A Week of Fun!

This past week has been jam packed with lots of fun! On Monday, we had our Peps Halloween party. It was so cute to see all the kids in their costumes. Here is (almost) everyone together at once! On Friday night, Grace and Jeff went to a pumpkin carving night at her preschool. It was just a night for the kids and their "special guys", so I didn't get to go, but I hear it was a lot of fun and included a bouncy house, games, candy, and of course, pumpkin carving. I thought this picture was pretty funny. I'm not sure what she was doing, but it did seem a little Raggedy Anne-ish. :)

Grace and Jeff about to head out.

Saturday night we had a party for Jeff's birthday at this parent's house. The kids decided to show off their costumes one more time.

Two Raggedy Annes....

Parker wore her fancy party dress instead of a costume. What a cute little family!

Lily and Parker got to know each other a little...

Lily decided to wear her costume, too! She

was the cutest little lady bug!

Today was Halloween, and since Charlie hadn't had a chance to carve a pumpkin yet, we got it done just in time! Then the kids got all dressed up one more time for the big night!

We headed over to Grandma and Boppo's for a little pre-trick-or-treating!

The kids met up with some neighbors for trick-or-treating fun.

Such a fun night!!

Moving In Together

Tonight is the first night that we put Grace and Charlie to bed together in the same room. Charlie moved into Grace's room to make space for the baby coming in a few months. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but so far they've been pretty cute.

As soon as we left the room, this is the conversation we heard:

G: "Charlie, do you want me to come snuggle with you for a few minutes?

C: "No. Not supposed to get out of bed, Gracie."

G: "Do you want me to come snuggle? Yes or No?
C: "No."

G: "Okay." Pause for 3 seconds. "Charlie, do you want to come snuggle with me for a few minutes?

C: "No."

G: "Okay."

He must have changed his mind. I could hear talking on the monitor just now, so I went up to peek. Both kids are snuggled into Grace's bed looking at books. Grace is quite wound up "reading" to Charlie, but he looks very sleepy. I told them that was fine to read together for a little bit, but when he got tired, Charlie should go back to his bed. Grace just looked up and said, "It's okay, Mom. He can sleep with me just for tonight." I think she really likes having a buddy in her room!!

Hopefully they'll go to sleep at some point tonight!

UPDATE: About an hour later all was quiet, and this is what I found.

Fall City Farm

Even though we've made two trips to various pumpkin patches in the last week, we just had to take advantage of this beautiful Saturday and make our yearly trip to Fall City Farm. We love everything about this farm...the hay maze, animals, hot donuts...it's the perfect pumpkin patch experience. Grandma and Boppo joined us at the last minute which made this year's trip even more fun!

When we found the chickens, Charlie started doing a hilarious chicken imitation by flapping his arms and moving his "beak".
That was about enough fun for him! From that point on he was pretty grumpy and wanted to be carried around the rest of the time. I can hardly blame him. It was cooooooooold despite the sunshine and the poor boy hasn't been feeling great lately.
Grace still had lots of fun!

I told Charlie that if he would pose for some pictures with Grace, he could go home. That made him quite happy! BUT-getting a picture of these two together is impossible!

Charlie was cooperative for a picture by himself without that crazy sister!

Grace wanted a picture of just her, too. She's such a ham!

When Grandma told Charlie we could come to their house and have Subway for lunch, he magically became a very happy boy!! Grandmas always know how to make things better!
"Yay! We get to leave now!"

Field Trip to Camp Korey

Grace and I had such a fun time yesterday at Camp Korey in Carnation. We went with her preschool class to this amazing farm for a great cause. (If you haven't been to the pumpkin patch yet this fall, I highly recommend Camp Korey. All of the proceeds go towards helping kids with life threatening diseases attend their summer camp. It's also a beautiful place, and I hear they serve pumpkin pancakes on the weekends!)

Grace checked out the inside of the tee pee as soon as we got there. Listening to the directions for the day with some of her new "pretool" friends.
Each child got to pick out a pumpkin. This was Grace's pick. She really wasn't that interested in the pumpkin. One of the women who works at the farm told the kids that someone had lost their camera in the pumpkin patch that morning, and Grace was fully devoted to finding that camera! (Unfortunately it wasn't found.)

S'mores by the campfire....yum!!

I asked Grace to sit on these pumpkins, and this is what I got. She was slightly wound up by this point. :)

There was a HUGE mud puddle, and I'll bet you can guess who was the first child in.

Yup, that's my girl!

Grace and her friend Kayla. These two have been friends since they were just a year old!

Such a fun field trip!

Remlinger Farm

This afternoon we headed to Remlinger Farms to join in our neighborhood picnic and fall celebration. We had never been to the "farm" before, and while I'm sure there actually is a pumpkin patch somewhere, we never saw it. Instead, we had a blast going on all the kid friendly rides and spending time with friends and neighbors.

Grace totally surprised me. A year ago she was afraid of those little rides outside of stores that you put quarters in. Today she ran from ride to ride and LOVED every one! Charlie was a little more timid, and with all of his recent throwing up issues, we certainly didn't encourage him to go on anything that moved too fast or spun too much.

Grace and Jeff on the pumpkin ride

Grace and her friend Jayden waiting to go on a ride...I think this is so sweet!
Merry-go-Round!

On the train ride after lunch with Julia and Reese

This handsome little guy drove me around in his antique car.

Grace and Julia took Julia's mom and sister for a ride, too!

Grace's face cracks me up in this picture. I think it's the perfect expression for this cut out!

Grace and Julia loving the thrill of the roller coaster. (Grace says this was her favorite ride.)

Charlie was totally terrified the whole time he rode the roller coaster but didn't cry until it was over. Jeff took him on the ride and as soon as they got off, I could hear Charlie crying and saying, "I need Mommy."

It was such a fun day and a tradition we hope to continue. I have to say though, we're still going to need a "real" pumpkin patch excursion this month!

Salmon Days Race

As soon as Grace finished her last 1k race, she asked when she could run another one. She has been very excited to run in the Salmon Days race, and Jeff decided to run the 5k as well. She definitely takes after her daddy in her love of running.

Here are the runners pre-race Jeff coming into the finish line. He did an awesome job!
Grace and some of her friends before the kids race

Coming into the finish line! (There were SO many kids running that it was next to impossible to get any good shots of her during the race.) She ran the whole way again! You can see her friends Julia and Eli finishing the race with her.

The cheering section...

Grace with Grandma and Boppo after the race

Charlie really wanted to run through the finish line after seeing Grace come through, so he did it...several times! He even got a metal with all of the other kids who finished. Maybe next year he and I will do the 1k together. I'm pretty sure we run at about the same pace. :)