And that was the end of the sprinkles

Jell dumped basically the whole sprinkle jar onto one cookie. Oh well, right? Maybe she was trying to make him feel better after she busted his arm off ... before she ate him.

The Witches Ball

Ready to go party!

The whole witchey crew

Witches in trainingMama Witches - even Moms have fun dressing up now and then

Miracle at the Pumpkin Patch

It didn't rain on us!!! I'd been so worried about the potential of a very soggy field trip, but the clouds even parted for a bit and we saw the sun! We went to the Flower Farmer pumpkin patch to check out their Phoenix & Holly Railroad. It was great fun! Although, as can be seen, Meri wasn't all that comfortable with the idea at the start:

But she did warm up and by the third time we got on the train, was laughing her head off. Jell even sat by us for a couple minutes before ditching us for all her friends :)

And surprise, surprise - look who got all brave all the sudden!

Also a bit surprising, look at who wasn't brave. She did get some of the food, but each time the goat turned it's head toward her, she chucked the food at it. Catch!

And somehow, nobody fell down this! There were a dozen constantly climbing on and in this - what fun!

Buddies!

Cute girls!

The preschool group happy to have pumpkins!

What did you draw in Sunbeams today?

"Well, that's the girl (in the middle) helping the three-headed monster. She has bangs. And the boy (far left) is helping too."
My assumption would be they learned something about helping. But what's with the three-headed monster???

Choose This Day

Not tomorrow, or the next day, or the next. I gotta be better about this!

Talk to me more about reindeers

(This morning in the car - coming totally out of nowhere)
Jell: Mom, do reindeer have pointy ears?
Me: Um, I guess you could say that.
Jell: Talk to me more about reindeers mom.
Me: Well, they have horns on their heads that are called antlers.
Jell: Antlers! Ha. (deep in thought for a minute) Mom, cause I was thinking about could reindeers not hide under rocks because of their pointy antlers?
Me: What? Yeah, I guess that would be difficult.
Jell: Because of their pointy antlers.
Me: Yes, and they're a little big to be hiding under rocks.
Jell: Hm ... talk to me more about reindeers mom.
Me: Well, they're brown. They have big eyes (Jell laughs loudly). And their feet are called hooves.
Jell: Hooves!?! I like hooves.
Me: Yes, hooves are nice.

(Where do her thoughts come from????)

I don't mean to laugh, but ...

So Jell got these beautiful puzzles for her birthday:
She loves them. But the other day Meri dumped out all three of them and they got a bit mixed up. I sent Jorge (name has been changed to protect the innocent from embarrassment) over to help clean it up while I worked on dinner. He found this to be rather difficult and complained to me that the pieces are the exact same shape in the same place in each puzzle (they must've been cut from the same mold). This is true, as best seen when looking at the them from the back, like this:
However, how many of us put together a puzzle upside down? When you have to place these three pieces in their respective puzzles, there might be a couple of other clues to look for.
I mean, this can't be right:
Nor could this:
As if to prove my point, while photographing these, Meri came over and got very upset and told me "No, no, Mommy. Daht's not how it goes." When I corrected it, she clapped and cheered for me - "Yay Mama!"
The backgrounds aren't even the same color. Jorge - you're wonderful in so many ways, and I adore you, but the fact that you put half of the pieces in the wrong puzzle before realizing it, and then spent the next 30 minutes trying to figure it out, really cracks me up.
(Sorry that I posted this Jorge, but I had to do something to keep me amused while you're at school!)

Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum

So we had to make the trek out to McMinville to drop off a painting and thought we'd stop in on the air/space museum to check out the air part this time. As we entered, we passed a statue of the pilot who is the founder of the museum. Coop told the girls he was a pilot. Jell replied, "Nu uh dad, he's a statue" in a total, duh-type voice. Can't get anything passed that girl.
Scattered throughout the museum are these old (some really old with ash trays and stuff) airplane seats. The girls insisted on sitting in every one and buckling up. Although Jell always reassured me, "Mom, we're just going to stay here, we're not going to take off."
And we of course, were blown away by the enormous Spruce Goose, or wooden flying boat. Very, very cool. Fascinating. Incredible testament to ingenuity and progress. But a big, cynical part of me wants to know how it was worth the money. Back in WWII times, it cost the federal government 18 million. That's a lot - especially back then. It flew once for about a mile. No others were ever made from the model. Good use of taxpayer dollars? Who is still wondering how the US is so badly in debt?
Anyway, politics aside, I love how you can just barely see Jell here:
And Mer had a blast too:
But of course we couldn't leave without running around the awesome playground.
Then, only because of a false alarm to use the bathroom, we ran into the space museum. And they have this new carnival ride in the front that is free. Who's heard of such a thing? Of course, that's with admission, but still, how cool. Jell loved it, especially when she finally figured out how to make it go up and down.
Meri started out excited, but then she accidentally made her plane go up (which makes a rather loud noise) and she cried and cried her big crocodile tears. She'd calm down, then she'd pull up again and burst into tears. Since they were the only two on the ride, he stopped it for her to get off. She spent the rest of the time watching Jell with her hands on her ears, shaking her head and muttering that she didn't like that.
Fun times! Can't wait for the massive waterpark addition ready in 2011!

A lot of personality!

So on the girls' first day of school(they are both, separately, doing little home preschool groups - most commonly referred to as a Joy School, although Jell's group is using the Mother Goose Time curriculum, and Meri's is following one of the mom's books from when she was a preschool teacher. Jell's group is the same five cute girls as last year and they really have the system down. Meri's is brand new, much younger, and with three boys and two girls. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm expecting a whole new ballgame.), I, of course, take out the camera and say, "Smile for the camera." Gotta record this moment, right? This is the result:




They crack me up.

Loving Vacation!

You know how some vacations are stressful, tiring, or feel like they're just not worth all the work? You know, the type where you need a vacation from your vacation? This vacation was SO not one of those! We just had the perfect time - I felt so rejuvenated that I wasn't even discouraged or overwhelmed to come home to a massive to-do list that meant a whole lot of work. We had such a great time!!! Here's a couple of pics. I didn't actually take all that many, I decided to just let the girls enjoy instead of harassing them all the time like usual :). And I was lazy. And plus I was busy enjoying the biking, rafting, viewing, playing, painting, bowling, swimming, mini-golfing, bouncing-place-obstacle-course racing, good eating, and sleeping!

I spy ...

My girls are obsessed with playing "I spy." When they guess what I spy, I am expected to say, "You got it, man!" every single time. And they do the same for me. Jell says it in a matter-of-fact, but supportive tone, Meri somehow sounds Jamaican.

Meri also cracks us up whenever she does something accidentally. Instead of saying, "oops" she always says, "Whoopie."

To any of my local friends

If any of you would like some of these peppers, or the bigger stuffing kind, or sun-gold tomatoes, or dozens of other tomatoes of all shapes and sizes, or cucumbers, or lemon cucumbers, or gold raspberries - our garden overfloweth. Honestly, we can't make it through it all. Not even close. In fact, I don't even have a clue what to do with the chilies pictured - they're called ring-of-fire peppers. They're spicy - go figure. Anyway, if you're around and would like some you are welcome to them. I really hope someone takes me up on this, because I hate to see any go to waste!

Too cute to sleep

The other day when I wasn't feeling well, Coop put Jell to sleep and then went in search for Meri who was doing her best to blend in and be forgotten:

Hum de dum, just reading the Ensign here, nobody pay any attention to me:

Ah, come on dad - could you really say no to a face like this?

The next night, this is how we found her sleeping - how could anyone sleep like this and ever walk again?

Is it possible that she was posing for the picture, even in her sleep?

Never Ceases to Amaze...

Check out this e-mail Alisha got yesterday:

"Congratulations! Your painting was one of the 80 entries selected for the Watercolor Society of Oregon’s 44th Annual Transparent Show. Our juror was pleased to have the opportunity to select this show from the 211 artists who submitted 360 total images."

Yeah, you read that right. My wife, one of 211 artists, created a painting that was among 80 selected out of 360! So now she's in the top 80. The next step, as we get closer to the convention date, is explained here: "Twenty paintings that the juror deems to be outstanding are selected to receive cash and merchandise awards. The award winning paintings are exhibited in a six-month traveling show."

This year the convention will be held October 4-9, in McMinnville at the Evergreen Space Museum’s IMAX Theater. More information, if you want it, can be found here: http://www.watercolorsocietyoforegon.com/fall09_conv.html. Unfortunately, because it's conference weekend she won't be able to participate in as many of the events as she would like.

What an honor, though. I'm so proud of her. The funny thing is, there are a lot of paintings she's done that she and I both like better than the one that was chosen. But as she was painting this particular one she knew that it may be good enough to win something, whether it was her favorite or not. She's been saving the painting for this show, putting "Not For Sale" on it whenever it is displayed, knowing it could get in.

When she got the e-mail, I was trying to make the girls join me in a "YEA MOMMY" cheer, but they refused until I explained to them what she did. They couldn't just trust me that she deserved it. They absolutely refused to cheer until they knew. And when they did, it didn't really sound exciting enough to them for a cheer--but they did applaud a little. Weenies.

Without further ado, here is Italian Fruit Market:


So proud of you, babe.

Happy Birthday Jenelle!

Okay, so I'm a bit behind - it was August Seventeenf, but it was too important to miss just because I'm a little late. Plus, it can't be too late, I mean the happy birthday sign with pink fringe is still up at our house. And anyway, a girl only turns 4 once, and she has been looking forward to this event and talking about it and planning for it for about a year now, so here it is - teddy-bear picnic party and all:

Teddy Bear Ring-around-the-rosie

The picnic - at a table, which is lame, I know, but so much easier to eat at and keep food on the plates with - and of course, the guests (I was a little overly ambitious and so we had 11 4 year-olds, including my girls)

Teddy Bear toss prep

The toss!

Fun, fun, fun! And we survived the day, which is always good. She LOVED her birthday, and has already informed me that next year, she will be turning 5. I really don't feel old enough to have a five year-old, so here's hoping this year slows down a bit so we can just enjoy 4!

Oh, and here's a shot of the lame princess castle cake I threw together for the family party the night before. For the party, the kids decorated their own cupcakes. Less work for me, and they LOVED it. True, they used a few more sprinkles than I would've ever, ever, ever, ever have used, but their greedy-little-twinkling-eyes told me not to care!