Trick-or-Treat!

We had a really fun night at our Trunk-or-Treat at the church. They had a few games and activities for the kids, and Ty and Mara had a great time getting their buckets filled with candy! If you can't tell what my costume is...well I'm an oven with my 'baby in the oven' or as they say 'the bun is in the oven!' Everyone thought it was hysterical! (Thanks Heidi for the great idea!) Two months from today my baby will be done!

Here are a few more pictures from this week's activities:

Halloween Festivities!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We have been celebrating Halloween all week long! Seriously I don't think there is anything more fun than having a 4 year old on Halloween! Every waking moment this week he has wanted to wear his costume and we have had plenty of opportunities to get dressed up! Let me give a quick background on the costumes! When I asked Ty what he wanted to be for Halloween he said a dinosaur--no surprise!! But where in Tillamook would I find a dinosaur costume? So I checked ebay--no luck! So I called Mimi and told her my dilemma and she headed straight to the Tooele Boutique (bless her heart!) There she found the perfect costume for my little Ty-Rex! But when we got it in the mail and tried it on it was too small (Even though it was a 4-6X I have one BIG T-Rex!) So I called again--Mimi saved the day and found matching fabric and I was able to sew some 'extenders' on the arms and legs! Thank you Mimi for all your help on the costume! I said to Ty "That is so cool that you are a Ty-Rex" And he corrected me and said "Actually Mama, I'm a carnatour!" I asked him what the difference was and he said, "Carnatours have horns, T-rex's don't!" So he is not just ANY dinosaur--he's a carnatour!! Mara's cute little costume came from a friend of mine in a bag of hammy-downs (Thank You Maryanne!)
Ty's favorite thing to do in his costume is chase the bunny and try to eat her!
"But Mama Carnatours love to eat bunnies!"

On Monday...

Here we are with our Art & Craft group. All the kids dressed up for a little Halloween Party!

At Art & Craft we decorated sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles. Then we did sidewalk chalk outside--it was actually warmer outside than inside the building!

My little bunny loves cookies!

On Tuesday...

We visited daddy at work and took the Hebo Ranger District employees a little treat! The kids were thrilled to see their daddy during the day and his co-workers were pretty excited about a yummy Halloween treat!
We were even able to have a picnic with daddy up at Hebo Lake during his lunch break! It was mighty chilly however but we didn't mind--it was well worth it to see Nate!!

All this fun makes any bunny tired!

Thursday...

Here we are at our friend's the Sables for a fun Halloween Party. We played a few games like pumpkin bowling and pin the legs on the spider. Sandra made a yummy pudding graveyard treat! Sandra has three boys--Quinton (who was dressed as Lighting McQueen, Tyson-the bumble bee, and Eli-the ladybug!)

Ty had a blast at preschool today at his harvest party. He said it was really fun and they played lots of games. Tonight we are headed to the church for our trunk-or-treat party.

Fall Fun!

Fall is in the air--you just wouldn't know it with the GORGEOUS weather we've been having here in Tillamook! The past week an a half has been nothing but sunshine and blue skies! It's been warmer this week than the past summer! We had a BBQ and picnic outside one night for dinner, we've been working in the yard, and last week I took Ty & Mara up to canyon to see the beautiful colored leaves. I was actually surprised how green it still was up there. Ty and Mara had so much fun throwing rocks in the water (of course!) and Ty found a big stick and was 'fishing for leaves'!! Give him a stick and a rock and he's good to go for the entire afternoon! We went for a nice walk up the Trask River.
The Halloween season wouldn't be the same without carving pumpkins! For Family Home Evening we carved our pumpkin and the kids had a lot of fun pulling out the seeds and guts from the pumpkin! Ty helped draw the face on the pumpkin and although I thought our artistic daddy should do the honors of carving he let mama use the knife! Daddy did the design and I did the cutting action! Mara had fun for the first few minutes then she just wanted to hang out on daddy shoulders! One of our favorite parts of carving pumpkins this year was roasting the seeds---yum!

Stay tuned for some darling little kids in their Halloween costumes...coming soon!

Be Happy!

Mara's new word is: 'Happy' and she likes to say 'Be happy!' Who could possibly be sad or mad with such a cute reminder and looking at a darling little face all the time! Mara is such a joy! She is all smiles and says and does the cutest things. Yesterday she was asked where her daddy was and she put her hand in a fist and said in a sad voice: "Oh man." Which I interpreted as she was pretty disappointed that daddy wasn't home! Today we were playing a matching game and right in the middle of the game after she found a match she stood up and started dancing and saying "yay, yay, yay!" She danced all the way into her room and out again! Mara is rather silly at times, as you can see in the slide show she was on one the other day and was constantly doing funny things like put on Ty's helmet and hard hat. She did have a little help with her soapy hair in the bath! The hat you see her wearing with the feather she made at storytime. She was very proud of making that hat and wore it throughout the day! She is the most pleasant little girl to be around and I just love playing with her and cuddling and holding her! She is our little sweetie!

Wonderful Weekend!

It's always sad when a great weekend comes to an end! I don't know exactly what made this weekend so great, many things I guess! Friday night was a fun family night. Ty has just begun to understand and really enjoy playing games. So we were able to play Go Fish, Old Maid, and Don't Eat Pete! If you've never played these games with a four year old you are missing out! It's quite a fun experience. You may not be familiar with Don't Eat Pete, Mara was not a fan of this game and I'll tell you why: For this game you have a laminated file folder board with nine little candy men on it. You place one piece of candy on each little man (we used M&Ms) then one person leaves the room and you pick one of the candy men to be 'Pete'. Then the person comes back into the room and starts taking off one M&M at a time trying to guess which character is Pete. If that person chooses the candy with Pete the others yell: "Don't Eat Pete"!! Ty thought this was so fun, and every time we yelled 'Don't Eat Pete' he jumped and started to laugh. Mara on the other hand wanted to eat all the candy off the board and when we yelled 'Don't Eat Pete' she started to cry!! Poor Mar, we decided after that she just got to eat the candy and not play the game!

Saturday was a special day for Mama--I was able to go to the Portland Temple with my young women on our youth temple trip. It was a neat experience to be in the temple and I always have such a wonderful feeling when I'm there. Although the temple is only an hour and half away we just haven't had the opportunity to go very often. It's definitely a lot harder to attend the temple when you have children. It was nice to watch my young women be baptized and although I wasn't able to do baptisms I was still grateful to partake of the spirit and be with them.

Sunday was a big day for Ty--today was his first primary program! It is important that I accentuate the positive so let me begin by just saying how proud I am of Ty for:

• sitting up on the stand without mom or dad the entire sacrament meeting
• getting up to the pulpit and looking at the congregation
• standing up when the music leader directed and sitting down when asked
• having the cutest little face to look at and smiling when he looked and saw his mama!

Had video cameras been allowed at church today, this would have been a perfect Kodak moment to just tape Ty in action! He was pretty hilarious to watch, and the teacher behind him said 'If he were her son she would have been praising his name at what a good job he did!" When it was time to sing a song Ty stood up close to two girls next to him and with his body tried pushing them over. Ty's class sat to the side of the pulpit right up against the wood railing-wall. So all the girls held on tight and tried to stand their ground! Then when it was time for Ty to stand to say his part he ducked down underneath the pulpit and hid. When it was his turn to say his line: "I am a child of God. I was sent to a family and received a body" his teacher had to drag him out from under the pulpit! We had practiced and practiced this line, and all week I heard: "Mama- I'm not sayin a word!" Well sure enough no words came out of his mouth! Oh well! At least he got up there, he didn't pick his nose, his hands stayed out of his pants, and maybe next year he will say something!

Precisely Perfect!

Just when I think we are doomed to never ending rain and a long cold winter for the next seven months we wake up to find a precisely perfect sunny day just right for playing at the beach! It was so fun to sit in the sand with my two best friends, Ty and Mara, and dig holes, fill up dump trucks, makes piles of dirt, put rocks in a bucket...! It was just like playing in one huge sandbox! We dug a huge hole and Ty and Mara both sat in it. Then Ty wanted to be buried so I covered him with sand up to his chest! I loved watching Mara dance and laugh and run around on the beach. I enjoyed listening to Ty's cute words as he worked with his Tonka trucks to build his temples, roads, and sandcastles! What a great way to start the weekend! It was so refreshing and nice to take a break from the stresses of life. I now feel revived and ready to take on the world--okay maybe not that much but at least I feel ready to take on my house and laundry!

Funny moments:

Everyone needs a good laugh, so I thought I'd write a few funny things that Ty and Mara have done and said this week:

On Monday for FHE Nate gave a great lesson about work and talked about Nephi working to build a boat and how we all have work to do. We sang the song "Put your shoulder to the wheel" and explained to Ty about the 'worker's seal'. Nate made a cute little job chart for Ty to mark off his jobs each day and Ty was pretty excited about that.
Well the next day Ty kept talking about the 'worker's urchins' and I wasn't sure what he meant and he said "Like last night, we talked about the worker's urchins....oops I mean the workers seal!'
As we went for walk one day Ty was riding his bike and he passed a man who was dressed in a suit and Ty.
He said very loudly "Look Mama! That man is going on a mission!"
I said, "No honey, sometimes when men go to work they wear a suit and tie. What does your daddy wear when he goes to work."
"I know! He wears a worker's seal!"

Last night was one of the funniest moments of Miss Mara's life and I wish I would have grabbed the camera and got it on video! We were sitting around the table talking to Popcorn Papa on the cell phone and wishing him a happy birthday. Mara picks up the phone and starts saying "Hello, ha ha ha, Hello, ha ha ha" Every time she said 'hello' she just started laughing hysterically and Ty and I were laughing just as much! She got such a kick out of herself it was so funny!

One of Mara's favorite phrases these days is, "No, I'm the baby!" We've been telling her what a big girl she is lately and maybe with the new baby coming she's starting to feel a change about to happen, I don't know the reason for it, but she's pretty adamant that she is THE baby and will always be THE baby!

Ty just loves playing with his friends at pre-school. After school Ty was talking to Mimi on the phone and telling her all about his friends and what he had done at school. Mimi thought that Ty had said one of his friends was named Nathan and asked Ty "Was Nathan at school today?" And Ty's answer was, "No Mimi, silly, Nathan doesn't go to school, Nathan was at work!"

The not so funny moment this week has been the absence of our daddy! Nate had a trip to Redmond, OR (about four hours away). Usually we take advantage of these trips and go with him, but this time because of certain obligations and such we weren't able to make it (boo-hoo-hoo!) It was a bummer being away from daddy! The first morning without daddy Mara came sneaking into our bedroom and hoping to find daddy in his bed. She climbed up and looks and I tried to convince her to come snuggle with me in bed but she declined and went and got back in her bed! Ty came in and cuddled for a minute and so Mara came back only to be disappointed and say, "A daddy doe?" We are all anxious and excited for the return of our super daddy tonight! Although it's only been three days, it has been three long and lonely days without him! We missed you like crazy Nate!!

Lake Sacajawea, Longview WA

What a gorgeous autumn day! I just love seeing the beautiful fall colors! There's something about all the reds, oranges, and yellows against the blue sky and evergreen trees that is just breathtaking! We had a fabulous weekend in Portland and Longview Washington. Nate's sister Danielle and her husband Tom were in Seattle for the weekend and met us half-way in Longview. We spent the first part of Saturday shopping at Portland and playing at a park. Then we met up with Beanie and Tom and walked around Lake Sacajawea. What a beautiful park. We walked across a bridge into a Japanese garden. The trees and shrugs and running river and streams was absolutely inspiring! It was so good to see Tom and Danielle and catch up with them. We had a great dinner at a near by Mexican restaurant. The restaurant was also incredible! The entire building was done in tile work, from the walls, to the ceilings, tables, everything! The food was delicious and we all said we ate too much afterwards! It was great to see some family, we sure miss you all so much!

Mara's new trick!

Ty asked the other day 'why does Mara do everything I do?' Mara does everything Ty does and says everything her big brother says! This week Ty did a somersault and sure enough little sister tried to do one as well! Ty helped her a little get her legs over, but the funniest part is watching her try to do it herself! She puts her head down on the ground and starts to walk. She'll walk from one end of the room to the other with her head on the ground and then when she's ready she'll flip her legs over! It's hilarious! What will Ty teach her next? Who knows, but at least Mara has a great example to look up to and follow!

This, that and the other

Nothing much has happened the past few days. We enjoyed a great conference weekend and it was nice to take it easy and watch conference from our home. We've been feeling a little under the weather, tis the season for colds huh? But today marked a milestone for me, I knew this day would come sometime but thought maybe it wouldn't be for a couple years from now. It came as a huge surprise and I thought at first it was rather funny, but now I'm feeling old and a little sad! What is this all about: I found my first white hair! I'm not even joking! Every morning when I get ready for the day I look in the mirror and check to see that I don't have any white hairs, and then today as I was curling my hair there it was, it just stood out like a glowing piece of wire. I plucked it out and as I was marveling this strand of whiteness Ty asked if he could take my picture! Sure! Why not?!

Well besides my white hair what else has been happening?

Yesterday we had Ty's friend Nephi over to play while his mom went to Portland. Ty just loves playing with friends, and it's good for him to learn that he can't always be the boss and in charge! Last Friday we had my two friends, Sandra and Amber, and their boys over. Mara is really out numbered, but she didn't mind and had a great time playing with the boys. Today we met all the friends at the library for story time and after we all met up at the park. The ages of the kids range from 1-6, and they all get along and play nice.

Mara is ready for summer to return! She found her swimming suit and insisted on putting it on! Summer went by too quick, and now that we've had rain for a week it feels like it will never return! What a difference the sunshine for just a day makes! We sure miss the sun when it's raining so much. One day this week it had stopped raining for a while so I thought it would be a good idea to go for a quick walk. We walked over to the store to drop off a DVD and as soon as we walked out of the store and down the street it began to poor!! I picked up Mara and grabbed Ty's hand and we hustled home as fast as we could! By the time we got home it had stopped raining but we were all soaked! So much for swimming suit weather Mar, I think we're going to have to wear our rain slickers instead!

What's up with the kids?!

When Ty and Mara had their own websites it seemed that all I ever posted was what they were doing. Now that I have a new blog I write what everyone is doing. So I decided to give a little run down of the news on the kiddos. What they are doing, funny things they say and do, likes and dislikes...

Ty-rex!

Ty is loving preschool, but he doesn't like leaving his mom! As soon as we get to school Ty becomes like a little piece of velcro! He clings on tight to my leg, arm, hand...and doesn't want to let go! I give him hugs, kisses, loves, high fives but he just doesn't like to see me leave! He stands by the glass door and gives me a sad puppy dog face and I'm tempted sometimes to just take him back home! But I asked the teacher if he was okay once I left and she said he does great as soon as I'm gone! So I guess I'll just have to take the extra loves and hugs while I can because someday he's going to be too cool for all that and just want to be dropped off! You would think when I went to pick him up from preschool he would run up and hug me, but it's not the case! He acts shy and hides and is silly and doesn't want to leave preschool and I usually have to drag him out of the building!! What a kid!
Today the children were playing with dinosaurs when we arrived. One little boy said, "Look a T-rex!" And Ty said, "T-rex's don't have bumps on top of their heads, that is not a T-rex!" His teacher said that he knows most of the dinosaurs and last week when the dinosaurs were out she said 'I like this stegoraptasouras, (or some name) and Ty corrected her and said, "Actually it's a Veraptasourus!!"I guess that's why we call him our Ty-Rex!! He loves dinosaurs!
Ty is really coming out of his shell! Preschool has really helped him to socialize with others and talk more to others. When we go to the park he says, "Look mom two friends at the park!" And he immediately will play with them and become friends with them.
If you know Ty you know what a great little eater he has always been!! Well there are a few times when Ty is a really slow and poky eater! The rest of us will be completely through our dinner and for some reason Ty has only begun to get started!! It's so funny to us, and his daddy sometimes gives him a hard time about it and teases him! One night when Ty was taking a rather long time eating his dinner Nate said, "Ty you are slow like molasses! I'm going to call you Mo--for Molasses!!" The name has turned into a joke, and yesterday as we were walking over to the park I turned around and Ty was slowly coming along he said, "Hey mom! Am I being a Mo?"
Ty's new favorite game is hop-scotch! I know this isn't really a tough boy sport like wrestling and football, but a friend of mine reminded me of it and said how much fun her kids had. So we used sidewalk chalk to make a little court and a hacky-sack for the 'hoppy-taw' and I showed Ty how to play! Boy did it bring back 3rd grade memories! It seemed like that's all we did some days playing next door at the Sorich's! I don't know what was funnier--watching a pregnant lady do hop-scotch or watching Ty scramble around to play hop-scotch! It was a hoot--I just hope our neighbors weren't watching out their windows, they might just think they have a wacky neighbor!

Little Sister Sue

Sometimes Mara is called Little Sister Sue or Susan-Tusan-Rousan!! I don't know why, I guess because I was called that! But Mara is our little parrot! She says so many new words and repeats many things she hears. Instead of 'monkey see monkey do' Mara has become "Monkey hear monkey say!" I just love hearing her sweet little voice. She has a new word but no one knows what it means! She uses it for everything and all the time! She says "Agabaw" I don't know if it means "Look what I have...or that's what I want?!" We are all stumped, but it's a funny word and she says it so much Ty has started to call her Agabaw!! Now we have an Unga and an Agabaw!!!
Mara isn't really into the Disney classic movies yet, which I don't know if it's good or bad! But she is really into Baby Einstein videos and Baby Mormon! She loves her 'baby movies' as she calls them! She is so fascinated by the colors, sounds, music! Every time we go to the library she can always pick them off the shelf too! The only movie Mara has started to take interest to is Bambi! She gets bored with it though and will only watch parts of it.
Mara loves songs! Whenever we drive or eat or sit or rock-a-bye we are singing songs! She'll tell you with her hands which song she wants to sing, and if you start singing the wrong song she'll tell you that too "NO!" Her new favorite song is "Daddy comes home!"
Mara still thinks it's funny to play hide-and-seek without telling me that we are playing! The other night I was watching the kids play out the kitchen window while I made dinner. Mara was playing in her little car and Ty was in the garage. I turned around to get something and went to check on the kids and Mara wasn't in her car. I asked Ty where she was and he said he didn't know. So I start panicking and we start looking for her. I thought maybe she had walked to the park or gone up the street. We are calling her name and running around the yard. Then Ty starts laughing because she was hiding in her stroller in the garage the whole time. She must have quietly gone and climbed in and because it was turned around we couldn't see inside it. She was just laughing and giggling when we found her. I don't know if I was happy or sad at that moment! I was really worried and just glad she was okay. But she didn't get to play outside after that, I was too paranoid and she came inside and helped me make dinner!!

Baby Buddy

As we like to call him is growing and moving quite well! I can't believe I'm already entering into the third trimester! Wow this pregnancy has really gone by fast! I haven't really even felt pregnant yet, and I can still squeeze into my normal pants! Nate was able to feel him move for the first time and that is always exciting! At my last doctors appointment I left not knowing for sure what day this baby will arrive! For most pregnant women this is the case, but when you have scheduled c-section it's really nice to know the date and time of your arriving baby!! At my last ultrasound the baby measured two weeks earlier than the due date. If we took him as planned a week early on New Year's Eve would that make him three weeks early? The doctor wasn't sure at this point what to do. She did say at the first ultrasound the baby measured exactly on for his due date and the first one is usually the most acurate. As much as I want a New Year's Eve baby I just want him to be healthy and less than 10 lbs! So I guess we'll do what ever is best for the baby and when he comes we'll be ready for him!!

Nate's latest and greatest project!

It may seem that all we ever do is home improvement with a little play on the side, well it's true! Work and play isn't that what life's about? Well our driveway needed a little attention so Nate's been working on it the past few days trying to get it all done before the rain comes (which is tomorrow!) So he power washed the driveway, filled in the cracks, and filled in around the foundation of the house. He took the entire day off of work yesterday because the weatherman said it was going to be a hot and sunny day so that he could apply the top coat of tar and let it dry. Well the weatherman is full of horse manure! Nate worked his little hind-end off sweeping and applying the thick black goo and when he was all done it looked fantastic! But the only problem was: where was the sunshine? It's suppose to be done with the temperature above 60--it was barely 50! But here comes the real kicker! After he was all done a few hours later the mailman walks straight through the driveway to deliver the mail! His shoes were completely covered in black gunky tar--he walks across the lawn onto the newly set bricks and newly painted front porch! When Nate saw this he was ready to scream! He was ticked! Not only are there shoe marks from the mailman, but because of the cat infestation in our neighborhood we have cat tracks all over the new driveway!! Nate woke up this morning and said "I just want to swear!" The good news is it's sunny now and the driveway is finally drying! It really does look great--inspite of the cat tracks and shoe prints!! Way to go Nate! I'm proud of you for learning yet another new skill and not swearing when you were extremely irritated!! "who's the man? Nate's the man!!"