October Pictures

We have a plentiful squash and pumpkin crop this year in our garden. The kids loved collecting the squash & pumpkins and driving them to the front door in the "monster" truck.

Vance turns 3 ! ! !

Vance turned 3 on Thursday, October 1. I got him some new Cars crocs and gave them to him in the morning. After work & dance, I picked up the kids at my mom's and much to their surprise, Vance found a new Spiderman bike & Hotwheels race track in his room from Ty when we got home.

Vance was so happy. He grinned from ear to ear.

When you have a BIG house, your kids have enough space to ride their bikes from on end to the other without crashing into anything.

Pumpkin Festival

A local farmer, whose kids I grew up with, now holds a pumpkin pitching contest in the fall and boy do the pumpkin get tossed far! There were lots of free pumpkin activities, all free, for kids. It was a fun morning for the family.

Homemade fries.

From Vance's point of view.

From Vance's point of view.

Vance would not bowl, but look how into it he is. Zoie is bowling a pumpkin.

Arya

I love this shirt -- "Chillin with my Homies". Notice there are 3 snow people, one for each kiddo.

At 8 months, Arya can crawl quickly. Over the past 2 days, she has gotten very good at pulling herself up so she can stand on her feet and see oh so much more. Like Vance in the bathtub. She likes to try to reach his legs or toes. Or grab the trains on Vance's train table.

You know you have done good when . . .

Last night Zoie and Vance were suppose to sleep at my mom's since I had dance class. When I came to get Arya, Vance wanted to come home. OK. During the night, he was wet. I changed him & he slept next to me. Blah Blah Blah. . . I pulled the sheet of this morning to remind myself to change the sheets.

Tonight, as I was feeding and rocking Arya, Zoie and Vance were in their rooms playing. After I put Arya done, I come in their room and discover that Vance's bed is all made. Zoie had got the sheets out from under the bed, put on the fitted sheet, put on the flat sheet, arranged Vance's pillows and was getting ready to put on the comforter. I was thrilled and gave her a big hug and thank you. She was so proud of herself. Vance was happy too as he was jumping on the bed reeping the benefits of his hard working sister. I love Zoie!

In the picture above, Zoie is showing off her freshly made bed that she did by herself.

26 years ago . . . .

Melody Skating Rink, Auburn WA. 1983. If you could see my skates, you'd see my blue wheels. This was just the beginning of many ribbons, trophies, & plaques, trips with my mom, brother, & grandpa throughout WA, OR, CA and Lincoln NE. These were the best times of my life growing up. Skating was all I knew. Roller Frolic was my second home and my friends were my sisters.

The Bus

Even though the bus says it'll be to our house by 3:10, it is never on time. So Tuesday afternoon I grabbed Zoie's small camp chair and had a seat next to the road at the end of the driveway. Soon Vance grabbed his chair & together we sat waiting for the bus. Shortly, bus 14 pulled up & Zoie hopped off. I left the chairs at the end of the driveway so they could be used this morning. It is a great was to mark how far Z & V can stand while waiting for the bus.

Today Zoie was all dressed in pink -- pink pants, shirt, socks, & hair barretts.

Backyard fun

Tuesday after school Zoie & Vance played outside together for nearly 2 hours. Each one asks about the other when they are apart. It is great to watch them interact. On this occassion,they raced large dumptrucks down the slide into a small pool of water.

Zoie & Vance and Arya

Zoie at school

Zoie's first day of Kindergarten!

Baby Arya