Grandma is here in November!

We loved having Grandma here to show her all the fun things that we (Brock) do during the week! First up, art class on Monday!!

This week's activity was painting and decorating tree centerpieces. Since we finished that so quickly, Brock and Grandma went up to the front to paint and press leaves! Brock liked the pressing/hitting part the best.

Dab, Dab, Dab, Dab...

The tree looks really cute and will definitely be our centerpiece for Thanksgiving dinner!

My mom got a glimpse in to my life as well... I'm busy. Brock is a little tougher these days and is learning to push his boundaries. He's very smart, speaking in full complex sentences and has a memory like an elephant. I think when he gets bored, he gets in trouble..... lots of trouble.

Kade is a pretty good baby, but needs assistance getting to sleep whether it's naps or bedtime. Naps are at most thirty minutes long, so it kind of takes a toll when you're spending the same amount of time just to get him to sleep! He's such a happy baby when awake - always smiles whenever I look at him and smile. He's so cute!

One of the days called for SUN, so off we went to show Grandma how close we really are to the mountains! We first stopped at Snoqualmie Falls.

I was told there were only a few steps on the path to the waterfall.... so not true; we ended up taking shifts with Brock to visit the site. It was amazing! Very, very pretty.

Pictures can't do it justice and I know that ours are not the best either. ;) Come visit and I'll take you to see it in person - it's only a 35 minute drive away!

We continued on I-90 (another 3,020 miles and we would be in Boston, MA) to North Bend for some outlet shopping, then finally stopping at Snoqualmie Summit to turn around. This is where Brent gave me a few lessons in snowboarding a few years back and hopefully the weather will cooperate and give us a fair amount of snow this year for the good of the ski season! (Last year was horrible - it was too warm for snow!!) To give you an idea of how high we climbed, we got on the highway in Issaquah, elevation 108 feet, and the Snoqualmie Pass Summit is at an elevation of 3,015 feet. Quite noticeable on the temperature gauge too!! Not bad for less than an hour away from our house!
Okay.... I'll quit with the numbers. ;)

What's a visit from Grandma without stopping at Chuck E. Cheese?? This was our first visit to our local C.E.C. too - I was reluctant to let Brock know that this wasn't just a North Carolina thing.

It was clean and the games all seemed to work - that's really all that matters, right? Brock was delighted again - he loved earning those tickets! He's getting better at skeeball too! He now throws sidearm instead of underhand and got a few 2000's!

Reading one of the Usborne books Grandma bought us

Brock and Kade loved having their Grandma here. (It was interesting to hear Brock refer to the guest room as Grammy AND Grandma's room) Oscar and Diesel loved the attention too - even if they had to share food with that little yappy white poodle. Mia was actually much better behaved and only pooped twice in the house on this trip. ;)

Thanks Mom for helping me out for a week cleaning, cooking, bathing, reading, and playing. We loved showing you what we've learned and our weekly routine. It was nice to have a little more time to talk to you - in between crying fits and hunger pains! Just hop on that nonstop from CLT anytime!

Happy Halloween 2015

The start of our Halloween festivities - Trunk or Treat at MOPS

Halloween was a blast this year for us! Brock was super excited to be Batman and told everyone about his costume and Kade's! Brock was definitely able to get his wear in - MOPS, Pre-school, and Halloween night!

His school had a "Fall Party" the last 45 minutes of the last October class and wouldn't you know it, but another Batman showed up! Kade and I came to help volunteer for the cookie decorating. You can see my child was impatient waiting for the frosting and sprinkles as a part of the bat's wing is missing. ;)

Finally it was Halloween night! Brent took Brock to a few houses in our neighborhood, but unfortunately the rain returned so it was a hurried experience.

The church our MOPS group meets was holding a Halloween Costume Carnival and it was the perfect way to safely celebrate the holiday, under cover! We attended last year and I think Brock remembered how much fun it was! He loved playing all the games and winning a piece of candy at every one!

Of course another fun feature was a gigantic blow-up slide sitting in the middle of the sanctuary!

And, another fabulous part of our Halloween this year - Grandma came in for a visit too!!

It was great having her here for the holiday so she could see both the kids dressed up in their costumes! Brock liked showing off his throwing arm too (playing the carnival games)!!

Kade, the puppy dog, and Grandma

Meeting our San Francisco Cousin!!

My cousin Andrew, wife Lauren and daughter Ara flew up from San Francisco to visit their Tacoma/Seattle family this past weekend. From what I hear, Ara did fabulous on her first flight!

It was the absolute cutest to see these little ones "play" together! They are only one and a half months apart! (Ara being older)

The two babies were really great going from one person to another's arms!

Brock missed some of the visit because it was naptime, but then we managed to bribe him in to taking some photos too!! ;)

Diesel got in some play time with Evan and Kali's 5 month old puppy too!

And one more that I stole from Facebook of the San Francisco family.... I didn't take a photo of Mommy Lauren while she was here!!

Brock's First Field Trip - Pumpkin Patch Farm

The whole family joined Brock's preschool on their field trip to Carpinito Farms to visit the pumpkin patch. What a cute place! It turned out to be a pretty warm day and the sun was shining!

After listening to the Farmer explain the life cycle of a pumpkin, we all hopped on a hayride!

We toured the farm a bit more, stopped to say hello to some animals.....

....then it was time for the Corn Pit!!

So much fun!! While there we picked up two pumpkins - one "small" one and one jumbo sized!!
The following day, Brock and I went right to work carving out the pumpkin!

Brock was fascinated by the insides of the pumpkin.... but did NOT want to touch it. He liked helping me dump the stuff on the table with his ice cream scooper though! SPLAT!

 Finally.... our pumpkin was complete!!

Happy October!!! :)

Brock's Art Class

 

Brock has been going to an Art Class through the Town of Renton with his friend Zoe. We just finished the four Monday session and signed up for the next round because we loved it so much!

The first day the kids made super hero capes! Brock picked up the number 8 (it's his favorite!) and the letter "B"! And he put all the glitter on "all by myself" - which is also his favorite phrase these days.

Week two we played with clay! Brock pressed his left hand in one for a keepsake and pressed some leaves that we picked outside.

He loves play-doh, so he loved this activity, but both our hands were much dirtier playing with clay than play-doh!

The teacher took these to get fired and returned them to us the last week of class. Finished product below....

The third class was super cute. We made spooky lanterns with paper mache and halloween buttons and figures.

Showing off his finished product.... (yes, that's an electronic flameless candle inside) ;)

On our last day, we made peacocks! Painted the bird and then decorated the bird's tail (streamers) with more glitter!! (Helen would be so proud!) ;)

He loves playing with the moving eyes too! (We may have used some on our streamers) I love his concentration getting the glue out with the stick and putting it on his streamer.

The teacher is really great and I'm really happy with all the activities she's chosen for this age group. She even does birthday parties too..... hmmm... ;)