this could take all day

first movie

We took Daisy to her first movie today. (Well, technically we took Dani too but since she slept and nursed through most of it, I'm not gonna count it.)

I got one not-so-great shot because Darin was giving me the "I-can't-believe-my-wife-is-taking-a-picture-with-a-flash-in-a-crowded-movie-theater" look. (He's pretty much perfected that one! :)

 

But I don't really care about the picture, because the whole experience was magical.

We took her to see a free 10am showing of "The Wizard of Oz". If you've spent much time around me at all, you know that this film is near and dear to my heart and I was just tickled that not only did I get to experience it in blue-ray on the big screen, but that my dear sweet daughter would forever have this experience to count as her first.

I was a little nervous morning-of. We've just begun venturing into the world of full-length films and about the longest she's stayed engaged at home is an hour and 30 minutes. I knew there were also some scary parts to this particular movie. So we talked to her at home before we went. She was thrilled with the idea of a movie in a huge theater (oh man, I wish I had a camera on her the moment her eyes lit up the way they did) and understood there would be some scary parts. I was also fully prepared to leave the theater if we needed to (part of the reason we went to a free showing!) and we gave up our usual "Nemo stays in the car" rule and let her bring her beloved orange friend into the theater with us.

Daisy was patient in line, and her eyes got huge as we entered the semi-lit theater and found some seats (thankfully, on the aisle). She wanted her own seat, and sat, literally, on the edge for most of the entire show. She talked during a few scenes: "Oh no, Mama, her dog runned away." She danced in her chair during the songs. And her Papa & I made "isn't this amazing?" eyes at each other over her for most of the movie. The only part that scared her was near the end when the witch and her cronies are chasing Dorothy and her friends. And I happily let her curl up on my lap and encouraged her to look away. But she bravely kept watching and settled in for the happy ending.

As we were leaving the theater she looked up at us and said "that was really really fun."

Yes, it really really was.

A princess and a penguin (and a tigger)...

...go trick or treating.

(Sorry for the blog absence. No excuses. Please don't leave.)

After naps on Halloween we loaded up our kiddos and drove the 45 minutes to my sister's house in Spanaway. Even though I still miss Bellingham, I am thankful to be living closer to my sisters again because of days like this. We invited Darin's sister and her little guy to join us for some fun, and my other sister showed up too! It was a real party.

We had a delicious dinner (thanks again, Jason) and then prepared for the fun of trick-or-treating in Michelle's development neighborhood.

Thank goodness for warm baby costumes!

 
 

Dani wasn't so thrilled with the stroller, so I promptly handed off the camera and carried her in the front-pack for a while. Problem? My sister had told me her camera battery was dead, and I didn't get ANY pictures of her kiddos in costume. Maybe we'll have to do a staged photoshoot sometime this month?

Here are a few pictures I think Darin took.

 

(Hey, it looks like we've got some blurry cousins in these next few shots!)

 
 
 

 

Maya and Macey did a great job at helping Daisy up the steps to the houses for about the first 20 or so houses. And then the novelty of waiting for a two-year-old wore off. I was proud they lasted as long as they did. So Michelle, Darin & I took turns helping her up to houses and we hit a few more. But by then it was getting really dark, and Daisy was getting freaked out when groups of kids would come running up behind her. She also wasn't such a huge fan of the scary costumes and after a big meltdown we decided to call it a night.

Looks like these two were done as well.

  
  
Daisy kept talking about the "scary stuff" as Darin carried her all the way home, but was sure excited to dump out her candy once we arrived! And now she wants Halloween every day.

Darin took a little video of the trick-or-treating action as well. Really cool to contrast with last year.

Check back tomorrow for Halloween Part 2: Molly & Lexie vs. Mike Myers.

pumpkin carving

This annual fall activity is so not my thing. But Darin loves it and was looking forward to beginning the tradition with the kiddos (or atleast the big one) this year. So earlier this October he busted out the carving tools and got to work.

Daisy helping carve the top.

 

Time to ditch the dress and check out the innards.

  

Scraping off the top.

 
  

And cleaning out the insides.

 
  

And then it was time for me to leave and take a little shopping excursion to Target. I came home just in time to see Darin put the finishing touches on the Mickey Mouse as requested by Miss Daisy.

 
  
 Later in the week Darin also took some time to carve out three more smaller pumpkins.

His "two-headed" monster, of course.

 

 Something simple. (Daisy drew on this one.)

 

And a goofy one.

 

Not a bad looking bunch.

 
 
 

the princess & the penguin....

get their pictures taken!

 

 

 

 

 

 


  

 

 

Thanks to Darin, for the shots of the princess, and the ones of the girls together. Thanks to Miss Karen Russell for the amazing photoshop file so I can round my photo edges. (Karen also taught the online photo class I took last year.) Thanks to Gran for the adorable penguin costume. And thanks to JoAnn fabrics, for putting your halloween costumes on sale two weeks before Halloween!

And one behind-the-scenes shot for your enjoyment.

 

 
 

Happy Halloween!

 

Our day began with really yummy jack-o-lantern pancakes. I think this is a sign it's gonna be a good one.

 
 

a penguin and a princess...

go to a Halloween party.

How wonderful to get to dress up and go play with friends at Round Table! We had a great time at a little mom's group party last Saturday. Daisy has not stopped talking about it since.

 

It was quite a lot for the penguin to take in, she couldn't quite manage to stay awake the whole time.

Going...

 

going...

 
 
gone!

 

 So gone.

 

But the Princess sure had fun playing with friends, (does the pregnant nun thing ever get old? I hope not.)

 

eating pizza (reading the menu aloud to us: "pizza, pizza, pizza, and sum mo pizza")

 

and getting her face painted.

 

 

And we all enjoyed the delicious treats.

 

 
 
 What? Your princess doesn't wear lovely green bibs with her pretty princess dress? Well, ours does.

Look for more adventures of the penguin and the princess soon.

 

easy cooking fun

Last week when I was looking around online for some recipes to add to my meal plan for the week I stumbled upon this easy recipefor Nutella rolls. 3 ingredients total. Looked delicious. So I added the ingredients to my shopping list and decided we needed to whip these up that very afternoon.

Now, I'm no Ree with her beautiful cooking photography, but I had Darin take a couple shots so we could share the fun here with you guys.

Ingredients:

• Nutella
• Refrigerated Crescent Rolls
• Powdered Sugar

Grab your ingredients, a baking sheet, and a toddler who is eager to dip her fingers in the chocolaty goodness.

 

On each crescent roll drop a spoonful of nutella and spread it out a bit. Do this quickly or impatient toddler will mutiny and stick her fingers in the chocolaty goodness.

 

Let toddler roll up those bad-boys.

 

Sprinkle with powdered sugar. (We forgot this step, but I think Daisy would have liked this part.)

Bake according to package directions.

And then the best part, licking the nutella spoon!

 

(Please ignore the post-nap hair!)

Interesting note: the toddler loved the nutella better than the crescent rolls.

Side note: kinda like chocolate croissants, but way less fluffy.

Question: when does said toddler officially become a preschooler?

saying yes

So many times a day I find myself saying "no" to my eldest child. Way more times than I want to. Telling her "no" to bad behaviors. Telling her "no" when she asks for things she can't have. Telling her "no" when she wants to do something that we don't have the time, space, or energy to do. That no word is heard way too often around here.

Recently I was challenged by this blogger about my use of the word no and have been trying to take a pause before it comes out of my mouth. Take a pause and ask myself if I could really say yes?

Last night the question (acutally, more of a request) from Daisy was: "Mama, take off yo cyoes and take a baff wif me." (Take off your clothes and take a bath with me.)

I took a pause.

And then I said, "sure". And the smile on her face was all the reward I needed.

It was fun to sit in our way-too-tiny and way-cooler-than-I-normally-enjoy bath and play with her. Splash around. Wash her hair. It was a good mother/daughter moment. And I was glad for the chance to say yes.

Today I wasn't so good at saying it.

Gonna try again tomorrow...

I would love to hear some of your "saying yes" stories in the comments to inspire me.

sharing the playmat

I was sweeping the kitchen the other day and things were a little quiet in the playroom. I came around the corner to find this beautiful scene:

 

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE watching these two together. The magic of siblings.

fall craft party

I have big dreams of spending hours doing crafts with my daughters, but we're definitely not there yet. And since we've got to start somewhere instilling crafting love, I'm on the hunt for preschool-friendly-do-it-in-five-minutes-or-less kind of crafts.

On Monday I hosted my first ever preschool craft event. I offered room for 5 kiddos, but only 2 came. I think that was great because it was a much more maneagable scene.

First up on our list was a craft from a recent issue of Family Fun Magazine which involved paints! Our first foray into real paints!

Here's the example I whipped up:

 

Supplies:

• cardstock
• brown marker
• construction paper
• fall paint colors
• sponges

Directions: (Use your discretion of which jobs you do and which you have your kiddos do)

1. draw a trunk and branches on your white paper
2. draw a cloud on a piece of construction paper and cut out the inside, making a mask/stencil
3. place the mask over your white paper (I found paperclipping the two together helped with the younger kiddos)
4. use sponges dipped in paint to make the leaves on your trees

Here's the two-year-old version:

 

Crayons optional: (but since they were on the table to draw a "cloud" they must be used!)

 

I think we might try this craft again next fall, but overall I was pretty impressed with her version. (By the way:I'm all about letting kids do crafts their own way. If you buy a craft kit and expect kids to make it exactly like the packaging, you're gonna be dissapointed. Or you're gonna be doing it for them. This has been a hard lesson for me to learn, what with my OCD craftiness, but my time spent in Children's Ministry has really helped. Kids need to learn to create and express themselves, not be taught how to do a craft exactly as shown: that's what math is for!)

Our second craft of the day was pretty simple.

Supplies:

• fall leaves, dried
• contact paper
• scissors

Directions:

1. collect leaves and allow to dry
2. cut contact paper to size of a placemat
3. place leaves on paper and press down
4. cover with a second piece of contact paper

Hints:

• internet directions recommend drying leaves in a heavy book before using them, but since we were doing this craft day-of we just laid them out to dry for about an hour on a towel. I would recommend flattening, as the placemat is a little bumpy
• cut off the stems, also add to the bumpyness

 

This was a pretty simple one, but Daisy enjoyed placing the leaves and pushing them down onto the sticky paper.

Next up...Christmas crafts!
 
 
 

how many does it take?

  
I took the girls to get their pictures taken on Saturday for a MOPS fundraiser. I had a Children's Place coupon that had to be used in October, and since their holiday dresses are released this month, I snagged my first matching outfits for my girls and dressed them up for the photo.

I packed along my camera and tried to get my own cute shot while we were waiting for the professional. Let's just hope his turn out better than mine!

"Dani, you look awesome. Daisy, please smile for Mama."

 

"No, Daisy, not like that. Smile nicely. Don't squint your eye."

 

"Great kiddo. But Mama's over here. Look at me."

 

"Okay, fine. If you won't look at me I'll just focus on Dani."

 

"Whoops, that's not working so well either."

 

"Time to give Dani a pep talk."

 

"That's better, but gee Daisy, what is so interesting in that corner?"

  
 
 "Uh, Daisy. I think your sister is falling over."

  

 "Okay, that's better. But you don't really need to rub her face."

 

This, I believe, is the point where I busted out the fruit snacks bribe for one nice picture.

 

But she still couldn't manage to look at the camera.

  

  Or smile nicely.

 

  
 
I think it's time to give up and go home.

Believe it or not, the first picture I took was the best of the bunch. Oi!

 

right now

As inspired by Miss Ali Edwards.

 

Outside my window: it is pouring rain. Welcome Washington fall.

I am thinking: about sleep training. Dani is doing so well, usually crying less than 5 minutes before sleeping at both naps and bedtime. But now Daisy thinks she has to cry herself to sleep too, and its been 30-45 minutes the last few nights. What next?

I am thankful for: my warm home, internet TV, a photo of me and my girls, and southwestern salad from Trader Joe's that made dinner nice and easy.

From the kitchen: 3 brown bananas just waiting to be made into bread. Seriously so easy to whip up that I have to psych myself up for the dishes more than the baking.

I am wearing: my shirt from today and new PJ pants. Needed to take off the jeans but was too eager to eat to change my shirt too.

I am creating: a cleaner scrap space (hopefully), some burp rags, a craft for December MOPS, a page about Dani's curls, and a cross-stich about seasons. I like to have lots of projects going on at once.

I am going: to the library tomorrow. Overdue books (Harry Potter is a little long to finish in 3 weeks but I can't get it renewed) and Gilmore Girls season 3 waiting for me.

I am reading: 10 pages to go in Harry Potter & the Halfblood Prince. Looking forward to picking up Jesus for President when I'm done. And I also have about 15 magazines on my shelf to peruse.

I am hoping: to not just survive the next 3 days as a single mom, but to enjoy this time with my daughters. And then to welcome Darin back with excitement and not exhaustion. (He's in Spokane helping the Eddy's remodel their bathroom.)

I am hearing: quiet. Thankful that Daisy is now quiet. A little "white noise" from the hallway fan too.

Around the house: there are messes. Little spots that show this house is lived in. And candles. I am loving the chance to light more candles around here.

A few plans for the rest of the week: library, getting pictures taken, church, hosting a preschool craft party, Darin's birthday, and p-lay (as Daisy says, emphasizing the "p").

A photo to share:

 

Daisy's "cheese" smile looks rather appropriate on this pirate ship. Doesn't she look like she's saying "ARGHHHH"?
 

cowgirl Daisy

At nearly 2 and a half, we have begun to enter the fabulous world of pretend. Like the previously mentioned "bean cooking," Daisy has begun pretending throughout her day. She pretends to be a mommy while caring for her baby dolls, she pretends to go to work at camp while getting in and out of her play car, and she pretends to be a cowgirl when she dons her adorable cowgirl hat.

(You too, can own one of these lovely hats as we sell them in our camp store!)

  

 

She is absolutely delightful and I can't wait to see what her imagination will do next.

ps: Mom, Dad, Deb, Michelle: A little blast from the past here?

pumpkin patch

Last week we packed up our beautiful girls and took them to a small family farm in Silverdale. We had a lovely time wandering around the gardens, visiting the animals, and picking out some pumpkins.

Here are some of my favorite shots.

 

 

 

 
  

Darin liked this pumpkin and is gonna try to carve a two-headed monster with it.

 

 

 

Daisy had such a hard time picking one out, we finally had to do it for her!

  

Next up...carving...

cookies and milk, and beans

Last weekend my niece Molly came over to help watch Daisy. I was busy speaking at camp (4 talks, which went well, thanks for asking) and Daisy LOVED having her cousin's full attention.

I only took 1 picture during the weekend, a Saturday afternoon snack at Daisy's table.

 

(And Daisy really loves playing with her beans. Lately it's all about pretend cooking. Two weeks ago we got a steal of a play kitchen on Craigslist and I can't wait to give it to her and her sister for Christmas. You can add play food or dishes to your Christmas list if you're the gift-buying-for-Daisy-type readers here.)
 

vacation recap, FCAD and last day

On Saturday morning of our vacation day (after a delicious breakfast including Dad's famous Huckleberry Pancakes) we headed into the town of Quincy for their annual Farmer Consumer Awareness Day celebration.

First was the parade with lots of big tractors! (Daisy was not a fan of ANYONE in costume, especially the large french fry that came strolling down the street in front of her.)

Note to self: CHECK THE WHITE BALANCE SETTINGS!

I could probably fix the parade photo in photoshop, but I'm too busy to figure it out so right now you get to enjoy a blue picture.

 

After the parade we headed over to the field to prepare for the main event. I opted out of playing volleyball this year, and instead got to hang out in the tents with the kiddos and lots of family (including my parents who stuck around for the day).

Cousin Quentin loved poking Dani in the nose. (Ah, isn't the lack of blue nicer?)

 

A mariachi band came by to serenade us.

 

It was really hot out that afternoon!

 

  

I was too hot to venture away from the shade in order to take volleyball pics. But Darin managed to capture a few of the championship match.

This one's my favorite.

 

At one point, as play was winding down, Daisy asked us to go for a walk. So Gran with Dani, Daisy with baby China (oh, that is a post in itself), and me with no baby took a walk around the field. 

 

We tagged along with my parents to their "old" church in Ephrata and watched the "pass the baby" game that occured with Miss Dani and her adoring fans during the fellowship time.

We needed a new family photo for the Miracle Ranch page, so I asked Dad to take one outside church. I'm pretty happy how it turned out.

 

And one of the grandparents too.

 

After church we ventured to lunch with Mom, Dad, and some friends of theirs where we were all highly entertained.

Daisy & Dani fell asleep on the way back to Crescent bar, which was great because we were able to get back and get our stuff packed up while they were snoozing.

 

We had to take in one last swimming trip before heading home.

 

 

Daisy's been learning to swim by herself using a noodle. It's pretty impressive.

 
 
  

 And that's it. Time to head home and back to work.

vacation

During the first week of September we had the opportunity to take a little family vacation. We combined it with Darin's family's annual "Rally In the Valley" volleyball tournament in Quincy, and a chance to see my parents one more time before they headed east and then south for the winter. My parents added us to their 1000 trails park membership, so we were able to camp in a great little park in Crescent Bar.

I wasn't quite up for the idea of tent camping yet, so we rented a little "park-model" trailer that was a great place to eat breakfast,

 

play with toys,

 

check in with work,

 

and take pictures of cute babies.

 

 

Yeah, and it also had some lovely air conditioning!

We were told the trailer had bunk-beds, but this triple bed was even better! Especially because Daisy "fell out" at least twice while we were there. She thought the bed was pretty cool though.

 

 

One morning we enjoyed a walk down to the Crescent Bar resort beach.

  
 

(what a difference a few months makes:

 

 

Daisy had some goldfish snacks on the grass.

 

 

And Gram entertained the little one.

 

 

This is the view from my parents' campsite that we enjoyed very much.

 

 

 

Daisy received a set of "color wonder" markers for her birthday, and we set them aside for just a time as this. She enjoyed lots of coloring time on Gram & Gramp's picnic table.

 

While stopping by Darin's Aunt's house, Daisy got her first taste of trampoline fun. She was really nervous when the two boys were jumping, but when they paused and gave her a chance to go by herself, she LOVED it.

It's really hard to take decent jumping pictures, but Darin tried. At least you get a sense of her joy.

 

 

 

 

My mom was set to have a birthday in a few days, so we went out to celebrate with some yummy Mexican food. Here's dad holding Miss Dani, who always manages to decide she's hungry right as the food is arriving.

 

That's enough recap for tonight. Will try to be back tomorrow with some more!

double stroller

Thank you to everyone who helped contribute to our purchasing of this lovely double stroller. With about 8 gift cards and a 15% off coupon, we were able to purchase this lovely at Babies R Us just before vacation.

I really wanted a side-by-side, even though it's pretty wide, I could envision countless fights about who would get to ride in front of the sit & stand models. But, there will probably be lots of fights over "MO-OM, she's on my side!" with this model.

See? Daisy's already trying to hold her sister's hand for the picture!

We also had to get a jogger because of the rough roads and fields around camp, and this guy handles like a dream. Here's a shot from vacation on our way back from the beach, don't look too closely or you'll notice one cranky baby.  

We also love that the seats go up and down so easily, allowing us to use it with both the toddler and the baby, as well as be able to use it for quite a while.

Here, Miss Dani is hanging out while the rest of the family was swimming.

 

Oh, she's so cute, we must need a closeup!

 

All summer long when we'd walk to the dining hall for meals, Daisy would choose to walk over riding in her stroller. Now that we've got this guy, she always picks stroller.

Thanks again!

keeping busy

LOTS of things have been keeping me from this blog lately. Problem is, the more I do the more stuff I have to blog about and the less time I have to blog.

• Spent last weekend up in Lakewood so Darin could help his brother roof his first home. We are so excited for them to join the ranks of homeowners, and this great house is undergoing some major renovations before moving day.

Some of the crew, pausing for a picture break:

• This coming weekend I'm speaking at the "Fusion" retreat for 4th-6th graders. I've got 4 talks to write so I've been imersed in notes and bible stories and reminiscing about my own stories in order to come up with 40 minutes of good material for these guys. Oh yeah, and Darin's working too, so I've got to figure out how to take care of my kiddos. Thank goodness my neice is coming over to help for the weekend!
• I love my gig as MOPs craft coodinator, so I'm often consumed with ideas there.
• I need to come out of the woodwork and get my rear in gear with 4-H. Fair season is OVER and now we're back to work. I have about 50 emails I need to respond to.
• Has anyone seen my floor? It's buried under a mess that desperately needs sweeping
• Got back into Harry Potter. Finished book 5 last week and have book 6 lying around here somewhere. But I have to get my fusion talks done first!
• I've got an adorable and hilarious 2-year-old, and a beautiful and demanding 2-month-old that fill up my days too.

Oh yeah, and typepad takes FOREVER to load photos. That doesn't help this lack-of-blogging thing either!

camp walk

After naps on Labor Day, we loaded up the children and headed out for a walk around camp. We had just purchased our fabulous new double stroller (more on that later) and thankfully hadn't yet parted with the single jogger.

So the twins got the inaugural ride in the double:

And Sam took the single:

Dani got to ride on Darin for a while, but on me for most of the walk:

And the big kids had to walk. Poor guys were trying desperately to get turns in the strollers, until they realized that walking could have its perks too: like berries!

Or pushing the strollers!

(Can you even see Daisy back there? Trying her hand at pushing too.)

Before we left, we had to load the girls up with some milk, and put their sweatshirts on. Look at this dynamic duo taking care of the second generation duo!

(Jen later borrowed our camera and captured some nice shots of my rear in response to this photo. Too bad those pictures were on my camera and this is my blog, and I don't have to share them here!)

Jen did take the following shot, a nice candid of the walk.

We stopped by the barn for a bit to terrorize the baby kittens.

And stopped by the game room to show our friends our favorite game of roll the pool balls into the holes.

Poor mister Sam wanted in on the action too.

On the way home we found a couple hula hoops left behind in the big field,

and Darin turned them into a choo-choo train to encourage the tired kiddos to walk the rest of the way home.

Man, sometimes I really love living here.