We got back from New York just a few short days before Halloween. I had a plan to have all the Halloween costumes ready
before we left for our trip...or at least have all the materials assembled so that I could quickly make them. But since I have never been very good at juggling a billion things like packing, grocery shopping, cleaning, getting house ready for sitters, AND making costumes...you can guess that the least important thing didn't happen. So I didn't get around to making the little boys' costumes and the adults' costumes (the adults were going to be trees and the little guys were going to be owls...riding on the trees). But the big boys' costumes came together nicely, in a fast and furious kind of way. Finished just about 10 minutes before their school costume carnival! Whew!
But first:
10/25/12 - The day after we got back from NY and saw our precious children again!
the big guys wearing their I ({heart} NY shirts that we got them in Chinatown. Can you guess which boy does NOT like wearing a shirt with a heart on it? Partent FAIL!
And we were not up to the challenge of getting a picture with all the kids holding still, apparently.
Joshua and Toby thoroughly enjoying their Magnolia Bakery cupcakes.
Ollie too!
Mmmmm hmmmm...yum!
And now...on to the Hobbitses:
Here we have Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee with their hot out of the sewing room costumes. Actually, it wasn't too hard. I only had to sew one cloak (the other one was from our jedi costume), and the suspenders. I bought the pins and THE RING off of amazon. And I bought shirts, pants (which I cut off) and wigs at the Goodwill thrift store. I know that Sam wig is a little gran-gran crazy! It took me a few days to get it to relax.
Ollie photo bomb!
pretty Hobbity, right? I made them wear actual shoes outside of the house.
I gave up on the idea of making a costume for Ollie and just decided to go with something we already had. We thought this Leiderhosen grandma sent from Austria was ADORable!
On actual Halloween he wore a cute owl hat with it and looked like the Tootsie Pop owl. I would like to post a picture, but the pictures are on my phone and I'm having a hard time figuring out how to get them on blogger with my new imac. URGH.
Here they are on Halloween, with the Sam wig looking better. :)
Happy way late Halloween!
Joshua turned 10! A WHOLE decade old!! I seriously can't believe that.
Going through 10 years of pictures takes a seriously long time. It was very hard to narrow it down to 24 pictures. But it also brought back lots of memories and emotions. First, the shock of becoming new parents. Joshua was planned, but I do not think anything could have prepared us for parenthood. Then the amazing amount of cuteness and fun and laughter that Joshua brought into our lives. Next, I cannot deny that there was a lot of frustration with him from preschool through early elementary. He was just a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. I sure wish we would have done some things differently with his education, instead of trying to do what everyone else was doing. Those years came to an abrupt end at about the time the Elsa died. Then there were the years that we grew together as a family, learning together, having fun together, enjoying each other, and supporting each other through our times of grief and sadness. Then came Ollie and all the fun we've had since then. I really think a lot of our Joshua. He is turning into a really great young person! Most notably he is so kind and thoughtful of others and their feelings. He is also smart and fun and a big helper. He is a great son and big brother.
I asked Joshua to share a few things about himself right now:
~Best thing about family:
A lot of things. Love. Having fun together, playing games together.
~Best thing about church:
Learning the gospel.
~Favorite color:
Light sky blue.
~Favorite food:
Tamales
~Favorite activites:
Playing games with family, reading, going to the beach, going to the park.
~Favortie vacation:
Going to Alaska
~Favorite thing to learn about:
Science
For his birthday party this year I offered to let him pick two friends and go somewhere fun with them. He picked his friends T and K. But because he's such kind person, he wanted to invite K's younger brother J too...so he wouldn't feel left out. And of course, Toby is his best friend so he came too. And since the two older Mansius brothers were coming, we just had their mom meet us there and all four of their kids joined the party. Ah...so much for two friends! So we all went to Pump it Up, so jump and play...and then we brought everyone back to our house for pizza, cake and ice cream with the aunties and cousins too (we would've invited the aunties and cousins to pump it up also, but it was on a weekday when they were working). A great time was had by all!
All of the kids got a great work out at Pump it UP!
Joshua's birthday cake!
I thought with all those kids and the aunties and cousins that we had enough people for a big, yummy Costco cake (and normally I make the cake, but we got home from Seattle the night before)...but after everyone finished we still had a ton of cake left to put in the freezer! Yummy though...I'm not complaining {though maybe I should be keeping my sugar intake in check so I don't have a 12 pound baby!}
Joshua and all the friends!...
I think he's holding out his arms so the littler kids won't blow out his candles. :)
{Oh...and I'm loving the windows and light in our new house! For once we have light, bright birthday pictures!
And I love that it finally isn't pouring on Joshua's birthday...this is the first year in 5 years, I think.}
One of Joshua's best friends "T" playing with his new Perplexus...see I told you the kids LOVE it. He was so engrossed in it that he wouldn't even look up for the picture.
Wow!! Joshua LOVED the books that the Mansius family gave him...interesting how they just happened to know how much Joshy LOVES the Basher Science books and wants to collect them all.
Ollie was loving my sister's little doggy
Oh! The babies loving on little Leelou.
And finally, we sang happy birthday to Joshua again when the aunties and cousins came over...
We would've done it once, but we had to rush Joshua's friend "T" home so he could leave on his family vacation.
We had a great time this year! Thanks for everyone who came to celebrate with us!
The boys had a big spring break this year, and when I say big I mean long! They had two weeks scheduled this year, which other years they only have had one week. And spring break ALWAYS falls at the same time as Joshua's birthday. For the past several years we've had some pretty amazing trips over spring break. We've gone to see family in Utah a lot, since a lot of mission homecomings and weddings seem to fall over Spring Break. And then last year we decided to take a real family vacation down to Southern California and Disneyland, but we were cursed with LOOOONG lines and rainy weather. So this year we held off until the very last minute to book anything. As soon as the forecast looked like it was going to be anything but rainy, we made some reservations up north so we could visit the Tacoma Zoo, the Seattle Zoo and the Pacific Science Center for free with our reciprocal memberships. That was the plan, anyway. And if we wanted Brent to have enough days off in a row for this trip AND have Joshua's birthday off, it turns out that we would need to celebrate Joshua's 10th birthday in Seattle!
3/24/12
We had the aspiration to drive to Tacoma by noon so we could go to the awesome zooquarium there at Point Defiance. It's been too long since we visited (it was Toby's 2nd birthday the last time we went). But dang it! We did not leave early enough to arrive by noon and have enough time there to make it worth our while. So instead we took the kids to this little park in Tacoma, which is right next to the hospital where Brent was born!! The last time we were there was when Joshua was 2.
I think that they were happy just to get out and play for a while without wet, cold weather.
{doesn't that Ollie have the sweetest face?}
We stayed that night in Gig Harbor and went to church there the next day, which was very awesome! We love going to church in different areas and seeing what it's like. We met a lot of friendly people!
3/25/12
After church we took a leisurely drive up the Kitsap Peninsula on a lovely afternoon. We drove around Bainbridge Island and up to our lodging destination for the night: Kitsap Memorial State Park. We had a neat little cabin reserved up there with enough beds for all AND a microwave and fridge. It was perfect. But the most perfect thing about it was that NO body else was there... It was total solitude and serenity.
The view from the campground over the Hood Canal, of the Olympic Mountains. Someday we will climb there, yes.
This is the inside of the cabin. We decided after the last time we stayed at a yurt (which is like these cabins in that the beds have foam mattresses covered by vinyl, and you put your sleeping bag on top), that we were grossed out by the mattresses and other people's dead skin cells, etc...so this time we brought sheets for all the beds. It was SO much more comfortable!
BIG belly picture...at 26 weeks...
I swear that style of dress makes the belly look bigger than it is even now at 30 weeks.
the walkway down to the beach from the campground
skipping rocks on the Hood Canal
another view of the Olympic Mountains
checking out all the oysters and other sea creatures on the beach
Ollie was in his stroller (for his safety), but wanted in on the action!
{See how the belly doesn't look as big in a normal shirt?}
the kids had a great time finding the biggest shells and Ollie had a great time sitting on Brent's lap and throwing rocks into the water.
the sunset over the mountains and canal...ahhh!
Toby and I were just sitting there taking in this sunset alone together. It was a sweet little moment. Toby told me that he loves how quiet it is here and that he would like to buy some land here and build a house...haha! Me too!
3/26/12
the boys in front of the cabin
Brent making breakfast and hot cocoa.
We had to tag team between cooking and watching Ollie.
playing at the playground that was across the camp from our cabin
Unfortunately I could not keep up with Ollie all the time (he has just started running), so he got to wander and explore and play quite a bit and then I put him in his stroller the rest of the time. Thankfully he is so content sitting there watching his brothers play.
we went back to the beach at low tide, and found little crabs under every rock.
here they are scoping out those crabs
Oysters!
when you ask Ollie to smile, he is now doing that smile with your eyes thing. It's so cute!
He has a pretty nice smile when the pacifier is out too.
we were told that there was a nice little village called Port Gamble with a penny candy store and a free museum, so we went to check that out.
LOVE it!
here we are outside of the penny candy store. I think the boys will always remember their candy buying experience with fondness...since it doesn't happen very often.
{sorry Tobe, I'm not stepping on that scale in public!}
the view off the north end of the Kitsap Peninsula...such a beautiful place.
And THAT belly picture is a little more accurate.
The next thing on the agenda was a ferry ride across the puget sound to Widby Island. It was a very quick ferry ride, perfect actually. Just enough to have that ferry experience with the kids, but not too much to tire a pregnant lady out.
Ollie didn't like the confinement of Brent's shoulders very much...
he LOVED running around exploring instead!
after we got off the ferry and drove up Widby Island, we stopped at Deception Pass...a place we've read about but have never visited. It is the very narrow inlet of the Puget north of Widby Island. When the tide is going in or out, the water flows very rapidly here, like a raging river. This picture is at pretty much the best view point.
we arrived at our next cabin site (Bayview State Park...meh.), and we decided we needed to go for a drive up the Chuckanut Drive and find a city to buy a few groceries at. So we caught the sunset up the Chuckanut and drove to Bellingham, Washington...which is the farthest north in Washington we've ever been. What a great little city! Hopefully we'll drive back through here this summer on our way up to Vancouver, Canada!
3/27/12
Joshua's 10th Birthday!!
We woke up fairly early in our lovely cabin accommodations, and took off for Seattle. The plan was to visit the zoo and the science center (for free with our reciprocal passes).
Well, we got to the zoo and discovered that we no longer get in for free with our Oregon zoo pass, but we did get a good discount. Instead of paying $80, we only had to pay $20.
Ollie snacking on oranges
I really like the exhibits at the Seattle Zoo, even more than the Oregon Zoo (which is great too). They both have pretty natural habitats, but the habitats are almost too natural at the Oregon Zoo and it's often difficult to see the animals. The Seattle Zoo has very natural habitats, yet the animals are easy to see. I don't know, maybe the animals like not being seen better.
After the zoo we drove over and found parking at the Seattle Center, which is home to the science center and other famous attractions (most notably the Space Needle!). It turned out that the science center is not open on Tuesdays during the winter (BOO!), which made Joshua very sad. That was what he REALLY wanted to do on his birthday. So we had to come up with another cool idea, fast! We all decided on taking the elevator up to the observation deck on the Space Needle instead. It was cool, and also expensive! But at least Joshua will always remember that experience on his special day.
Seattle Center
all ready to go up the Space Needle!
oh the views!
we forgot Ollie's shoes in the car, so Brent had to carry him everywhere...
Joshy was wanting one of these souvenir space needle soda cups for $9...I told him we'd take a picture with it instead and get a smaller treat at the snack bar...which thankfully he was happy with.
just as we were leaving the Seattle Center, it started pouring for the first time on our whole trip...we ran out of there in a flash and drove home.
We sang happy birthday to our big 10 year old, ate chocolate cheesecake and opened presents.
Joshua got some toys, books and games from the Portland's Science Museum gift shop, all of which he absolutely adored...but I think this gift has been the biggest hit by far with Joshua, Toby and all of Joshy's friends. It is called the
Perplexus. Trust me on this one...if you need a gift for a child this age, this is PERFECT.
Happy Birthday to my sweet, innocent, smart, funny, quirky, brave, loving, fun Joshua.
