Second Visit to the Pumpkin Patch!

Well, since Grace's Cousins (well, they are actually the kids of Martin's Cousin Mark! So does that make them Gracie's 2nd cousins????)came over for a visit last weekend we decided to take another trip to the pumpkin patch. This time we went to McPhail's Berry Farm out in Lynden. It was a little bit colder and definitely wetter than our first time, but the three kids had fun nonetheless. Aaron, Grace and Landon got to ride the train and had a blast doing so. I tried to get them all to pose out the windows of the wagon, but no such luck. This was the best photo...

We took a bumpy ride out to the patch and since we couldn't really leave without some pumpkins each of the kids got to pick one to take home. Aaron found a really cute little pumpkin, Grace got a medium one, and Landon decided to wait till we got back to the farm and pick one out from the wagon. Smart kid, the ones we carried back from the patch were pretty muddy. YUCK!

As we were leaving the farm I decided to get Gracie to pose by the sign with her pumpkin. she wasn't really interested in that so a little bribing was involved. In order for me to take her picture she got to take some of mommy posing. So here are the results. Not bad for a 2 1/2 year old. What do you think?

Pumpkin Time

On Saturday Martin, Grace & I headed out to the Pumpkin Patch. Last year I went along with the ladies of the MOM's club and we had a great time at Stoney Ridge Farm. Since it was closest to our house we decided to go there again this year. It was a first for Martin and he enjoyed it, judging from the wrestling match we had over the camera. So some of these photos were taken by me and some by my husband. Gracie just loved all the animals and Mom was into taking her picture at the growth chart, the second in hopefully a long row of scrapbook photos. After taking the haywagon to the pumpkin field Grace and Daddy polished off two freshly picked apples, with me getting some small bites in between. They had a photo op set up and Grace couldn't wait to get her face in the cut-out and ham it up for the camera. After some perusing of the pretty picked over pumpkin patch we settled on two pumpkins, a big one for Dad and a smaller one for Grace. We got to the patch right at 10 AM when it opened, and it was a good thing too, cause after noon it got jam packed with families and would have been no fun to stand in line. So by the time we got our pumpkins loaded into a wheelbarrow, Miss Grace was ready for a nap and decided to ride along. On the way home we stopped off in Everson to try out a new breakfast place before I had to head into work.

Martin even took time out on Sunday to carve Grace's pumpkin. At first she wasn't so sure about the whole thing but after a couple of minutes she got right into the mess, seeds, guts and all. I took some photos of the end result, but honestly, the one I carved for Grace a little later is a little more professional looking. LOL Grace picked out the pattern...I'll let you be the judge.

This month just seemed to fly by. I can't believe Wednesday is Halloween...Gracie will finally get to wear her awesome costume. I hope to take her trick or treating in Fairhaven this year. We'll see what the weather decides to do.

I'm Baaaaaaack...

It's been forever, (well since June!) that I've updated this sucker, so here I am. Tons of stuff has happened since we've moved into our (mostly!) completed new house right after July 4th weekend.

Where do I start? I flew out East to visit my BFF Megan in Maryland and attend CKC Valley Forge with her and some other gal pals, Martin went on his boys fishing trip in August, I started working at my favorite scrapbook store of all time Treasury of Memories in Bellingham, I went to Phoenix in September, we just returned from Thanksgiving in Canada at my folks and it's already the middle of October...where did time go?

Here is a photo of Megan and her wonderful Mom Darlene in Millville at the cutest little shopping spot. I found some great everyday items there that I can't live without now.

On the weekend we decided to brave the weather and got some awesome seats to "Sunday In The Country" a concert with many famous country stars of which we caught the following: Phil Vasser, Terri Clark, Sara Evans and Trace Adkins. We had loads of fun, even texted in to have our message displayed on the big screens up on stage. How kewl is that? ;)

Here is a shot of the famous cowgirl Gracie at the NW WA Fair on the 14th of August. Isn't she a cutie?

The day after the fair we got a very short notice invite from our cousin Mark down south in Olympia. So we hopped into the car and made the 4 hour drive to visit with him and the twins. Grace had a blast playing in the pool and didn't want to get out at all...

The next big adventure in our lives was the trip to Creative Escape 2007 in Phoenix. If you remember, last year I was the lucky winner of the FREE admission to this year's event, plus I got to take my new best friend Megan that I coincidentally met at CE 2006. Seems like the big guy upstairs meant well for us and we were destined to meet there. Thank you! We had a wonderful time and were so glad to meet up with old and new friends, learn lot's of fun new techniques (we've already managed to use three of the card folding techniques I learned a the store!), squeeze in some spa & pool time and even some shopping. We found a really great Halloween costume for Gracie in Phoenix of all places, but no photos of that till we get to wear it trick or treating. I also have to shout out a big, no HUGE Thank you to Megan's Mom Darlene. She spent a lot of her vacation time watching Grace so that Megan & I could attend the cool classes and events. We couldn't have done it without her.

When we got back we had already made plans for the weekend after our return home. Martin had arranged for us to borrow a friends boat to take a trip to the islands. This was only the second time for me on a boat and a first for Grace. She is such a natural, she just loves the water and the outdoors. Even though part of the weekend was beautiful and sunny we did ride out some weather and we had a tough time getting Grace to come inside. She was cold and wet but still having a blast. What a girl!

At the end of the month our cousin Mark visited baring gifts. He brought us a piano courtesy of Uncle Joe. At first I wasn't so sure, but seeing Grace have so much fun, it's a no-brainer. She'll be taking lessons sometime soon. Check it out:

So then just this past weekend we took the plunge and drove up to see my folks for CDN Thanksgiving. We has so much fun seeing the kids together, last time the cousins were there Grace was still pretty small and this time they really interacted. Check out Jayson reading to Gracie...

I think that brings us up to date, at least partially. LOL I promise to be better in the future but life just get's so busy sometimes...