A Christmas Wish

All I want for Christmas (besides Cora to have at least 2 front teeth) is a little elf to magically update our blog while I'm all snug in my bed with visions of sugarplums dancing in my head. Probably won't happen, so I hope to find the time to do it myself really soon. Until then, here's a pic of our kids with a jolly old soul we found at the local craft fair . . .

May all your wishes and dreams come true.

Feliz Navidad!

Documenting October

We harvested a lot of yellow squash, zucchini, and tomatoes from our garden. In spite of chronic neglect, our garden also produced acorn squash, bunches of Romaine lettuce, and four large heads of broccoli this year. Our green beans, cantaloupe, and watermelon never made an appearance; but we again had rogue, giant sunflowers sprouting up near our grapevines. Speaking of towering plant life: Did you know that the broccoli plant, if left unattended after the head is harvested, will grow into a 6-foot-tall bush? Not that I'm admitting to ever having had 4 broccoli bushes on our property or anything . . .

One afternoon Ally, Cora, and I decided to visit the pumpkin patch with our friends. We drove out to Pasco, only to find that the patch wasn't open on weekdays. We reverted to Plan B (a trip to the public library), which turned into an unplanned opportunity to tour the local fire station with a homeschooling group. When we arrived at the fire station at the appointed time, all the doors were locked and no one was there the meet us. We all walked up the hill and played running games for half an hour while the angry parent who had coordinated the trip made multiple phone calls and a lot of grumbling noises. After awhile, an off-duty fireman showed up, and it was discovered that the missing firemen were all out fighting fires at two separate locations. Imagine that, they were doing their jobs! (Can you tell I was annoyed with the angry parent? I was grateful she and her group let us tag along, but very annoyed with her attitude and assumptions of the firemen's disregard of her time.)
When a few of the firemen returned from their call, they gave us a short tour of the station and showed us the firefighting equipment on their smaller truck. Ally got to see how quickly a firefighter can get dressed into all his gear, and she now knows how strange a fireman looks and sounds while wearing an oxygen mask. After we left the garage, they turned the siren on, and it was VERY loud.


A few days later, on a Saturday, the girls and I took Daddy out to Pasco to visit the open pumpkin patch. Besides your typical patch full of pumpkins and a giant corn maze, they also had a hay bail maze, a bounce house, a blow-up obstacle course, a giant slide, potato guns (that we didn't use) and big and little hay pyramids. On our way out, Ally decided to attempt the giant slide with me; she quickly regretted that decision and cried/screamed all the way down. (I don't have a good picture of that.)




Before beginning our search for our own Great Pumpkin, Ally and I whizzed around the patch on an animal train. Our creature of choice was a spotted cow with a sheep's head, mainly because it was up front. Ally's friends were more adventurous and sat in the back, with hopes of greater whiplash. The train moved a lot slower than in years past, which Ally was quite grateful for. We had a fun ride and saw lots of potentially "perfect" pumpkins.


After our trip in the mutant cow, we all boarded a flatbed trailer and returned to the patch. Daddy found his great pumpkin, Ally found her white pumpkin, and I found a bunch of cool-looking gourds. And Cora, as always, had fun because she was being carried everywhere.

We took our pumpkins home, and a week or two later they were decorated for Halloween. Which I've already blogged a few posts back. Yeah! Now to tackle November.

Looks Like Winter

When I got up this morning and looked out our kitchen window, this is what I saw.





When Ally got up this morning, I had her look out our front window. This is what she saw. Then she said, "Looks like winter is finally here." I think she's right.

After 45 minutes of preparations, the girls and I were dressed and ready to go have some fun outside with the first snowfall of the season.


This was Cora's reaction after touching the cold, wet white stuff for the very first time.




This was Ally's reaction after tripping by the tree and face-planting in the snow. Surprisingly, she stood herself right back up, licked the snow off her face, and started laughing. I'm glad she's learning how to cope.

While I snuggled with Cora,
Ally had fun tromping around making circles and squares with her bootprints. She also made a snow angel (her imaginary friend Anna had taught her how) and threw handfuls of snow at us.



After about an hour of playtime, we went back inside. Then it started to lightly snow again. Our walkway and the streets are now covered with another inch of wintery goodness, perfect for a snowman or a snowball fight once Daddy gets home.

Daddy's Announcement

 
More details to follow. . .

What a Girl Wants

Somebody got into her big sister's Halloween stash and helped herself to something mighty blue and tasty too. Although I'm not happy with her mischievous little feat, I am happy it gave me a chance to record just how mad Cora can get when she can't have what she wants.

PS- I just showed Cora this post.  She's now sitting on my lap, giggling at the baby's little antics, and repeatedly hitting her hand on the desk (her signal for I like that, please do it again).

A Halloween Pictorial

Ally decorated a pumpkin. She started with her name (in characteristic right-to-left fashion) and then added about 50 other stickers to it. Per tradition, Daddy carved a pumpkin with some supervisory help of our little manager who insisted on a not-so-scary face this year. For 2 months now, Ally has been having what she calls "skeleton dreams". The only way to make them stop is to sleep with her eyes open, so that's what she does. We can't wait for the princess dreams to return.






We took the girls trunk-or-treating in the church parking lot on Saturday night. Cora went as Pooh Bear dressed as a Honey Bee, holding her best friend mini-Pooh. Fairy princess Ally was escorted from car to car by her SWAT boyfriend Devon.  (An A-list celebrity cannot leave the house on such an important night without the proper protection.)  They collected lots of candy, 2 sets of princess playing cards, and some fresh-picked Fuji apples.  Cora dreamed away most of the event in the comfort and luxury of our car.




Daddy eventually turned back into Daddy, but Ally remains a fairy princess. And we intend to continue living happily ever after. . .

Two Bits of Wisdom

They may
look like
candy corn,
but these
little morsels
aren't to be eaten.

They are
for eating.



Congrats on being so brave,
Daddy!

Remember September?

The last few times we've gone and done something, I've gone and done forgot to bring the camera. (I chalk it up to old age.) So here's a brief rundown of the past month and a half or so. It's hard for me to remember what we did without time-stamped photos to remind me, so we'll see how many details show up. 

We went to the Benton-Franklin County Fair at the end of August. The girls had a lot of fun. Ally and I got to pet a 6-day-old calf. A little boy also invited Ally to pet his chicken (Daddy likes to say it was an adult male chicken), but she declined that opportunity. The girl has her standards. Ally still talks about the sheared sheep that were wearing the spandex t-shirts. Cora wasn't quite sure what to make of all the large animals with their strange noises and smells, but she seemed to enjoy being carried everywhere. The most anticipated part of our excursion was probably the cotton candy. Ally frequently reminded us that we couldn't leave the fair without some. We had a private bus ride back to the car, and then the children and I chowed down on the fluffy blue goodness. Here's a picture full of post-consumption sweetness.


Also in August, we went to a very-minor league baseball game with Chris' work. We saw our Tri-Cities Dust Devils take on the Boise Hawks (not as fun as the Everett AquaSox). I don't remember who won, but I do remember that Ally got freaked out by Dusty the mascot. She trembled in fear and hid behind Chris when we had to walk past him on our way out of the park.


The first weekend in September, we camped at Rimrock Lake with some friends. Because of the higher elevation (near White's Pass) it was a little chilly, but we snuggled under plenty of layers and a big wool blanket to keep warm. Cora and Ally love camping. It's a change of scenery AND they both get to sleep next to Mommy and Daddy all night long.

The girls (minus Cora) went down to the lake with the Dads and threw rocks into the water. They were supposed to just stand on the shore, but somehow each girl managed to "accidentally" fall in and get wet. They had fun playing chase with Lobo the dog and looking for bottlecap treasures at the campsite. We also had a fire, cooked out, and roasted marshmallows for smores. Ally was a helpful friend and tried to give Ashlyn a boost as she attempted to climb the trees.



















Cora turned 9 months old in September. She weighed in at 16 pounds, 8.5 ounces; height of 27 inches. She started crawling a week later, so we had to invest in a baby gate at the top of the stairs. I stalled in purchasing one 'cause I didn't want to take away Ally's independence in running about the house. Apparently I neglected to factor in the independence of Ally's imaginary friends. Once the gate was installed, I had to stop what I was doing and open it each time Anna, Sally, or Ha-juana came over. That lasted a few days until Ally decided it would be quicker for her to just imaginarily reach down and pull her friends over the gate. Self-sufficiency was restored.


We went to the HPM picnic for Chris' work. I don't remember much except that I forgot the camera and there was a blow-up bounce house/obstacle course that Ally liked. Some bigger kids were kind enough to help her over the wall and they were careful enough to not squash her, so she had fun. I guess I also remember NOT winning the Wii in the raffle. We walked away empty-handed but with full bellies.


Chris went to Albuquerque, NM for a conference. He tried to tell me what it was all about, but the name went on forever and so I kind of tuned him out. Here's a picture he took out his hotel window.The last night he was gone, Ally got sick and spent the night throwing up on me. (She's only been sick with the pukes 3 times in her life, but I've always been the receiver.) We went through 2 sets of sheets, 3 sets of jammies, 4 blankets, and 5 towels. Fun times for me (and Ally too)! I was so glad when Daddy came home. He wasn't so glad when Ally passed the sickness onto both him and me. It was a memorable weekend.


And that brings us to my birthday at the end of September, but I've already blogged that. I still need to find time to revisit the second half of July, and then I'm all caught up!

Bargain Basement Treasures

(Yes, I realize I'm skipping around again. Yes, I realize I'm now over 2 months behind on the blogging of our East Coast Trip.)

July 11-13, 2010

Part of the fun in coming home to Pennsylvania is the chance to explore my mother's basement. I think we've all gone "shopping" in it at one time or another to stock and/or restock our various apartments and houses. It's like a personalized Goodwill, but better since almost everything is free for the taking. The Home Shopping Club at its finest! Since I live so far away now, I limited my take-home stash to some more 80's-era Tupperware cups, a pile of clothing my mother had preselected for Ally and Cora, and a large box of books. But that doesn't mean we didn't make use of all the other cool finds.


From the toy department: puzzles, a multitude of Legos, and bins of food sets (complete with a McDonald's kitchen and Happy Meals). I remember when Amy and I would play with these toys in the hallway between our bedrooms. I even found the menu and fake checks I had made using PrintShop and the first version of WordPerfect. 


From the costume department: pioneer dresses, pirate outfits, ballerina skirts, Mickey Mouse gloves, fake spiders, and wigs for all occasions. I don't know who wears the hairdo best-- Little orphan Ally or China doll Cora?














From the preserved-for-posterity department:


an old blanket and a crib cover my grandmother made for my mom when she was tiny, and



a double wedding ring quilt my grandmother had also made before my mom was even born (that makes it REALLY, really old!). These intricate works of art put Ally's animal quilt and Cora's yet-to-be-finished Pooh Bear quilt to shame. Maybe someday I'll finally get to her skill level and do her proud.








From the childhood keepsakes department: a bound copy of the award-winning Young Authors essays at Charles H. Russell Elementary School. I happened to be snooping through Eric's bin (with the help of his wife) when we found this last treasure. I won't share Eric's prized piece entitled "Ask First", but here's my amazingly insightful "What I Want to Be". It's short and well worth reading, even if only for the last three lines. Chris is one lucky man to have tamed such a progressively-minded woman!
















From the "thank you" department of my PA memories:

Thank you, Erin, for letting me steal the above picture of Ally.

Thank you, Amy, for dedicating a good chunk of your vacation to digitizing our family's picture slides. I guess I'll forgive you for being a slacker and only getting half of my childhood transfered. When's your next vacation?

Thank you, Chris, for putting together a slide show when know one else was willing to choose which memories would make the production cut.

Thank you, little cousins, for running around with Ally and keeping Cora entertained.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, for not charging us for the Bed and Breakfast.

Thank you, siblings, siblings-in-law, Dad, and Tyson, for staying up late and Banging the night away.

Happy Birthday to Me

We dined at Apollo, a Greek restaurant. . .
where the food is authentic but the chefs and owner are Mexican.

We then ate a made-from-scratch princess birthday cake. . .

that lacked any pillars but was coated in yummy white chocolate cream cheese frosting and decorated with tiny stars and M&Ms.

Happy Birthday to Me, Indeed!

Backtracking to Myrtle

June 27-29, 2010

After our very short visit to Pinehurst, we went south of the border for a two night stay in Myrtle Beach. Our little family got there on Sunday, and our friend Jess drove down on Monday to join us. That's the only way we happen to have this family beach picture.
Unlike the previous trips we've made there, we actually spent a decent amount of time on the beach itself. We were on the sand in the mornings and late afternoons. And we did more than just stroll around looking for seashells. Thanks to Special Agent Oso (he's a unique stuffed bear who's on a special assignment to help a kid somewhere), Ally was all excited to build sandcastles with Daddy. She also finally conquered her fear of having water splashed in her face and therefore loved walking into the waves with Mommy and Daddy. She would laugh and giggle and hang on tight as the water pushed her around. Even when the ocean stole her shoe and tried to eat it, she was happy.

Cora put her feet in the water and wet sand once, but she didn't seem to appreciate the experience. Her tiny feet also went Godzilla on Daddy's sandcastle stacks; that was a little more up her alley. Cora spent a lot of her time getting ready to go out in the sun, and then watching her big sister play from the comfort and shade of someone else's lap.

Other notable memories include walking along the new boardwalk, a visit to the Gay Dolphin, Daddy's NOT winning the baseball game in the arcade, and being harassed by a fudge-selling man (who probably loves the name of the afore-mentioned gift shop). We skipped the seafood buffets and instead opted for Chinese take-out, Jimmy Johns, and Cheeseburger in Paradise. And some ice cream. The following video adequately defines Cora's favorite 5 minutes of our Myrtle Beach excursion.

This is a funny picture of Ally being a pirate. What makes it even funnier is that Ally doesn't like pirates. Ally is helping me write this part, and she says (while trying hard to squint one eye closed) to make sure I put "AAAAAAaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhh!"