Pumpkin Patch

It has become a bit of a tradition to go with Jason's family to the pumpkin patch near our house. It is a cute little farm stand that has fantastic fresh produce, then come Halloween time they put all of the pumpkins in a huge pile where you can walk through and find your perfect pumpkin.

The boys always want the biggest one they can find, so I've told them that if they can pick it up, they can have it. They always head straight for the big 60 pounders and eventually work their way down to something more manageable.

This year, after the pumpkin patch Dee and Julie treated us all to dinner to celebrate Jason's upcoming graduation. He has officially passed all 3 of the required state tests and received his Journeyman license. Now he just has one last week of school to finish off his classroom hours and he will be DONE! YAY! More on that later...

Remodel Time

We have been wanting to replace the laminate in our house since we bought it. It just never happened with the flood of things we had to do on the house before we could move in nearly 6 years ago. The time has now finally come to get rid of those horrible, chipped, dented floors with the huge gaps inbetween the boards.
And because I've been watching  little too much HGTV and just recently spent a whole day touring the Parade of Homes, it couldn't be so simple as just getting new kitchen floors.
The new kitchen floors ended up extending down the stairs into the living room, laundry, and half bath. I had decided that I was done trying to keep carpet clean in there as both the doors in from the garage and the backyard go directly into that room.
That turned into new paint, which turned into new furniture, and tearing the brick off of the fireplace to replace it with shiplap. I also tossed that nasty old builder grade vanity with the baby blue top.
So things escalated quickly but I am oh so happy with how it all turned out.
We painted the living and dining rooms in Revere Pewter. It's a super neutral gray that looks awesome. I'm excited to do the rest of the house.... eventually. This job wiped me out. I had hired painters, but Monday morning they called and said they couldn't do it because the guy had shot a brad nail through his hand. Bummer for him and me because the new floors were being installed on Thursday. So, to Lowe's I went and I spent the next 3 days patching, taping and painting.
Thursday, Grandma took Coop for the day and Emmett and I spent the day enjoying the new trailer so we could stay out of the way of the flooring guys. I was super nervous about the floors we'd picked because the have a bit of variation and what not in them, and I'm a super plain afraid of color person. But, after that first peek at them after they'd started laying them I was SO happy with our choice. They were perfect!
After the floors were down we put up the shiplap around the fireplace. Jason and I had gone back and forth about what to do with the fireplace. He like stone, I liked traditional tile. Then a friend of ours who stages houses suggested shiplap. I still love her for it (and many other things too).
Replacing the floorboards was probably the most daunting task. By the third practice cut Jason had made I knew this was going to never end. My husband is an amazing electrician, but a woodworker he is not. He just way overthinks it. So I took over the cutting, he did the nailing and then it went much quicker.
Having updated everything else in the room, I decided that as a graduation gift, Jason should get a new larger TV. He was pretty excited to come home and see that (not so) little gem hanging on the wall.
Next came the fun part for me, New Furniture! I had ordered a new grey sectional and it fit nearly perfect, I even have room to get one more piece for it. It will be huge and comfy with room for everyone. Now I just have to wait for the new dining room table to arrive. It's pretty much my dream table and a needed upgrade from our little four seater.
**Pictures to come, I just realized I hadn't really taken any.**

Washington Part 2

On Monday we were very excited to go see Erin. Jake was super excited to see her 4 boys and I was anxiously waiting to get my hands on her sweet new baby girl Tessaleigh.

We arrived just before her oldest 4 got home from school. Once they arrived that was the last we saw of Jake and Coop. They had disappeared upstairs with the boys and were checking out their turtle. I grabbed that sweet baby girl the first chance I got and never wanted to put her down. She is such and easy, peaceful baby. Even her angry cry is tiny and cute.

Erin had made some fun plans for us to go to the corn maize near their house, but unfortunately had read the business hours wrong and they had closed moments before we go there. So, we went home, made dinner and enjoyed one another's company instead. Tuesday we made it up to the youngest kids by taking them to a place in the mall that had a bunch of the inflatable bounce houses and slides. On our way in, we stopped to figure out just exactly where in the mall this place was and found that Jake and Faryn had gotten inside a hurricane simulator and Jason decided to pay the dollar to turn it on. It was pretty entertaining, and we had to do it a second time so Coop could try it out too.

After a couple of hours at the bounce house place, we took the kids for a treat at DQ before going back to Erin's house.

We always have a ton of laughs and great conversation. I only wish that we would have got to see more of Michael, but his work schedule is tough right now. Also, I hope to be able to spend more time with them on our next visit. They are such wonderful hosts, Jake loves that house full of big boys, Coop loved having Faryn around since they are so close in age, and I'll never get enough time with Tessaleigh.

We spent Wesnesday and Thursday making the long drive back home. The boys are really wonderful travelers, but we were all excited to get back home.

Washington, Part 1

Last year, Bryan was kind enough to fly down and help us put a new roof on our house. So, when they got their new house Jason was glad to be able to go help them add and change a few things they wanted to do.
We headed up on Wednesday, staying in Boise overnight, and arrived on Thursday, going straight to say hello to everyone and eat a yummy dinner Kati had waiting for us.

Shout out to the Boise Hyatt. We made the reservation last minute and they had this cute little treasure waiting in a playpen for Emmett when we arrived. Also had an amazing breakfast with almond milk for our little dairy intolerant boy.

Love riding the ferry!

 The next couple days were filled with Jason and Bryan working hard, and me attempting to keep Emmett happy. He'd been throwing up everything solid for a week at this point, so he was not so happy. Luckily, I'd taken him to the Dr. earlier that week and she gave a prescription which helped a ton, except for his mood.
Jake and Cooper were perfectly happy hanging out in the cousins new yard. It's tucked back in, surrounded by trees, with plenty of room to run and a trampoline. They also loved all of the new toys there were to be played with. Now I've got some great ideas for Christmas. They boys even chose to go with Bryan and Kati to go watch Nicole and Karli play soccer while Jason kept working and I kept holding Emmett.
I enjoyed getting to spend all that time with Kati as we watched all the kids and their shenanigans.
It's so much fun to see how much the kids have grown. We hadn't seen them in quite some time. It was especially fun to see and hear how much Mason has progressed, and hearing LynDee talk in real words considering the last time we'd seen her it was all just (very cute) jibber jabber. Also I suck at pictures and did not get a single one while we were there! Sad!

Giant apples we found at the Safeway in Bremerton

Come Sunday, Jason had finished working and we had forgotten our church clothes so we decided to spend the morning at the hotel pool.

View from the pool deck at the hotel.

Emmett was ready for a nap, as was Jason, so I took the two older boys and we went on an adventure while Jason and Emmett got a long and much needed nap.
Jake, Cooper, and I walked over just in time to get onto the ferry headed for Seattle. They love watching for seals hanging out on the buoys as we pass them.

Once we got to Seattle, Cooper had made it very clear that he might just die if he didn't eat so we made our way to Red Robin for some lunch before we carried on to our final destination, The Seattle Aquarium. The boys had a blast here. (I though it was a bit pricey for what it was, honestly, the one in Draper is cheaper and better.) As we walked in there was a diver doing a presentation in a giant tank right inside the door. It was fun to watch the boys interact with her, they were just laughing with excitement. As we went further back into the aquarium, we started checking out the octopus named Taco that was moving all over. Next thing we knew a crowd started to form and they came to feed the octopus. We learned some cool facts, and watched as they dropped a large crab in the tank, but weren't patient enough for Taco to find it. We carried on to the touch pools, then back to see some other tanks before crossing over to the other side of the aquarium that is partly outside. Jake was set on finding a shark and a sea otter, both of which we saw.

After finishing the aquarium, we walked back down and took the ferry back across the sound to Bremerton where Jason and Emmett were waiting for us. We had dinner with the cousins that night, and saw them Monday morning to say good-bye before heading to Erin's house about an hour away.

We Got a Trailer

After that first night of setting up a tent, in the dark, in the rain, with a dog and three very tired kids on our last camping trip, we decided we were getting a trailer. Afterward we talked about it and decided it was something we would definitely use for many, many years. So we started looking and doing our research because, well, they're not exactly cheap so we wanted to make the best choice.
Today we brought home our new home away from home and I couldn't love it more.
My only requirement was that it have at least 3 bunks in it for the boys so I wouldn't have to put a table or couch down to a bed all the time and, more importantly, listen to the fights over who had to sleep on the couch or table bed. Also, after walking through some with the boys running around, I insisted on at least one slide.
We ended up getting a stellar deal on a new Jayco. It has my 3 bunks, plus what they call j cubes (think little kid couches that fold out into mats to lay on). Those are all in a huge bunkroom in the back with slides on both sides. It has one more slide where the couch and dinette are as well.
We are super excited about it, and hope to get to use it at least once this year, but we will see, time is running out fast.
If nothing else, I look forward to all the many years of amazing, fun memories I know will be made with it in tow!

Zoo Field Trip with Cooper

One of my favorite parts about the preschool we go to is the monthly field trips. It makes me make time to do things I might put off with my kiddos. Today that field trip was to the zoo. Jason had never been on a field trip with us so he decided to take a day off and go as well.
Fall is the perfect time to go to the zoo. It's not busy and the animals are more active since it's cooler outside.
Even Emmett, who wasn't feeling to great, had a great time. He especially loved the monkeys, getting right up to the glass and waving his arms excitedly.
Coop loved to see the giraffes and ride the zoo train. We were excited to see that one of the two new polar bears was out in the exhibit and couldn't wait to show Jake the pictures because they are his very favorite.

Mystery Solved

For a couple of weeks now, the toilets in our house have been getting clogged far more than they should.
Today, as I went to help Coop in the bathroom I figured out why. It had to be the football sized balls of toilet paper he was rolling up to wipe his little bum with. Oi!