Happy Halloween!

I can hardly believe my baby is 9 months old. And cute as a button I might add. I think its those elf ears of hers that just make her so darn cute. Her first tooth finally broke through a few days ago and she has been pulling herself up to stand for a couple weeks now. No cruising yet, but she is letting go of things and trying to stand on her own so I am thinking she will probably be walking well before she turns 1. She is still my smallest little sweetheart, only in the 25th percentile for both height and weight. It will be fun to see such a little body walking. Christmas will be interesting this year with her being as mobile as she is. We will probably get the tree later than usual and who knows, maybe it will have to be a tiny one sitting on a table top. If that is the case then her siblings will not be happy with Miss Breezy.

OK, here is the annual cookie decorating picture. Darcy actually frosted some this year and Bree was eating all the broken ones. I believe a good time was had by all!

Here is the "before" picture of our own little pumpkin patch. I think my Dad might have been on to something when I was growing up and we only had 1 pumpkin that he carved. When we each have our own, and the smaller ones insist on carving their own, it makes for a lengthy, and messy project.

Drew carved a pirate pumkin and it turned out well. Mason was obsessed with cleaning out the entire pumpkin before he could carve. Every little sting had to come out, which isn't easy to do. But he did it and then had a nice looking ghost till he got a little too enthusiastic and starting cutting bigger and bigger holes in it till it didn't resemble much of anything by the time he was done. It was his first time carving though and he did a great job and had fun, which is why we do this, right?

Darcy LOVED the guts! I carved a quick face in her pumpkin and then she played in the slime for an hour while the rest of us carved ours.



The finished products! Pretty spooky!

This year we had Nemo, the Transformer Bumblebee, a jelly fish, and a chili pepper. All 4 of the kids have worn the chili pepper costume. I love it! Bree was pretty squished into it but she never complained. I was happy to see Drew used the jelly fish again this year. We made it last year so it got a lot of use.

Bree was content to chill out in the stroller as the big kids went trick-or-treating.

Darcy was surprisingly aggressive. She marched right up to the doors with Drew and Mason and wouldn't leave till she got her candy too. I loved my little Nemo with the matching orange curls poking out! Too cute!

Drew, Mason, and I stayed out for an hour and a half knocking on doors. I love Halloween so it was fun for me to have bigger kids who were willing to trudge up and down the neighborhood hills with me. Heck, they got a ton of candy out of it so they weren't complaining.

Mason and Darcy have had their mouths full of candy since Halloween but Drew still has quite a bit left. She reminds me of my sister, Candace, who used to still have candy left at Easter. Man that drove me crazy.

We had a lot of fun this Halloween and are hoping Thanksgiving and Christmas are just as exciting! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Fun Times and Funny Faces

Some people (my kids) probably won't like me much after this post but I just couldn't resist sharing the recurring theme in most of our pictures: Funny faces! My kids are pros at them, even when they aren't trying to be. It is easier to find pictures where one or more is crying or looking away than all of them smiling at the camera so those are the pictures I will share this time. Be on the lookout!

Today is October 8th and we have already had a full month of activities. This happens to be my very favorite month of the year so I am not complaining when I say we have been busy. Its been tons of fun! On the 1st we went down to Corvallis where Paul was able to get in a night full of shoot-em-up computer gaming with his in-laws. He says its fun . . . whatever floats your boat. On the 2nd I went to the OSU-ASU football game with my mom. Paul and the kids roamed around Corvallis and visited with his sister for 4 hours while mommy got some much needed Tiff time. And I had a great time with my mom. After one 75 yard run by OSU which resulted in a touchdown I turned to look at my mom and it was the cutest thing I had ever seen her do. She was jumping up and down with her hands in the air yelling "yeah, yeah, yeah!" with a look of pure joy on her face. I giggled for the rest of the game whenever I thought of that. That will be one of my favorite memories of mom I'm sure. After the game we high tailed it home so we could attend another family event on the 3rd.

Paul's niece, Paige was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes about 3 days after Mason was born. I believe she was 6 or 7 at the time. It was quite a blow to such a sweet little person, and her family, but she has been such a trooper through it all and has to be one of the strongest people I know. We joined Paige and her Pals for the Juvenile Diabetes walk held over by Oaks Amusement Park on Sunday. We walked (some of us farther than others), ate, visited, and rode the rides at Oaks Park. It was a lot of fun and a great cause. Hopefully the money earned will go far in the fight against this disease. The above picture has Paige's sister, Kendall, in it, but not Paige. I think maybe I saw her twice the entire day, she was pretty popular!

Drew, Mason, and I rode the Tilt-A-Whirl and got it spinning pretty well. Drew has an iron stomach, I am pretty good, and Mason was a bit queasy but still wanted to brave the rides. I was proud of him. He was a bit freaked out on the Ferris Wheel when Drew was tilting the pod but he made it the entire ride.

Darcy loves cars and trains so we thought she would enjoy the car ride. Not so much. She screamed and held on to me as we were putting her in the car and parents were looking at us like we were torturing the poor kid. Maybe we shouldn't have made her go on it but once it started moving she was OK . . . I think. Sometimes my kids can be such wusses!

Mason and Drew on the Frog Hopper. This used to be Drew's favorite ride but I think she has moved on to bigger and better thrills. Mase liked it though. We all had a great day spent with Paul's family for a great cause. Thankfully the weather was just nice enough to allow me and the two little girls to join the group. I look forward to doing it all again next year.

On the 6th we braved the Pumpkin Patch in the 80 degree weather. Man it was hot! The kids' faces were beyond pink, they were bright red. We had a good time there too, though. It is our annual tradition and it is so fun to watch the little one, who the year before couldn't have cared less about the pumpkins, be amazed and thrilled with all there is to see and do. This year it was Darcy's turn to thoroughly enjoy herself, as you can see by the smile on her face while we were on the tractor ride out to the pumpkins.

I love this picture. Makes me giggle. This is much more representative of my kids than a nice picture of them all looking calmly at the camera. What a crew!

I am in the back holding Darcy up for this picture. Have a mentioned Darcy is a classic "Terrible Two?"

Drew and Darcy in search of the perfect pumpkin. I think Darcy found hers!

Mason looks like he is about to squash the pumpkin. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if that's what really happened when I turned my back. We had lots of fun at the patch and found 6 great pumpkins to represent each of us on Halloween. Add those to the 3 we actually grew in our garden this year and that makes for one crowded porch full of pumpkins.

An update on Bree: She is crawling like a pro and getting pretty fast. I caught her yesterday on her forehead, legs and arms flailing, two steps down from the top of the stair case. Good thing she has that big ol' head to stop her or she would have toppled down before I could have gotten to her. She is now sleeping through the night, 6:30pm till 6am. Score! And just yesterday I was feeding her and I turned my back to get something for one of her siblings and I turned around and she had the spoon in her mouth all by herself! She has learned pretty quickly that if you want something around this house its probably fastest to get it by yourself!

Mason's First Day of School

My little boy is officially a big boy! Mason had his first day of preschool today and he got through it with flying colors! At least I think he did. His teacher didn't ask to speak to me after class got out so I am assuming that means he did great. He, of course, won't tell me anything that went on but he didn't have an emotional outburst or lock himself in a room like his older sister did on her first day. I think that means he will be OK with this school thing. And I think I have finally had an experience where I can say raising boys is easier than girls. Yeah! I am so excited for this new adventure for Mason. He has always been in Drew's shadow, taking his cues from her behavior as to how he should act in social situations. It will be interesting to see how he does on his own. Hopefully some of Drew's obedience will have rubbed off on to him. He is a great kid and I know he will do just fine. I just got a tiny bit teary eyed when I left him but I soon got over that when I realized how quiet the house was for 3 hours today! What a nice respite. But I was just as happy to have my sweetheart home, chasing Darcy and making her scream and bringing the noise level up to where it should be. Congratulations Mason, you did great and I am so proud of you!

These were my attempts at getting a good picture for his first day of school. The last one is about as good as it gets. Oh how I love my Mason!

Drew's First Day of School

Yesterday was Drew's first day of first grade and she survived! She actually came home with a smile on her face and gave me lots of hugs. A major change from last year's first day when she locked herself in my bedroom and wouldn't talk to anyone for a half hour. She was absolutely starving when she got home because she didn't realize just how long she would have to go between meals now. No more grazing for Drew and it will be a difficult transition for her. I'm sure she will survive though. She is happy with her teacher and thinks it will be a good year. I, on the other hand, am not so sure. At her open house I discovered that the little monster who tormented her in preschool is in her class this year. I sent off an email to her teacher letting her know what had happened in preschool and I got a reassuring email back with a promise to keep an eye on things. So far Drew hasn't even mentioned recognizing this girl so hopefully there won't be any problems between the two. We shall see.

Here is Drew stepping off the school bus for the first time! Yesterday I woke up both Bree and Darcy from their naps so we could pick Drew up from school and I decided that wasn't going to happen again so we stopped off in the office and signed her up for the bus! She was thrilled but I was a bit hesitant. It worked out fine today though so I think this will be the permanent MO. We are looking forward to a great year!

Cape Disappointment 2010

Thursday we set out on our annual camping trip to Cape Disappointment State Park in Ilwaco, WA. This was our third year in a row and it has become our season ending event. Mason had been waiting all summer to go camping at the beach and I think it was well worth the wait. No flat tires this time! Just filthy kids who played in the dirt and sand for 4 days straight without a proper bath. I think their mom was the only one who minded though. My parents camped Friday and Saturday nights with their trailer so we had a good time hanging out with grandma and grandpa.

Mason LOVES roasting marshmallows. He roasted Thursday and Friday nights, fell asleep at 6 pm Saturday night from sheer exhaustion and missed the roast, but daddy was kind enough to build a fire Sunday morning so Mason could get one last roast in. I think Paul would have done it anyway, he had a great time playing with the fire, seeing just how far he could drive everyone away with his massive bonfires.

Drew enjoyed the marshmallows too. I don't know how many they got down before I would realize I should be regulating their intake and put a stop to it. Oh well, nutrition goes out the trailer door when you are camping.

We stopped at Fort Clatsop on Friday, where Bree got the first official National Parks stamp in her passport book. I now have all the WA and OR national parks stamps. Drew is pretty close to done also.

We spent every afternoon at the beach by our campground. Beautiful scenery and weather met us each day. We really had incredible weather for the Washington coast. Just warm enough to be comfortable and windy enough to fly our kites. No one was brave enough to fully immerse their body in the ocean but Drew and I were up to our knees (I guess her bottom).

Here is the obligatory picture of the bacon! I refuse to cook it in my house so Paul and Mason get their fill when we go camping.

Saturday we braved the crowds at the Kite Festival in Long Beach. The kites are cool but my main reason for going is the fried elephant ears! Yum! They are a greasy, sticky, sweet mess that I look forward to all year. Drew talked me into cotton candy too. Like I said, nutrition flies out the window.

The wind wasn't very strong on Saturday but it was enough to get a few kites in the air. Enough for the kids to be excited.

Last year we couldn't keep Darcy out of the water. This year she was content to play up the beach a bit in a pit Drew dug for her. Last year we were trying to get her to walk, and this year we were trying to slow Bree's movement down. At 6.5 months Bree decided to get mobile. She is up on hands and knees but not crawling quite yet. She still manages to roll or slide to wherever she feels she needs to get to. Fun times for me. I have never had a baby mobile this early before.

Here she is testing the sand with her toes. She didn't mind it at all, unlike me according to my mom. I would yank my legs up if my toes ever touched the grass or sand when I was little.

The crew in the trailer. Thankfully no one landed on top of each other in the night and they were relatively peaceful nights. For the kids anyway. I can never sleep very well for some reason. Maybe cuz Bree was using me as a pacifier all night since she got to sleep with me.

Paul's bonfire. See what I mean? We took some wood with us and bought a stack on the drive in. He was determined not to bring a stick home with us. It made for some HOT fires over the weekend.

This camping trip worked out 100 times better than the last one, no offense to anyone there! I think the lack of car troubles helped. We had a great time and are looking forward to it again next year. Now its time to shift gears, move bedtime up, get haircuts, and get our stuff together for school to start. I am soooo ready for the routine, the cool nights, the COLLEGE FOOTBALL. Fall is the most wonderful time of the year!

What a Weekend!

Friday afternoon found Bree and I relaxing at home in the quiet without Paul or the kids. He packed up the kids and the trailer and headed to Fisherman's Bend campground to camp with his family before the family reunion/picnic at Silver Falls on Saturday. Bree and I stayed home because I had a doctor's appointment for my out of control thyroid and also for some help with the horrible itchy rash that has come back. I had it last year and thought it was pregnancy related but that is not the case this time. This dr said the same thing the dermatologist said, "you are allergic to something you weren't before so go home and change everything you use and eat." Uh huh, yah right. And that worked so well from last summer now didn't it? They gave me the same steroid cream so I just get to mask the symptoms without discovering the true cause yet again. Sometimes I just love paying doctors the big bucks for all their helpful advice. But anyway, Bree and I hung out, she was in bed by 6:30, by 7 I was completely bored and missing the noise of my other kids, so I started a few different movies, wasn't interested in any, read my book, and was in bed by 10. I guess I don't do alone time as well as I thought I would anymore!

Saturday we met up with my bro-in-law Dan, who chauffered us to Silver Falls for the party. On the way there we got stopped in Woodburn for a lowrider parade. I saw my very first car using hydraulics as it bumped down the street! Well, I had seen them in Snoop videos but never in real life before. What a treat!

Silver Falls was beautiful. I had never been there so it was a nice place to discover. At least that's what I thought driving in. When we got to the parking lot I was attacked by my kids, which was a good thing, and a husband in "survival mode." Happy to see me and the feeling was mutual! I was also introduced to a completely flat tire on our Acadia but figured it was OK, we have a spare. We continued on with the picnic, the kids swam, Darcy was saved from drowing twice by alert and quick moving aunts, and Mason clocked me in the temple with a frisbee thrown full force about a foot away from my head. It totally dropped me and luckily there was a foam pad right behind me that I landed on. I have a nice goose egg on the side of my head to show for it.

Later on we hiked to the falls, where we were crazy enough to take the stroller all the way down to walk behind the waterfall. Paul and my brother-in-law's wife's dad pushed that baby filled with babies back up the very steep slope. Thanks guys! It was a beautiful place but we were only willing to push the stroller to the first waterfall, not the entire loop.

Darcy loves the water and just kept walking farther and farther out until her feet dropped out from under her. I think she went after a ball once too. Thankfully Aunt Star and Aunt Carmen were nearby to pull her out! The little blonde, besides Drew, is Paul's brother Roland's daughter, Maple. My kids had lots of fun playing with her and her brother Koa. We wish they lived closer so we could have fun like this all the time!

All of these pictures are taken by Paul's niece Wendi, and she was kind enough to let me use them, even though I never asked her, because my camera was in the car and I was too lazy to go get it I guess.






When we got back from our hike Uncle Paul taught Changing Tires 101 to the teenage nieces and nephews. They did a great job but the spare was a tiny donut that obviously wouldn't allow us to pull our 23 foot trailer home on it. In hind sight maybe Paul should have left his family reunion for hours to drive into Salem to get tires but that didn't happen so we were stuck trying to figure out where we were going to find tires on Sunday, and also get ourselves out of our campsite by 1pm. But first we had to make it through the night! Easier said than done. Bree ate probably 4 or 5 times during the night because everytime she made a peep I would feed her to keep her quiet in hopes that the others wouldn't wake up. Yah right. Once Drew slid from the upper bed onto Darcy on the lower bed and was sitting up in a daze looking around for the noise of Darcy's screams as she sat on top of her. Another time Mason was down on the lower tier snuggling with Paul and kicking Darcy in the face and Drew had somehow managed to get back up in her original position. At this point the 3 youngest kids were either crying or wimpering and Paul and I were trying to get it under control. They were finally all quiet and I was crawling back into my bed when Drew shouts in her sleep: "Turn it off!" My sentiments exactly Drew. The sun finally came up and ended the horrid ordeal of nighttime and Paul was off to Salem to hopefully get either the tire patched or new tires, because we relly needed new ones, and back to the camp site in time to vacate the premises. But of course it wasn't that easy. GM, it turns out, wants you to buy a very specific tire for the Acadia, pretty much available only at their dealerships for exorbitant prices, or Les Schwabs might have it but Schawbies isn't open on Sundays. Well, neither is a GM service depertment it turns out. I was/am so flipping mad at GM for their ridiculous system and even though I love my Acadia, I will never buy another vehicle from them again. If you are the only ones who have this tire then you sure as heck better have them available when people need them! At this point I was getting a bit upset since we were supposed to be at my niece's baptism in Salem later that afternoon and I had no idea what was going to happen with all the scenarios floating around. I decide to try to bathe my filthy children in our trailer but for some reason (I didn't have the gas turned on) the water wasn't getting warm so I took a cold shower and Mason suffered through a cold shower before we we said froget it. My poor kids. Mommy was not happy. After a million different phone calls to everyone on the planet Paul found 4 tires that would work for us at Costco in Portland. The one with the hole couldn't be patched so we needed to replace it and had to do all 4 as the ones we were replacing it with were a bit bigger than the originals. So to make a VERY long story shorter than what I have already written, we pulled Paul's brother-in-law out of church in Corvallis and had him drive Paul's mom's truck to our campsite to get us out of there. Paul's mom was still camping there too with her Excursion so in the end we hooked her Excursion up to our trailer, Scott drove the kids and I home and high-tailed it back to his house for an obligation later that evening, Paul's mom took her trailer home with the truck, and Paul took the Acadia to Portland for a brand new set of tires. All's well that ends well but when you are suffering from uncontrolable itchies, an out-of-whack thyroid, a sleepless night, and trying to please 4 little bodies, it is pretty much hell while you are going through it. Its nice to be home and this trip just confirms our decision to skip the road trip this summer. We do have another camping trip planned in 2 weeks for 3 nights at the Kite Festival in Long Beach but hopefully all the bad luck is behind us, knock on wood. Thank you to all of our many helpers this weekend, we couldn't have done it without your willingness to help us! Oh, and unfortunately we missed the baptism from all this mess. My niece was baptized 29 years to the day after I was. Pretty cool.

Our camp site at Fisherman's Bend, which looked like a cool campground if I had the time or energy to explore it.

I wasn't even sure this little guy would get the Acadia home in one piece.