Ava's a big 9 year old!

We had a great time celebrating Ava's 9th birthday this year. I always love girly themed parties...so much fun to plan! We had a family party on the Sunday before her birthday. Gotta love the chaos with all of the little friends and cousins running around!

We kept Ava's friend party low key this year, and she got to pick two friends to have over for a sleepover. Hailey and Sydney are always so much fun, and they had lots of fun paining nails, playing dolls and giggling. :)

Both of these girls love the little guys...I think Ava gets annoyed sometimes because all of the attention from her friends isn't on her. :)

Goofy girls!

Are you smarter than a Kindergartner?

Carter this morning-

"Mom, when I was born you TOTALLY spelled my name wrong. It should have been c-a-r-D-e-r. That spells Carter."

Don't you love it when they get into Kindergarten and think they are smarter than you!

This man

This man was up all night working in the dark, cold rain, while we were cozy and warm in our beds. This man has made sacrifices...for us. He works hard, never gives up and strives to do his best...because of us. He will miss out on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day....because he will be working to provide for us. I spend so much time gushing over my kids and ooing and awing over their accomplishments, that I forget the guy who is usually behind the scenes, making it all possible. Sometimes I forget how much he has on his plate, and I need to remind myself, and the kids, how fortunate we really are!

These guys are pretty lucky to have a daddy that is so crazy about them...and they are equally crazy about him! Daddy had been working nights, and it was time for them to wake him up. I can't think of a better way to be woken up. :)

Cowboys and Indians

The kids were looking forward to our annual harvest party for weeks! This is definitely the highlight of harvest for our kids. My aunts, cousins, grandma and mom work really hard to make this day special for the kids.

Coleson, the brave Indian Warrior :)

Cowboy Carter
Running after his next clue in the Scavenger Hunt

Pumpkin Bocce Ball

Daddy helping the kids with their clues

Ava Jean- the cutest cowgirl around

Checking out the goods!

Our other little indian brave, Weston

Having so much fun!

A cowgirl needs accessories too!

What are we going to do with this kid?

Big sister and her sweet little brother...these two are such good buds!

The cousins- all nine and under

Making the most of it

Nick and his dad had a big tuna fishing trip scheduled for September, but they got a call the night before saying the trip was canceled. There was some rough weather out at sea, and they couldn't risk taking a boat full of people out. A bunch of Nick's buddies from work were supposed to go too, so needless to say, there were a bunch of dissapointed guys around. Nick and his dad decided to make the most of their time off, so they headed to Skagit to river fish. They had a great time, and they did pretty well! They ended up going quite a bit over the next month or so, and they were priviledged to have 4 mini fishermen that tagged along quite a bit!

Joggin' their little hearts out!

The kids did such a great job at the jog-a-thon this year. They both got 24 punches, which equals 12 laps around the track! That's 3 miles each! Not bad for an hour! Nick, Coleson, Weston and I went along to run and cheer them on. We had just gotten back from Hawaii the night before, so we were lacking a little in the energy department.

Carter had a smile on his face the whole time, and just loved every minute of it!

Carter's little class- 8 boys and 3 girls!

I DID IT!

The 3rd graders taking off
Running hard!
Look at that red face...it was hot!
Still managing to smile...with a little help from her friend Emilyn :)
A BIG thanks to everyone who sponsored the kids this year. They each earned $95 for their school!

A much needed scrapbooking day!

My scrapbooking friends and I just realized that we have only gotten together twice this year, and our goal is 4 times. We have decided to in order to keep the tradition, we need to scrapbook once in November and once in December. Life is rough! I haven't scrapbooked at all since last time we got together, so my goal is to try to get going on it again. Hopefully I will have more pages to post soon!

He earned it!

Carter has been saving all summer for an electric scooter. He saved all of his birthday money, allowance money and tooth fairy money, and last week, he finally had enough! We headed to Bellingham and Carter got to finally see all of that hard work pay off. One brand new, shiney electric scooter! The only bummer was that it had to charge 18 hours before use, so he had to wait a whole day to try it out!

This thing goes 10 mph, so daddy had to go over safety and operation techniques.

I think all of that power made him a little nervous at first!
We weren't quite sure he knew how to stop, so a little more teaching was needed.
There's the confident little stinker that we all know and love...he's been zipping around on that thing ever since!
These two little guys were pretty jealous of Carter and wanted a turn, but not for a few years.
Coleson at 3- His favorite color is orange, he is still busy and into everything, he loves Mickey Mouse, he loves reading stories and singing songs, he is very quick to tell you who he likes and doesn't like, he started Sunday School and Children's Church and the teachers have negative feedback for me every week, he loves watching brother and sister play soccer, he loves snacks, he doesn't like time outs (but gets many of them), he is a terrible sleeper, he loves to cuddle!
Weston at 3- He is our happy-go lucky boy, he has the biggest heart, he loves wrestling with Carter, he likes counting to 10 and singing ABC's, he is a big fit thrower, he is a great sleeper, he likes helping mom in the kitchen, he likes making forts with his brothers, he loves movie nights, there's no one that he doesn't like, he does great in Sunday School and Children's Church and follows directions well, he says "I love you mom" multiple times a day, he is very silly!


Ava waiting for her turn on Carter's scooter. I think she's probably put more miles on it than he has! She was saving for a Nintendo DS, but I think she might reconsider. :)