AaaaRRR Matey! Pirate Party

Last weekend was the families biggest party of the year (besides Christmas). It has been a year in the making, and it was an AWESOME party!! The entire house was piratized, with jargon on the walls and the entire basement covered in all things pirate. There is so much to say.. where do I begin?? We ate dinner, then clearned the floors for the festivites. The initial games were digging for treasure, decorating cupcakes, and a dice game. After that, the kids bobbed for apples, and tried to eat a donut tied to a string. Then, there was a gypsy dance followed by the Triller. The kids also played a game involving brooms and balls- wasn't in the room for that one. Then Captain Jack Sparrow came (John) and there was a battle ship war. The kids who ended up with the most cannon balls in their ship had to walk the plank. Of course they all wanted to walk the plank, so that went over well. After being sent to the brigg, John then taught them how to talk like a pirate. This included saying "booty" after every other word tbeing taught. The final game was the treasure hunt. The teams were according to age (good thinking Anne), then they went all throughout the house and back yard collecting their clues. The final room was a fancy room filled with treasure (candy). There was also a booth set up for fortune telling. It was cute to hear what Shila came up with! The party was on uncle Chris's birthday so we sang to him and Shanna for the October birthdays. John's mom spent hours and hours planning this party- and I have to say it was best Halloween party I have attended to date. I don't know what she is going to do next year to out do this one!

The "No No, We'll pay you" Lemonade Stand

We finally had a sunny day to set up this lemonade stand. Jensen and Ruby have been talking about it for some time now. Last week Jensen said, "mom, can we go get some customers?" He didn't quite understand the role of a customer, but he knew we needed them. They were very professional in their business persuits; waving to every car that drove by,not getting frustrated when people didn't stop. In fact, after someone zoomed past the adorable lemonade stand ( I don't see how that is possible) Ruby said, "Oh, he didn't need any LEMONLAIDE." My kids have always called it that, and I don't have the heart to correct them, Ruby joined in the fun.
Luckily my friend lives right next to a junior high, and when school got out we had heards of kids coming our way. I approached them down the sidewalk, slipped them handfuls of pennies, and asked them to buy some lemonade from our little darlings. It was a huge success- the kids went home with a cash register that wouldn't even close because it was too full!!

The kids were at a Halloween party right before the lemonade stand- so they were all dressed up in their costumes. Ruby the princess was the money collector, while my kiddo's mostly drank down the product. I am excited for the next sunny day- it was darling.

A dress up minute

Dress up Day- my little pumpkin doing her dance class stretches.
So my husband has a love for dress up clothes, so we started collecting costumes when we got married. Two years ago I was at walmart in Bonney Lake after Halloween and they were trying to get rid of all the left over costumes. I picked out quite a few, but by the time I left they had lowered the price so much that I had to keep going back for more. They went from 75% off to 95% off during the 25 minutes I was there. I pretty much cleaned them out!

Elvis is in the building! The wig is a little bit of a stretch, but it is the closest thing I had. This Elvis costume is one of my favorite finds- garage sale for 10 cents!
We had fun dressing up in many different costumes. Until we have somewhere for the costumes to go, we only pull them out around Halloween. It seems like costumes were getting destroyed fast when we had them out all year long. Ellie still can't decide what she wants to be, it is either a pirate boy, or a princess. I better get on that because tomorrow is the Halloween parade.

Tippy Toes

Somehow I never thought the day would come that I would have my own little girl in a dance class. Those milestones keep happening to me... I'm getting old!!! We signed up for a parent child Tippy Toe class at the Y, this was her last class of the session. Of course we will be signing up again, she absolutely loved it! When she turns three I will probably just have her come to my class.


She now requests to go to "Dans Class," and does many of her freshly learned moves at home. My favorite dance move to date is the Booty Shake. She has been doing this move for a long time, but it is hilarous to see her go for it in class.

Quiet Time- the girls get to take a little breather on their moms before back to non stop fun.

I was visiting with another mom and noticed that Ellie was dancing around with my shoes on. Good thing they are pink!

Pumpkin Carving- Swimsuit Edition

Jensen has been looking forward to this day for a long time! Daddy carved the "hats" off, and then the fun began. I can't tell you how many pictures I have of Ellie looking at Jensen to see what silly pose to make. They are not into just smiling... nope, it's all fun and games.



John taught them to call the seeds "guts." Every time Ellie would pull some out she would grunt loudly then say, "woah, the guts." I found these fun lite-bright kits that you just pound the pegs in- and you're set. They loved pounding away, and there were zero injuries. When is the appropriate age to carve a pumpkin? I don't think they are quite ready to go solo- so this was a fun alternative.

Mid-carving Elvis insisted in wearing her swimsuit. I pretty much do Laundry all day long due to the fact that both of my children are continually changing their clothes. This picture cracks me up because she is in her swimsuit modeling her pumpkin!!

Crazy Slide Park

"WHEEE" Last week we went to a park that had six slides- it was an all slide park. Highly entertinaing! This slide was really steep, the kids wanted to go down together. When Jensen went down by himself I could tell that he was little uncertain about it, but he put on a brave face.
Time for a delicious treat. Elvis and Gavin shared a chocolate bar- mmm tasty!

Almost there. I can't believe we had such a nice day, it has been so gloomy here!
Meet "Big one"- this is Ellie's favorite doll. She named it "Big one," because it is the largest doll that she has. If you look closely you can see the mascara on her face. Yes, somehow my daughter got ahold of my mascara and put it on her doll. The other day she asked me where baby's car seat was. We had one of the doll car seats, but I'm pretty sure daddy tossed it. Sorry sis! I conviently forget "big one" when I am in a hurry because Ellie is so thorough with her safety.

Katie's Blessing Day

Baby Katie's blessing was last sunday. She was blessed by her daddy in their home. She is the most adorable baby, with beautiful red hair. You can't tell how red it is because she has a pink blanket behind her, but her hair is RED!
Ellie aka mommy number 2 loves baby Katie. She is slowing learning the difference between real and pretend babies. We have so many babies around now days, I feel like I am starting over with child proofing techniques. Instead of small objects, and toilet cleaners, I have to hover and keep her away from people ages 0-12 months. Today I had to pry a trash can away from her because she insisted it was her babie's cradle.
The Coatneys- Cutest family ever!! Jaime is such a neat person and an awesome mom. Gavin looks so sweet in this picture.
At the blessing Ellie and one of her friends Sydney were hugging. I don't know why, but something about toddlers embracing is so fun to capture.

PUMPKIN PATCH

Saturday we went to the Maris Farms pumkin patch. We went with five other families in our ward. The kids loved the "moo train". Maris had so many fun activites! They had toy tractors to ride, jump houses, a barn full of animals, and many other wonderful activites for little ones. My kids LOVE going to the pumpkin patch. Last year, Ellie called everything "pumpkin" after the halloween season.


The first stop we made was at a water pumping station. They had little rubber duckies for racing, but the water was mainly in the middle pump, so the racing didn't quite work out.


Corn Mania- Two tons of corn were dumped into a room barricaded by bails of hay. It was surprisingly fun to dig around in the corn. I jumped in with my kids and started digging away for buried treasure. Five minutes into the dig, I realize that my wedding band was GONE! The corn was quite deep, so chances of finding it were slim. We started digging around in the area that I had been digging, but no luck. The employees assured me that at the end of the season they would dump it all out and find the ring. Apparently someone did the same thing last year. A young girl who was digging next to me pulled the ring out of the corn, and said: "is this it?" Almost questioning if she found the correct diamond ring lost in 2 tons of corn. I gave her a huge hug!! I was so happy that she found it. If you are ever digging in a corn pit... make sure to take off your rings!!
This face says exactly how he feels about tractors!! We also took a hay ride around the pumpkin patch. Jensen was fascinated with the huge wheels.
I don't quite know what this face says, but he loved riding the "hoesees". Ellie is at a really fun age where she pronounces most things perfectly, except her F's. John and I are constantly asking her to say things that have an f. She is a really good sport, and will repeat whatever we ask. My personal favorite is asking her to say "Fancy Feast". She promptly responds "sansy seast". She says it with a little bit of a lisp, which makes my heart happy every time!
Pumpkins for miles! Jensen ran from pumpkin to pumpkin trying to lift one from the stem. He was determined to find one he could lift. Unfortunately the Jensen sized Pumpkins were long gone. He settled for a pumpkin that mommy helped him lift. We are going to a patch next week with his class, so we can get one then. On the way home Jensen was very vocal about his plans for carving his pumpkin. Little did he know that bed time was first on the agenda. Our bed time stories were all about carving pumpkins the following day.

Grandma Great's B-day Party

This is "Grandma Great" my nephew nick-named her that when he was little. She is great, and we love her!! We got together for her 82nd birthday this past weekend. All of my mom's siblings were there except her brother Loren. It is nice having some of my side of the family close by.
Photographer in training! My uncle Brian has a fancy smancy camera, and Jensen was facinated! He was really sweet to let me snap a bunch of pictures. I think he mostly took pictures of knees... sorry Brian.
Martha Stewart, I mean my Aunt Lani is the cake maker! This cake was delicious! I don't know what is in that chocolate sauce, but it was ADDICTIVE. My cousin Shayla is a doll!
Ellie was really into her "aunt Lani"! When we left her house to go to the restaurant she started to cry for Lani, and was insisting on saying good-bye. My kids LOVE their house. Somehow she manages to find toys that no one else on the planet has. They have a huge rope swing in their backyard, that is always a treat. I can remember flying off of their roof myself when I was younger.
My little recording artist. The basement of their house is where my uncle practices with his band. They have a ton of instruments, and it was pretty much Christmas for my children. Jensen loved the microphone and keyboard. He sang an African Song that John taught him. It is a song that is requested often by both of my children. Ellie also had her turn, but mostly sang twinkle twinkle. I enjoyed all of the instrument playing, but the drums were my FAVORITE!

Autumn Leaves

Every year when the leaves change, I try to take pictures. This is the first one to date. I love this picture of the kids. One thing they will always do is hold hands.
Monkey Boy! Jensen loves to climb on anything!
We decided to take some pictures by this tree in our back-yard, but we ended up not getting the tree in the picture at all! Oh well, the kids are still darling.

I had to post this picture because of Ellie's eyes. She has blue eyes, just like her daddy.
I love when we are able to get a picture where everyone is smiling... it doesn't happen often! We did however manage to get the tree in this one.

Tribute to NANA!!

Happy Birthday Nana! We love you soooo much! Just wanted to tell everyone (that reads my blog) My mom's better than your mom!!! Just Kidding! But really, she is ;-) She had six girls for crying out loud... who else could do that????

Daddy's Garden

John had an AWESOME garden this year!! Yes, he is the gardener in the family. I am responsible for eating a lot of the food though. Between the two of us, he has the green thumb by far. We have been making salads all summer! I love just waltzing out to the garden and coming back in with everything I need for a fancy salad. I am not looking forward to all of the tomatoes freezing... that is always a sad day!
They Kiddo's LOVE picking the carrots. My summer afternoons always included cleaning up piles of dirt from the harvest my children would bring through the door. They were hard at work, and usually I didn't have the heart to tell them not to pick anymore. Ellie liked to bring in the beets and say, "it's a baby one!" Anything "baby" is always a bonus.
The garden was complete with three really tall sunflowers until......
Daddy picked one! Now our garden only has two, but the kids enjoyed their time with this huge flower. One of the great things about washington (yes there is one) is that your plants thrive really well! Usually all you have to do is plant the seeds, and Viola. Next year, I think we are going to try peppers. I did plant an herb garden (yeah for me), but thanks to someones love of her watering can, it only produced cilantro, green onions, and parsley.