October festivities

Earlier this month I used my sewing machine...for a few days straight. I sewed my sister in law's baby shower gift...it's a girl!! Nice to use some pink fabric for someone in the family!

Then I made a couple of festive pillows. I saw some BOO ones similar to these online, and I wanted to make something else to match, so I dreamed up the cat pillow. I want to make a wall hanging with these fabrics, but seeing as how today is halloween, it will be waiting till another year.Lucas's original due date was today...Oct. 31st! But he arrived on the 26th and so we had a birthday party recently. This little man is now 4! He wanted a Buzz Lightyear cake, so he got one, with lots of sparkling candles for some extra excitement.And lastly, we had our church's halloween party saturday night. Cobin was an army man, Micah matched, but had a pumpkin jacket on some of the time.....and Lucas was superman. On the way there, Lucas was telling what he'd do if someone saw him: "They'll think I'm superman, but I'll tell them, No, I'm just dressed up as him. I'm Lucas!"And here, Cobin's photography skills captured Huckleberry Finn(you can't see my highwaters) and a 70's tennis player...possibly John McEnroe with a clean mouth. Thank goodness for everyones sake I talked James out of wearing really short white shorts. His argument: it'd be way more authentic...

Forks

Our family went out to Forks over labor day weekend. We took a ferry, which is pretty cool. I wish I had some photos from that. The boys have since reconstructed the ferry ride with blocks and matchbox cars because they loved it so much.

I have to say I like the Twilight series, but if I lived there, I'd hate it...the small town has become quite commercialized. What's gonna happen to it when society isn't interested anymore?

Next is Bella's truck....there were two for some reason, and I doubt either were actually used in the movie.

We stayed overnight in the cutest teeny cabin...here's a picture of the bedroom..

and here are the big boys on the living room couch pull out. We would rather have camped, but Micah would probably cry and wake up the other campers. It worked out better in the cabin, especially because there was a heater. and a shower.Here you can see how crazy the greenery is..this picture is from the Hoh national rainforest. Moss was EVERYWHERE.
We haven't found daddy any rainboots yet, but the big boys and I had fun playing in the water on First Beach. This is as far west as we've ever been!
Daddy tickling Micah with sea kelp root. Yuck.

Some of the pictures are of different beaches, the next two are from La Push down on the Quiluete indian reservation.

And going home...

A while ago...actually several months ago I posted about the table I was refinishing. Here's the pic again of my brother helping me sand it off:

That sucker took a ton of work. Mostly because I made a mistake, but to sum it up... my advice to anyone is to never use epoxy on furniture, only very small projects. It could have been much easier if I skipped that step. I love it though, it now fits our larger family, plus some! And I got it at a thrift store for $65.

I'm sure it'd look lovelier with some decorations, but I'm quite happy just seeing it clean.

For Lucas's preschool co-op, we needed aprons, so I made 5 little aprons out of some yellow and red vinyl I had left over from another project and added bias tape around the neck. He is here modeling after practically a whole day wearing it in front of the kitchen sink. This boy LOVES playing with water. I just add a few toys, measuring cup, medicine dropper, etc and a little soap for bubbles and he's good for an hour, perhaps more.This last picture is a project I started about a year ago when in Colorado. I didn't finish it for the fall decorations then, but here they are! Cute cloth pumpkins. Although they don't look so cute here, I think I need to take a photography class.

There have always been plenty, it seems a majority, of people that say fall is their favorite season. I never understood it, everything dies, who enjoys that?? My favorite season has always been spring. BUT...I am really enjoying this fall, the excitement our kids have over remembering decorations from last year, pulling them out. Traditions. ( : My favorite season might be changing...

First day of School

Our family blogging may take a nosedive. We've begun homeschooling Cobin and doing a preschool co-op for Lucas two days a week. Cobin's schooling is actually public school(funded by and adheres to most public school programs), but it is virtual and I am the "learning coach," so basically I run all of his instruction with the curriculum thats provided for free. The pictures are actually the first day of school for them, even though Cobin didn't go anywhere...( : It has been an adjustment for the family, dinners are a lot simpler, but we've gotten the hang of it down and have finished over 10% of the school year on this last day of September. It has been really good for Lucas to have his own "school" so he doesn't feel left out, and there are lots of instruction for Cobin that I include Lucas in, such as story reading and coloring. It is more difficult, but I feel a joy when I think of the ability I have to spend quality time with my children whenever I want and know they are getting the best care. I may not always be able to homeschool our children, but for now, I am happy with the decision.

Micah turns 1

I just found this. I'm sure I took it, I just can't remember it...but how could I have forgotten?!? HAHAHA! This is a keeper...the kind I might pull out when he's engaged to a girl I don't like and I'll ask "Are you sure you want your babies to look like this?" Then I'll put on the movie Shrek. hehe, j/k
This one was intended for a mohawk shot, which didn't work because it just flopped over....but we love because it shows how happy he usually is.

Micah just had a birthday, his first. Or second depending on how you count. Here we are making the mandatory messy dark cake.

At first he didn't like the cakey texture and kept spitting it out, but....with a little convincing he ate it all up. Here's the result:

Science Center

Our science center has the largest electric guitar in the WORLD. It actually works! There's also a crazy big acoustic that we got to 'play.'The boys loved this water play area. Actually, about 90% of our time was spent here. They weren't really interested in anything else, despite my animated enthusiasm to encourage moving on.
And this is my favorite shot from the science center. Everyone knows this daddy is just a big kid right? So fitting...( :

My Brother's Wedding

Last week my mom came for a visit. Then we went to Denver to celebrate my brother's wedding. Here are the bride and groom:

Aren't they a cute couple?

Their wedding was beautiful, but the reception was amazing! Here was the balcony view from the clubhouse at the reception.According to my aunt, the best way to not have a cheesy camera smile is to puff up your cheeks right before #3. She then proceeded to take a picture of my dad and I at #2. I know we got in a good picture after this...I just can't find it.

This week hubby was gone on a work trip, and he worked out with a mega-fit coworker. He was so impressed with how hard he worked and how quick he looked big. He was swollen....even 5 days later and still really sore. So he did look great, but we started getting worried when his urine had pink in it. Off to the ER. I didn't think to get a picture, but it looked like he was right when he joked that he was allergic to working out---he looked like he was retaining water. Turns out there's a sickness he is enduring as a result which can lead to kidney failure (from trying to eliminate all the blood that released into his muscles) He is staying for about 48 hours with an IV to try to flush out his system. I gave him a book to read before he left....he's finally reading the Jane Austen book (Northanger Abbey) I asked him to read a year or two ago! He'll be fine according to the doctor. I am so happy we have great coverage, after all this is the second ER/hospital trip in a couple of months... Who knew we were such a drama-filled family?

8 YEARS!

June 28th James and I celebrated 8 years of marriage! I am happy to have my best friend to share my trials and joys with. This year was his turn to plan and organize our adventure, and he decided on whale watching. It was amazing! Of course my camera died and I didn't have backup batteries. We did get one photo:

We had a great time, hired a babysitter for the entire day and drove up close to the Canadian border. The little islands we went around were so pretty. On the way to find them, we saw lots of animals such as sea lions and various birds. The whale watching was amazing though, we found a pod of 3 orcas and followed them for a bit. The guy leading the trek said that they were mother, son, and daughter. We actually did wander into Canadian waters, so maybe I can count another country of places visited...j/k. We also ate at a seafood place outside on the patio because the weather was perfect! Thanks honey, I love you!

Backlog..

Yes, I'm a little behind. here is what the boys and I put together for daddy for father's day....stuff for the superhero he is! I got the idea here:

http://alphamom.com/family-fun/holidays/diy-fathers-day-gift-superhero-craft/Very soon after that, Mr. C turned 5!!! He wanted a dino cake...specifically a T-Rex. Then later he kept talking about volcanoes, so I added that too. A very friendly looking T-Rex, but he really liked it. The volcano was a real lava-pouring volcano (coke and mentos) but I got that on video, not picture. This is post wish/singing/lava-flowing:Close up of the dino....my favorite part is his teeth. ( :Then to top off the celebration, we went to the Science Center for the dinosaur exhibit.

This was fun for the whole family. Mr. C got some cool stuff...one of the cool things being a dinosaur tag book, which he happens to be reading now, otherwise I might not have been reminded to post these pics.

Happy 4th!

Lucas has loved this song for a while. He is finally singing it on a day that makes sense! (Please excuse the pb&j on his face, during lunch. and the fact that it is sideways, I don't know how to fix that)

Outings...

A few of the beautiful afternoons we couldn't take another minute of unpacking, we went out to explore our new surroundings. These are some of the pics we took, starting with Alki Beach(this is also my blog header, but without cropping):We found this street sign somewhat humorous:These next pics are from Gas Works Park:Playing with a toy parachute manThis day we went to Lincoln Park/Beach: And lastly a park a block from our home. We went out several days to fly kites, but whenever we were ready, the wind was not. One day we went and it was finally perfect to fly, but I don't think I got a picture of it up.