Thanksgiving with Shelby and LOTS of SNOW

 Disney On Ice - great seats and fun show!

 Loved the whole show.

 Opening a few early Christmas presents.

Yummy apple pie made with the apple pie filling Bobby and I made and canned. It turned out so well.

Bobby putting up Christmas lights on Thanksgiving in 8 degree weather. It was so cold we didn't play outside much the first few days when we got the 25 inches of snow the last 10 days of November.

Thank goodness for Shelby helping.

Finally warmed up to 20 degrees and we went out at 8:00 at night. She LOVED it so much. Since there wasn't too much snow last year, she didn't really remember it, but was in heaven.

Digging in it.

We went to Camden Ranch this year to get our tree. Good thing we went on Friday after Thanksgiving since it dumped a ton of snow and would have been too much the next day. We all had a lot of fun, though there was a lot of snow to try and find a tree under!!

Looking for a good tree.

Our yard



Well Let's Move onto Fall

It's been a little busy around here. Too busy for the blog and I wish it hasn't been because we have also managed to squeeze in a little bit of fun on the days where there isn't an overwhelming amount of school work (or at least when we decided to take a break from it). It has been one of the most beautiful autumns in Spokane with the fall colors stretching for as long as I have seen. We still have some beautiful trees the color of glowing candles in full glory.

Mia has kep us busy too. She has loved Halloween so much and was so excited to put on her kitty costume. She finally resumed letting us take pictures of her with the smile I love so much.

Her pretty perfect circle a few months ago.

At Discovery Park for JoJo's birthday.

Drizzley apple and pumpkin picking.

Playing in the pea pit.

So excited to go to her party at daycare.

Love that face. She was not into touching the inside and said it was "Daddy's job!"

Love this face.

Family Feast Night at the Indians Baseball Game

We were lucky enough again this year to get to go to a game and sit with our neighbors who have season tickets. They are right behind the dugout so the seats are great and Bobby was able to put up his foot since it was just 4 days after surgery. The best part according to Mia was the ice cream. We love going on the family feast nights since the hot dogs, ice cream, and sodas are only one dollar. To top it off it was a beautiful night and the Indians won.

Excited for the game to start.

I got an ice cream sandwich to share with Mia. She ate at least half. And then Daddy got one that Mia snagged a bunch of. Same with Shelby. I am sure she had much more than any of the rest of us had.

One reason I love summer

This year was such a long spring that the strawberries didn't ripen up very early. I thought it would be perfect to take Mia the week before I started my Whitworth class to pick at Greenbluff like we have the past 2 years. I knew that I wouldn't be able to take her once class started since it was from 8 am to 4 pm every day. Whew! That wasn't fun. But anyway, we went up and everything was dead quiet and closed. I silently stewed in my class all week that I was going to miss picking with Mia and making freezer jam this year. (we have all been dying for some since we ran out a few months back). THANK GOODNESS the weather decided to cooperate and the strawberries lasted well into July (never happens) and so Shelby got to go with us too. We picked around 16 pounds and made lots of jam. We also found out that the liquid pectin does not work with freezer jam (though it says it does) so we ended up with some syrup too. Yum.

Some Summer - and our little model!

Sometimes I think she is just about ready to go off to Kindergarten, like in this picture.

Wearing Shelby's glasses!

Twins with Dane at church

Another funny sleeping pose

This is how she wanted me to take a picture at the rather chilly 4th of July picnic.

One of my new favorites.

Digging in the dirt with the big girls. She loved playing with the older Jones girls.

We went to Discovery park with Holly, Bradyn and Camdyn. What a great partk. This little yellow thing spings around and around. What fun.

Bear cave

Catch us up to summer...

We have been really busy the end of April through the last few weeks, but we have mangaged to fit in some fun. We have spent a lot of time in the garden and a lot is growing, we just need some more sun!

School is finally out so after my trip to Seattle for a grant trip, I will be able to finally relax with the family a bit (with a little bit of summer school at Whitworth too in July). We are looking forward to Bobby not having homework also so that he can get some projects finished up around here.

Grace's 2nd B-day. Mia loved the horses.

Found Mama's eye liner and made herself "pretty."

Funny way to sleep. She wants her "cozy" pjs, but then gets too hot.

I had to hide them in the closet now that the weather is getting warmer.

She had fun playing around in the grass at the Bocce Ball Tournament.

Mia came to watch our Wax Museum at school. She wanted to take pictures when I was taking pictures of the students. She loved watching them do their speeches, until she decided it was more fun to roll around on the floor.

Mia has been playing around with her blocks more. She took them all apart and put them into groups of colors all by herself. She was very proud, and this is how I found her when I came back into the room.

She got over the "I am going to scream at the top of my lungs anytime I get near a bath or shower" after about 10 days. The warm water had stung her scratch from the rose bush and she didn't want to feel that again. So glad she got over that one.

Along with so many others in Spokane - one of her favorite past times -The carrousel.

She wants her own white horse. We got to go on unlimited rides and have ice cream one evening thanks to Thrivent. She was in heaven.

Love this face. She looks so big.