Pumpkin Patch

Lucy was so excited to go to the Pumpkin Patch this year with her Preschool class. This was the first time I have gone to the Pumpkin Patch with just one child - weird. It was kind of nice, though, because I was able to focus on Lucy and on helping her pick out the "perfect pumpkin".

Here she is with her class in front of the Nursery where they got their pumpkins.


...and with her friend, Lola. These girls are getting to be the best of friends.


The perfect pumpkin!


Say cheese!


After all the kids found their "perfect pumpkins", they got to line up and sing some of the Fall songs they have been learning. Lucy was such a crack-up. She really got into the songs and motions and I could definitely hear her little voice above all the others.












Preschool has been so much fun this year. Lucy is loving it and I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can, since next year will be the last time I have one in pre-school(sob, sob). Love you, my little "Perfect Pumpkin"!

Happy 9th Birthday, Micah!

Wow, can it really have been 9 years already? I can hardly believe this will be Micah's last year in the single-digits. It seems like Micah has grown up a lot this year. He is no longer infatuated with Thomas the Train or even Hot Wheels. Now, it is nothing but sports and video games.

As a 9-year-old, Micah:
-loves sports. His favorites are baseball and soccer.
-loves to read. He has really taken off as a reader this year and will sit with his nose in a book for hours.
-is into anything that has to do with Pokemon.
-loves video games. We seriously have to limit his time on the Wii and ds or he would play all day.
-does NOT like to take showers or change his socks.(what is it with boys this age?)
-has still been known to watch Barbie movies with his sisters.
-is still the slightest bit of a mama's boy at times(not as much any more, though, so I take those moments when I can get them now).
-still has to have about 20 stuffed animals on his bed to sleep with him at night.
-can be very stubborn and strong-willed. This is nothing new. I think he was pretty much born that way. Too bad I can't blame it on anyone either because I am pretty sure he gets it from me.
-likes to be in control. He is definitely a first-born child. We are working on turning this into an asset. He has some great leadership qualities that just need a little work.
-can also be very sweet and kind-hearted. Even his teacher this year sent a note home and described him as a "very smart and kind boy".
Overall, Micah, we love you for who you are, including all your little quirks and "boyness".

For the first time ever, I convinced Micah to have his birthday party somewhere other than our house. This was a relief to me, especially with all the projects we have going on right now. One of the hotels here rents out their pool area for parties, so we decided to have a pool party in October! We also got a whole banquet room set up for us where we had snacks for the kiddos, cake, and presents. It was definitely a hit with the kids and with me, since I hardly had to do anything.

They even put Micah's name on the reader board by the front desk. I think he was pretty impressed.


Snacks, anyone?


Time for cake!




The kids mostly swam the whole time, which was great!




And, check out these little hot-tubbers. This is where we found Lily, Lucy, and the Boneck girls most of the night.

Lily's 1st Grade Photo Shoot

Instead of ordering school pictures, the last few years I have been trying to do a little photo shoot with each of the kids. Sometimes we go to a park and sometimes we just wander around the property and take pictures. This year, I decided to do them here. Lily is always excited to do her "photo shoot". She sure loves the spotlight. I wonder who she gets that from.

"Uneven Bread"

Today, after church...

Lily- "Today, at church, we made uneven bread".
Me- "Uneven bread? What's that?"
Lily- "You know, the kind the Isrealites ate."
Isaiah-"Oh, you mean unleavened bread."

Seattle

We ended up taking kind of a last-minute trip to Seattle over Labor Day Weekend. We left Saturday morning and went to the Woodland Park Zoo.

Here is our "Zoo Crew". This is about as good as it gets for a family picture with us.

I thought I'd post this one to, just to show how good the first one was.


These little black and white guys were a definite hit with the kids.




I think they could have watched the penguins all day.

Okay, I'm sorry I made you turn around, Micah.

Lily even made herself right at home in a penguin nest model.


This guy was also pretty popular, but not for the same reasons. Apparently, gorillas like to regurgitage their food after eating it and re-eat it over and over. Micah was pretty impressed.



The kids took lots of pictures with their cameras...

Micah learned that he is not as strong as an elephant...


...Lucy got to play in an "African Village" hut.

...and the kids all got to be snow leopards.



Hooray for the Woodland Park Zoo!


The next day, we also went to the Pacific Science Center. I think the best thing about the science center was the Butterfly House. They had this big greenhouse with all these tropical plants and butterflies were everywhere. It was amazing. I think we could have spent hours in there. One even landed right on Micah's finger.







All in all, it was a fun family trip. We had a pool at our hotel, so the kids got to swim. On the way home, we stopped at Trader Joe's and the Outlet Mall, so Mommy was happy. Now we can check two more things off our list of places to take the kids :)