Reading with grandpa

Carson visited Gma and Gpa's house while his sisters were at gymnastics on Wednesday. You can see that he must have been a great help with Grandpa Brad's crossword puzzle :)

The things we hear

I jotted down a few things that our girls have said lately because they just struck me as cute. Hope you get a kick out of them, too.

While running an errand in the van yesterday, Abby came out of her usual peaceful silence (it's sometimes hard for her to get a word in edgewise) to state, "Some people call me Abby, but my real name is Lightning McQueen." Then she proceeded to insist that we refer to her as Lightning for much of the day. (Yes, we saw the movie - or I should say, the first 15 minutes of the movie, a week ago or so.)

While we were using the electric stand mixer to beat frosting (which had to be mixed for 7 minutes) on Tuesday, Abby said (in a loud voice so as to rise above the mixer), "Mom, that mixer is so loud, it's yelling at me!"

Then, at dinner last night, Emily said the blessing: "Dear Lord, Thank you for this day. Thank you for my family. Thank you for my huge imagination. Thank you for this food. And thank you for everything in my whole life. Amen."

If the pajamas fit, wear 'em

So we bought these snowman pjs for Carson to wear at Christmas. But I'm afraid they won't fit by then, so he's wearing them now. Tonight was their debut. Apparently Carter's sizing label of "6 month" actually means, "put your child into these clothes before they turn this age, or he'll never wear them."

These 3 pics of Carson were all taken this evening. Oh, and can you locate the place on Craig's head where 5 stitches were just removed? (Blast that kitchen cupboard!)

Making wreaths

Over the weekend we visited the Washington Arboretum. We were there near dusk, so didn't have as much time as we wanted, but nonetheless were treated to a beautiful array of colors and shapes. Because a breeze picked up while we were there, the sound of falling leaves was an added bonus to our quick arboretum adventure. The girls had a great time gathering leaves for some not-yet-determined art project.

Then, on Monday while we were dinking around here getting ready for kindergarten, the idea struck to make leaf wreaths. We grabbed some cardboard from the recycle bin, cut out our frisbee shapes (per Emily) and hot-glued leaves all over. Despite one brush with a baby's unforgiving grip (it's tricky being the foreman for art projects with a baby riding in a front-pack!), they turned out pretty cute.

Fall 2008

Emily ready for her first day of kindergarten

Visting the aquarium

The pumpkin patch

Carving pumpkins with Gma & Gpa PT

One of our growing pumpkins :)

Pressing apple cider at Grampy's house

Halloween night

Summer 2008

Fun at Lake Coeur d'Alene

Abby's 3rd Birthday