Birthday Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

This is their hay maze . . .

This is the way out of the hay maze!

Plenty of tractors around . . .


and pumpkins, of course, and . . .

. . . a little train ride!

Happy Birthday to the Mommy!

This is just a sample of what I woke to on the morning of my 42nd birthday!

Sure did bring a smile to my face:)!

Can you see the "I love you" spelled out on the railings?

The kids stayed up late after we went to bed to do the decorating and . . .

to bake this beautiful cake!

It's Lookin' a Lot Like Fall!

One of our first chilly nights . . . .

playin' scrabble by the fire (first one of the season!)and sipping our hot cocoa!

Kyle worked really hard to rake all the leaves into a pile . . .

and the boys had a blast playing in them!

Timmy Playin' Ball

Joseph and I were watching yesterday's family baseball game from our upstairs master bedroom window. I decided to give my new camera's 18X zoom a try. Since they were taken through a dirty window, they're not great, but it was fun trying it out.

This first picture was taken at normal range from the window. You can barely see Timothy on third base.

Here he is a little closer:)
Can you see his tongue peeking out?
Looks like we have an up and coming pitcher for the Mossyrock Vikings!

Happy Birthday, Valerie!

Today was Valerie's special birthday celebration! Her favorite meal choice was breakfast . . . Blueberry White Chocolate Chip Scones:) Lydia blessed us all with the making of them!

Right after we had our yummy breakfast, Valerie opened her gifts. Timothy gave her a pad of flower stationery paper and a couple sticker sheets. She will love using these things to write to her friend/pen pal, Mandy.
Victoria blessed her with three pairs of earrings, some scripture stickers, and a box of doggy treats for Anna:)

She also gave her a funny little handmade gift. The kids have been teasing Valerie and Anna about Anna's extra "fluff" that she has put on recently. Somewhere in the teasing, they began calling Anna a "pumpkin". So Victoria cross-stitched this little "Anna = Pumpkin" sign.
We found some cute little Australian Shepherd paraphernalia to decorate her cake with. One is a key chain, one is a refrigerator magnet that says, "A house is not a home without an Aussie", and a suction cup sign that says, "I love my dog". Valerie chose a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

I happened to catch the candle-blowing helper again, there on the left.
About two weeks ago, we got an email from Ted's sister, Debbie, asking if they could come visit us today, as they would be in Seattle this weekend for the Green Bay Packers/Seahawks football game. So they spent the day with us and helped us celebrate Valerie's birthday.
It was a beautiful sunny day. We barbecued hamburgers for lunch, then went for a walk down to Swofford pond. Then, Kyle talked everyone in to playing a baseball game. After that, the kids showed Debbie and Steve a video they are making of a play that they have created and gave them a violin concert. We then had tacos and burritos for dinner and ended the day with Valerie's yummy birthday cake!

Happy Birthday, Kyle!

Yesterday, we celebrated Kyle's 12th birthday! As you can see in the background, the house was decorated all BLUE this time:) Kyle requested ABC (Apple, Banana, Cinnamon) muffins for breakfast.

For his REALLY special meal, he chose a steak and mashed potato dinner!

Caroline ended up picking Kyle's name for a gift, and he dropped some hints that he would like an air-soft gun:) These are really cool guns that shoot little plastic pellets at a target.
Timothy wanted to give him a gift to, so we did a little shopping here in Mosssyrock at the thrift store and grocery store. Timothy also wrote him a wonderful Birthday card. Daddy wrote on it exactly what Timothy said. It reads,

"Dear Kyle, Gun shoe. I love you Kyle. D-backs. I love you, Kyle. I will share one of my toys with you. I'm your really brother. I want to play. I play baseball with you. Farewell, Timothy"

We found a "Lassie" video and a baseball book to give to Kyle.
And a couple of candies. And we wrapped them in newspaper articles about the Diamondbacks!
Kyle requested a rainbow cake with confetti frosting.



Here he has a little helper, helping him blow out his candles.
Then, after all these festivities, Kyle wanted to go to the Mossyrock football game at 7pm. We have always wanted to do that, but haven't until last night. It was a lot of fun . . . rain and all:)

Feeling Green . . In a Good Way!

Last Saturday we celebrated Caroline's 12th birthday! So when she woke up Saturday morning . . . the house was decorated with green streamers, green balloons, a green table cloth, green plates and even a green birthday cake!


Her favorite pick for a meal was breakfast, and she chose strawberry cream cheese filled crepes.

We decided this year that instead of all four quadruplets buying each other gifts, we had them draw names so that they could buy one, really nice gift for one of their siblings. But the night before Caroline's day, Timothy decided he wanted in on the gift-giving action too! When he disappeared for a long while late that night (and got very quiet) we knew he must be up to something. We heard him up in the loft, and when we called up to see what he was up to, he said he was "making" a gift for Caroline. Turns out, he was "gathering" a gift for Caroline . . . a couple DVD's, a little plastic horse, etc. So we wrapped these things up, along with a pair of earrings I had tucked away for just a moment like this! Oh, and he also made a very special card for her. She is holding it in her hand in the following picture.

And here she is opening the DVD's as Timothy looks on in excitment.

Kyle drew Caroline's name, and she dropped some hints that she would really like . . .

A horse trailer for she and Victoria to play plastic horsey with.

Speaking of plasic horsey, here's a new one to add to their collection . . .

And her request for a special evening, included watching America's Funniest Videos over at Meemom and Papa Bob's house. And that's where we sang happy birthday to Caroline and enjoyed her GREEN cake:)