And then there was snow.

It seems like just last week, that we were all saying...."We want snow!" and now that it's here, and has no plans of leaving anytime soon we've sort of changed our tune. I never thought that a white Christmas wouldn't be the ideal and fun way to spend the holiday. But with people spread out and roads closed it looks like we might have Christmas with just the 4 of us...
Don't get me wrong. That is very cool in one regard. A quite laid back Christmas, when can get up when we want and watch the kids tear into the gifts and what nots....but I LOVE Christmas with my extended family....it's laid back and fun...just not quiet....but really, when is MY house ever quiet.

So we started out letting the kids play outside 2 times a day in the snow...until the BLIZZARD started. I always thought that it couldn't be lots below 32 and still snow...but here it is...hovering between 15 and 18 degrees....with wind blowing...and it snowing and snowing and snowing some more.....

These pictures were taken earlier today...and trust me ...there are now NO foot prints in the snow and I was only just outside to get firewood about 30 minutes ago...

Ode to the Park

Dear Park,

You have been such a great friend to us this year. It is with a sad and heavy heart that I feel our relationship is coming to an end. The weather is not being very coopertive. The swings, slide and monkey bars are going to be lonley this winter, but we wanted to have one last fling. Thanks for all the fun, we'll see you next year. Don't forget about us! We wont forget about you.
Swinging, sliding, JUMP!

Kids scream in joy and delight!
We'll see you next year.

Trick or Treat with Tigger and Pooh

So we ventured out with the kids on Halloween for a little bit of trick or treatin'. We had a great time and the kids couldn't have looked more adorable. Well...maybe I am just being biased, what do you think?

Parker enjoying a sucker in the car on the way home

Parker ready to hit the streets

Eating a sucker on the way home...she ended up falling asleep with it in her hand

Lets get moving MOM!

We also attened the annual Aunt Serena birthday party costume party....Since we already had the costumes..T I double G errrrr and Pooh made a reappearing...and also snatched up the best boy and girl costume awards! (oh boy....more candy) But this was defiantly the height of Cuteness. Both of them let me put makeup on their face so it added to the sweetness of the costumes.

Daniella Pooh

Parker Tigger

Pumpkins *Pictures Added!*

We made our way to the pumpkin patch once again this year. We joined the cousins on the Polley side of the family at Joe's Place. It's a small farm in Vancouver that has much more than just pumpkins to offer. After we pick out our pumpkins we all head into the store to pay for them and get some applebutter, apples, cider, cookies and fudge.
So they have these radioflyer wagons you can use to go get your pumpkins with and Parker decides he's big enough to pull Dani and Bea in the wagon, with the pumpkins. Man that kid is strong! If it had been a flat road he could have totally done it on his own. (oh, the pumpkins the kids picked out are about the size of size 1 or 2 soccer balls. ha ha)

Master Parker eying the pumpkins

Lady Daniella playing around with Daddy

This year the kids and I grew our own garden with zucchini, tomatoes and pumpkins. After what seems like, thousands of zucchini, and hundreds of tomatoes, we got 3 pumpkins. Well, there were 4 but one was growing up the side of the fence so I moved it down to the ground and it died. But the other 3 we very nice! just the right size for carving....they were however, mostly green.

This weekend I decided to bust out the carving tools and carve us up some pumpkins. So I saw this cool trick on the Today Show where you clean the pumpkins with a power drill that has a beater on the end of it. I am sure it works great if the batteries are charged. ha! Dani informed me she wanted to make a smiley face, Parker wants a scary one. So I get the marker out and let Dani draw her face on the pumpkin. It's very cute. Then I drew Parkers and he kept saying "Grrrr!"
We took lots of pictures and then last night I put candles in them and set them in front of the sliding glass door so the kids could see them, they just sat in front of the door for a while and admired their handy work.

All in all, I'd say pumpkins went well this year.

End of summer fun.

The weather has turned a little cooler....the mornings are crisp and the grass is full of dew. The afternoons have been a nice 75-80 degrees. Perfect weather to be outside in enjoying the yard. The kids have grown to LOVE the water this summer, but now the pools are taken down and stored away until next year so whats a mom to do when her children are whining and crying about wanting to go swim? (note this was written in September....I am not crazy and letting my kids run in the sprinkler in OCTOBER!)

Bust out the sprinkler!!!!

So I did just that. I snuggled up in my hammock and let the kids run around in their swimsuits. I remembered doing the same thing with my sister when we were little. Before, the kids hated the sprinkler because they didn't want the water to get in their face. However on this day, they didn't even think twice about running through all the streams of water that the little Ariel sprinkler was spinning out.

They took turns, they laughed, they shrieked, and just had the best time. After an hour or so it started to loose it's interest, and they started wandering around to do other out door things, I left it running, thinking at least the grass was getting a good drink. Minutes later I look over at Ariel again and Dani has decided that she is thirsty...so she starts drinking out of the sprinkler....soon after that Parker comes to join her. It was just too cute and funny I had to get the camera. This is my view from the hammock.

Parker is 2!

We had Parkers birthday on Aug 30. I cannot believe how big he is. Since he is in love with Mickey Mouse at the moment we chose to use him as our theme. What fun we had! We invited family and friends who we had seen around the summer so we wouldn't have too many people. We had the best time. These are some pictures from the party!

Seeing his Birthday bike for the first time

He feels super cool cruisen on his tryke

Having a blast on the slide
The Cake! Erin cooked it Bryce deorated it! We are so cool. HAhahahaha
When the time came to blow out the candles he decided to put it out by touching the fire. OUCH!
Enjoying some yummy cake
The big full of attitude 2 year old.

Where oh where did the time go?

Holy Moses! Parker will be 2 years old in one week. Where has the time went? I cannot believe that he is this old already! That just means that Dani is that much closer to 4!!! YIKES!

We've been so busy this summer...but loved almost every minute of it. Both kids now love the water and are pretty good at keeping themselves occupied in it, I think next year we'll brave swimming lessons. Dani has also learned how to ride her "big girl bike" a two-wheeler with training wheels although it's a bit too big for her to ride on uneven ground...and Parker can't stand the fact that sissy has a bike and he doesn't. He however has discovered that he LOVES motorcycles. He can hear one coming, spot them a mile away and adores sitting with Papa Tom on his "YELLOW BIKE!" He's gone of quite a few little rides with Papa Tom now and couldn't look more at home and relaxed if he tried. Bryce and I are pretty sure that he's going to want to do MotoCross or X Games stuff when he's older....Please pray for us! :)

Bryce and Dani got to go on the Father Child Campout this year too. It was a good thing for the two of them to do together. They even braved canoe rides with just eachother! Seeings how Dani is such a "daddy's girl" and how much Bryce adores his "baby" I couldn't imagine that they wouldn't have fun, except for the fact that it was 100 degrees plus while they were gone! Inspite of the heat they still had a blast and plan to go next year too. I have a feeling Bryce will have a hard time with dating when the time comes.

As for me...I am still looking for the perfect balance of being Wife, Mother, Housekeeper and Myself. I know that I have lots of people rooting for me, but still from time to time have those moments of "AUGH!!" If my kids weren't so cute...I think I would sell them to the highest bidders on somedays....and if my Husband didn't know just what to say sometimes I might trade him in for a new model. LOL! Fortunatly for me they are my perfect family. Pick for me by God and as long as I keep looking to him for maintence I should be just fine.

Oh yea...We also went to the Skamania County Fair and the kids rode the ponies with their cousins. Doesn't Parker look all cool in his shades and, yellow garaffe rain boots? Don't ask it was a "I can dress myself day" and it was almost 100 degrees too!