Halloween 2011

What a LONG day!  Teaching on Halloween has to be hands down the roughest day to teach!  The kids are hyped up on the thought of all that candy they will be eating later in the day.  The day after is interesting as well, some will be hyper from all the candy they eat for breakfast or perhaps at lunch and the other half will be zombies from staying up too late and the inevitable sugar crash.  Makes for a couple interesting and eventful days that's for sure.  At least my job is never dull. 

I picked up Lincoln from daycare, put his tiger costume on in the car and we headed to our first stop, Grandma & Papa Riddell's house!  He wasn't too excited about wearing his costume, but it's amazing how a two year old can be distracted by a fruit snack...  Once we got buckled in and on the road he was just fine :-)  Grandma and Papa loaded him up with oranges (which he LOVES) and mini cinnamon rolls (he might have to fight mom for those...). 

Next we walked through the woods to Great Grandma and Grandpa Pickens' house.  It was much easier to walk than deal with the car seat again.  Lincoln trick-or-treated there and surprise, surprise got full size candy bars!  Just like when we were kids.  My Grandpa doesn't believe in mini candy bars and he keeps a refrigerator full of them year-round.  

Our last stop was Gramme Brannin's house.  Lincoln added a rather large pumpkin sugar cookie to his treat bucket.  Gramme also tried to get him to try chocolate covered bananas, but he would have no part of that!  He wanted chocolate milk instead or rather "choco nilk" as Lincoln would put it.  We met up with Daddy at Gramme's house because of his job being in Federal Way.  When we were leaving we of course had two vehicles and Lincoln was torn on whether he wanted to ride in Daddy's car or Mommy's car.  He ended up in my car, but was adamant that we make sure Daddy was coming too.  His first words upon parking in the driveway at home were, "Daddy coming?"  and he lit up when Josh pulled up next to us.  We ended the night with a late dinner and a shower for Lincoln before bed.  Long day, but fun :-)

Reignik's Birthday

The third birthday party arrived (well, officially on November 1)!  Reignik had his Toy Story party on Saturday and once again the kids had a blast.  The decorations were very cute.  There was even 3-D glasses that went with the party decor.  It was mellow and relaxing, which was amazing for a 2nd birthday party!  Chris and Tasha had the party at Chris's parents house this year as they are in the midst of selling their house and had a showing. 

It was no surprise to me that it took Lincoln quite a while to warm up to everyone and the new house. 

It wasn't long before he was really getting into the party, especially the balloons!  They were quite the hit and luckily none popped...

Here is the birthday boy!  He did such a great job opening his presents and blowing out his candle.  He started the party with his Toy Story ball cap and ended it with a new fashionable black hat :-)  Isn't it adorable!

Here is the shot I wasn't able to get at the last two parties!  All three of the kids :-)  It is so interesting to watch them as they grow and develop abilities and personalities.  As of now Lincoln is by far the most reserved and cautious.  Kaura is the sneaky daredevil.  She can already get herself out of her car seat!  She is also the tallest at this point.  Reignik is the happy go lucky one with long legs!  

Mark and Lauren were enjoying the festivities and Kyra was flashing her "cool" pose.  It's hard being the oldest at these parties...

It was a fun party and the kids were worn out by the end which is always a good thing :-)

The New "Big Protector"

Well, when Rex was still with us he was the "protector" of the house while Morgan was the chicken.  She would cower if Rex was barking to announce that someone was here.  She was also terrified of thunder.  Since Rex has been gone she has really stepped up and filled in for him.  One thing she is always on the prowl for are the raccoons that come up on our deck at night.  She has chased them all over the yard and most recently she has been "trapping" them on our fence posts.  She is pretty proud of herself when she comes back inside.  If only she knew hoe vicious they can be...  Thor tends to just wait on the porch while she is barking along the fence line at them.  Last night she had four of them pinned along the fence line!  We tried to get pictures, but only one somewhat turned out!

The Pumpkin Patch

Better late then never!  We finally made it to the pumpkin patch!  My mom and I took Lincoln to Lattin's Cider Mill on Sunday and we had a great time.  It started out a bit rocky as Lincoln wanted to be carried around (that does not fly these days with my ever expanding mid section...).  Thankfully he finally realized that he wasn't going to get his way and made the best of it.  It wasn't nearly as crowded as last year, but because of the rain the previous day it was a mud pit!  Cars were having great difficulty getting in and out of the parking lot. We enjoyed some donuts, apple fritters, and of course we couldn't leave without a gallon of mouth watering cider!

 Here we are getting ready to explore the patch!

 Lincoln was reluctant to check out the pigs until other kids came around.  Then he was all about it.  Peer pressure at such a young age?!  Hehehe :-) 

 Lincoln was most interested in the rotten pumpkins...  This particular one he stepped in and was a bit weirded out about the feeling of his boot in the squishy pumpkin. 

 Baby Brooklyn is not quite big enough to shelve this pumpkin...

 Grandma and Lincoln checking out a plane passing overhead.

 Awe, isn't he cute :-)

 He loved checking out the baby ducks.

 The word "mud" was in every other sentence once he saw it and got to walk through it!

 Ah, finally he got to pull the wagon!

 Of course you can't just pull the wagon, you have to check out every angle and make sure that everything ins running smoothly...  Or investigate the amount of "mud" on the tires...

All in all, it was a beautiful afternoon!  

The Potty Training Prognosis

With Lincoln recently turning two and the addition of the new puppy, Thor, to the family, potty training has been in full swing.  I must say that if Thor and Lincoln were keeping score, Lincoln would be falling miserably behind...  We have been putting him on the toilet at night before bed just to get him use to the routine.  However, if you mention anything about him using the toilet to poop or pee he starts in on his "no, no....no, no, no" chant...  The other day, upon getting off the toilet he decided to pee all over the bathroom cabinets as he was getting ready to wash his hands?!  We will keep at it and I'm hoping in his own time he will get it, but for now he is insistent that he does not need to use the toilet. 

Thor on the other hand has been a breeze to potty train!  I think he has only had one accident in the last week!  He does have a good trainer though, as Morgan is a great example for him.  She could have thought twice about teaching him to dig though...   

Kaura's 2nd Birthday

Well, there was a string of births two years ago therefore, we now have a string of birthdays to celebrate...  Lincoln's is the kick off and 4 weeks later Kaura followed by Reignik 2 weeks later.  Kaura's birthday theme was Elmo and the kids had a great time.  As I sat back taking in the chaos that I've come to understand is associated with a two year old's birthday, I was in awe of how fast the two years went.  To see the kids that were just infants not that long ago starting to really talk and interact was crazy!

The cute Elmo cake

Lincoln was so excited about eating cake he was jumping up and down!  He has the birthday thing mastered now! 

Reignik sporting the party hat!  Your party is next on the list!

Reignik's little sister Rayli.  Isn't she adorable!

Here is Kaura!  The big birthday girl!  It did not take her long to figure out the whole present routine.

Lincoln and his "say cheese!" face...

Counting Apples?

Here is Lincoln telling daddy about his "two apples" :-)

Apples Anyone?

Well, fall is officially here.  When I look out my front window I see an abundance of apples in our apple trees and I already vowed that they would not go to waste this year.  So, naturally I employed the help of my little man and we headed to the front yard with all of our supplies.  Lincoln loved picking up the apples and depositing them into the bin.  He felt it necessary to sample quite a few though...  While were were apple picking Josh was on the roof working and Lincoln was shouting at him about the two  apples he had in his hands.  It was great!  He is using his numbers and starting to comprehend their meaning!

The next step was to do something with them...  I decided to try apple sauce.  I've made apple sauce before, but I did it with my mom.  We canned it and had all the necessary tools.  I decided to wing it and see what happened.  I found a recipe on line and used that as a general guideline. 

First I washed the apples.

Then I used my apple slicer (the recipe said to leave the peels on, but next time I will not).

Into a pot they went with some water.

I simmered them until they were soft.

Next I put them into my manual food processor (I think an electric food processor might have pureed' it better.)

I added sugar, lemon juice, a dash of apple juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

It ended up chunky, but like I said if I had an electric food processor I think it would have been creamer...  Or I need to borrow my grandmas apple sieve.
 

It tastes good and Lincoln loves it and that's what counts. 

Because it didn't quite turn out how I had hoped I decided to use some of it to make apple sauce bread.  Of course Lincoln helped.  It was his first time using the mixer! 

The bread is delicious!  I will definitely be making more soon as I have TONS of apples left!