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!

Summer Fun

Well, we've gone to the beach and went camping, and we still love each other! So I guess we are no worse for the wear! LOL!!

My parents took us and my sister and brother-in-law to Seaside OR for a long 4 day weekend trip. The thing about the North West coast is you can never tell what the weather will be like. We don't often believe the weatherman when he says it will be sunny, oddly enough we generally do believe him when he say it will rain. Poor guy. Anyways... to our greatest surprise the weather was B E A U T I F U L. Unbelievable. The only other time the kids had been to the beach was during the New Years holiday...yea, we went to the beach when it was 30-40 degrees...we are that stupid. lol

We had just the best time though....Flew these awesome $1.00 kites we got from the dollar store for the kid and they got to fly them by themselves, although truth be told I think Bryce enjoyed them more. We spent almost all of Saturday down at the beach building sand castle, which to Dani means piling a mound of sand and putting a stick in it, and playing in the 65 degree water. Both kids and parents alike go wet wet wet and sandy sandy sandy. It was so much fun, until we got back to the cabins and realized that we had forgotten to put sunscreen on the Guy's legs...so we had 3 lobster leg men in our group!

We also rented trolleys...bikes where you sit side by side and petal together....and it had a bench for the kids to sit in the front. They look so cute. It's fun to see all the people on the sidewalk smiling and pointing at My kids saying how cute they are. While we were on our "bike" ride we wanted to take a break and try some paddle boating. Bad idea. Parker didn't want to wear the life vest, at all, and screamed bloody murder for at least 15 minutes while we were out on the water. I ended up have to get off the boat with him and letting everyone else have a spin around the lake while I tried to calm Parker down. The second that life vest came off, he shut up. So annoying. He was so loud people shopping at the Biker fair were talking about the 'poor little boy' who was on the paddle boat. AUGH!

After all the fun and sun and shopping and bikes and beach walks we packed it up and came home Sunday. Only to pack up different gear and leave Friday to go camping 45 min away from home with my Aunt and Uncle and sister and Brother in law.

Our first tent camping with the kids. Boy were we nervous. But for no reason whatsoever! The kids once again soared through the challenges with flying colors. Bryce even opted to stay another night alone, with Dani. During that trip we got dirty and stinky and Dani learned how to ride her two-wheeler bike with training wheels. Poor Parker was left in the dust of Dani and cousin Bea. His little push along bike wasn't fast enough...we also went swimming in the cold river. Both kids seem to love the water. And again Bryce surprised me by getting in the water himself. He is such a good Dad and a wonderful husband.

All in all we are busied and scraped up but no worse for the wear. We still want to be near each other and can't wait till Daddy gets home from work so we can all be together again.

My first post

Greeting from the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area in Washington state~

As I type this out to you I am feeling so loved by my son, because he is crying and throwing a fit because in his own words, 'I want my mommy!!' and being near me just isn't enough. It's an all or nothing relationship, as he pulls on my shirt and arms to wiggle his little body onto my lap.

It's been 6 years since our family unit was established in this very spot in the pouring down rain. What a way to start a life together. Dancing in the mud, singing in the rain and not caring one iota.

I hope you enjoy staying upto date in our little storybook as we endure and enjoy life together.