Dada's First Post Attempt

Some of you may have seen this already, but for those who haven't...

Here's the back story-

I asked Jasper to take the laundry out of the dryer today, a task he usually completes in about an hour with about a 50% accuracy rate from dryer to basket. I went to check on him five minutes after issuing the order and witnessed this scene.

All credit to my lovely wife who apparently has been giving little practice tasks to Opal for awhile. I had no idea my baby was ready to join the work force.

Next we're heading up to the roof. Her little hands should be perfect for cleaning out those hard to reach gutter down spouts...

Oh, and if you have the volume down turn it up. Their conversation is so tiny and courteous-cute little guys!

No More Tonsils!

On Nov 11th, Kivi got to have a tonsillectomy! She has been waiting for this for a long time. The poor girl could hardly breath or swallow through the nail head size hole in the back of her throat. Our stay at Mary Bridge for the early morning to the afternoon, was quite enjoyable. The nurses were so attentive and helpful. Of course it might have helped that Kivi was one of the only non-screaming children before or after surgery.

Dada, Kivi and Boo Boo Puppy coming out of the elevator at Mary Bridge.

Kivi and Mama after donning the appropriate hospital jammies.

After she took the medicine to make her sleepy she was saying the funniest things. None of it made any sense. One of the few phrases we actually understood was, "Oh, my blanket just turned pink."

She did great during the short 20 minute surgery. And was a champ while we waited for the IV to fill her up with liquid. Most of our time was spent waiting. Which is probably the hardest part for a 4 year old. We are so proud of our Kivi girl. You did great baby!

Introducing...Baby Oly!

We're expecting!... Again! Baby #5 is on it's way. We had the 8 week ultrasound appointment on Nov. 2nd. We left the kids with Auntie Tonya under the guise of an appointment for Kivi's tonsils - which are coming out in 2 days. Sorry Tonya, we lied.

Expecting to see an 8 week little blob we find this:

A much more developed little baby. The ultrasound technician told us we were actually 11 weeks along. So we get to tell all of you sooner! Peter always names the baby at the first ultrasound. He usually names them after what he sees on the screen. Thus names like: Froggy (Eben), Egg (Kivi), Thumbkin (Jasper) and Baby Bean (Opal). But this baby looked nothing like the others. All he could think of was how old the baby looked and so he called it Oldy. However, for the sake of cuteness he changed it to Oly (Oh-Lee).

The name is perfect because after bringing everyone back home he told everyone to pack up because he was taking Mama on a birthday surprise! After dropping the kids off at Miss Kim's house (Thank you, thank you Kim!!!) we drove a short distance to Olympia (see the Oly part) where we stayed at a quaint and comfortable B & B for the night!!

I really love this man. I was completely satisfied with my corn maze, pizza dinner and pedicure he got me on my birthday. And then he went and did it again! He never fails to surprise me, excite me and love me!

The Swantown Inn Bed and Breakfast was wonderful! We were the only guests there, stayed in the biggest room with a huge king bed and jetted tub. Peter also made me an appointment at the Attic, the spa they have in the attic. It was so relaxing! Two whole hours to enjoy at the spa! First, I had a foot bath, sipped vanilla tea and nibbled on lavender tea cookies while talking to Peter, then I had a lovely massage, and ended my time in a 6 headed shower! Ahhhhh! Thank you Babe! I love you so much!

Harvest Carnival!

On Oct. 31st we went to Lake City Community Church's Harvest Carnival. It was so organized and there were so many friendly people helping out everywhere! We have always done family theme costumes so the kids still expect to dress up as a family - I hope that never changes. Hey, I can dream! So this year since Indian play had been a constant theme in our household and Kivi had her get-up from her cowgirl party we went as Cowboys (well 1 cowboy and 2 cowgirls) and Indians. We strayed from the original Indian outfit of towels hanging from a headband around the boys waists to pant with "Indian fringe" down the sides. Still shirtless though. You gotta be a little authentic.

Eben eating.

The first thing we did was have a free corn dog dinner.

Then we got our picture taken.

Jasper getting the ring on the stick.

After we got our free popcorn we headed over to the carnival area to play games. There were 24 different games to play, the boys played 12, Opal played 7 and Kivi played 5. I know because they gave us these cool carnival passes that they checked off every time you play.

While we played, Kivi and Dada decided to take a break. Cowboys get worn out easily I guess.

Opie eating her cotton candy.

Then the Indians decided they were done too, so we headed over to get our free cotton candy and called it a night. Amazingly, the kids ate no candy on Halloween night! Oh wait, cotton candy probably counts. Okay, except for the cotton candy.

Mama Gets To Go To The Corn Maze!

Hooray! The Corn Maze! I love corn mazes, especially Spooner Farms, because they have 6 mailboxes you have to find and a theme each time. This time it was "Honey I Shrunk The Farm" Which was great because our kids had seen the movie Honey I Shrunk The Kids earlier this year over and over. So they were excited to take our journey through the big "yard" and encounter the scary looking but friendly Anty, slide down the huge Lego, almost get sucked up by the big lawn mower, and eat the big Oreo cookie in the middle of the lawn. And like the movie, we got extremely muddy!

Kids - all smiling - What! How'd that happen? (Oh yea, Dada's in the background making hilarious faces.) Sitting on a Spooner cow bench. - Pre mud.

In the middle of the maze on a giant lawn chair.

Eben jumping over the mud puddles.

Jasper and Kivi "jumping" over the mud puddles.

The kids all loved these duck races. I don't even think they noticed them last year.

A family shot with giant pumpkins. Jasper and Opal were freezing - their hands were purple. We should've taken it when we took the cow pic, before the cold set in. But all in all, it was a great, fun, muddy thing to do for fall and for my birthday - I thought at the time - which was the next day.

Pumpkin Carving 101

Well, maybe we should call it Pumpkin Prep 101. Because Dada does the actual carving. The kids do a great job of getting their pumpkins ready though.

1. Wash the pumpkin:

2. Draw a sketch of what you want your pumpkin to look like:

3. Draw your sketch on the pumpkin with marker:

4. Have Dada cut the top off and scoop out the insides:

(Later Mama will make toasted pumpkin seeds that no one ever eats. This is a bad tradition. But what else do you do with all those seeds?)

5. The next night, eat a lollipop and watch Dada carve out the faces:

Ta da:

Opal's cute pumpkin, Eben's one-eyed monster, Jasper's Robot Pee (Dada called it Special Ed) and Kivi's scare crow.

Free Pumpkin Day!

We love pumpkin patches, but we love free stuff more. So we wait until the firefighters give away free pumpkins in their parking lot. Yippee! I love free! There's a lot of stuff for the kids to do too, but we mainly picked out our pumpkins, fired the big hose, jumped on the jumpy toy and were out of there. We needed lunch.

Eben puts out the "fire" with the fire hose.

Opal picks out her pumpkin. One of only a couple white pumpkins. She has an eye for uniqueness.

Jasper with his square shaped pumpkin who he lovingly called "Robot Pee" the rest of it's existence.

Kids with pumpkins. I can't get a good shot of all of them at the same time. Oh well.