Christmas Blogs for the Kids

So I found this blog today with great mini devotionals to keep the focus on the real Reason for the Season.
And I know this is pretty cheesy, but I've found a fun blog to share with the kiddos.
www.thenorthpoledaily.blogspot.com
The blog is written by an elf, Orophin (as seen above), that keeps us all posted on the happenings at the North Pole. Just something fun to look at with the kids.
At our house, we have another elf that actually visits during the month of December. Mr.Peeps sits around all day listening and watching us and then reports each night to Santa whether we have been good or naughty. And he is in a new place every morning - we never know where to expect to find him! He does wonders for our behavior during this crazy month. I'm just trying to figure out what kind of elf we can have visit the rest of the months of the year to keep the boys so motivated!

I'm Back!

Ok, so it’s been almost 2 months since I posted and I’m sorry, but here’s a quick catch up!

Thanksgiving with cousins is fun, especially when there's crafts.


Jake had a Pilgrim FEAST at preschool.


We took a trip to visit Utah and had great fun.



We surprised my dad with an awesome Birthday party.

Kate started food. She still doesn’t like it much.

This was Halloween:


So there you have it. Almost as if I'd been posting all along. Except for those recipes I was going to post.......well, the holidays aren't over yet.

Congrats Shannon and Chris!

Audrey Elizabeth was born October 15 @ 4:22 pm. She was 6 lbs, 15 oz and 20" long! I think she looks just like her sister, Emma - very cute!

Here is Kate and Audrey - my, how 4 1/2 mos goes by!

Here is the quilt my sisters, mom, and I made for Emma and Audrey's birthmom. I've never met her, but I love her and think she is an amazing person.

Oh, did you remember that C&S also adopted 2 boys this past summer, ages 4 and 16 mos (half brothers)? So they've gone from 1 to 4 kids in a few months. Pretty cool.

Official goodbye to summer

Yes, Fall has been here for almost a month, you may say. But I was trying to deny it for as long as possible. This week, however, the weather proved otherwise and I had to give in. We saw freezing temperatures and SNOW!
So in honor of the fun summer we had, I thought I'd post a video of how far Carson came at the swimming pool this year. You may not believe it, but at the beginning of June he would barely get his head wet!



Jake also improved much this summer - from crying when a kid splashed him to going under water on his own and even jumping into the big pool by himself, as shown in the picture above. He had to have a noodle though - evidently the life jacket wasn't good enough for him.

Election 2008

In honor of the awesome campaigning - plus haven't we all missed seeing Hillary?
My favorite part is Obama riding the unicorn...


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Labor day camping - Stanley Lake

We took our only camping trip this summer to one of my favorite places, Stanley .


Cameron took some of the kids out on the lake for a little fishing.

We also spent one day at Redfish Lake. The kids played in the sand and caught minnows.

Kate was a trooper for only being 3 months old. It got down in the 30's at night, so she had to be bundled up pretty well.

Emma, Carson, and Damian roasting mallows for s'mores.



Our last night, we woke up to a surprise. After raining for a couple hours, it turned to SNOW!

This is what our tent looked like by morning! Luckily, we went with people in camper trailers because we had to bail out of the tent in the middle of the night. It caved in from the weight of the "slush".



This was our view in the morning on the lake. Beautiful, but you can tell how cold it was - and only September 1st!

Other August Highlights

We took the kids to a park in Eagle to celebrate Jake getting Potty trained and had some cousins meet us there.

Emma-6, Carson-5, Damien-4, Jake-3, Charlie- 16 mos.

We went to the fair. Carson really wanted to go on the bumper cars, but the ones they had were for adults, so he settled for the "Cars" track. Funny, I don't remember Lightning McQueen as a jeep.

Jake started preschool! He loves, loves it. Here he is on the first day of school, looking like a big boy with waffle in hand because he was too excited to sit and eat cereal for breakfast.

Carson was caught reading to Kate about whales.

Blueberry Pie

Another thing I loved about Washington was the berries growing wild all over the place. There were farmers markets everywhere we went with fresh, tasty produce. Peaches and blueberries were in season, so we happened to come home with some. Actually 4 flats of berries for freezing. But before I froze all of them, I made this yummy pie.

Here's the recipe I found:

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
5 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 Tbl cornstarch

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Press the pie crust into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch pie plate. In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, and flour. Mix in the lemon zest and lemon juice. Gently stir in the blueberries. Pour into the pie crust.
Bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven, or until browned on top. Cool over a wire rack.

Seattle Trip - Friday: Hike to the Ocean, I mean "the Sound"

This was a definite highlight of the trip. No waterfalls, but just gorgeous Washington forest following a creek all the way to the beach. We were lucky enough to go on the first day the trail had been open since a flood had washed it out in December.
I don't think this picture does this justice. The girth of this tree trunk was enormous and Cameron climbed up to see that the inside was hollow!
This is the rocky beach we played at most of the day. The kids had such fun letting the boats and toys float down the stream out to the lapping waves.
We had to walk through a tunnel to get to the beach - for the train tracks that ran along the coast. And they were well used by trains, at least while we were there that day. The kids thought it was fun to see the trains go by, but even better to stand in the tunnel as they cruised by on top.
Here is the park at the entrance to the trail where the kids liked playing on this web. Hmmm...sure wish I remembered the name of it!

Seattle Trip - Thursday

We drove up to Everette to take the Ferry to Jetty Island. Apparently its pretty popular, though and we were afraid we wouldn't be able to make the ferry back when we needed to, so that plan was abandoned. However, they did let us take the boys - Jake, Carson, Ryan, & Ethan - over and back just so they got to ride on the "big boat". This pic is while we were waiting in line to board.

We ended up driving back to Duvall to play at a park there along the river that had fantastic sand.
The Harpers brought their diggers and that was a big hit!

Here I am trying to keep Kate in the shade, Whitney is reading "Breaking Dawn", and John was trying to get some work done before they left the country.

That night at the hotel, Spencer got to be the nite-time reader.

Seattle Trip- Wednesday: Children's Museum

Ok, so I had to separate one day to 2 posts! The Children's museum was loads of fun. They were in the midst of "Bubble Fest" so there were bubble stations and wands all around outside for the kids to play in. We saw an IMAX movie on Speed Racers with Mario Andretti, watched and then sampled ice cream be made from liquid nitrogen, and lots of other learning stations. Camille, Ryan, and Jake getting the bubble blowing down!
Either Cameron has shrunk or that is one large table and chairs!
My favorite part was the butterfly house.

Kate was happy just to be there!

Seattle Trip - Wednesday: Pike's Market

We didn't have a lot of time there, but Pike's Market was very fun for me.

The crayfish were still alive and Carson couldn't decide if it was cool or disgusting.

I loved all the fresh fruits and vegetables so despite the price, we bought a few for sampling and were not disappointed. The peaches were my favorite.

I know its the major landmark of the city, but this was about as close as we got to the Space Needle. (Cameron was proud he got a cab in the pic)

Fresh and dried flowers were so abundant, I had to take pictures to remember the beauty. I had never thought of flowers being part of a farmers market, but then again, I've lived in Idaho most my life.

Seattle Trip - Tuesday: Snoqualmie Falls

After walking up to the viewpoint, we took the hike down to the base of the falls.

Here we are at the platform (falls behind my head). This is where the hike is supposed to end - at least the large signs said so - but we hiked down for a closer look.

Jake, Cameron, Isaac, Courtney, Carson, Ryan, Ian, Lucy, & Ethan all posing before the hike.

I loved all the Hydrangeas everywhere in Washington - like they were made to grow there! So beautiful.
Carson found some sticks that were perfect for the ninja in him. Here he is defending us all....