For all the locals...

This is an advertising post for any locals reading this blog.  Bryan and I are singing in a fabulous production of Handel's Messiah on Dec 13 at 7 pm.  There are several professional soloists and musicians involved.  It's wonderful to listen to and be a part of.  And we want you to come!  (But come early if you want a decent seat.)  For more details, see this Flier .

Picture highlights from November

For Sienna...
A class field trip to Gentry Farms (with Grandma as chaperone - a real treat!)

and the Kindergarten fall show (the close-up pictures didn't turn out)


For Colby...
He's potty-trained! Well, except at night. If anyone has any splendid ideas for that, please share. Sienna did it on her own right away. We don't have any great pictures of Colby, but here he is with the others using our closet as a gymnasium.



For Ashley...
She's binky-free! Even at night - hooray! She also likes to undress herself, as well as try to dress herself with whatever clothes she might find around (like Sienna's underwear).




For all of us...
We had a pleasant Thanksgiving, enjoying a huge feast at the home of our friends, the Wallworks.

And since it hasn't been blogged about yet, and in case you didn't know, baby #4 is on it's way. Due mid May.

For more pics from November...

Nov

Beep, beep, beep!

A few weeks ago during Family Home Evening we talked about fire safety. We practiced running outside to our safe meeting tree when we heard the smoke alarm. I think we only did it three times that night. But that's all it took to get stuck in Ashley's head.

A few nights ago the alarm on Bryan's stopwatch went off during dinner. It beeps for a minute, unless a button is pushed. While everyone else was doing the "beep beep dance," Ashley was looking around in panic. She started pointing to the hall where the smoke alarm is, then pointing to the window (meaning outside). Pretty soon she started crying and struggling to get out of her high chair. Eventually we realized she thought it was the smoke alarm and we were supposed to run outside!

Then last night Bryan's watch did a single beep at the top of the hour. Again Ashley panicked, started crying and tried to get out of her chair.

I don't think Ashley has a clue about the danger of fire. But now she definitely has a fear of beeps!


Ashley, begging for milk at the fridge.

Halloween

We tried making these Halloween treats.
Ours didn't turn out quite so nice. But still fun and yummy.


Long before Halloween the discussion of costumes came up in our family. Sienna knew she wanted to be a witch. Colby did too, so we suggested he be a wizard. (I couldn't find any costumes his size, so had to make one). The kids decided Bryan should be Zorro, since he often tells them Zorro stories at night.
Dad: "Well what should Mommy be?"
Sienna: "Zorro's horse!"
I resisted and complained, but in the end gave in to the puppy-dog looks, and became Zorro's horse. One day Colby was describing what everyone was going to be for Halloween. He said I would be "Daddy's horse." Grandma, who was in a nearby room, didn't hear the "s" on the end of horse. She gave me quite the funny look.

Before our church Halloween party:

After:

Our Jack-o-lanterns:

Before trick-or-treating. We were joined by Sophia and Annika Lindemann, since their new sister decided to be born on Halloween.

The witches and wizard:




Ashley was possessive of her loot.

Wedding trip and visit from Grandma

A couple weeks ago Bryan and I went to a wedding in Salt Lake City for Bryan's brother, Nathan. It was a quick, whirlwind trip, but a lot of fun visiting family, quilting, and all the wedding activities. Congratulations Nathan & Michelle!


My mom came to Nashville to watch the kids while we were gone, and we convinced her to stay for a whole week after that so she could be with us for Halloween. It was so nice having her here! The kids loved it. Colby was moping today, saying "When is Gwomma gonna come back?" Of course she's always a big help to me, doing whatever she sees that needs done around the house. I especially loved the free, live-in babysitter! Here are some pictures from her visit:

Ashley took half a day to warm up, then Grandma became the favorite.

She liked to pile babies and stuffed animals on top of Grandma.

We enjoyed a fall walk along Radnor Lake.

Grandma was the parent volunteer on Sienna's field trip to Gentry Farms. They took a hay ride, did some farm activities, picked out a pumpkin, all on a beautiful fall day.


Thanks for the fun visit Grandma! Can't wait until next time!

Little House on the Prairie

Last night I went on a three generation Girls Night Out with my mom and Sienna to see this Broadway show:



First of all, if you live in Nashville or somewhere where this production will be playing, you should see it. Maybe it's just because I'm a Little House fan, but I thought it was great. I remember reading the "Little House on the Prairie" series as a girl on the bus ride home from Elementary School. And over the last several months I've been reading the series to Sienna. We're on Book #7 of 9, and we both love it. So when I heard the musical was coming to Nashville I bought tickets. Then when I learned my Mom would be in town, we got another one.

I wondered how my 5 year old would do, with a 7:30 start time on a school night. She did great! She stayed awake and attentive the whole time, although leaning quite a bit against me during the last half. And I think because she already knew the story, she wasn't asking a million questions, like she does when watching a movie. I think she really enjoyed it. Of course by the time we left the parking lot she was zonked out. I hope that it will be a fond early memory for her. Even if it's not, it's a wonderful memory for me.

Before:

After:

Random pictures and events from September

Here is Bryan's latest Masterpiece. Amazing isn't it? In case you're not familiar with the Northwest, it is Mt. Rainier. We climbed this beast in 2005 before moving from Seattle. No small feat, and one we're both pretty proud of.



I had to include the kids' heads so you can see the size of the painting. Rather large. It hangs on the wall across from our bed, so we can gaze at it and dream of beautiful Seattle.



Speaking of Seattle, we've had a very rainy September. It rained for about 2 weeks straight, and has only recently cleared up for a beautiful fall. After too much time trapped indoors, Colby and Ashley decided rain wasn't all that bad, and was actually pretty fun to play in. You can't see it, but it IS raining in these pictures.




Bryan and his buddy, Dale Edgerton, have been training for a canoeing-mountain biking-trail running triathlon. The big event was last Saturday. And sure enough, it was raining. I stayed home with the kids, which was too bad because nobody was there to take a picture of them covered in mud. This was at the end of the 2 weeks of rain, so you can imagine what the trails were like. Bryan said he's never been muddier. The Mud Bowl in Seattle didn't even come close. They hosed off and changed shirts before coming home, so the picture doesn't capture it. They both got flat tires and still came in 10th overall. Way to go boys!



Sienna had Spirit week at school. This was mismatch day. Too funny!



We took a trip to Memphis early in September to attend a wedding Open House of a friend from Seattle. While there we took time to visit the Memphis Zoo. It's a pretty good one! We liked all the big cats, the rhinoceros, the pandas, and a few other animals we don't have in the Nashville Zoo.



We also had to cut down a big, beautiful, dying, red maple tree in our back yard. Bryan borrowed a chain saw and mentioned it to a couple friends and they all showed up to help. They finished sawing and hauling that tree and another small one in about 3 hours. Here's the kids' last climb. Doesn't Ashley look happy?

Arts and crafts brag blog

Sienna loves to do arts and crafts. I do to some extent as well, although I'm not nearly as creative. Most of my ideas come from other peoples blogs. I thought I'd share some of the things we've done this summer along with their source. So you can get ideas too, if you're into that kind of thing. So this is one of those show-and-tell blogs. You might even find your own blog mentioned here.

Flower hair clips and bows (picture not shown)
I haven't totally joined the Giant Flower Hair Clip Club, but I wanted to try one. It has to go on the back of her head, or else it looks ridiculous.



No-sew tu-tu
This was kind of a waste of time. Sienna doesn't like the way the tulle feels against her legs, so she never wears it. Maybe with tights or leggings, but it's too warm for them right now. Cute and simple though!



Pillowcase nightgowns from here



and here.

Sienna is pouty in this picture because the ribbon she picked out for the sleeves from my scrap box was too scratchy on her arms. (Are you seeing a theme here?) So the ribbon came off, and now she wears it almost every night. This pillowcase was one my Grandma embroidered.



Decorations for the shelf in the kids' room. Thanks to a comment on my blog from Pamela!



Crazy crayons. A good use for broken crayons.




Painted 4th of July shirts.




Reversible capes (modified from here). I actually did these for Christmas last year, but the weight of Sienna's pulled at her neck and choked her a little. So this summer I made the front part to keep it down in front.
Colby had just woken up from his nap in this picture, and was a little slow getting out of bed. And Sienna is pulling a face because, well, that's just what she likes to do nowadays.




Now for some of Sienna's crafts. At one point when I was at the sewing machine, Sienna was being bored next to me. So I gave her some scrap material and showed her how to do a running stitch. She liked doing it, so a few days later when she was bored again, I cut out some scrap material for her to make a purse/wallet. It still needs a snap or button or something. The stitches aren't super straight, but not bad for a 5 year old, eh? (Click to enlarge to see stitches)




From our trip to Gulf Shores in June we got some painted sea shells. So Sienna picked out some paint and a craft box from the store and went to work decorating it.



Can you guess what this is? When we were preparing to go to Washington D.C., I checked out a bunch of kids books from the library about the city. The first one I read to them was about the Lincoln Memorial. A few hours later I peeked in on Sienna in the office, and she was attempting to recreate a model from paper. She got a little discouraged when it couldn't stand up on its own, so I tried to help salvage it with bamboo skewers. It didn't last long. But it was such a cute attempt!

What happened in July?

Now that August is half over, is it even worth mentioning what went on in July? Well, there are a few things that seem worthy of a note.

Independence Day was awesome. We had our annual neighborhood parade, barbecue, and fireworks show.





The holiday was even more awesome this year because we had our friends Jacob and Lisa Ferrar come to visit for the long weekend. We had such a good time visiting, seeing historical sights, eating good food, and celebrating the holiday together.





We also enjoyed some wonderful weather in July. Or as a Severe Weather Alert warned: "Unseasonably cool". Highs in the 70s in July? Unheard of! We took advantage of a beautiful Saturday for a hike in Long Hunter State Park.







The cool weather was so unexpected we had to dig out our winter clothes:



OK, not really. This was actually from our Endurance party, hosted by our friends the Edgertons. We all read about Ernest Shackleton's amazing Antarctica adventure on the ship Endurance. Even the kids all read (or were read to) at their level. So we got together for a polar meal, chilling games (like the ice plunge challenge below), and a movie about the Endurance. Great times!



Here's some more pics:



(Go here for the Picasa website)