Happy Birthday Derek

Happy 42nd Birthday Derek!

Here are a few of my favorite pics of my husband...

I love you sweet!

Derek and his brothers.

From left to right:

Aaron (age 5), Kyle (age 7 1/2),

and Derek (age 2 1/2)

What an awesome picture.

Another sweet favorite.
His early years in baseball.

This was taken here in Washington.
Maybe a year before we met?
So it would have been 1992.

Derek was almost 25.

I keep the original picture
on the bulletin board in my home office
so I can see it all the time.

Sooo handsome...and he still is.

Tricks and treats

Oh, we had a fun Halloween yesterday.

Adam and Ainsley enjoyed dressing up

for a second day in a row.

Ben even wore his Halloween bandana.

I carved one last pumpkin (the skeleton).

Most of our pumpkins made it this year, but barely...

it's been warmer and rainy, so they went fast.

Derek hanged the little ghosts the kids made in the trees.

We fixed bean gumbo for dinner...perfect.

We skipped the mall and hit the neighborhood this year.

So much better outside.

And despite the black bear sightings near us (really),

we went anyway,

Derek and I traded off walking/

manning the treats at our door.

Around the block was just enough.

The kids still filled up their treat bags!

Tinkerbell and Optimus Prime

(a Transformer, for those of you who don't know)

Isn't Ainsley the cutest?...and a perfect Tink, I think.

Fearsome.

Our jack o' lanterns.

More jacks.
Check out Adam's signature...he signed it
and I carved it.

Post trick-or-treating sugar high.

OMG...I really couldn't stop laughing when I saw this.

And I just realized it kind of

looks like he's got his middle finger up.

It's his reading pointer from school.
Adam is threatening to wear this gettup next Halloween.
Ode to the Littles in Arizona!

Pumpkin toes, muffins, and carving

It was all things pumpkin this week.

Ainsley and I had a girls' weekend last weekend while the boys were away on an Adventure Guides campout (more on that later).

I painted Ainsley's toes pumpkin orange and we made chocolate chip pumpkin muffins and bread.

So much fun!

Later in the week we started our pumpkin carving marathon.

We did it while D. was at work because he is not fond of the pumpkin smell.

Pretty pumpkin pedi.

Cooking is one of Ainsley's favorite things.

One of the perks of making homemade muffins.
Yum!

Here is what we made.
Notice there were already two missing
by the time I took the photo.
Hmmm...

Ainsley and Adam scooping seeds.

Two Halloween fun filled days ahead of us.
The kids have class parties today at school.
Adam goes trick-or-treating at Microsoft
with buddy, Sam, tonight.
Tomorrow is the big day.

Today's Favorite Quote:

"Adam, you're so lucky.

You have a tent and a sister."

-Sam

(Adam's best friend)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Carleton Farm pumpkin patch

Okay, so our trip to Carleton Farm occurred weekend before last and I'm finally getting this published, but better late than never, right? Found this place last year and it's now our favorite pumpkin patch. We sure had fun.

Adam's pick to launch.

Loading the pumpkin cannon.

Ainsley's turn...awesome.

Kids' maze.

Adam and D in the real corn maze.

Mapping out our next move.

First corn maze a success.

Picking pumpkins.

The kids decided to go green this year.

Ainsley loading up the wheelbarrow.

Our pumpkins riding along side us on the hayride.

Silly kids.

Ainsley tries out the tube slide.

Next up: Adam.

I really wanted this picture.

You can tell the kids were thrilled.

Today's Favorite Quote:

"Take away the green grass.

Take away the sky.

But don't take away my pumpkin pie."

-Anonymous

(sang by Ainsley)

A yard transformed

Goal #1: prevent further flooding into our basement

Goal #2: nix the 2 year old sandbags lined up neatly and growing into the ivy on the side of our house

Goal #3: make our yard look even better

With the expertise and vision of our good friend and landscaper, Carl, we were finally able to tackle the water shed problems we've had since moving into our lovely home on 12th St. Almost two years ago, just months after moving in, we had a huge rain storm, causing massive amounts of water to flow down the slope next to us like a river. The water flooded our basement and unfortunately many other homes were affected as well. Kimberly (all the kids luckily slept through it all) was here with us to experience sloshing through water downstairs and helping the Bellevue Fire Dept. move our belongings upstairs to dry ground. Following that flood of 2007, we proceded to install new carpet, stack up sandbags as a precaution, and purchase flood insurance, which was helpful and reassuring, but was not a permanent fix. So this has been a long time coming and we are so thankful...here is what has happened to our yard in the past few weeks.

Adam and best friend Sam "test driving" the track hoe.

Ainsley doesn't get cheated...go girl!

Side view #1

#2

#3

#4

Side view from the back deck looking toward the front #1

#2

#3

Front view #1

#2

#3

We think it's beautiful. And perfect timing...we've had rain since the day they finished.

Thank you Carl and crew for the fabulous job!

We love it.

And thank you to our favorite neighbors, the Northey's, for joining us on this project...we hope you love it from your side, too.

Stay tuned for the next phase...adding plants, flowers, and a gate...planned for Spring 2010 if not sooner.

Second time around

I've been encouraged and inspired by my little sis, Kimberly, to start a blog.

So...here I go again, my second try. My hope is for this to be a way I can record those special moments that happen in our family (so we can remember them later), a way we can keep in touch with family and friends near and far, and well, just for the fun of it.

Oh yah, and because I feel like I just don't have enough to do!

Here goes...

Ben (Booz), Ainsley, and Me just after creating our new blog.

Adam chillin' in his homemade tent that Daddy made.

Good boy Ben.

Today's Favorite Quote:

"I have poop in my underwear.

Can you excuse me please?"

-Adam