Downtown Seattle

We enjoyed New Year's Eve, Eve, in Downtown Seattle. We rode the light-rail train in to town, which is always a great adventure for the girls. Then we took the monorail the final mile from Westlake Center to the Space Needle. We spent some time freezing outside at the top of the windy Space Needle, looking through the telescopes and seeing all the exciting sights.

After that, we went inside where it was warmer and ate our picnic lunches together with the best view in Seattle - the top of the Needle! After that, we rode the elevator back down and headed back to Westlake Center. We strolled around, enjoyed all the holiday sights, and even rode the Carousel.

Then we headed to Mark's Dad's work to see him on his last official day of work. He's retiring after almost 40 years with the phone company. Congrats Dad!

We had a great time. What a perfect way to spend a day!

Photoshop Fun...

Vote on your favorite... #1, #2, or #3

and by the way, no color was added - those are her actual eye color

as picked up by the camera without a flash

Look what I can do!

Her best feature highlighted

Wait a minute... who's for dinner?

Veteran's Day at the Zoo

The girls had no school on Wednesday, so we took off, ate breakfast in Bellevue with Grammy, and then headed down to the zoo. Apparently we weren't the only ones with the idea, since it seems every other school district was also out of school and all the kids were there with us. But even as crowded as it was, we had a great time.

It's been great to use our annual membership - it was so very worth the cost! We've been lots of times since the summer, and our girls are still just as excited each time as they were the first. Karina even drew a picture for Russ, the elephant keeper. She's now decided she still wants to be a firefighter when she grows up, but on her off-days she wants to work part-time as an elephant keeper with Russ. He was very excited, and promised to hang the picture up in his office.

Pumpkin Patch - UPDATED

We had a great time a the best pumpkin patch in the world. So many fun things for the kids to do - we'll post more pictures on our family blog shortly... or at least we'll try (when it's not 11:30pm)

http://picasaweb.google.com/MForee/PumpkinPatchHalloween#slideshow/5403736316149976594

Fun at work

We had a film crew come to our firehouse a few months back. They took some film footage of us and the station, and then put together a pretty good kids video called, "Why are Fire Trucks Red?"

I was checking out their website, and they actually posted a few of the clips online. If you check this one out, you can see me "putting out a fire" (well, a cartoon fire...). I'm the firefighter holding the front section of the hose line, or the nozzle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiCTg15r9Mc&feature=related

Jadyn turned 7!!!

Our Jadyn turned seven years old on the 11th of October. It's amazing how fast time goes by - I can't believe we already have a seven year-old!

We celebrated with our families the night before her birthday. Gramda even made a surprise trip over from Montana just to celebrate with Jadyn! Our kids always get to choose their favorite dinner meal to eat for their family party. Jadyn chose a new meatball recipe that we have and absolutely love as well as sauce and spaghetti with bread. We had a great time with family as we celebrated and then dove into some chocolate cake.

Then, on her actual birthday, we had a princess, Angelina Balerina party with several friends. The girls (and one boy) dressed up like princessses (or a prince for the boy), played pin the bow on Angelina, made Angelina coloring books, learned a few ballet steps from our good friend Anna, played a bunch of games, and had fun eating some more yummy chocolate cake.

Here are just a few pictures - more will be posted soon on our family photo page.

Mommy and baby

Jadyn's first day of school

This was Jadyn's first day of school in late September. They were delayed by 2 weeks by a teachers' strike. Once that was resolved, she was so excited to finally be able to start 1st grade - and to have it be all-day school!

Jadyn with her teacher, Mrs. Bond.

Makenzie's 8 month photo

We're a little behind on the posting.... so here's Makenzie's photo from September 29th. 8 months old~

You lookin' at me?

Really? For dessert?

Karina: "Daddy, can I have dessert now?"

Daddy: "After you finish your milk."

Karina: "Actually, I'm saving my milk, because I'm going to have a hash brown and dip it in my milk."

Daddy: "Really? You want a hash brown?"

Karina: "Yes!"

Mommy: "Oh wait... do you mean a Snickerdoodle?"

Karina: "Yeah. That's it. I forgot the name."

Ever felt like your kid asks a lot of questions?

Karina is our question-asker. Julie thought it would be interesting to see just how many questions she asks in an average day. She couldn't get them all, but here's the list of many from just yesterday (and keep in mind I was at work all day/night, so she wrote these down with 3 kids, alone):

• Can babies play soccer?
• Can I see what that's doing?
• What is that a picture of?
• Can I try to make it work?
• What is a question?
• Can I write it down please?
• What do you mean, Bayder? (a made-up name)
• What do you think, Bayder?
• Can you wear yellow?
• Which batch do I put yellow in?
• Why did you say that?
• Can I have Green? (her elephant)
• Are you really holding her, Jadyn?
• Do you want to go camping?
• Is it all clean?
• Do you know dottie-loo?
• Did you know dottie-loo means catch up to me?
• Let's park the strollers... see the good parking spots on the left?
• Mom, look... I am swinging my elephants so carefully... aren't they cute?
• Is she going to sleep in her bed?
• Can you snap it?
• May you please make a waffle for me?
• Eight pieces?
• Do I have a shiny one? (hair clip)
• How does Wicket drink that?
• Did you eat your binky?
• Is it time to go?
• Can I have strawberry twist gum?
• Can I have gum even if I don't like it?
• Can you put it on 13? (the CD)
• Who can pick up a car?
• Are we on the freeway?
• Why are there no lights or stop signs?
• How do you spell SuperMall?
• Where are we going to?
• Do you remember one time we went with Daddy and Daddy didn't buy anything?
• Are you my Mommy? (to Makenzie, spoken as the toy)
• Can you turn the music up?
• Did you see me climb the tree?
• How old do I have to be to be a Russ elephant talker? (Russ is the elephant keeper at the zoo)
• Did you hear what I just said?
• Was it funny or punny?
• Can we go to the zoo everyday or every morning?
• Are we going to Red Robin?
• What are we driving by Red Robin?
• Where are we going?
• Can you put on Mary Poppins?
• Can you skip #1?
• Why do blinkers blink?
• Did you know that Chai had a baby? (Chai is an elephant at the zoo)
• Did Bamboo have a baby that died, too?) (Another elephant at the zoo)
• Guess what? I'm a mommy elephant that had a baby just now! How cute am I for doing that?
• Can we leave this song on until it ends?
• Can anybody reach the sky?
• How old is God?
• Is Grandpa or Grammy older than God? (sorry Grammy and Grandpa!)
• Why did you make that face? (to Jadyn)
• Where are you, Mom? (asked in the car)
• Can I try one more time?
• Can I please have it?
• Is she sucking on it? (about Makenzie)
• Why does Makenzie always want my elephant blanket to suck on?
• Can you tell I'm camping today because I have my blanket?
• Why did you say, "Molly, no!"?
• Why did God make Molly such a cute troubler sometimes?
• What kind of animal is this?
• What does a-ba-ba mean?
• What does it mean in cat? (language)
• Do slugs have tongues?
• Can you please come fast here?
• Can Makenzie throw me another hug and kiss?
• Did she catch them? Does she need more?
• Can you put Simon's cat song on? (actually the siamese cat song)
• Can I have a snack?
• Can I have juice or maybe a full glass of milk with the snack I want?
• What happens when cats get dogs in trouble?
• Do you remember when Roo's mom caught her in her pocket? (Winnie-the-Pooh)
• Can I be done and get to eat my milkshake so it doesn't go bad like Daddy said it would?
• Why did we get rid of the Mazda?
• How do ducks dance?
• Does Molly like to be locked in her fort? (as she is building a fort around her)
• Can I just sleep in my clothes I have on?
• Can I sleep in my soccer clothes so I don't have to get dressed in the morning?
• Are you tucking me in?
• How did you learn to tuck me in?
• Is Daddy getting tucked in at the fire station right now?
• Does God need 4 hugs a day, too?
• How does he get them?
• Can you give Makenzie this extra hug and kiss?

Karina's First Day of School

Karina started Pre-K today. It was very exciting. But if you tell her she's in pre-k, she'll correct you and tell you she's in pre-kindergarten, not pre-k. She had a great time, and is very excited about her class!

Not exactly right...

Jadyn: "Daddy, could you put the CD on that has the song, 'tastes like rain falls down on me'?"

(Reality - Grace Like Rain - by Todd Agnew)

Blueberry Farm picking