Thanksgiving in Arrowhead

We headed down south the Friday before Thanksgiving since the kids were all out of school the following week and we wanted to spend some time with our families. Jim was up in Seattle for work, so I packed up the car with just me and the kids and headed on down. Jim got us a hotel in Bakersfield which really helps break up the drive, especially when you are driving by yourself. The kids seriously get so excited to stay in hotels - it cracks me up. We hit a lot of traffic on the way down and the kids were killing me with the bathroom stops, but we made it nonetheless, had a super healthy dinner on the road at Taco Bell (Blah!) and then they wanted to head straight to the pool and go swimming. So on went the maternity bathing suit (another Blah!)and we all swam for about an hour. We woke up the next morning, had a yummy breakfast at the hotel and hit the road. Jim flew into Ontario from Seattle, so we picked him up and headed up the mountain to Grandma's house! We had a fun visit with all of my side of the family. The kids were running around like crazy and it's always fun to see them play together. My mom cooked up the full Thanksgiving Feast and we had a fun night catching up with everyone. The next day, my mom had all sorts of arts & crafts prepared for the kids - Christmas advent calendars, gingerbread cookies to decorate and turkey's to make from rice krispie treats. It kept the kids busy and gave the adults time to hang out. On Monday, we took the kids to Jensen's for our donuts/coffee treat and then headed off to the village for some shopping (got myself a new Coach purse!) and so the kids could get rid of some energy and run around. Here are some of the highlights:

Cole, Alec and Olivia decorating cookies

Enjoying donuts from Jensen's!

Yummy. Chocolate and sprinkles, just the way her Mommy likes them.

Olivia enjoying the beautiful day at the Village

Our girls trip to Seattle

My mom, sister and I have been making "girls weekend" trips to Seattle on and off since high school, however, now that my sister and I have kids, they are becoming harder and harder to make happen. We were able to pull one off in November and it was so much fun. I managed to leave both kids at home with Daddy and Kristen, just brought her youngest, Liam, who was a perfect angel the whole weekend. We all flew up there on Friday and home on Sunday, and with the exception of my sisters luggage getting lost for about 8 hours after she arrived and me getting the stomach flu in the middle of the flight home, we had a fabulous time! We always stay with one of my mom's good friends, Sabina, at her house on Mercer Island. It's the perfect little getaway and makes for a fun-filled weekend. We ate some great meals, got lots of sleep (at least I did), did lots and lots of shopping and did some sightseeing downtown. We all love that city and have great memories of our trips up there. Thank you Bini for letting us all stay with you! Sabina's son, Ben, works downtown and this is the view from his conference room in his office. Not too shabby, huh?  
 
 
 
 
 

It's a GIRL!!!

That's right folks! Our third child and second little girl will be making her appearance sometime in March. (Official due date is March 20, 2012). Jim, of course, is really hoping she comes on St. Patty's day as he happens to believe that St. Patty's day and Cinco De Mayo are two of the coolest birthdays. Why you may ask? Because everyone is out celebrating and drinking on your behalf of course! I told him that she will come when she is good and ready :-) After a somewhat rough first trimester, I have definitely turned a corner and I'm feeling pretty darn good. No more nausea, no more feeling like I need a nap everyday. Just enjoying feeling her move around and watching my belly grow. Sometimes it makes me sad to think this will be my last pregnancy (YES, we are done after 3!) and the last time I will experience this little miracle and feel the baby move around and sometimes I am very happy that this will be my last pregnancy. It definitely gets harder the older I get :-) So we are in the process (sort of) of picking out names and getting ready for her arrival. I think the kids finally understand that there is actually a baby in there and she will be making her appearance shortly. Cole loves to rub my stomach and give the baby hugs. I'm hoping he will be much more help this time around, considering he is now 5 instead of 2! So only about 4 months left and she'll be here!! Yikes!! Pictures from the ultrasound to follow. Jim is traveling and has his computer so I can't scan them tonight :-(

Halloween 2011

Ariel and Luke Skywalker. That sums up our Halloween this year. No creative costumes from Jim as the kids are getting older and getting opinions of their own...boo!! We of course, still had a great time hanging out with our neighbors and trick or treating around the neighborhood. The kids got loads of candy and had a great time dumping their bags on the ground each night to pick out that "one" special piece they are going to eat!!  
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Trunk or Treat

We went to Bayside Church "Trunk or Treat" for the first time this year. They were hosting it the night before Halloween and I thought it looked like something the kids would enjoy. There were over 5,000 people there - talk about crazy, but it was a lot of fun. They had probably more than 100 cars all parked in the parking lot decorated with completely different themes from firefighters, to Disney movies, to Hello Kitty and there were people sitting in each of their "trunks" handing out candy. Amazing - the kids probably could have filled 3 bags with candy, but we called it quits after about 25 cars as we kind of figured that was about enough as they needed. Then we went inside and played carnival games, got their faces painted, played on the playground, ate and left with some fun balloon characters. A perfect family night!!  
I didn't want the kids to wear their "real" costumes in case they messed them up so Cole dressed up as Spider man(his costume from last year) and Olivia picked out one of her new dress up outfits she got for her birthday, we threw on some fairy wings and her rain boots and called her a "fairy princess". The funny thing is, she got the most compliments on her costume and of course, her "beautiful eyes."  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Bishops Pumpkin Farm with Adventure Christian Preschool

Cole and Olivia's preschool had their annual field trip to Bishops Pumpkin Farm, only this year was better than ever because Jim got to join us :-) His travel schedule changed last minute and so he was able to make the trip with us, which made this mommy very happy!! As I discovered last year, hiking through a pumpkin patch carrying two pumpkins by yourself is NOT easy! And this year, being pregnant, I knew it wasn't going to be any easier. Of course this year, the kids decided to pick out small ones, where last year they insisted on buying the largest ones I could carry :-) The kids got to ride the train, pet the animals (and even get to see baby pigs that were literally minutes old), watch a pig race, eat caramel apples and run around like crazy with all of the their preschool friends. All in all, another great day!  
 
 
All of the neighborhood kids: Charlotte, Olivia, Marina, Cole, Sydney and Gavin