The Cooper Family

Recycling Center

2010-01-07T13:09:00.001-08:00

On Tuesday Emily and I went to the Recycling Center in Woodinville. Here is Emily's assessment of the field trip:

It was really cool and I liked seeing everything. These pictures show how much recycling piles up in this facility in 2 days. I hope you enjoy these pictures.

This picture shows the glass items after they are crushed. It is important that you always clean all the stuff in your jars and bottles before you recycle it. If you leave sticky or sugary contents in the jar, it lessens the reusability of that glass.

I also learned that if you find little spots on your cardboard cereal boxes, it means that something that was recyled didn't get cleaned out properly.

We learned that it is as important (or more) to REDUCE and REUSE... that way this facility won't be so jam-packed with recyclables every day!

Albuquerque Turkey

2009-11-19T14:07:00.000-08:00

Here is Abby performing this darling little Thanksgiving song that she learned in preschool:

Wettest hour

2009-11-09T08:51:00.000-08:00

I can pretty much guarantee you that the single wettest hour of Saturday was from 10:45 to 11:45 AM. Now, how would a mom know such a thing? I bet you can guess: soccer.

From the moment we left our home until the moment we got back to the van after the game, it poured rain. Emily's coach talked the other coach into playing a 15 minute first half, and I believe the second half was called off when the second girl on our team got mud in her eyes and ended up in tears. The field was a total mud pit!

When we arrived at the field, I wondered why on earth I had thought it was a good idea for Abby to join us on this adventure. But then I had a stroke of pure genius: Carson's stroller and rain-fly. Abby huddled for the entire game inside her own little cacoon. When we got back to the van she was bone dry from head to toe.

As usual, I didn't have my camera with me, but these are Em's clothes after the fact. The only reason you can see any gray on her shorts is that she wore her rain jacket, which hangs pretty long, under her jersey for the whole game. I guess it was a good teaching moment in how we don't melt in the rain!

A glimpse of October

2009-11-05T16:45:00.000-08:00

A field trip to the Washington Arboretum with
Great Grandpa Gray:

Enjoying the day's sunshine at a park near the Arboretum:

Holding baby Lane at Great Grandpa Gray's birthday party:

Gracie's 2nd birthday ~ no Bdays go uncelebrated here!

Celebrating Great Grandpa Cooper's birthday:

Halloween night ~ a darling princess, a daring pirate, &

a dangerous dragon :-)

Fall field trips

2009-11-05T16:42:00.000-08:00

We've had the flexibility to take numerous fun and educational outings this fall, including visiting a zoo, the Seattle Aquarium, the Arboretum, Fort Warden, taking a library tour, and getting a private tour of Uncle Mike's firestation (for which I'm still kicking myself over not bringing my camera).

Actually, I am seriously guilty of not taking my camera on many occasions this fall. Fortunately, my mother and mother-in-law are excellent photographers and are much more religious about photo-taking than me (something about keeping track of 3 children lowers the priority of having a camera). Also fortunate for us, grandparents are often a part of our field trip outings. What a lucky bunch of field trippers we are!

Here are the girls riding camels and feeding the Budgies (these darling birds that fly right up to you to eat the seeds you're holding) at Point Defiance Zoo:

Exploring the bunkers, tunnels, forest pathways, and fields at Fort Warden in Port Townsend:

The Seattle Aquarium:
(pictures to come, if I can get them from whoever had a camera that day!)

More September ~ Making memories with cousins

2009-11-04T13:31:00.000-08:00

We had the delight of having Craig's brother, David, and his family here from Virginia in late September. I say "here," but really just mean in the vicinity. They spent the majority of their week in Port Townsend, and we taggad along :) Having just seen them in July ("just" sounds funny there!), it was fun to see them again so soon (bummer being across the country from one another!) All 6 cousins had a great time together. What fun memory-making it was!

(More pictures coming... I've got to bug someone for them - - someone who kept track of 6 grandkids and took photos that week!)

Looking back: September 2009

2009-11-03T22:14:00.001-08:00

Labor Day Weekend:
Camping in the PNW. Good thing we cheated and rented a yurt in one of the state parks... it poured rain all 3 nights. But the day weather held out and our kids had a blast!

Our little soccer player:

The first day of school:
Here are Emily (6) and Abby (4) ready for their first day at Heritage.

The disappearance of July

2009-08-30T22:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know, August is now almost over. You'd think I'd be writing about the disappearance of August. But actually, August can go, as far as I'm concerned. It's been fine and all, but July was packed full of fun, and is definitely the month I would want back.

July was priceless. We were blessed with a marvelous trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina with Craig's family, and also enjoyed another blissful week on the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene with my folks. I've been slow to post pictures... partially due to a lack of time, and partially due to some silly feeling that writing about our fun and putting pictures up won't really do it justice. The memories are just perfect how they are in my head! Nonetheless, here are some pictures of our time spent with special family in beautiful locations!

The Outer Banks

Sunrise on the East Coast

Abby enjoying the sand

Carson chillin' in his floaty

Emily exploring the evening waves

Sisters playing in the sand

Six cousins, age 6 and under, excited for the Fourth of July

Coeur d'Alene

The best spot - riding in the bow

Life jackets required at all (okay, most) times

Grams & Gramps

Unable to discern between our boat and others,

Carson greeted all passers-by from his secure look-out on the dock

I'm assuming this picture doesn't require a description

Looking back toward our cabin from the neighbor's dock

This tube is so much fun - perfect for the whole fam.

We call it the water couch.

Abby, cuddle-floating with cousin Christy

Sunset on the West Coast

All dressed up... nowhere to go:

2009-08-29T23:36:00.000-07:00

Well, in case we never put this on him again, here's Carson in the darling costume that Lisa lent us, which he MIGHT wear for Halloween :-) He lasted just a few seconds before we ended the torture.

Sweet Abby turns 4!

2009-08-21T21:47:00.000-07:00

Our dear, sweet Abigail turned 4 earlier this month. As she turns from toddler to pre-school-aged little girl, she continues to be a generous, cheerful, easy-going darling. Among her famous phrases around here is, "I like it, but I don't love it," or "I don't like it, I love it!" She has good discernment between love-worthy items, and simply status-quo things.

Happy Birthday, snuggle bunny Abs! We LOVE you!!

Gone...

2009-06-30T10:45:00.001-07:00

...to

the beaches

of North Carolina's

Outer Banks.

(back in a couple of weeks!)

12 Months +

2009-06-14T21:44:00.001-07:00

Am I allowed to say that Carson is just past 12 months? Or do I have to concede that he's one? Why is it that the youngest seems to grow up too fast, while the oldest could hardly get to new phases soon enough? Now they're all just growing up too fast.

Abby recentlly informed me that although I had a birthday, since I'm an adult I don't get a new age. According to her, I have stopped growing now, so the numbers also stop increasing. Perfect!

Here's our sweet One Year Old Baby on his birthday! (YES - he's still a baby. I'll let you know if/when that changes.)

Gordon Cooper

2009-05-22T22:08:00.000-07:00

Did you know there is a tulip variety named the Gordon Cooper tulip? The red ones behind us in this photo are Gordon Coopers.

"I don't love the grass, Daddy"

Emily's capybara decided to wonder into one of the gardens.

Emily snuggles with her capybara stuffy. If you're wondering what a capybara is, check out the book, Capyboppy.

Abby sat down to check out the rock pathway. Rocks rock!

Carson wanted to know if the dirt was organic.

In the eyes of my children

2009-05-10T21:43:00.000-07:00

I originally titled this post "New Year Reflections," but now January has passed. Oh wait... February, March, and April are gone, too. Hmmm. I must confess that I am often clueless as to the date. I was NEVER clueless as to the date when I was a teacher in the public schools. Back then, the date was paramount to my day. Last month, however, I figured out the date each day by counting up or down from the 24th, which I, for some reason, was able to remember was a Friday. I knew it was April, but for the life of me I could not remember the date. I guess my life these days revolves around times (wake-up time, dirty diaper time, bath time, nap time, dinner time, bed time...), not dates!

Sorry to digress there. SO, back to my New Year Reflection story. I was feeding Carson the other afternoon (think January here), and something about the lighting must have been just right, because I looked down into his face and there I was. I'm not talking about the genetics of seeing my traits in his face. Rather, my reflection was visible in his eyes. Truly, my entire face was reflected back at me in the pupils of Carson's eyes. I mean, sometimes I feed him and am so distracted by telling two other children what to do, or what not to do, or where to find something, that I soon realize I've hardly even looked at Carson while he drank an entire bottle. (No wonder he is a distracted eater!) But I guess there was nobody else around at that particular moment, and so I was soaking up his darling gaze, and he was completely focused on me as well. And then I realized, I could see my entire face as if his pupils were a mirror. Not just my silhouette, but all of my features were visible in the reflection of his eyes. I don't ever remember that happening before, and I'm quite sure the lighting hasn't been the same ever since.

It was such a cool, thought-provoking moment. In Carson's eyes, I could see the mommy that he looks up to: myself the way my children see me. A moment to reflect on how my children perceive me~ who their mommy is~ my physical being and my inner being. I know what it is like to think about my mother, and I know what it is like to think about my children. But in that moment I made the connection that my children will always think of me as their mother. Really? I obviously know that I have children, but there's something different about realizing that they will always call me their mom. Do I make any sense here? In any case, it was a heart-warming moment, and I hope the Lord will guide me in the amazing role of being my children's mother. That is a huge, crazy, wonderful assignment in life!

Happy Mother's Day to our Moms, and to all our Mommy friends!

No Assembly Required...

2009-05-06T10:34:00.000-07:00

Our new toy arrived via special delivery by the very kind man from whom we bought it. He and Craig used his backhoe to lift the playset onto his snowmobile trailer and
bring it to our cul-de-sac.

When can we climb on it, Daddy?

Some of the Hazen football players and two kind staff members lent their muscles (and brains) to orchestrate the move from the front yard to the back yard. Craig's dad was also part of the moving team. On one side of the house, the playset wouldn't fit between the gutters of our home and our neighbor's, but on the other side, they were able to fit between the houses, go over the gate, over the fence, and past the deck. Whew!

Craig assembling the swing set (okay, I guess there was some assembly required)...

Abby testing out the rock wall.

Happy Birthday, Emily!

2009-05-05T16:42:00.000-07:00

Emily is 6!

Playing with friends at the children's museum

Daddy paints Abby's face

Celebrating with special cousins

Gains & Losses

2009-04-27T21:28:00.000-07:00

Something gained ~ Our new pup, "Gracie"

Something lost ~ Emily's first tooth!

Easter

2009-04-27T21:18:00.000-07:00

Easter morning

Sisters

Picture taking gone awry

Neighborhood Egg Hunt

2009-04-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

The rain let up just in time for our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt this morning ~ whew!

Emily broke into a run with most of the kids when the hunt began, while Abby took a more meandering approach to egg-gathering. Carson was past ready for his nap, so he just chilled in the stroller and took everything in.

Ready to go!

The neighborhood gang

Mr. Chill

Abby hunting

Emily sharing a special find with her sis

What it means to be a friend:

2009-04-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

Emily ~ It means you be nice and you play with that person and you help them if they get hurt.

Abby ~ Be nice, play with them and do a lot of stuff with them. And sometimes we don't, but we're still friends.

We SO enjoyed having my good friend, Kim Ritton, and her 3 daughters visit over the weekend. What a great treasure to have such a wonderful friend in my life (since high school!), and to see our children develop friendships too. We missed you, Kris!

Lily gets a chance to jump, while Abby, Emily, Sophia,

& Julia take a break from bouncing to pose

for Kim, photographer extraodinaire

Lily, Julia, & Abby in the wagon at the bottom of our driveway

Sophia, Abby, Emily, Julia, & Carson snuggling with animals

The four "big girls" dress for the weather while playing

with stuffies on the deck

Go Huskies!

2009-03-19T15:29:00.000-07:00

Carson will be rooting for the Huskies along with his

Husky (by blood) mommy, his Husky (sometimes)

daddy, and his "Don't Coug It!" sisters :)

The Shark

2009-03-16T14:36:00.000-07:00

If you have hardwood floors in your kitchen/eating area and you have children, you need a Shark. It is a "cordless sweeper." But here's the clincher: because there's no cord, and it's lightweight... even a 4-year-old can run it! This is a daily job four our 5-year old. She also can differentiate between all the charging cords in the kitchen junk drawer (crazy how many there are!) in order to locate the correct one for plugging in the vacuum to charge after it dies.

It all began because Emily decided she prefers her Rice Crispies with no milk, which results in rice crispies everywhere. (And also resulted in Abby prefering her cereal w/o milk). So as opposed to outlawing no-milk cereal, I decided the perfect solution was just to have her clean up when she was done. It was either cereal with milk, or run the Shark immediately after breakfast. Now she vacuums the hardwoods almost daily (regardless of cereal choice). It is also extremely handy for a quick once-over on the carpets or the entryway rug. Have you seen their infomercial? (I hadn't prior to buying mine at Target...I just knew I didn't like sweeping often). The little vacuum is really quite good. Cheerios, pine needles, dried rice, dried play dough bits... you name it :) I highly recommend it. That, or get a dog to clean your kitchen floors (which hasn't been completely ruled out yet).

LOOK, MA...

2009-03-08T17:35:00.000-07:00

NO TRAINING WHEELS!

A day in the life

2009-03-04T17:07:00.000-08:00

Alright, so these pics span a little more than one day... perhaps 2 weeks. And a very busy couple of weeks they have been! Here's a snapshot of life as a 9-month-old:

I'm Crawling!

I'm pulling up to standing...

... in many new places!

I'm chewing on things (gotta give my 2 new teeth a workout).

I love to jump and swing!

Did I mention I'm crawling to investigate new places?

...and learning persistence!

I got baptized:

on March 1st, my Grandma

Priscilla (McCarson) Cooper's Birthday!

Frozen fish (not a meal idea)

2009-02-27T11:03:00.000-08:00

My mothering resume continues to expand each day. I never know what new skills I will add to my repertoire. Last week Abby's blue betta fish, Olivia, died. She was clearly not feeling well, so we weren't completely shocked to find her floating aimlessly on Wednesday afternoon. I did my best to break the news carefully and gently to my daughters. (Craig was gone for a 14-hour-er, so I was on my own). Emily's idea was then to bury Olivia and mark the spot with a giant blue X. Abby's idea was to return her to the sea. My idea... well, you can guess...which was deemed unacceptable to the fish's mother. Knowing that we couldn't dispose of the fish that day, I debated what to do with her. With all of Carson's baby food jars just begging for new uses, I thought it was brilliant to put her in one with a bit of water (it seemed too wierd to add no water). Well, it turns out that wasn't a fantastic idea. Long story short, we ended up with a dead betta fish, double-bagged in ziplocs, in the freezer. How was I supposed to know how to store a dead fish?! This is valuable life information that was not covered in any of my college courses. Also, what about "How to break the news of a dead pet to your child" or, "How to help a child deal with the loss of a pet" ...information you don't realize you're missing until seconds before you need it.

I am happy to report that Olivia has since been successfully and happily released into the wild; returned to the water from whence she came. And I now have several more skills and valuable knowledge to add to my resume.

One blessed mommy

2009-02-18T10:56:00.000-08:00

This morning I was reminded of the many blessings in my life. My husband got up with the baby who awoke on the early side. By the time I got up and threw on sweats, the baby was already napping and there was a warm breakfast waiting for me. My eldest daughter had just gotten up and gotten herself dressed. She greeted me with her sparkling eyes, a cheerful grin and a giant bear-hug. Shortly thereafter, my youngest daughter toddled out in her nightgown and had a loving just-waking-up snuggle for me. When I asked her if she was hungry, she said, "I want what you're having." (as a mom, it doesn't get much better than that!) It was just one of those cozy, beautiful, "Ah yes, I am so blessed" kind of mornings. Who needs Mother's Day?!

All you need is love...

2009-02-14T22:59:00.000-08:00

...and sleep. Yes, it's a subject I've brought up before. But today, on Valentine's Day, it's quite poignant. You see, our 8 months & 10 days old son slept through the night for the first time last night. THE FIRST TIME. (So if you're wondering why we sometimes appear insane, it's because we sometimes are insane, resulting from insane sleep habits.) But I wasn't bringing the whole subject up to complain. Actually, I just thought it was cute that he chose last night to sleep from 11 pm to 7 am without a major need. Truthfully, he did stir at about 2 am, and we (alright, Craig) got a bottle all ready to take in, but he resettled himself... So the bottle sat on the counter all night long - spoiling. We joyfully dumped the entire spoiled bottle down the drain this morning :) Here's hoping we can dump out more formula in the near future!

Happy Valentine's Day to all our friends and rellies! xoxoxoxo

Runny nose season

2009-01-22T10:04:00.002-08:00

Ah... the return of Runny Nose Season. If you have toddlers, you know the routine: they know how to use a kleenex, but it's a heck of a lot easier to use a sleeve or (gotta love this one)... the neck of their shirt. Over and over I hear myself saying, "Don't use your shirt, go get a kleenex!" And then they have to stop what they're playing to go find a kleenex, locate a stool to reach the kleenex if necessary, followed by the extra effort of putting the used tissue into a waste basket. Such a bothersome routine!

SO... here'a an idea that's been working around the Cooper household lately: "Private Kleenex" The child with the runny nose gets her own private box of kleenex for the day. Lord knows, thanks to Costco, there are plenty of extra kleenex boxes waiting in the wings at any given time! Then, to solve the "have to find a trash can" problem, I tape a small sandwich baggie to the side of the kleenex box, so upon using a tissue, the runny-nose child can place it into her own personal trash bag. Now, the "private kleenex" and attached trash baggie go with the child to wherever she is playing throughout the day. If I see an attempt at the shirt sleeve, I just remind, "where's your private kleenex?" And she usually stops everything to recall where she was last playing that she may have left her prized possession of the day - - the personal, private kleenex box.

Here's a Dr. Sears article about dosing Benadryl for kids by weight, which is helpful since the bottle itself says "ask a doctor" for kids under age 6...
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/8/T088800.asp

Still here!

2009-01-20T21:42:00.000-08:00

Things are still rolling in the Cooper household. Specifically, Carson is rolling pretty much wherever he wants to go. And thus begins the "put whatever I can grab into my mouth" stage. (Since our mothers read this, I don't think I'll mention the magnet, cheeto, and ornament that all came close). Yikes. I know, you don't need to tell me that those would all be BAD ideas. I know! Carson has figured out how to scoot wherever he wants to on the hardwoods in his exersaucer - - including to the front entry to dig in the diaper bag (to pull out whatever's on top), and to the fridge to grab what he can (you can imagine). Last night Craig declared him a crawler, but it was really a one-legged knee-push. His tummy never left the floor, but it was quite effective. I'm sure crawling is just around the corner. He's also quite a talented jumper in his Johnny-jump-up. I'll try to get a little video up soon.

Emily and Abby acted as photographer's assistants for me a couple of weeks ago (until they started melting down and tumbling on the furniture)...

Here are a couple of good shots we got:

(one of my assistants)

A PT Christmas

2008-12-30T23:48:00.000-08:00

All of us around the finished Gingerbread House

Gma & Gpa PT with Carson

All the kids with Great Grandpa Cooper

The Nativity

2008-12-30T23:39:00.000-08:00

What's wrong with this picture?

Who organized this Nativity scene?

A North Christmas

2008-12-30T22:45:00.000-08:00

The white boards are a hit!

Gma & Gpa North with the kids

Four Generations - Bob Gray, Carol North, Christine Cooper... & kids

The Nutcracker

2008-12-21T13:37:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely time at the PNB's Nutcracker on Saturday. Emily and Abby did a fantastic job of listening and watching for the entire production. Here are some pics:

And since we've no place to go...

2008-12-21T13:31:00.000-08:00

Of course there are places we could go, and places I'm sure we would go... But it is really nice to be forced to just stay put for a couple of days. For the record, we are completely in favor of the mandatory slow-down caused by snow in the PNW. Forget education. Forget productivity. Cancel whatever was supposed to be happening. Life is so much more than work and errands! The snow brings such unexpected, unusual beauty. (Aside from if you're on the roads trying to get somewhere when it all starts). If I blog again in a few days and the title is, "Going stir crazy," then you'll know we've had our fill. But in the meantime, we're giddy for snowdays!

Chillin' on the deck

Sledding with neighbor kids in the cul de sac

Eating snow is a priority activity in our family.

Em and Daddy

Abby buried in snow

Our mini snowman on his day of creation - Fri. Dec. 19

Emily says, "We need some WET snow. Not this dry stuff!" Some day when she's a fabulous skier, she'll realize how wrong it is to wish for wet snow.)

The mini snow-man this morning (Sunday Dec. 21). I regret to report he was buried in fresh snow, and has since been beheaded and entombed in pieces.

Gone for the winter already

Sleep Quotes

2008-12-19T14:09:00.000-08:00

If you're in the last few months of pregnancy (or can remember them), or the first few months of parenting a new baby, you might be able to relate to our recent conversation around sleep quotes.

Quote: Sleep is so overrated.
Response: Wrong.

Quote: Never underestimate the power of a good night's sleep.
Response: Right. Got it. I promise, I won't.

Quote: Early to bed, early to rise, makes you healthy, wealthy, & wise (or: 'till you make enough money to do otherwise).
Response: Whatever...money is not the point here. SLEEP is.

Quote: You've made your bed, now you'll have to lie in it.
Response: Really? I must? Okay, but how long can I stay there?

Taking Route 66

2008-12-11T14:33:00.000-08:00

The world of Cars (the Disney movie) has overtaken much of our lives, or perhaps just our imaginations. It keeps things very fun... you have to be on your toes to twist everyday things into the world of a little blue Porsche named Sally. To let you in on what that's like, Abby is going to dictate this blog entry (at least to begin with ~ until she loses interest and I polish it off quickly and move on!). Oh, and just to clarify, we did watch the rest of the movie, and for whatever reason, Abby now likes to pretend she's Sally, as opposed to Lightning McQueen (that's usually my assignment these days).

I love to drive! I just so much love to drive. I love being a car. My name is Sally and my name used to be Abby. I like to wash my front wheels and I like to go to the car wash. I do not ever want to get rusty. But if I get a little rusty, I'll go to the car wash. I'm really fast when I drive on my back wheels. Do you want to watch me? I sometimes put socks and shoes on my back tires to keep them warm. When mom calls me Abby and I say, "No. You called me Abby; my name is Sally." My friend Mater loves to drive backwards. We all love to take drives in Mac, my friend Lightning's big truck. Lightning likes to say, "Cachow!" I sleep in my own special garage every night. I also run the Cozy Cone motel.

Well, she did most of that on her own :) If you aren't familiar with Radiator Springs and the world of Cars, you should borrow it from the library. It's quite cute. And plus, then you'll know what to say next time you're with Abby - - I mean, Sally.

Tree Expotitions

2008-12-08T22:17:00.000-08:00

"Christopher Robin was sitting outside his door, putting on his Big Boots. As soon as he saw the Big Boots, Pooh knew that an Adventure was going to happen, and he brushed the honey off his nose with the back of his paw, and spruced himself up as well as he could, so as to look Ready for Anything."

By far the best 'Big Boots Adventure' we ever had while tree-hunting was 2 years ago with Lisa and Mike up at their property just past Snoqualmie Pass. Here are Mike and Craig cutting down one of the trees.

Here's the Ranger about 20 minutes later - - in a ditch with three beautiful Christmas trees tied to the top. Trust me, it took much more than good Big Boots to get out of that mess!

This year we much less adventursomely, yet still with great excitement, hit a tree farm in Maple Valley. It was a perfect foggy day (if you can't have snow, at least fog is nice) and the kids all had a grand time selecting the perfect tree. Okay, Carson really just rode around happily in the backpack and was agreeable to whichever tree we all liked. Here's our self-portrait prior to taking the saw to Elizabeth (that's what the girls decided to name the tree, per Abby's brainstorm about 30 seconds after loading up the van to head home with the tree on top... so Elizabeth she is).

In A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh, chapter VIII, "In Which Christopher Robin Leads an Expotition to the North Pole," Christopher Robin and Pooh carry on their conversation about taking an Adventure:
Christopher Robin: "We are all going on an Expedition"
"Going on an Expotition?" said Pooh eagerly. "I don't think I've ever been on one of those. Where are we going to on this Expotition?"
"We're going to discover the North Pole."
"Oh! I see," said Pooh. "Are bears any good at discovering it?"
"Of course they are. And Rabbit and Kanga and all of you. It's an Expedition. That's what an Expedition means. A long line of everybody..."

According to Christopher Robin's definition and this picture taken by Craig, I guess our fun last Saturday in Chehalis helping the Norths find their tree also qualified as an Expedition :)

Thankfulness

2008-12-07T10:17:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been in the unblogging world (Craig says, "you mean the real world?") for a couple of weeks now, and as a result haven't even taken the chance to report about Thanksgiving. It all began at about 1:00 AM with a call to the pediatrician's office regarding Carson's cold/breathing rate. The nurse we spoke with recommended we head to a hospital, and so Thanksgiving began a little too early for us (and for my parents, who came down to sleep in our house for a couple of hours). But all's well that end's well, and we returned home by 4:30ish and slept soundly for a few hours :) Carson is doing great now, after the help of a nebulizer (for those who are familiar, it was RSV). We are thankful for good medical care and for his returned good health!

Once the day got under way, we had a fabulous time. My parents (who were the head chefs), and Brian and Gwen and their family were all here. We decided it was the first major holiday our kids have had cousins around for, and it was a fabulous hit. What could be better than playing with cousins all day long on a holiday?!

Aside from delicious pies, the day was also topped off with the arrival of 8 more adult family members who popped in for dessert (and brought much of it with them). So I go to have my play-all-day-on-holidays-cousins around for a bit, too. It was the perfect end to our day of Thankfulness :) Ahhh.... doesn't it just make your heart tingle with warmth to be surrounded by so many loved ones?

In the busy-ness of the day, however, I neglected to take ANY pictures. Silly me. So, above is a picture of our Thanksgiving table surrounded by Emily and Abby's stuffies, who dined there together for a couple of days following Thanksgiving.

Reading with grandpa

2008-11-21T15:57:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-20T15:13:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-14T21:34:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-06T00:17:00.002-08:00

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

2008-11-06T00:17:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-06T00:16:00.002-08:00

Fun at Lake Coeur d'Alene

Abby's 3rd Birthday