Twas the Weekend Before Halloween

Twas the weekend before Halloween at our house when we finally carved our pumpkins..... after daily nagging from the little boys. G and D went to preschool one night last week for a Daddy and me pumpkin carving night (CUTE!) so E was jealous of not having been the first one to carve a pumpkin. They all turned out great this year. The boys help get all the pumpkin "guts" out, designed their own faces, and helped with a bit of the cutting and punching out the pieces.

M started our week off with some excitement. We should really call him "Danger Boy" or perhaps "The Prince of Poison Control". Monday afternoon we were playing outside when he came out of the garage with something on his hair and running down his face. He had decided to play with a nearly empty gas can. I got him rinsed off and the eyes thoroughly rinsed and washed but the smell would not come out of his hair. It took eight washing to finally make his hair smell halfway normal again; thanks to D for thinking of using dandruff shampoo for the last 2 washings----- I think the smell of that stuff could kill the smell of anything. In the end he was not hurt--close call--- we have too many close calls with this last one. A last funny photo of M at dinner Monday night after the first 6 hair washings; do you think he and Nick Nolte were sepearated at birth?

love and hugs and stay way from poisonous flammable substances,
B

A Quick Hello

Hello! We have been busy.... D with PTA stuff, getting ready for Halloween, potty training at the most inconvienent possible times, and on top of all that we have a visitor staying with us from VA. Our friends S, D, and Em sent us a Flat Stanley paper character to show around our town. I took a pic of the Harbor with Mt. Rainier (The Old Man) peeking over a hill.

I found a great place to get this shot from one of the hills overlooking the harbor.

After school one day the kids and I also took Stanley to the bridge. Anyone who knows me knows when we first moved here I feared this bridge.... even driving over it made me grip the wheel in terror. Now I have a few simple rules for driving over-- middle lane, music on, don't look out over the edge, ignore all talking in the car. We parked and walked to the bridge to get a good shot of Stan with it. I will probably also send pics from the summer showing the full spans from the beach and under the spans.


It is an impressive bridge; no Golden Gate or Ravenel (in Charleston SC)but a big enough suspension bridge to make an impact. If you have ever gone to youtube and watched the video footage of the first bridge (nicknamed Galloping Gertie) collapsing in the wind you might never drive across this thing. I think what makes me most nervous is the fact that the older span is not solid decking going across but has metal grates between lanes to allow rain to drop through. So really you are only an inch or so of metal from becoming fish food (or seal food; it is seal season here and I hope to get a pic soon).

The boys and I walked right up to it and began to walk across. My goal was to go with them out as far as they wanted but not far enough that I began to hysterically sob or have a break down. I expected E to be the first to say stop but the call came from G. We walked out almost 50 yards to where land meets water and then turned around. M did not like this experience at all. It was loud being right there next to traffic and windy and a little cool and he was not a fan of this little adventure.

one last pic of the boys with Stan at the bridge,

love and hugs,B

I AM SO FANCY!!!!!

I cannot believe I just followed directions correctly and changed my background. BEE and the Boys---- get it??? Sorry. I found this other blog (Cutest Blog on the Block) that has all these cute backgrounds and stuff. I love how cute it is, but it does change how everything gets set up and the pages seemed squished---- Feedback Please!
I also began to wonder if I have any lurkers out there? I don't think I do. I think I have the account set up so you can only get here if you have the address, but still I wonder. Anyone out there who reads but doesn't know me? Weird. Kinda creepy if you think about it so I won't. It makes me feel sorta weird about lurking on other people's blogs.
love an hugs and be fancy once in a while,
B

An Autumn Adventure

There is something about leaving the house for an adventure in the cold fog of a Pacific Northwest morning and then as we drive toward our destination seeing the fog burn off and Mt. Rainier appear and the day warms up and the kids are so good (that means flexible) and the adventure just feels that much more fun.

Had we been in VA this would have been apple picking weekend at Carter Mountain Orchard. Seeing that Carter Mountain is quite a commute from here we looked for a new apple picking tradition. WA is an apple production state; should be easy to find apples to pick; think again. Apples here are for production and pick-your-own places are few and far between. We left the house Saturday with the goal of finding a new family fall tradition and a pumpkin farm. The Puyallup Valley lies at the western base of the mountain and along the banks of the river there we found our pumpkin farm. We shot some little pumkins from a pumkin slingshot, took a hay ride, and walked around and found some super big pumpkins.

When we left we stumbled upon a cider pressing festival and then looked for the YMCA farm here which does have apples to pick but they were done for the year. We headed back the road we came because there was an organic farm we had passed that we wanted to see--- as we pulled in the parking lot what was the sign.... "pick your own apples!" YEAH!!!! Unfortunately M was asleep so D stayed with him and I took things 1 and 2 out to pick. I have to say that it was much flatter than picking on Carter Mountain and the apple trees were small so the kids could pick easily (good: less lifting of children--- bad: more green apples than you can imagine)

On the way back to the barn D and M met us and all three had a great time eating apples and looking at all the foods they grow at the farm (I see pick your own strawberries as an entry for next spring) If I hadn't been so ready for lunch I would have been up for the dig your own potato experience.

A Tacoma tradition for burgers was our lunch. Absolutely delicious!! In fact I can't wait to go back. We decided to send the kids right over the moon by taking the electric train around downtown since we were right there and I have to say that M got the biggest kick out of it this time. He had a great time waving to everyone and saying HI and BYE as they got on and off. It was late afternoon by this time and G and M were both pretty tired (not to mention D and me).

I took one last pic when we got home of all three on a little bench in the yard. The maple trees here are spectacular right now--- all red.

love and hugs,

B

BOO! to Bradington

Hi Bradington! We thought of you last night when we got BOOed by someone. I hope you guys are covered in BOOs----- you are still BOOing aren't you? They actually call it ghosting here. We are doing our return BOOs today.

I also have to post this pic of M in his Winnie-the-pooh costume. When D got the costume box out Sunday he wouldn't even go into the room where the costumes were--- he was really scared of them. Today (Wed) I got the box out again for G to play with before preschool and he seemed more interested. I finally convinced him to try on just the head for one and we looked in the bathroom mirror and he thought it was funny. Then I asked if he wanted to try the bear and he shook his little head yes so we tried that on (head only) and he laughed again and he finally got really brave and put his arms in and after a few more minutes he put his whole body in and I have to say he is the cutest thing ever (even if his grandmother uses the word diabolical to describe him).
love and hugs and BOO!!!!
B

Time to Potty Train?

Sunday when D went to pick up M from the nursery at church this exchange occurred

Teacher: M went peepee and poop in the potty today!!!
D: (gives teacher a questioning look) M?
Teacher: You are potty training him right?
D: No.
Teacher: Well he told us he had to go and we took him and he went perfectly.
D: I guess it's time to start potty training.

So there you have it. We are now attempting more potty training with M. He was going once in a while before just for fun, but now we are going to give it a shot (though not with big boy underwear or anything) A friend at the bus stop has a little one a bit older who has just done the same kind of thing so we talked this morning about splitting Costco packs of diapers until we figure out if this potty thing is going to take. I really hate to get 30 diapers into a 110 pack and not need them.
love and hugs and bundle up--- tonight is supposed to be the first snowfall of the year in the Cascades and we are getting our second minor wind storm,
B

Enviromentally Irresponsible

Whenever I see people (usually alone....usually in town) driving a big SUV thing I think----- how irresponsible. Where do they live or what activity do they perform that requires that thing? Will they actually be off-roading up a mountain? Do they need bullet proof glass? Is their elementary carpool line that dangerous? Then D took his car in for service and got a loaner for the night.... a Hummer. The kids were so pumped up about it that we decided to use a half tank of gas and drive them around the block. First of all you can't keep the thing on one side of the road, second of all you can barely see the road because the windows are so tiny, and third of all the thing is loud and drives rough.... like a log wagon. So now when I see people driving these things I will have a little more vision into how they feel..... like fools for wanting that monster and totally broke from feeding it gas every five miles or so.
love and hugs and as the mini-cooper ad says: lets sip not guzzle.
B