Merry Christmouse

We never expected to find an early present in our Christmas tree box, but surprise we pulled out a dead mouse! Eww!!



Gotta love the traditional gingerbread house and cookies




See my pretty new shoes! They are my first real pair.



Cookie Baking at Grandma Tea's

Peter, Alex, Owen and Clara enjoyed a fun afternoon in Grandma's kitchen baking up all sorts of yummy Christmas cookies

Clara and the cute reindeer cookies



Owen enjoyed pulling licorice for the string of lights cookies



Anna's Favorite Things

Anna loves yogurt drinkables. She calls them "ooo, ooo, ahh's" becuase of the monkey on the front



She discovered the Halloween candy stash which she loved to sort through. Every once in awhile she would get one open and start munching. Clara and Owen would march right in and snatch the candy up as fast as possible trying to protect their valubale treasure.



Anna's favorite treat.. M&M's. Like mother, like daughter! I would've never given Clara and Owen M&M's at her age, but hey she's the third child. She often says, "Cookie, Canny, Mmm's"!



November

Piano Lessons



Clara started taking piano lessons this month with a program called Simply Music. She can already play 2 wonderful songs using both of her hands. It's pretty amazing! She is teaching Mommy how to play too.



 AWANA

Owen ready for AWANA Sparkies at church

 Costco

Owen as the Costco receipt checker. A nice man always draws pictures on the back of our receipts for the kids as we leave Costco. Here's Owen's bunny drawing.

 



 Christmas Is Coming

The kids just couldn't wait to decorate our gingerbread house, so a few days before Thanksgiving they had a ball eating gumdrops and coconut shavings as they put the house together.,

 A Visit to the Dentist

Clara had to get 2 bottom baby teeth pulled. She did great and even got 2 little tooth necklaces to hold her prized teeth.

"Aaaah!"

The other day Owen came bounding in with this getup. He said, "Look at my chest!" I couldn't help but burst out laughting!! He was a "strong man"

Clara insisted that she get in on the muscle fun too!

 Anna Baby

Anna loves to play in the dishwasher water and move the racks in and out. I guess she's taking the place of Tully who loved to lick up the dirty dishwater. Thankfully, she doesn't try to lick it up.. just splash in it.

Anna's newest tricks: naming everyone in the family.. Mommy, Daddy, Oh No (Owen) and Sissy.
She's been testing out her teeth lately and discovering she can use them to bite. Some of us have found ourselves unexpectedly bitten. Now she's quick to say"No bi!" She surprising us with new words almost every day. The other day she saw the box of baby wipes and said, "wet wi".

She is gradually starting to walk more on her own and will voluntarily stand up and take a few steps here or there. A couple weeks ago Grandma Tea had some chocolate and she was coaxing Anna to walk over to her and get it. Anna was all too eager and gladly took a few steps to enjoy that treat. We decided she needed a sign that said, "Will walk for chocolate!"



Anna loves to pray. When we sit down to eat she's the first to say, "Pray!"

October

We went to see the play "Rapunzel" at Molbaks and found some festive pumpkins

Our cousins Peter and Alex

Owen's 6th Birthday

Owen's special dinosaur  fossil cake. We found this fun idea where you used sugar cookies and cut them in the shape of dinosaur bones. Clara and Owen had fun crushing chocloate graham crackers to make dirt.

I'm finally 6!!

Halloween

Our little ladybug, fairy and bat. Originally Owen planned to be a paleontologist, but then he got into a "bat" phase. So he came up with his Owen plan (as is his style) and created his very own bat costume.

Now we've added "batty" to our ever growing collection of stuffed animals. Can't say I know too many kids with a stuffed bat.

Owen at School



Owen  celebrated his spcecial VIP day at school . (This was when he actually dressed up as a paleontologist.) He loves his teahcer "The Cat in the Hat" (Mrs. Willett). This month he earned the Shelton View Shark Elementary "Responsiblity" award for his class. He got a special certificate which is now proudly displayed in our kitchen.



Friday Harbor Weekend

Frosting Auntie Lori's famous brownies

Smores by the fire



Enjoying the beach and making tiny footprints in the sand



Owen loved digging and flinging sand everywhere

The kids loved catching little fish with Uncle Gordy, aka Uncle Geezer as he called himself

Owen wore these binoculars all day every day we were there. He was our whale spotter. He looked anxiously all weekend and finally we spotted a pod swimming by the shore.

More whale watching

All the Kids

Clara did my hair today

Kissy cream cheese lips



Funny Owen Story

One day as Owen and I were driving in the car he said, "I like Pugs and Poodles. If we get a poodle we need a curler. I asked, "Why do we need a curler?" He said, "Because we need to curl the dog's fur. After they are born they have straight hair." He can't wait until Anna is 5 and we can get a new dog.

Here's looking at you kid

Anna's Favorite Things

Anna loves all kinds of balls and she has a pretty good arm



She also loves all her "Dee Dee's" ( babies) as she calls them


First Day of School



Here we are all ready for the first day of 2nd grade and Kindergarten

Off I go!

Look at ME now!

Mommy just bought me my first toothbrush so I can brush my 4 teeth!



I figured out how to climb the stairs by myself. I really want to go down too, but I just sit at the stop of the stairs and say,"No,No!" That's what Mommy tells me all the time. 



Clara and Owen are doing homework, so why can't I? I'll just start by raiding the crayon basket and dump everything out.

Sometimes a little sister just needs to hang out and rest

Look at my rock! Everything about life is so exciting..rocks, bugs, dogs, flowers, balls and airplanes

Well, crawling on the rocks isn't such a good idea



Mommy found Clara and I matching  outfits.. aren't we cute?