Happy Halloween!

Campbelle wanted to be ‘something French’ – and since a French maid was totally inappropriate, we came up with a French chef.  She takes her role very seriously.  Oiu Oiu

Christian is a Kung Fu Master.  And let me tell you, he has the moves and the look to prove it!

And Becks might be the cutest little pea pod we ever did see!

Hope you all have a fantastic Halloween!

She knows not why she laughs….

Today Campbelle’s class had a field trip to Fall City Farms.  I didn’t go along with the class, but I’ve heard all about it ever since she got off the bus.  She told me all about the hayride, the corn maze, and pumpkin patch, and all the farm animals.  But when I asked her what the best part of her morning at the farm was – she started giggling uncontrollably. She told me that she saw the funniest thing she has ever seen in her entire life… and she went on and on about how funny it was. 

“Did you know that animals give each other piggy back rides?”

My eyebrow raised.

“Well at least they try.  I saw two dogs at the farm and one was trying to get on the back of the other for a piggy back ride."

Smile on my face.  Really.

“But the funny thing was, that other dog could just never get up.  He tried and tried with all his might, but could never get on top.”

Did everyone else see this funny thing?

“The whole class was laughing so hard.  The teachers laughed too but then tried to get us to move along into the barn.  Those funny dogs.”

Yep, those funny dogs.  (That conversation is not happening yet!)

 

Christian’s Field Trip

Leif took Christian on a field trip to Mt Si Nursery this morning.  They had a great time.  They went on a hay ride, found a perfect pumpkin in the patch, searched for items on a treasure hunt, and checked out the farm animals.  Christian was so proud to have Leif along with him.  They had a really fun morning.

Pumpkin Carving

Sunday afternoon was pumpkin carving time.  The kids had really been looking forward to it and it was a beautiful fall day.  Thankfully.  We were able to do all the carving, messy work outside.  Everyone was hard at work.

Well, almost everyone.

The finished result.  Can you guess who did which pumpkin?

 

Ok - Beckett needed a little help with his.

Boo!

Just a early little trick or treat greeting!

Oh the modesty of a 3 year old

Last week at Christian’s preschool conferences, his teacher suggested that I have his speech evaluated. She had been noticing little mispronunciations in some of his words, and now that she mentioned it, I do to. He has a difficult time sounding out the harder ‘back of the throat’ sounding words. ‘G’s and ‘K’s come out sounding like D’s and even his own name sounds more like “Tristian” than “Christian.” (Funny, how it takes someone else to point out that kind of thing – I guess we just got so used to hearing it that way.) Anyway, back to my modest child.

So we went for a speech evaluation to see if he qualifies for therapy. I didn’t realize at the time that they were also going to be evaluating his language and cognitive development. So when the therapist told me about that portion of the evaluation, my initial reaction was ‘crap, I really should have done a crash course of learning with him this morning.’ :-) And after about 40 minutes of testing – flash card, fill in the word, sequence type of things, she calculated his score.

He does in fact qualify for speech therapy, but she told us that he scored well above average on the other portions of the test. Christian, in all humbleness, looks at me and shrugs his shoulders a bit and says ‘I’m a genius, mom.’

Here is one of my little genius's best answers: The therapist showed a picture of a doctor examining a dog. It was very clearly a veterinarian. The therapist said "She is a doctor. What kind of doctor is she?" (I'm guessing she was looking for 'an animal doctor' or better yet 'a veterinarian'). Christian looks a bit confused and questionly says "A very, good doctor?"

Craven Farms

On Sunday, the kids and I met Gina at Craven Farms pumpkin patch.  It was a perfect fall afternoon as we walked around looking at all their pumpkin displays, got lost in the corn maze, and found the three perfect pumpkins – one for each of them. 

The kids took turns giving directions on to which way we should go inside the corn maze.  They did pretty good, as we were only in there about 40 minutes.  Campbelle later confessed to me that she was worried that we were really lost a few times and worried that we would have to stay there until pappa came to save us.  Guess I have to work on retraining that ‘damsel in distress only can be saved by strapping good looking man’ theme that Disney has so well instilled in her.  :-)

Are you talking to me??

“Are you talking to me?  Are you talking to me? You better not be talking to me!.  Don’t make me take my pacifier out Long Neck.”

 

(Photo set-up compliments of his dear, big brother.)

Book Club

Campbelle’s been a bit jealous of my book club for a while now, but even more so since I hosted mine a few weeks ago.  The other day she was playing so quietly in her room for so long that my suspicions were raised.  Upon investigating, I found her having her own little book club.  Each doll had a different ‘A to Z Mysteries’ chapter book and were solving the mysteries together.

My book club book is reading a beautifully written book by Jhumpa Lahiri this month, Unaccustomed Earth.  It is a collection of short stories that revolve around Bengali characters who immigrated to American and their American-born children, who while conscious of and self-conscious about their parents' old-world habits, vigorously reject them in favor of American lifestyles and partners.  So if you are looking for something to read, check it out. 

Random Useless Information about me.

Your welcome!

8 favorite tv shows:

1.  House
2.  ER
3.  Project Runway
4.  The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
5.  Brothers and sisters
6.   LOST (if it ever comes on again??)
7.   Fringe
8.  Little Britain

 

8 favorite restaurants:
1.  Malay Satay
2.  Bucca (ah, the memories)
3.  Blue C Sushi
4.  Sushi Whore
5.  Chanterelle Thai
6.  Flying Pie Pizza
7.  Wild Ginger
8.  dare I say Red Robin – but it really is the kids favorite place and so we end up there more than I really care to, but the Whiskey River Chicken wrap is damn good

8 things i did yesterday:
1.  walked Campbelle to the bus stop
2.  did 5 loads of laundry.
3.  had Christian’s conference at school – very glowing report.
4.  read my book club book – Unaccustomed Earth.
5.  cuddled my babes.
6.  read 3 bedtime stories.
7.  drank 2 cups of coffee and 2 cups of tea.
8.  cuddled my husband.

8 things i love about fall:
1.  the crisp air.
2.  back to school spirit.
3.  changing colors
4.  decorating.
5. sweaters.
6.  snuggling in a blanket.
7.  apples.
8.  Thanksgiving.

8 things i look forward to:
1.  Thanksgiving and Leif and my families coming for a visit 

2.   (really, that’s pretty much it.  Not that I don’t have so much to look forward to, that’s just the best thing on my list!!  :)
3. 
4.  .
5.  .
6.  !
7.  !
8.  .

8 things on my wish list:
1.  little less rain, alot more sun this winter
2.  king size bed
3.  elliptical trainer.
4.  piece of art for my wall in the family room.
5.  a really good, stylish new hair do.
6.  slippers.
7.  Barack Obama to be President.
8.  health and happiness for everyone I love!

i'm not tagging, but play if you are bored!  :)

The Barack Obama Show

Leif’s been working at a conference in Seattle the last few nights, so I promised the kids that after dinner they could each pick a short TV show to watch before bed.  We first watched Campbelle’s pick ‘Sid the Science Guy’ and then we were getting ready to watch Christian’s pick ‘Franklin’.  But flipping through the channels I realized that I was missing the presidential debate on TV tonight, so while Campbelle was taking a bathroom break, I just watched a bit of the debate.  When she got back from the bathroom she looked at the TV confused and about to protest the selection but Christian quickly interrupted her and said “Mom choose to watch the Barack Obama Show, Franklin will be on next.”  Smart, political guy!

Rub a Dub Dub

I love my kids.  Especially when they are all clean and smell good. :-)

2 months old

Beckett is two months old today.  He really is such a good baby.  Sleeps fantastically (10 hours) ((knock on wood)) and eats like a champ.  He is generally pretty content little man and has really figured out how to smile lately.  His favorite things to smile at are his aquarium swing and Christian.  Campbelle gets smiles too, but not like his older brother can – maybe it has something to do with Christian being attached to him like glue during waking hours (actually, and non-waking hours, but that’s a big discipline issue that we won’t get into right now).  Christian can not get enough of his little brother.  I thought after a few weeks his need to constantly touch Beckett would fade.  But the other day, I actually caught him licking Beckett’s feet. !! He told me he was just kissing them, but it looked more like a lick to me.  I think he’d take the phrase ‘I could eat him up’ quite literally.

And in case you were curious… here’s what the other two looked like at 2 months old:

Join with me…

Join the Movement to go Beyond a Cure!

This new movement hit the airwaves yesterday (I think I saw Dr. Susan Love speak about this on 3 different shows).  It is a way that all of us can help study the cause of breast cancer.  Go to the website and sign up – you will periodically receive emails from research groups that are conducting certain studies.  If you qualify and are interested, you can reply and help be a part of getting to the root of what causes breast cancer.  They are looking for all types of women – healthy, cancer-free, family history, cancer survivors, young, old… anyone that feels called to action.  Here’s a bit more about it":

The Love/Avon Army of Women offers a revolutionary new opportunity for YOU to partner with research scientists to move us beyond a cure.

Breast cancer has been around for decades, but it does not have to be our future. We can be the generation that eliminates breast cancer by identifying what causes this disease and stopping it before it starts. This is your chance to be part of the research that will end breast cancer. Sign up for your sister, mother, daughter, granddaughter, best friend, and the woman you met last week.

Help us eradicate breast cancer once and for all. Join the Army of Women today!

Vancouver

We headed to Vancouver this past weekend to enjoy one last ‘hurrah’ before Leif returned to work this week after a one month paternity leave.

We left Friday morning and had a great weekend.  Some of the highlights were walking around Granville Island – an artsy community with great playgrounds and fun, creative stuff for kids to explore.

We visited the aquarium – which is ‘hands down’ far better than Seattle's with it’s giant sea turtle and beluga whale family.

We also visited the Capilano suspension bridge and the Treehouse Adventure park.  The bridge stretches over 850 feet and nearly 300 feet above a river.  The kids had no fear at all… I was a little wobbly in the knees as we walked across.

Once you cross to the other side, you get a squirrel's eye view of the forest by climbing the tree house.  You can run from tree to tree via foot bridges about 30-100 feet off the ground.  The kids had a blast and thought it was so much fun.  Leif and I felt a little like Ewoks from Star Wars.

And here’s one of the little Ewoks!

On Sunday we got to visit with our friends the Battistel family before heading back to Seattle.  It was such a fun, spontaneous get away weekend.