The MOWHAWK

Below is a pre-mowhawk picture.

Vance turns 4 (October 1)

We woke up Vance early so Ty could see him open a few gifts. You can see the excitement on his face about the new tractor. It has also been a tradition to attend the Burlington Fire Dept. annual pancake breakfast on the first weekend of October for Vance's birthday. We also eat dinner at the McLean Rd. Fire Dept. (which serves our house) for their spaghetti dinner on the same day.

This and That (since September)

3 helpers to make orange juice.

Breakfast time.

Arya loves to play with Zoie's magnet dolls and their pieces. She only cares about shoes, thus the dolls are covered from head to toe in shoes.

Finding the perfect pumpkin with dad.

Finger painting.

Vance, what are you doing on the table? Building a tower.

Day 1 of First Grade.

Backyard dirt fight.

They love to take baths and showers together.

Pumpkins

When you live near the farm fields and your husband works for farmers, it is easy to get the freshest crops. We walked across the street to a pumpkin patch to find our perfect pumpkins.

Nationals

There were 3 skaters from Burlington that swept the podium in Premier Gold Women's figures at the 2010 National Roller Skating Championship. I got 2nd. It was my only individual medal. I also earned a bronze medal in Precision Team, qualifying for the 2011 World meet in Brazil.

More vacation

These are Vance's feet. He took this one and the one of me making breakfast.

Two tired babies. Vance fell asleep playing his new Snow Park game on his V Smile.

Lk CdA -- day 2

On the 2nd day of our trip, Ty took Zoie and Vance fishing -- they caught nothing, but discovered a secret island. So we all went there and had lunch. Ty also had the kids swimming in their life jackets.

Arya was good in the boat, except she fell asleep on the way back in.

Lk CdA -- day 1

We took our first "family of 5" camping trip this week. We went to Lk Couer d' Alene for 3 days then stayed 11 miles west from Twisp at a primative site for one night. Then enjoyed the drive home along highway 20.

Although Vance was excited about the smore, he can see in his face he is not sure about it. He opted for plain marshmellows and gave his smore to Arya -- she eats everything.

One BIG step for mankind

My son is a picky eater. Vance will only eats a handful of foods -- breaded chix nuggets, Mac & cheese, peeled & sliced apples, bananas, Danimal yogurt, Tillmook French Vanilla yogurt, bread, peanut butter and nutella. That is about it.

While on the way home from Nebraska, he gobbled a Beyer's yogurt with oreo cookie crumbs.

Today, he said he wanted a sandwich like Zoie. She has butter and jelly. He elected for peanut butter & jelly. "Strawberry" he shouted. After making Zoie's sandwich, I asked him to come in and help me make the sandwich. God only knows if I would have made it, it would have been wrong and he would have gotten mad.

So, he tried to put the peanut butter on the bread. He let me help. Then, I set aside that piece of bread and got another slice for the jelly. "No" he says. He puts the 2nd slice on top of the other slice and spoons on the jelly. I chuckled to myself, but it was his way. While spooning the jelly he had to taste it. "This is good" he said with a smile. I was so excited -- this may be the beginning of new foods. He always studies "new" food, but politely says "no thank you".

I made sure there was jelly touching all of the bread (including the corners) before I handed it to him and sent him back to the big table.

I kept an eye on him. Sure enough, he gobbled the sandwich while watching Oswold. Zoie, the growing 6 year old, had her sandwich done before Vance started and needed a 2nd one.

I thought to myself "How will I put that type of sandwich in a container for him to take to school without messing it up?"

Arya is always in the action! She too wanted a sandwich after Vance was done. She nearly stuck her head in the jar trying to lick the peanut butter.