Harvest Party 2009

We had a fun time tonight -- making this officially our "2nd annual" at this particular church going through the various rooms of games for kiddos with the same friends we went with last year. The church does such a great job and it is REALLY NICE to be dry and inside on often cold and rainy Oct. 31st days here in the Northwest.

I love this first photo that Matt took of Jay and me. Jay's eyes are so bright and he has that big, happy grin. He looks like he is ready to enjoy the night away! (And he did!)

Below: We met up with our friends who have two boys that are two years apart (ages 3 and almost 1). They came as cute little frogs... ('Twas hard to get all three of the boys looking at the camera at the same time. After multiple attempts, this was the best we could capture.)

Below: Helping Jay with the Egg Toss game. He had to "taste" this particular styrofoam egg before attempting to toss it in a basket.

All the church hallways were decorated with cute farm animals for their "Down on the Farm" theme. Jay especially liked checking out this horse eating hay.

PopPop, you'll be proud to know we introduced fishing to Jay tonight. Dad had to help, but Jay took everything in and reluctantly gave the fishing pole back to the man who was managing the poles this evening.

The prize for "catching" the fish helped ease giving up the fishing pole...

I had a hard time choosing which family photo to post tonight so I've decided to post both of them.

After the Harvest Party we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with our friends along with two other couple friends of theirs. The 5 boys ranging in age from 1 to 3 played WONDERFULLY and PEACEFULLY for two hours while us 8 adults enjoyed great fellowship and adult conversation (which us stay-at-home Moms especially LOVED).

It was a wonderful evening -- many thanks! We hope to continue the tradition next year. We reminded each other tonight that next year we'll be one-on-one with TWO kiddos!

Reverse Trick-or-Treating

Jay and I visited some friends and former co-workers of mine on Wednesday and then we visited Matt's office and his co-workers yesterday and did some reverse trick-or-treating. We dressed Jay up in his lion costume and filled our pumpkin basket full of candy treats to hand out to everyone we met. We had such a fun time!

This close-eyed picture above isn't very good, but it is showing Jay discovering what happens when you hold onto and then put a wrapped Dove candy square in your mouth...it melts and out from the foil comes a wonderful sugary, chocolatey with carmel goodness! What a mess it created and he certainly was unhappy when we pulled it away from him (trying to take the foil from him - but he thought we were just plain taking his treat away from him).

When we arrived home from Matt's office I set the pumpkin on the floor for a minute. He made a beeline for the bucket and pulled out one of the last Dove squares and succeeded at enjoying a second square. Suffice it to say his nap was delayed because he was still experiencing the sugar in his system, but oh, he would say it was TOTALLY worth it!

Our carved pumpkin all lit up

We plan to go to a Harvest Party at a church with some friends of ours tomorrow. More pictures from that to come!!

Baby #2!

We've been COUNTING OUR BLESSINGS around here! Yes, you are reading it correctly - we're PREGNANT!! We saw the doctor this week and everything looks great.


Due date is June 5, 2010, just a mere three days after Jay turns 2! Nothing like doing one big birthday bash to accomplish the birthday celebration of two kiddos in years to come!


I'm excited that I have my same Ob-Gyn as last time. He is a great doctor!! He is extremely experienced and he has great bedside manner - very calming and peaceful.


Seeing Baby W #2's heartbeat was awesome - at a mere 7 weeks along it was just beating away with small flashes on the ultrasound screen. According to BabyCenter.com, the baby is about the size of a blueberry this week.



This week I've really started to notice and experience queasiness, lack of energy, and a general "just don't feel quite right" feelings, but in comparison to other pregnant women at this stage, this is all very mild. Don't get me wrong, though. I'll be glad to get into the second trimester when I start to feel "normal" again if this pregnancy is anything like my pregnancy was with Jay.


We'd appreciate your prayers for a safe and healthy pregnancy...we have a ways to go!


Like last time, yes, we'll be finding out the gender of the baby at 20 weeks (around mid-January). And yes, we'll share the gender, but we'll keep the baby's name a secret until the baby's arrival. Something has to keep people in suspense!! Oh, and yes, we already have a girl and a boy name chosen for Baby W #2.

Costumes & Pumpkins!

Today my three girlfriends and I got together for a potluck fall lunch. What a great time we had! We brought the kids' costumes and our pumpkins along for a brief photo shoot. We did that first not knowing how long we had before the kids might melt. Here is the result...

Knowing Jay he is probably pointing out a truck going by...

Below: Elephant Elorie (20 mo.), Lion Kyler (16-1/2 mo.) and Lion Jay (16-1/2 mo.)

Here are all four kids in the following photos: Elephant Elorie, Lion Kyler, Lion Jay, and Dalmation Dog Audrey (17 mo.)

Just before heading inside I decided to switch over and take a video of the kids. Little did I know what was just about to transpire...

After the kids were fed and playing with toys, all of us ladies had a chance to sit down for a wonderful fall meal. Priscilla brought delicious homemade butternut squash soup, Katie provided homemade pumpkin bread, I brought salad w/ craisins, gorgonzola cheese crumbles, candied walnuts along with an array of vegetables with dill dip, and Emilie brought Sparkling Apple Cider! Yum, yum!

Our fellowship time ended less than 2 hours after we arrived, but that was just perfect. It couldn't have been sweeter or better. Thanks, ladies!!

First Professional Haircut

It had been several weeks since I had cut/trimmed Jay's hair and it was beginning to stick up in funny directions since it was getting longer. I decided it was time for Jay to get his first professional haircut (to even out and straighten up any "mistakes" I had made). I thought it would be special to have the first haircut done in the town where I grew up from the local barber I've known all my life. His oldest son is the same age is my brother and my parents went to school with him and his wife. Bruce has been a barber for as long as I can remember -- since before I was born, really!

Following are pictures and a couple videos to capture this momentous event!!

Above: Feeling the vibration of the clippers

After the haircut, my Mom and I ran a few quick errands around town and then stopped to visit with Great Grandma Alma. Here is a cute picture of Jay playing with his basketball and soccer ball there (he is about ready to throw them).

Trip to the Tri-Cities

Great Grandma was feeling good today so we all hopped in the car after Jay woke from his morning nap and drove to the Tri-Cities. We met my brother for lunch at Applebee's (thanks for treating us to lunch, Great Grandma!), then he took us to his office so we could "tour" that. Afterwards we drove out to his and Mandy's beautiful new home that is being built. They are currently in the process of sheetrocking, the outside of the house is being prepped for stucco, and the back yard had ditches since they are working on the septic drain field.

Above: Kitchen looking out towards the front window room which will be the dining room

Above: The view from the kitchen into the living room. Behind the cardboard is the fireplace.

Above: The View - from the master bedroom, guest bedroom, kitchen, and living room.

Above: I love the beam detail over the front door of the house. The big window on the right is the dining room window. The small window to the left of the door lets light into the entryway, the big window to the left of that is the office, and the window to the left of that is to one of five bedrooms.

Their home is awesome...10 foot ceilings on the main floor with 8 foot tall doors (what a difference that makes) and 9 foot ceilings in the "basement". The basement doesn't feel like a basement with those tall ceilings. The hope is that they'll move in around the beginning of December. Pray that Mandy's house sale closes smoothly later this month!

After the tour of the home, Scott drove us past some nearby housing developments with beautiful new homes and then past Mandy's office building which was on our way back home. We weren't able to see/spend time with Mandy today (which was a bummer) because she was out-and-about busy with work. It'll be fun to plan another visit after they are settled in to their new home.

Jay was a good traveler to and from the Tri-Cities. He really enjoyed the field trip. I think he also enjoyed riding in Grandma's van which allowed him a higher seat and a bigger window to look out from.

Week with Grandma

While Matt is away on his annual guys' golf trip to Arizona, Jay and I ventured in our first solo car trip to see Grandma (my Mom). First off, a big thank you to Nana and PopPop (Matt's parents) who gave Jay his early Christmas gift -- a portable DVD player. Jay enjoyed his two Berenstain Bears DVDs, his Clifford DVD, and his Mr. Fix-It Franklin DVD during the trip. It sure helped me be able to focus on driving vs. having to divide my attention between him in the back seat and the road. It was great to hear the squeals and shouts of delight from the back seat as we drove along as he thoroughly enjoyed the stories.

Here are some photos I captured of Jay and Grandma enjoying some book time together before bed.

We have a blogger!

Matt and I were very surprised to find that Jay climbed up on the dining room chair all by himself and started "typing" on the computer. To say the least, we were quite astonished to see him like this. We knew he could climb up into the living room chairs but he hadn't attempted the dining room chairs until this weekend. It appears he is trying to give you an update on this blog!
I couldn't resist capturing this moment as Dad read to Jay his bedtime books. I love how Jay is all cuddled up against Matt's chest.