Our New Bathroom

We took our house off the market on October 14th and had decided that we would remodel the basement bathroom, something we have wanted to do for a long time.  On October 15th, Marcus and his friend, Josh, put saws and sledgehammers into action.

 The original bathroom had these weird steps up to the toilet and shower, as the plumbing was above the concrete.  This caused a cramped space and disgusting wood.

 The demo of Marc and Josh. 

 From this point on we hired contractors to do the rest.  They drilled into the concrete to lay new plumbing to give us a level floor.  The steps are gone!

 We love our new bathroom!  The floor tile flows out into the hallway towards the family.  We are still trying to decided whether we want a curtain to keep the room as open as possible, or doors.

 No decor yet, but that will come.

 They also moved the wall by the sink over a few inches which feels like a lot more space.

Thanks, Baxter Construction!  We love it!

Christmas Program times 3!

 Last week, all three kids were each in there own Christmas program.  We started with Jackson, where the 1st-3rd graders perform a musical.  He is center in the picture below.  

 A couple of his buddies at school.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of Jacob, just video.  He continues to amaze me with his growing independence.  He had no fear getting on stage and singing with about 40 other 3-5 yr olds.  He knew the words and motions and smiled!

Kathryn's class at church only had to prepare for 1 verse of "Away in the Manger."  All the girls knew most of the motions and key words (if not all), but once they got up there they just stood and looked out at the audience.  I am sure they had no idea what they were doing.  Kathryn added a few comic reliefs by once saying, "Mama, look, I'm singing!" and then "Look, there's Kara!", pointing to a friend of hers on stage.  She did much better than I thought she would...some of you can imagine what could have been with my little firecracker!

Christmas Train

Our annual trip to the Toppenish Christmas Train came with much better weather than last year's blizzard and the boys had a great time playing in a room filled with Thomas tracks. Ryn enjoyed pushing around a wooden train for a good 15 minutes. Yeah!

The Train to the North Pole

Waiting to Arrive

What! My daughter is SITTING in a chair! Well, only for the picture.

Annual Coug Picture

As I was complaining to my mom about the crazy weather this week, she asked if I had taken our Cougs in the Leaves picture. It completely passed me by, since our tree with the crimson leaves had not dropped much yet and now we were covered in snow.

So..I guess this year's picture tells the story of this weird weather.

And a walk down memory lane...

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

Snow, Snow, Snow, SNOOOWWWW!

We went to Pullman last weekend and the kids were thrilled when the snow started coming down. I was sure the men were going to skip going to the 7:30 game, but they did and were glad with a Coug win!

Back at home this week, the weather has been wild. Monday had such big winds that there was no use trying to rake, especially since the trees are still struggling to drop their leaves. Wednesday brought the snow for two days which was basically melted by Friday. Last night we were set to rake in the morning, only to wake to a winter wonderland. We only got a little yard work done and the kids had fun playing.

Wednesday...First snow of the season.

With snow comes snow treats!

Maggie's New House.

Maggie has a friend that has visited her about 3-5 times a week for the last 3 years. She loves Maggie as if she were her own, always bringing treats and bones. When we pulled in last weekend, this new orthopedic bed was waiting for her. She loves it!

Halloween and Smelling My Childhood

I am always excited to be done with Halloween. But, I must say, it was bit more fun this year. For some reason, I have been EXTREMELY nostalgic this year. I have been reading books to the kids that I enjoyed, letting them decorate with kid-made art work (which I usually do, but even more than normal), driving around my old neighborhood when we were on the west side, and I even knocked on the door of an old friend's parent's house...just to say hello and see her house again.

BUT! What I have been doing the last 3 days always brings a smile to my face. Our kids' candy buckets are on top a dresser in our room and I smell it about 4-5 times a day! The mixture of chocolate and fruity candy sends me right back to the 80's when I would sort through my Halloween treasures. Anyone know what I am talkin' about!? Makes me want to put on Care Bear pj's and curl up to a good episode of The Cosby Show!

So enough reminiscing, onto our day. Jacob's preschool got to dress up and had a party the last 30 minutes of class. I volunteered to face paint and the kids were, well, as one girl said, "I am so happy!"

After Jackson got home from school, it was a bit of a mad dash to get homework done, costumes on, and dinner before 5. We trick-o-treated to the neighbors first, including JJ's teacher. The boys were both too excited about picking out store-bought costumes, that I let them. Since they were both super-heros, I decided Ryn needed to be as well. She said she wanted to be a princess (although she doesn't know much else right now), so I made her a wonder-womanish costume and we called her Super Princess!

After "real" trick-o-treating, we went to our church for trunk-or-treat and then 2 others. By the second one, Ryn was a pro. She looked up at me and said excitedly, "Mama, I twick-o-tweeting!" That made my night. The kids ended up with way more candy than I will ever let them eat, but it was a good night spent with my favorite people!

She looks really old to me in this picture! Sniff, sniff.

A New Challenge

In the past 24 hours I have realized that I am having a challenge with playing! Yesterday, the boys put on their super hero costumes. I told them to go down stairs and play "super heroes". When I came down, they were on the wii...playing a super hero game! Turning off the wii, I told them that I meant to pretend play and they asked how, as they were both good guys. My brain was stumped! I tried a few suggestions, but it came down to Marcus having to give better tips!

This morning, Jacob, Ryn, and I were playing with the farm set and dinosaurs. It was easy for me to set up the farm and make-believe with Ryn. Then Jacob set up his army of dinos and started attacking the farm. This is nothing new, as this is usually what happens with the dinosaurs. The problem, Ryn was not thrilled with Jacob, which I could totally relate! How can the two of them play make-believe in their own ways, but with each other??? Luckily, Ryn's attention span cut her short and she was on to something else. So Jacob and I continued the battle, with his dinos defeating my crowd, as always.

Dino attacking Ryn

What's That?!

Lovin' Fall

Here I am, almost a month later again on posting! We have been having a good October, enjoying the cool air, warm drinks, decorating, and smells.

The boys have been insistent on waking Ryn in the morning. Sometimes to the point of fighting over who enters her room first. One morning I couldn't resist taking a pic as they were all snuggled up together, lovin' on their sister. Thank you, Lord, for my sweet kiddos! May they stay this close, always!

Jackson loves doing crafts and decorating for holidays...he is his mother's son! We decided to make a garland of stuffed brown bag pumpkins. It was fairly easy and fun.

All the first graders at Jackson's school went to a pumpkin patch. Luckily, I was able to bring Jacob, as his preschool was going on a day he would not be there.

Here is JJ planting a few seeds from a squished pumpkin for next year's harvest!

What a great view!

Jackson fell in love with this kitten. I am half tempted to see if it is available since it was so calm with all the kid-handling it has been through!

We ate lunch at the "Dino Park". I was shocked to learn that I never knew this was close by, with dino- lover Jacob in our family.

And our most recent endevour...We took our house off the market and decided to remodel our basement bath. It was always been an eye-sore for us. Marcus and his friend, Josh, took saws and sledge hammers to it the next day. We decided it would be easier for a contractor to see what he has to work with plumbing wise, since the toilet and shower were on steps. Hopefully the "after" pictures won't be too far in the future!