Pumpkin Patch

As soon as I decide to do better writing on here, I let myself

take a break because we had family in town.

I'm not apologizing; it was super fun to have her here & I'm sure I will

make the choice to neglect the blog the next time we have company.

Lucky for you, it doesn't happen often.

 

My little sister came to visit for a week and we loved it.

It was so convenient that she chose to come during

a three-day school week when Tomato's teacher forgot the week was short

(which meant we didn't have to worry about doing any homework!).

It was great, and we definitely took advantage of nice weather

and no homework.

 

Wednesday right after school, we headed off for our annual visit to the pumpkin

patch.  I thought about changing the farm we have been going to, but the price is right.

All the extra activities at this farm are free, and everyone else charges.

And I really like that the free corn maze is just the right size for little kids.  There's really no way

they can get lost in there; which tells you how small it is.

 

The annual growth chart.

  My dwarves 

Inside the maze 

 At the toy pile 

 Cheddar was thrilled to be there

 Tractor time

 

 

 The following poses were all spontaneous...each one has

great things, so I couldn't choose just one

 

Since I don't really LOVE carving pumpkins,

we let the kids choose their own from the

tiny pile (also super cheap).



New Favorite Spot

Sour Cream has a new favorite spot to color.

While the girls prefer sitting on the opposite side of the table from where

they eat, he has decided it's better to go to the corner of the kitchen.

 I tried to sneak a picture while he was coloring, but he was turning 

around at every noise I made, and then once he saw the camera,

he had to get close and smile.

 And the closer he got, the more his smiles turned into this.

Check Out This...

...Gorgeous blanket!!

 My mother-in-law made this beautiful quilt for our bed

for Christmas.  She told us last spring that she would like to make everyone 

a large quilt and that we needed to let her know what fabric

we would like her to use.  I told my husband about it and then promptly forgot.

Until August, when she came to visit and mentioned it again.

So we headed to the fabric store that night, along with my sister-in-law who

had also forgotten all about the offer.

I went around and around the cotton section of the store, trying to decide on what

we wanted.  Since we haven't ever decorated our own room & Kidney Bean said

he didn't care, the world was, if you will,

my oyster.

I think I picked out at least 4 different combinations, but had a difficult time

deciding which one I like the most.  And then I decided to go with the 

pink combo.  I love it.

At first, my mother-in-law was like, "It's your quilt.  You can have

what you want."  She didn't like the combination of fabrics

that I had chosen.  But after she cut the squares & we laid them

out together, she started to really like it.

My mom sent us the pillow cases and the throw pillows, 

which she made out of the same fabrics.

Here's a closer picture.

And it's super warm.  We put it on our bed the night we got

it in the mail & it's been nice and snuggly ever since.

Thanks, Mom!

Both of you!

It's About TIme & Halloween

I have not been interested in blogging for months.

It was a task to convince myself to write the last post, and it's

been this long before I've really thought about posting another.

I don't know why that is.

I even stopped reading blogs, even though I love, love, love

to read the blog posts of my friends and see what you are up to.

And I missed a lot, which makes me sad.

But I can't go back and change my actions.

We've had a lot going on around here since summer, even though there

are so many days that it doesn't feel like it.

But I'm not feeling well today, so it's a lazy day and perfect to get

back to blogging, right?

And I'm going to start small.

The girls, of course, wanted to be princesses for Halloween.

And they, of course, wanted to be pink and purple princesses.

So I headed to the fabric store and bought fleece, since it was on sale

and I thought it'd be nice and warm for a costume.

I bought two yards of each color & had plenty of fabric, so these dresses

were $8 a piece, and then I'll probably make some new winter hats with the rest.

 I just used some elastic and felt from my fabric stash to make the crowns, after

finding a great tutorial and pattern online somewhere.

 The boys were all going to be grandpas, and we were going to cut Sour Cream's 

hair into a grandpa style (shave the top bald), but I never made it to

the thrift store to find him or daddy a sweater for their costume, so I ended up

improvising.  He wore his jeans, plaid coat, winter hat, and I made a quick

felt axe so he could be a lumberjack.

I tried putting some makeup on his face to give him a goatee, but he resisted

and it looked like a bunch of gunk, so I wiped it off and we were out the door.

And the baby, of course, hated his outfit.  But he was warm

and it was in our costume box.

Best Friends

I love what great friends my kids are all becoming with one another.

They still get on each others nerves every day, but

there are more and more tender moments and laughter and a little less of the 

fighting and bugging.

 I also love how cute this boy looks with a little bit of gel in his hair.

We've put the girls in a bedroom together.

It's been a week now, and it's been great.  They are actually

getting along better with each other and seem to be sleeping better at night.

If anyone would have told me this would have happened, I would not have believed a word of it.

I'm also excited to complete their room, and I will share what we've done.

It's the first time that we've ever decorated a bedroom, and I'm really pleased with how it's turned out.

Sweet Boy

My sweet little Sour Cream.

He's becoming quite the little gentleman.

Yesterday right after dinner, I asked Olive to bring me 

the rag so I could help her get cleaned up.

She had washed herself, but missed some ketchup on her face.

As has become the norm for her the past week or so, she said 'no' and started crying.

I told her that she needed to go get the rag and get cleaned up or she'd be dirty all night.

Well, little Sour Cream saw her crying and toddled over to her - 

BTW, he's now walking!! - 

and as I watched him, I could see that he knew she was sad.

He almost gave her a hug, in the form of bending his head down to her, and

then he stood up and walked off into the kitchen.

We read scriptures as a family together after dinner, and 

Daddy was helping Tomato read her verse.  I was

watching Sour Cream come back over to the living room, and he was 

carrying the rag that I had asked Olive for earlier.

I watched as Olive sat up when he touched her and he

shoved the rag into her face, trying to clean her up.

 So.

Darn.

Cute!

 I interrupted the reading so Daddy could watch this touching display

of affection and love that our little 15 month old boy was demonstrating.

She cheered up while Daddy ran for the camera, but he was done cleaning by then.

Grandma

My grandma died last month.  It was not

completely unexpected - she's been very sick and frail for years, but it was still

a shock for us all.  I guess she had been hoping to make it to age 87,

since that's the age that her mom and one of her sisters passed away, and she did.

She turned 87 just 2 days before she died.

This is an old picture, but it shows how happy my grandparents

were to have each other.  They have always loved spending time with family.

She was an incredible lady.  She had 6 children, one of which was my mom.

She's the first person to die on that side of the family, which is really

quite amazing, since there are 28 grandchildren & over 40 great-grandchildren.

I think that my cousin summed up her amazingly when she posted this

on facebook:  

"She is the spunkiest firecracker, who will whip you into shape and love you at the same time."

 Grandma made sure that you knew what was right and that she expected you

to act right.  But even when you were upset that she called you

out for something or let you know what's what, you always knew that she loved you.

She always called me by my given name, which even close friends have at

times been surprised that my Missy is not my given name.

I was able to fly to Salt Lake City for the funeral over Father's Day weekend.

I'm so glad that we could afford that, and especially that my husband was willing

and able to stay home with the kids all weekend.

He's kinda great.

Still in love, over 60 years later.

My aunt created a painting of this photo and it was next to the

casket at the viewing.

I learned some things about Grandma at the funeral that I hadn't known before; she had

graduated from beauty college & another program, like a typing program or something.

It was so fun to hear her brother give the eulogy - he was telling stories of

Grandma and also her mom.  It was neat to be able to hear how 

Grandma had so many of the same characteristics and attitudes that their mom did.

Her mom had 10 children, and later ended up taking care of several nieces and nephews 

after their mom died.  And since Grandma was one of the oldest, she helped a lot.

I'm so grateful for such a good example in my life.

And even more grateful that I know that we will see her again one day.

It makes losing someone in this life easier to bear.

The gospel is true.

An Eventful Weekend, take 2

So it was another busy, family-filled weekend.

It started with a cast for my little Sour Cream.

Here we are in the waiting area before his appointment with the 

Orthopedic doctor.

 And here he is the next day when we were visiting my parents.

He ended up with a spiral fracture on his tibia.

But the good news is, it wasn't too serious and he's young enough that

he should be able to get it taken off next week!

The cast wasn't the only thing keeping us busy...as

soon as Sour Cream and I got home from the doctor, we loaded the family up

and headed to Idaho for my little brother's second wedding reception.

I had thought about going alone, or the whole family staying home.

But since it would've left me the only one of my mom's kids not attending, we made the trip.

We pulled in to her house just after 11.

Tired kids.  Grumpy family.

And then found out we were all sharing one room.

It was a disaster.  I think the kids were finally all asleep around 1:30.

Once the afternoon hit and Sour Cream had a nap, followed by everyone eating

a good lunch, our moods were lifted.

The girls headed outside with Kidney Bean to have some fun.

And my oldest brother had his kids there, so they had a lot of fun seeing their cousins.

Here are some shots from the reception - it was super cute!

My mom and aunt and sister made 7 different flavors of homemade marshmallows

for the s'more bar.

And of course we had to get all of us in a picture together.

I don't know how long it's been since we've all been together.

The trip home was surprisingly pleasant.

It helped that the girls slept better Saturday night, we had a big breakfast,

they had lunch right before we left, and were tired enough to sleep 

for at least 1/3 of the trip.

We stopped near a Columbia River overlook to have some milk

and graham crackers...leftovers from the wedding.

I sure am looking home to a nice weekend at home!

An Eventful Weekend

We had quite the weekend.

And it started on Thursday & isn't quite over.

But today was nice and quiet ... so far.

My little brother got married on Saturday, in the Seattle LDS Temple.

Which is the reason for most of the busyness.

On Thursday, I went to the temple to be there the first

time his wife went.  It was really nice, although a little stressful because

of the crazy traffic.  I almost missed it because it took

45 minutes to get about 5 miles.  I'm glad I don't live in Bellevue.

After the temple, I went to say hello to my parents, who had just arrived

at their hotel.  And I picked up my sister and brought her home with me.

It was a great surprise for my kids on Friday to wake up

to their aunt!

She painted their nails, of course, and we all had a nice morning.

That afternoon, we had a babysitter come over and

I headed back to Bellevue with my husband & sister for the rehearsal dinner.

We knew it would be a late night & opted for a babysitter so our kids would be happy

on Saturday.  And what a great decision that was!

We ate at a pizza place, where my mom & two of her sisters performed a rap that

my mom wrote in honor of my brother.

And we had an aunt & uncle sing a song about love for them, too.

It was great.

On Saturday, we got up, had breakfast & got everyone cleaned up and ready to go.

I didn't want them wearing their wedding clothes all day, so I made sure

to pack an extra bag with everything in them.  And the only 

thing I messed up with that is I forgot the girls' shoes.  So they wore their 

everyday shoes.  Oh, well.

And I brought the wrong headband for my daughter, but she ended up wanting

to wear one of the ones I remembered, so it worked out okay.

We stopped by the church to say hello to my mom & her sisters, who were putting

the wedding cake together.

Then ate lunch.  Then went back to the church to change our clothes. 

Then we went to the temple.  My sister watched the kids in the waiting room, since

they aren't able to go inside.

It was a beautiful wedding.

After pictures outside, we went back to the church, since the reception started

in about 45 minutes.  There were a few family members who were able to travel

long distances to come, and it was really great to see them.

One of my mom's sisters wasn't able to make it, but the rest of her siblings came.

And we had two cousins who brought their families along.

On Sunday, I had a tough time staying awake during sacrament meeting.

But I did it.  I think it helped that I had to get up halfway through and sing with the choir.

Our next adventure started right before we ate our early Sunday dinner.

Since we get out of church at 230, we started eating a bigger meal as an early dinner, and

then give the kids a sandwich right before bedtime.  It's been really great.

Especially when I remember to do a crock pot meal.

But I digress...

While I was getting the food ready, poor little Sour Cream started screaming.

It was definitely a hurt cry, so I put down what I was doing and went to find him.

He was curled up on the floor, in an awkward fetal position.  We usually try not to pick the

kids up when they are hurt, so we know that they can move on their own.  But he was

too upset to try to move, so I carefully pulled him onto my lap.

He didn't settle down until Kidney Bean took over the cuddling.

And then promptly fell asleep on him.

It took us a while to decide what would be the best course of action

when he was still complaining about his leg a couple hours later, but we opted to have him checked out.

Of course, it was the time of day that all of the urgent care facilities in town were closed, so

off Sour Cream & I went to the ER.

He wasn't complaining much about it, but I had utilized the toll-free, 24/7

nurse hotline that our insurance provides & the one I spoke to urged that he be checked out within

the next 6 hours.

It took SO LONG to get out of the waiting area, which was super lame.

My poor boy sat on my lap for two hours in the waiting room, then got so sick of it that he 

insisted on getting down on the floor.  Which I'll admit I let him do, even though I wasn't sure

I really wanted him down there.

But have I mentioned that he's about 25 pounds?

Heavy.

It took another hour before we were called back.

He had two x-rays done, but the dr couldn't see any break or fracture, but

he said it was inconclusive about the fracture.  So we are supposed to follow-up

with his regular doctor in the next 1-2 days.

BUT, it was a holiday yesterday, so we weren't able to go.

And the only option we were given is today at 4, which is in three more hours.

My poor guy.  He was just learning how to stand & so excited at the possibility of walking.

But he refuses to put any weight on his right leg, so standing is really awkward &

when he tries, it usually ends in tears.  

And screams.

And cuddles.

Wish us luck!  Hopefully it'll heal quickly.

So he'll be back to doing this soon: