Manna From Heaven!

Amazing but true, just when I was threatening to buy a new camera this week, the video camera turned on and gave me back my pumpkin patch pictures. Again, the quality isn't the best, hence still probably the need for a new photo camera soon, but I will take what I can get and am glad I get to share these with you!

One thing I LOVE about the holiday season that it's so easy to do fun family activities (and hence take cute family photos!)

Two weeks ago we headed to the pumpkin patch, one in the nearby city of Talent. They have the pumpkins, a huge giant hay pile to play in, a big and small corn maze, a kids craft, and then some things you can pay to do (pony rides, pumkin launching, etc.). We went last year and loved it and had to hit it again.

We started by hitting the pumkin patch and picking out our jack-o-laterns to be. (Last year we tried to save this for an end climax to the pumpkin patch and only met with anxious "Is it time to get our pumkins yet?" the whole time. So we learned and hit that first!). Each kid got to pick out their own, though Carter and Nathan helped Luke, as Luke was only interested in driving the wheelbarrow. Here are the boys with their selections (and Lukie with the wheelbarrow...):

Then they had fun doing the kids craft. I love how, no matter how simple, kids love a "project". This one was just a piece of paper with eyes and a mouth, white streamers and a few stickers = voila! a ghost wind sock. These ghosts are proudly hanging on our front porch now.

Next it was time to play with the hay. This is always a highlight for the kids, though we have to police them from throwing hay at each other too much (or, worse, unsuspecting unknown kids who want nothing to do with this hay fight). Luke especially got the giggles out of this hay mess, though he always seems to crack himself up. The little boy with our boys in these pictures is a friend Isaac, whom Nathan and Carter boy love to play with and whom we met up with at the pumpkin patch.

There are times in life when you realize how sadly sheltered your suburbia children are, and this Saturday was one of those when Luke would not be pulled from the chickens (they were the first live ones he had ever seen) and then the boys were just amazed by a REAL sunflower that was as big as their heads!

Finally the boys played in the little photo area where I snapped this cute shot of the two brothers (well, the two brothers that will hold still for a picture!) and then the boys got to play on the real tractor, which we had to DRAG Carter away from! But, of course, my camera had died by then...

Got a camera you would recommend?

Yup, no post lately to do several serious cases of camera swine flu. The first was a fatality - the canon camera that my parents so generously had given us when they upgraded theirs died a few months ago. So we switched to the not so great, but it got us by, video camera camera function. However, the video camera is temperamental too so the great pictures I took at the pumpkin patch yesterday cannot be downloaded and shared as it won't turn on. Argh!

I am ready to buy a new digital camera. I can't stand family moments not being captured and documented. I am mostly interested in the small point and shoot digital cameras, something I can slip into my purse easily to take pictures of the kids. Also, if there is a camera you have gotten and DIDN'T like, I would want to know that too so I can avoid those.

Thanks for the tips! Hopefully you can all benefit from great pictures to come!

Peacocks and Salamanders

I asked Carter for tips on a title for this blog, as it's just kinda a hodgepog happenings blog. He suggested, "Peacocks and salamanders." If nothing else, it made you curious, though it be potentially misleading...= ).

We love the weather where we live. For the most part, it's a mild version of all four seasons - just enough to get a taste without being fed up with the sweltering heat or feet of snow. One other great thing is we are in a valley and there is a decent amount of wind on a regular basis. Not enough that you get blown away, but just the right every now and again for flying kites! More than anything I love how kite flying captures everyone's attention, even my spirited (I am told that is the PC word...) energetic little Carter.

We were all impressed when Nathan got his new kite THIS high!

Carter was very focused and attentive to his kite flying, taking it very seriously.



What you do when your legs are pooped but you just aren't done flying your kite. New sport - seated kite flying!

Another season of soccer has started and it's been fun to watch Nathan's growing enthusiasm for it. The first season we had to force him to go to practice, even though he wouldn't participate, and he would only play in the games because there was a treat at the end. Now he just loves it and goes all out, running around, kicking "monster kicks", and getting sweaty (though, poor little guy, that's not very hard for Nathan to do! He sweats so easily...hate to see what happens when puberty hits!). It's been fun also for Matt to coach Nathan and have that time with him. Every year they pick their team name, this year they are the Turtles. Mostly because the girls wanted something pretty like the Ponies and the boys wanted something fierce...somehow turtles were a middle ground.

Coach Matt doing his kid herding, I mean coaching, job while Nathan joins the pack of kids running tightly around the ball.

Over Conference weekend we got to have my brother and his wife and three little girls down for the weekend. The boys loved having the to twin babies around, especially Luke (who is a baby fanatic, at least until he gets his own). The pictures aren't great because we are still using our video camera camera function (anyone have a point and shoot digital camera you love and recommend??), but it still captures a fun weekend. Carter still gets excited when he sees someone with two babies just like his cousins. We had fun pulling out princess plates and anything remotely girly (there isn't much).

Back to School!

What? We've been in school for three weeks? Nonsense! Didn't your mother ever tell you to NEVER argue with a pregnant woman? That's what I thought...

Nathan was just stinking cute on his first day of kindergarten. He has afternoon school from 11:00-2:30, so of course all morning long - "Is it school time yet?", "Is it school time yet?" I tried to clarify things by telling him that school wouldn't be until lunchtime. I thought I hit home as he mulled that one over, only to be followed by a chorus of "Is it lunchtime yet?"s.

Finally the time came, and mom of course made him take a bunch of pictures. No hunny, in front of the door. Smile! Now, in front of the tree. Now, in front of the tree with your brother. Okay, yes we are done now.

I love this one of Nathan and Carter together.

I know, the door was a bad idea - horrible lighting - but I just love when my kids voluntarily show affection to each other (Nathan's arm around Carter).

The only time I got teary that morning came next. I got down and looked Nathan in the eyes and said something like this, "Nathan, mommy has been with you almost every day, every hour of your life. I have loved sharing everything with you and sharing all the things you are excited about. Mommy is so excited for you to go to school and learn even more fun things. But, this time mommy's not going to be there, so I need you to store up all the cool things that you do and learn in your head and then come home and share them with mommy so I can still be a part of that part of your day, okay?" (He of course was lost on the sentimentality of this situation and just kinda, "uh-huh"ed me...) Sniff.

Shuttled them into the car and then drove the whopping 1 mile away to school, unloaded everyone and took Nathan to the cafeteria, as Nathan eats lunch first. He proudly opened his transformer lunch box (matching his transformer backpack of course - I did ex-nay the transformer shirt for the first day of school however. Come on, I had pictures to take!) and ate his pizza squares, chocolate milk, yogurt, and fruit snacks. It was so cute to see him with all his little friends. I had no worries about him being sad at my leaving, so I said adios and shuttled the other two off to the park.

Nathan proudly sitting in the big kid cafeteria (though notably absent of big kids!). He is sitting next to his favorite pal Mia (Who did you play today with hunny? Who did you sit by at lunch? Mia. Mia. And more Mia.). She and two other kids in his 14 kid classroom are LDS, which is fun.

How's Carter doing with the change? Well, it's rough...yeah right. Every day he gets pure JOY out of wearing Nathan's shoes, sitting in Nathan's carseat, playing with Nathan's toys. Suddenly karma has come!! He plays by himself for hours on end, even shoeing me away when, out of motherly guilt, try to interact with him (my mom said to never wake a sleeping baby - I say the same with never disturb a happily playing toddler!).

Here's to your journey Nathan! I am excited to see the boy you become and know your little sponge of a brain will just love school, hopefully for many years to come!

Losing my marbles!

Today has been one of those mornings. Luke spilled a whole box of cheerios, smeared ketchup all over himself and his chair, climbed into the bathroom sink and then filled it up (fully dressed mind you)...all before 8:30 a.m. and usually with me in the room. He is just too quick! I finally headed to the store to buy some sale items and to be able to make large batches of pumpkin bread (it's the first day of autumn and I think I am going to start a new tradition of handing out pumpkin bread - my favorite fall treat! - on the first day of autumn).

I was trying to collect myself, looking at the ad and pulling out coupons as the kids were looking in the toy isle of Albertons. Suddenly, Luke had reached a bag of 100 marbles, bit through the bag and they spilled out, heading every which way direction down the isle. I groaned and sent the boys after them. A nice man was nearby and started helping. Embarassed, I thanked him, and he said not to worry about it, that he had three kids too. Though as he left, he laughed as he said, "Well, you can tell everyone today that you really did lose your marbles!"

Let me know if you find any extras rolling around - I am pretty sure I am still a few short!

Newest Addition(s) to our Family!

That's right folks, we are moving up the pet scale. First, it was a simple beta fish (no tank, just a bowl with food). Then, we moved on to FL hermit crabs (which survived the cross-country trip and are still with us today). Not very active during the day, but occasionally entertaining. Finally, we have just moved on to a full fledge aquarium, complete with some pretty fish and even a very small shark (small like 2" small!). The kids love watching it while they eat (it's next to the dinner table). Course they are still opting for a dog, but my rule is no dependant animals of that size until there are no totally dependant children (i.e. no babies or uncommunicative toddlers in the house!). Come on, I have my hands full here people! Or at least every stranger tells me so at the grocery store....

Oh, yeah, and there is one other upcoming addition:

Summer Wrap-up

Yes, I know school has been in session now for two weeks, but my poor digital camera died, forcing me to use the photo option on our video camera to capture any kodak moments. I finally figured out how to get them onto the computer, so now it's blog catch-up!

Towards the end of the summer we had an amazing group campout with a big group of friends in the Redwoods. Wow! I thought it was great to just visit the redwoods, and you have seen plenty of my pictures of that, but man, to camp there - talk about the perfect family vacation, especially with my boys. We had such a blast exploring, hiking, playing in the river. We hope to go every year! Here are some of the funny highlights:

The boys LOVED how you could crawl in and through these old big trees. We had to pull them away when it was time to move on to something else. Here is Nathan with a good buddy Isaac.

We of course had our hands full at time, especially with little Luke who doesn't know not to touch fire, eat dirt, or tough poison ivy. For the most part it was doable to contain him, but when we were trying to cook meals it was a little more challenging. We quickly found out that Luke couldn't get down from this stump on his own...are we awful parents or just creative?

Carter contained himself - having a blast playing in the "bear box" - the box you put food in to prevent bears from smelling or getting into it (of course we paid close attention to make sure he didnt' get trapped!).

The kids loved the river - throwing rocks, building dams. Kids and nature is just such a natural mix - I love it!

Daddy's adventure of the weekend - jumping off this over 20 foot high rope swing. Wowsers!

One of the things I love about Oregon is the proximity to such great fruit (not the case in FL). There are even an overabundance of blackberries that grow everywhere (it's kind of a problem here) and you can go a lot of places to pick them for free. I didn't get as many this year as last, but the kids still loved the fruits of my labor - especially Lukie!

Mine all mine!!

Mmm mmm good! I love how both the boys would just belly up to the whole bowl and dive into the berry goodness.


There are a lot of toys I wouldn't mind getting rid of, but dress up clothes are ones I am always trying to aqcuire when I see a good deal. The boys just have so many fun adventures with them. Neighbors and friends laugh at the boys going into public places with them on, but for the most part I don't mind letting them express themselves (though Carter wearing a 2T woody costume to storytime was probably borderline PC = ).

Carter loved riding his bike with the cape on because he said the wind made his cape blow.

Even Luke insisted on getting in on the action on this one, of course wanting to put on the biggest costume we have (and Carter once again wearing the 2T sized one!).