Christmas time

So it has been a busy few weeks. Here we are getting our Christmas tree. It was a beautiful day, not rainy at all which was great. The kids got a little frustrated that it took us a while to pick the tree we wanted but we finally found the perfect one.

Guess who forgot there was a tree on top of the car before driving into the garage? (He's not so pleased I took a picture so I imagine he doesn't like me posting it, but I thought it was funny).

Here we are decorating it.

Weatherwise, this week has been crazy for us here in the Portland area. We don't often get snow. This is from Sunday's snow. It wasn't the best snow but it was the first snow of the season. It snowed, then rained, then snowed and everything froze over. Needless to say no school Monday or Tuesday.

Then here comes Wednesday with more snow. It snowed all day today. Enough to make a snowman. The kids' first one.

We are supposed to get more snow in the morning and then another storm on Sunday. CA is getting a 3 week winter break instead of 2 b/c of all of this. He doesn't seem to be minding missing school but I'm afraid we are all going a little stir crazy.

Lice

So we had our first scare with lice. Someone from daycare had it, the eggs not the live critters. I thought I saw one on IA's head and mine as well (it just happened to be the week she slept in our bed b/c she was sick) but now am not so sure. But to be safe we did the whole treatment and washed everything in the house. It was a long day. I finally ended up cutting IA's hair b/c I just couldn't run through it again with the lice comb and have her cry. She handled it well and it turned out pretty cute. It actually looks better, her hair was looking a little unkempt.
Here is CA with mayonnaise and saran wrap on his head:

It took awhile for her to let me put stuff in her hair, but once I did she was a trooper.

And JA looked so darn cute in the shower cap. She didn't touch it the entire time it was on and she had it on for 2 hours. Then when daddy combed through her hair, she sat so good and just kept saying "ow daddy, ow daddy" but continued sitting still for him.

Here is a shot of IA's new hair. Not the best picture but you get the idea.

Hopefully we won't have to go through that ever again!

Crazy Day

It is spirit week at school and the first day was crazy day. CA won the prize for the best costume.

Can you guess who dressed him that morning?!

He was soooo excited that he won! And I think he kept on the stuff all day at school which is surprising...well, maybe not the hat that might have been distracting to the other kids.

Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday GB!

Halloween

I signed up to take treats to CA's Harvest party because I wanted to make sure he could eat something at it. So this is what I came up with. Waffle cookies with a spiderweb piped onto them (AA did that thankfully) and a spider on top made of chocolate and liquorice. I would have happily purchased spiders, but the only gummy bugs I could find, son coudn't eat and since I was shopping the day before halloween (nothing like procrastinating), they were sold out of all the plastic spiders. I think they turned out pretty good and son was excited.

I did not get great pictures from Halloween night. The kids were super fussy and we waited until neighbors were actually home to go trick or treating. Here is CA in his pterydactyl costume. I should have gotten a side shot to see the head better.

This is the only picture I could get of IA. She was not cooperating but basically she wore her Christmas dress which she thinks is a princess dress and a tiara.

Here is JA and actually that isn't exactly what she looked like. I was able to get a brown leotard like thing on her and then the butterfly wings and tutu. There was a skirt that went with the wings but she wanted the purple one. She wore the butterfly wings the whole time which surprised me and didn't really get into the trick or treating until someone handed out a full sized candy bar. Then a light bulb went on and she was first in line at the door and starting grabbing the candy for herself.

We ended up having a lot of fun, the kids have lots of candy they won't eat and it didn't even rain on us nor did we have to wear coats because it was somewhat warm

New Pictures

Here is a picture of the kids lying on the floor watching tv. I love this picture.

This is the best one I could get of JA in this outfit, but I call her sporty spice. She just loves that jacket and wears it with everything and the shoes. So cute.

Grumpy soccer player

Here are the pumkins we carved.

Here they are lit up without the flash, sorry it is a little blurry. We really need a new digital camera.

And just in case you have never seen IA at her finest. 3 has been a very emotional age for her.

Here is a picture of JA's shiner, although it is sort of fading by now.

If you look closely, you can see the bruise on JA's forehead. But it's a great shot of the girls.

Stay tuned for halloween pictures.

Shiner #2

So I don't have a picture yet but JA has another shiner. She got it at the sitter's last friday and it is in the exact spot the other one was in. So much so that my mom thought it was the same one from the picture.
In between the 2 shiners, she fell and got a goose egg on her forehead. That one was barely gone before the fall last week. I am not sure yet if she is just klutsy or adventurous.
I will try to post a picture later.

Pumpkin Patch

We had a very busy last weekend. The weather was great and we took full advantage of it. Saturday, after CA's 8 am soccer game (yes it was early and it was frosty!!), we headed to the zoo. It was a great day at the zoo. Cold and sunny, the animals were very active and we got to see the new baby elephant. It was super cute. I forgot my camera though, maybe next time. Then the girls stayed at Nana's and we got to have the rest of the day with CA. Now that he is 5 1/2, daddy says he can watch Empire Strikes Back. However, he got a little scared when Luke got to the swamp to search for Yoda so he didn't get very far in it but I am sure he will be wanting to try it again sometime soon.
Sunday, we went to the pumpkin patch. Again it was beautiful weather and the kids had a lot of fun. Here are some pics:
No this isn't the pumpkin patch or is it CA's halloween costume, it's just him getting ready to go work in the yard with daddy. This was after the zoo on saturday.

Here we are at Heiser Farms. We had a great time and all the kids loved riding the toy tractors.






Taking a hay ride back from the pumpkin patch



The girls peeking at each other.

I guess this is a pumpkin pig.

Picking the pumpkins.

Shiner

JA received her first shiner this weekend, falling again keyboard tray of our computer desk. She's no worse for the wear though. The picture doesn't quite do it justice.

Kindergarten

I know we are three weeks into it but here are some pictures from the first day. I didn't get a shot of him at school at his desk though. I should have done that because now he doesn't even want us walking him into school, we just drop him off.

I don't remember why we had him growl but he seemed to enjoy it.

Along with Kindergarten, he has started soccer. I never knew it would be so involved for 5 year old. Practices 2 days a week and games on saturday. Lucky me and the girls get to take him every tuesday and thursday. Here are some pictures of his first game. If I had had my video camera you could see him running around acting like a shark while chasing the ball. (His team name is the Sharks)

Hanging out at the goal.

Running after the ball (he is number 5)

And more running after the ball.

A few more shots. JA felt a little left out that her brother and sister got new clothes and not her so she had to try on her brothers new shirt.

IA finally decided to put her princess stuff on. I think she looks like a cross between a princess and a 60's housewife.

Princess birthday

Before I can show talk about the first day of kindergarten, I suppose I should catch up on IA's 3rd birthday. We had lots of fun with grandpa here and Cousin C stuck around an extra week so he was able to come to the party.
First, I set the bar a little high with CA's pirate cake so here is IA's cake. She asked for a princess theme and then when we went to get stuff for the party she wanted Ariel so I had to change things a little and add water and a beach scene to the castle. Still, I think it turned out pretty well.




Grandpa decided to dye his beard pink for the occasion but JA wasn't quite sure what to think of it. This was one of the few moments she actually let him pick her up while it was pink.

Here is our party girl getting ready to open her presents.

She wasn't cooperating very well putting on her new stuff, so Cousin C decided to put it on. I warned him it would show up in the blog!

Here she is with her new bike.

Here she is having help blow out her candles.

Catch Up

We have had a busy couple of weeks with AA's sister and son here from Alaska. Cousin C ended up being here for 3 weeks and the kids loved him. CA also had soccer camp and we headed south to Papa's house to canoe, play in their pool and go to Wildlife Safari. Here are some pics:

The only pictures I got of CA at camp were of his back but at least this is an action shot.

Here you can see the adoration of JA on Cousin C. He was really good with her.

Here we are at Safari Sam's which is a lot of fun and exhausting for everyone climbing through the gigantic jungle gym.

Here we are at Wildlife Safari. If you have never been and have small kids, you should go. They had such a great time. The animals were really active when we were there. It was fun as you can see from JA practically trying to climb out the window.

This giraffe (and one not pictured) were so close to the car you could touch them.

In the bear section, you have to have your windows up which makes sense considering how close they are.

Finally, a camel ride for CA and I.

After all this, grandpa came up from Utah for IA's 3rd birthday. I will post pictures of that later.