deal from closing) we reached an agreement for our new home this weekend.

We are super excited, but realize that the stress won’t be coming to an end soon. We have a few months until we need to put our current home on the market and then we need to find the perfect buyer. Of course, we have very mixed emotions about leaving. We have LOVED it here, but we feel that this is the right thing for our family. Besides, we’re only moving 45 minutes away and people drive that kind of distance everyday.

Our agent sent us a picture of our lot yesterday

The exterior of our home will look similar to this…

Summer 2010

I think I lost a month somewhere this summer because it cannot possibly September. I'm feeling a little gypped and part of me would love to be able to just start August over.

We've had a good summer. It's been a summer much like my childhood... very simple. And while simple is definitely my preference I do feel a tinge of guilt for not filling our days with more outings and grand adventures. We didn't even do swim lessons this year (that's primarily due to my desire to avoid the gym as well as my desire to sleep in... aren't I the best mom?) The kids spent hours nearly every day playing with neighborhood friends and playing outside.

Many afternoons and evenings were spent riding bikes. Jason’s quite the pro on his little green bike, but when it comes to riding long distances we still have him ride in the bike trailer.

The girls pulled out some sort of craft nearly everyday.

They made up little games in their bedroom using their closet as hideouts.

There's been a lot of reading.

I LOVE walking into a room and seeing this...

We spent a few evenings playing at the park

Our strong little man

Last week our ward had a Hawaiian party and our whole family got decked out for the occasion.

Jason enjoyed playing in the water with his buddy Mitchell

Katie and her Hawaiian sistas

Katie tried (and enjoyed) her first popsicle

Justin’s been anxious to return to Ivar’s after introducing the kids to fish earlier this summer, so this past Monday night we returned to Coulon beach for fish & chips.

As low key as our summer was it was still exhausting...

Wednesday was back to school night for the girls. We start school next Wednesday and for the most part I'm dreading it (I won't miss hounding the girls to do their jobs 50-zillion times a day), but I'm having a hard time imagining having both Abigail and Carly gone all day. And of course school means early mornings and we all know how I feel about that.

How does your garden grow?

Ours has grown very slowly

What a crazy summer for gardening! Here it is September and we just now had enough tomatoes this past weekend to make our first batch if salsa. We've got oodles of grape tomatoes though.

Carly and one of our "pumpkin" tomatoes

Our blueberries are just at their prime.

I suppose it's too tiresome to stand and pick berries, Jason found himself a little plant chair.

We've only had a few cucumbers this year, which is disappointing considering Justin probably planted a dozen plants, but only two actually survived.

Looks like we'll have our first zucchini this weekend... we love cooking zucchini quesadillas so we're very excited.

According to Carly this apple "fell off" the apple tree right into her hands.

I think I over pruned our apple tree this year so we won't have as many apples as we did last year for baking... just enough for munching.