Happy Halloween

We're outta here!

NO Parking

It's been a long, exhausting day

all I want to do is relax on the couch

this is what I find

I tell you, the boy is obsessed

Pumpkin Patch

Well, we did it! We made it to a pumpkin patch this year. It was this time last year that I was feeling very unfestive. AND since we’re missing Halloween this year I’ve been quite bummed. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. When else can you rake in this much candy in under an hour?

Girls candy – Halloween 2008

With Jason old enough to participate this year can you imagine the loot we could have come home with?? I can. Of course, we are very excited for our vacation to the Caribbean, but who can blame me for wanting both the tropical destination and the piles of candy to delight my sugarloving taste buds?

We had a super tight schedule Saturday with just enough time in the afternoon (skipping Jason’s nap) to squeeze in a trip to Spooner Farms. This is our first time visiting this pumpkin patch, but we heard it had a great corn maze and lots of fun picture opportunities.



Justin and I have never done a corn maze and we were both shocked with how complex this maze was. I imagined straight pathways, clear right and left turns. This maze actually had a face carved into the corn (of course you wouldn’t know that unless you were looking down on the entire thing). Without a map I can’t imagine anyone figuring out where to go.

If you look closely Abigail is holding the map of the maze – crazy complicated!

To make it more interesting they had 6 mailboxes throughout the maze – if you find all six you get a prize at the end.

Here’s Abigail ready to punch her card at mailbox #4

When we found out the course was at least 2.1 miles (more if you get lost or take any wrong turns) we knew we needed to hustle. After a weeks worth of rain the paths were a muddy mess. Justin ended up carrying Jason through most of the maze.

Look at all that mud on Jason’s pants.



After the maze we picked out a pumpkin to take home. I asked Justin if we should get a few extras for the kids to carve and he immediately shot me down. He said he didn’t want them using knives, but I think he just didn’t want to fork out anymore money. I guess we’ll leave carving pumpkins for another year.

Jason thought he was strong enough to handle the wheelbarrow. He tried with all his might and was able to push it an inch or two.



The kids were each excited to pick out a mini-pumpkin to bring home.

We had a great time and could have easily spent another hour at the farm. While we were in the maze Abigail told us she wants to bring her kids here when she gets older. There was so much to do and see that we didn’t even know that we had missed out on seeing all the farm animals. Next year we’ll try and give ourselves a little more time to enjoy it.

Random

Perhaps we need a new favorite character…

Over the years I’ve really tried to limit the amount of TV my kids watch. Each of them from a very early age (like 6 months old) have been fascinated with the TV and would sit in front of the TV in a zombie-like state for hours if allowed. Sure that does have its advantages at times, but it’s something I try to avoid. However, with me not feeling very well over the past few months Jason has watched a show or two practically everyday. His favorite is by far Curious George “Ooh Ahh” as he calls it. As I was sitting on the couch with Jason the other day watching an episode of Curious George it dawned on me that George doesn’t speak at all. I can’t help but wonder if I’m doing my speech delayed son a disservice by encouraging his love of a character that can’t speak a lick of English and grunts and points when he wants something. Maybe we need to find a different show were Jason may pick up a word or two.

Future fashion divas?

My girls are easy, non-fluff girls. We don’t do hair bows, fancy braids, or gigantic Mormon headbands and floral hair décor. Not that they would be opposed to any of the above, but I’m just not one of those moms. Abigail’s hair style consists of a dollop of mouse, a little hair scrunching, and a simple brown clip. With Carly’s stick straight hair it’s not unusual for us to leave the house in the morning and neither of us have even thought of running a comb through it.

They wear whatever I purchase them (or gets handed down to them) and couldn’t care less about fit, color, or style. Makes shopping for them really easy and relatively inexpensive. Abigail has been wearing the same winter coat for the past three years so she was overdue for something larger. I finally got around to getting her a coat on Saturday and she immediately put it on and headed back outside with friends. Carly quickly scooped up Abigail’s old coat and with a huge grin on her face asked if it could be her coat now. Of course that was my intention, but I didn’t imagine she would be quite as thrilled as she was to wear a coat that has half a dozen huge safety pins holding on the hood and is definitely well worn.

Sure I wonder if I should be more concerned about how put together my girls appear, but there’s definitely lots of advantages to keeping it this way too. I hope they will always have the confidence to look past all the exterior stuff and just be happy with who they are.

(Abigail obviously wasn't very excited to pose for a picture)

Sweet Treat

Justin’s idea of a yummy treat

honey, sweet honey

Jason at 2

As I was putting Jason down for a nap this afternoon I kept thinking about how quickly he is changing. Everyday I find myself taken back by just how great he is, seriously – everyday. No he is not our easiest child, but we just love him to bits anyhow. Since I’m so incredibly behind in my scrapbooking (how the heck will I ever catch up with #4 on the way???) I decided I need to jot down a little bit about Jason at age 2 and share a few pictures from the last month or so.

• Jason really does run the house. He who hollers the loudest get what he wants and Jason can holler.
• Has decided he doesn’t want to miss a thing in the morning so he is the first one up at 7 am (well, the first one besides Daddy).
• Has decided he was missing far too much of the action by taking 4 hour naps each day so he now tries to keep it under 3 hours.
• Is picking up new words every week. He tries so hard with his speech therapist and is really improving. We’ve even gotten a few words together – like “more please”.

• LOVES books. We’ve finally reached an understanding that we will only read 2 books before nap or bedtime. He selects them before we sit down and he can choose which one is first and which book is the LAST book before I lay him down. I’m so grateful we are able to communicate better.
• Although so much about Jason is “all boy” he doesn’t like messes. Sure a messy playroom – no big deal. But if he drips a little yogurt on the table he wants it cleaned up right away. When he knows he has a little food on his face he picks up a napkin and wipes it away.
• Jason is sensitive. If he ever hears his sisters crying he’ll be there first one there trying to give them a hug. He hates getting into trouble and if we really get after him for something it breaks his little heart, then of course he looks so darn cute that he’s forgiven on the spot.

• Thinks that being in the car is endless snack time – and does not like being told “no” or “wait til we get home”.
• Gives the sweetest kisses. I think the girl’s kisses at this age were wet and slobbery, but Jason gives us the real deal. My favorite is when he gives me a kiss on the cheek then wants to give me a kiss on the other cheek as well.
• LOVES taking Carly to the bus stop. He started blowing kisses to her as she watches from the window – seriously just tugs at my heart. Then he yells “BYE” as loud as he can. The bus driver thinks he’s just the cutest thing ever.
• Jason is hilarious – he cracks us up every day with the silly things he does.
  

• LOVES going to school twice a week. Even though it’s a huge time sacrifice for me I also enjoy it. He gets to paint and make all sorts of messes all under the watchful care of three amazing teachers. Occasionally I even take the opportunity to run to the grocery store during class – shopping without Jason is quite the luxury.
• He sure can get wild. One of his nursery teachers at church told me that for the most part he is very quiet and calm, but occasionally he gets this “look” on his face and totally breaks loose. He loves to tackle his sisters and they enjoy it when he acts like a monster and chases them around the house growling.

• Jason is still obsessed with cars and trains. They are definitely his toy of choice.
• When we are in the car Jason points out each and every fire engine, police car, construction equipment, big truck, and train. Then every adult in our car needs to acknowledge his findings.
• Jason is currently going through a Mommy phase. Although he’s thrilled when Justin gets home from work. Jason wants me to change his diapers, brush his teeth, and put him to bed. This phase needs to change here quickly.
• Jason is a non-crust guy. I don’t remember cutting crusts off sandwiches for my girls, but again Jason does tend to get his way.
  

Few Updates...

PROOF REQUIRED

Last Saturday (the 19th) we decided to let the girls in on our BIG news. We knew it wouldn’t be long before they noticed my bulging belly and I wanted them to understand why I’ve been so tired and sick lately. So we put Jason’s little monkey shirt on and let him walk around the house. We were surprised that Abigail didn’t catch on right away. She noticed the new shirt immediately (Jason’s favorite show is Curious George so it was very perfect for him). However, it took quite a bit of logical rational to convince Abigail that it was in fact JASON that was going to be a big brother. We even had to pull out the ultrasound pictures to prove that there really was a baby in Mom’s tummy. As if that wasn’t proof enough we had to point out the date on the ultrasound pictures (she was sure they were old pictures of Jason). She then needed to know exactly when I was able to go to the doctor without her knowing about it. Who’s kid is this? :)

Once reality sunk in the girls were very excited. Both soon stating that they would like the baby to be a girl. Abigail’s reasoning was that boys are too crazy (they don’t seem to realize that Jason tackles them because they ask him to and that his energy primarily stems from their reaction to it). Abigail is warming up to the idea of having another little brother, but Carly isn’t budging, she even refers to the baby as “she”. Without a doubt they will both be wonderful big sisters, regardless of the baby’s gender. As for Jason, he is completely clueless – all he knows is that he has a cool new shirt.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL... AGAIN

Last week we got a letter from the principal informing us that the district had decided to form a second/third grade combination class and move a teacher to another school. I guess having only 22 kids in Abigail’s class was too good to be true. Of course eliminating an entire class causes changes in all nine classrooms. I had a pretty good feeling that Abigail would be selected to be placed in the 2/3 split and received the phone call from the principal last Wednesday. Although we were very happy with Abigail’s second grade teacher she had such a great experience in a split class last year that we are excited for the change. Abigail’s new class will be taught by two third grade teachers who team teach (one comes at the beginning of the week, the other teaches the end of the week). This is our first experience with team teachers, so it will be interesting to see how it all works out. Today was her first day in her new class. She knows several kids in both grades and is excited about the possibility of working at a higher level. She commented that even though she was split class last year they still didn’t do multiplication or division… I’m afraid she’ll still have to wait a few years to delve into that.

HAVE A SEAT

This afternoon Jason and I spent some time working out in the yard. He’s great company and kept me entertained with the funny things he does.

The new little chair he discovered

In April...

Time with "Pa-Pa"

Back in May I asked my Mom if she’d come up if I bought us tickets to see Wicked. She gladly accepted my offer. Wicked also toured in Utah earlier this year, but sold out within minutes so it was crazy impossible to get tickets there. Justin and I saw Wicked last December in NYC and LOVED it so I was more than happy to go again. And of course it was awesome the second time around as well.

My Mom left today after spending a little over a week with us. While I can’t speak for her, we (as in my family) had a great time and were sad to see her go. She was such a HUGE help with the kids and was always cleaning up things before I even thought about getting around to it. I was telling Justin last night that he’s going to have to get back into the habit of coming home from work and doing dishes, etc…we’ve both been a little spoiled.

With Abigail being in school all day, getting Carly to school every afternoon, Jason’s playgroups and speech therapy 3 days a week, soccer practices 3 nights a week, soccer games on Saturday, and just life in general we kept busy.

My Mom and I managed to eat out few times (Cheesecake Factory and P.F. Changs – two of my favorites) and went to the Seattle Temple. One evening we HAD to go to Coulon Beach to eat at Ivar’s. Anytime we have company this is one of the first places Justin thinks of taking them (although, nobody ever seems to appreciate Ivar’s quite like Justin does). It was a beautiful evening though and the kids always have fun playing at the playground.

Look at my strong boy!

Jason fondly referred to Grandma as “Pa-Pa” even though he is capable of using other words that more closely resemble “Grandma” - he was dead set on “Pa-Pa”.

I can’t count how many times Carly talked about going back to Utah with Grandma – we sure wish we could see her more often, but we are glad to know she’ll be back in February for Abigail’s baptism.

Day at the Fair

Did you know that the Puyallup Fair is the eighth largest fair in the WORLD? And I’ve heard that it’s also the largest fair west of the Mississippi. It’s a BIG deal here and because we are only 15 minutes away it has become an annual tradition for our family.

On opening day, between 10am-Noon anyone can get in FREE. That’s a quite a deal considering regular priced tickets are $11 for adults and $8 for kids. However, because opening day is always on a Friday, during Justin’s busy season at work, and while the kids are in school we’ve never taken advantage of FREE day. However, with my Mom in town we decided it was a good day for us to go. Of course everyone else had the same plan so instead of the normal 15 minutes to get there it took over an hour.

We had a great time. Jason enjoyed seeing all the animals. He insisted on looking at every horse in the horse barn. One of the owners even let Jason get up close to their horse and pet it. Once in the petting farm, Jason didn’t want to leave. He petted the goats, chickens, and baby rabbits.

Jason was quite fascinated with the baby chicks.

With a little help from Grandma, Jason quickly got the hang of milking a cow.

Justin came down with the girls after school.

The girls got their faces painted.

They too wanted a chance to milk a cow.

We went to a little circus show where my Mom was pulled out of the audience and asked to perform. She’s such a great sport and we were grateful we had the video camera to capture it on film.

Of course we also ate lots of yummy fair food.

Another great year at the fair.

Time for School

For weeks I’ve been dreading the start of school. Summer seemed to fly by too quickly and I felt like we didn’t do as many fun things as I would have hoped. But from the energy level the kids had earlier this week I was quickly warming up to the idea of getting back into a routine.

On Tuesday night the kids were running around the house with their faces pressed together saying “cheese”… of course that’s just screaming for a picture.

Abigail started second grade on Wednesday.

Here she is ready to walk to school with her walking buddies – Carly gets to join them on the walk home from school.

Carly’s first day of kindergarten was on Thursday.



She gets to ride the bus to school which is really exciting. The other parents at our bus stop were very emotional. I was doing quite well until I saw Jason’s little face as he waved goodbye to his big sister, then I’ll admit I did get choked up a bit.

At Carly’s request we met the bus at school to make sure Carly knew where to go once she got off the bus. With all those kids lined up against the wall I couldn’t imagine how overwhelming it would be to teach that many five year olds. Thankfully, Carly has the same teacher Abigail had in kindergarten and since I helped in the classroom on a regular basis her teacher already knows our family.


There she is #20 of too many (I heard there were 30 kids on the class list!)

There goes my baby girl!


The first thing she said to me after school was that she thinks she was the quietest one in class. At first I laughed, but after I thought about it I asked her if she would talk to her teacher if her teacher asked her a question… she told me she would.

This & That

RISE and SHOUT!

First I must give a shout out to our alma mater – the BYU Cougars for an exciting game yesterday. They beat out the #3 ranked team, Oklahoma 14-13 at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. I think this is the first game I’ve watched in it’s entirety since we attended the unforgettable game against University of Washington last September. Now that I’m finally understanding football I think I will be watching more games this season.


Chip Chop

We’ve all gotten our hair cut this past week. Abigail wanted her hair long this summer, but she was more than ready for me to cut it off for the start of school.

Carly was also overdo for some reshaping.

End of the summer party

Our ward organized a playgroup every week this summer. Unfortunately, I think we were only able to attend one activity way back in June. The kids were excited to be able to go to the last activity this week. There were lots of games to play and yummy treats for all.

In this game each of the kids had a partner that they had to race to get into a requested position. This is the “bunk bed” position. Abigail is in the middle (bottom bunk) and Carly is on the right (top bunk).


Both of the girls were one of the last teams left. When it was down to the final two teams it was a photo finish, Abigail couldn’t hoist her teammate up on her back quick enough for “monkey in a tree.”

To get ready for another game the kids had to line up according to age. I thought it was funny how tall Abigail looks against her peers.

One more fun picture of Abigail as she races to keep the tennis ball balanced between her feet while jumping down the course.

I can’t believe summer is already over and the kids will be starting school this week!

Mariners

We try to go to at least one Mariners game every year. Last night was our first (and likely only game) this season. Although it wasn’t the most exciting of games (the Mariners lost to the Kansas City Royals 4-8), we still had a great time and are glad that Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher were able to join us.

This was Jason’s first major league baseball game. I think it’s safe to say he got very little out of the game itself. Instead of watching the game he pointed out each and every airplane that flew over head as well as all the trains the went by. If you know anything about the location of Safeco Field this occupied most of Jason’s evening. In typical Fletcher form it was also all about the food for Jason. With all the kettle corn, candy, and French fries he downed he had enough energy to stay awake until we got home after 11pm – way past his usually bedtime. Jason made friends with a guy sitting two rows behind us and was quite entertained with the silly things he doing to get a reaction out of Jason. Here’s a short clip of Jason doing a little gig for his new friend after the Mariners hit a home run:

When the girls think about going to a game they too look forward to yummy treats. They also enjoy walking around the stadium and playing in the kiddie-area. They even watched some baseball.

Here are the kids meeting the Mariner Moose in his den.

Olympic Peninsula

Justin’s been talking about exploring the Olympic Peninsula for ages and we finally managed to find a weekend to do it. We haven’t done much hiking recently (or really ever) so my hiking boots definitely needed a little dusting off.

On Friday afternoon we went on several hikes at Hurricane Ridge. There was quite a bit of clouds and fog, but it still afforded great views of the Olympic Mountains. I think it’s so beautiful to see the mountains completely covered with evergreen.

The deer at Hurricane Ridge were fearless and we ran across several along the hike.

There was even a family of deer that we were able to watch. Jason got a kick out of watching the fawns jumping through the meadow (they hop much like a rabbit).

We stayed in Port Angeles that night and headed out bright and early on Saturday for an entire day jammed packed with sight-seeing. We hiked around Lake Crescent and found some fun little cabins right on the lake that we’d like to stay at sometime. The lake was crystal clear and so peaceful.

Check out this tree that had been hollowed out by a forest fire.

Next stop was Forks, WA – “Home of Twilight.” In my opinion, if you’ve seen the movie it’s pointless to go to Forks. The movie was not filmed in Forks so nothing resembles what is depicted in the film, but since it was on our way we drove by a few stops on the Twilight Map. Yes, there is an actual map. The Forks visitors’ center is covered in Twilight paraphernalia and they hand out maps of Twilight points of interest. Below are the Forks welcome sign, Bella’s pickup truck, and the Swan house.

We also went on a few hikes in the Hoh Rain Forest. Thankfully we were able to borrow a child pack from friends so we wouldn’t be stuck going at the pace of our two-year-old. Jason liked it as long was we were moving and he had snacks to occupy himself with, but he preferred to walk with the rest of us and actually kept up surprisingly well.

Next stop was Ruby Beach. When we saw this view we knew the hike down to the beach would be worth it.


There were lots of huge logs we had to climb/walk across to get there, but we all made it and had fun trying to keep our shoes dry (Justin and the girls were unsuccessful). Jason and the girls enjoyed collecting some of the smooth rocks on the beach.


Our last hike was to see the largest spruce tree in the WORLD. I thought it would be cool for the kids to see, but really all I wanted was a picture of Justin being a tree-hugger. Justin even got Jason to give the tree a little squeeze.

In the 34 hours we were gone I figure Jason got 10 hours LESS sleep than normal, the girls hiked several miles, we drove more than 450 miles – and EVERYONE loved it. We had a great time and are looking for more local outdoor adventures – any ideas?