The last month- the highlights

Maybe one day I'll return to my former blogging glory; the days where my blog was updated at least weekly, my theme was changed according to the season. It may be awhile in coming, though. 3 kids is busy! However, I was ashamed to realize that I haven't updated the blog in a month. Yes, a month. Pitiful. In order to make some kind of restitution, I'm putting together the following post, with a quick recap of the last month:

For Thanksgiving we drove to Bozeman and spent the day with Jake's family. The kids loved the snow and the extra attention, and we loved them having the snow and the extra attention.
Connor, Jake, and most of the other cousins/uncles built a snowman. It's becoming a tradition anytime we go home and there's snow.

Mason got to bond and do a little BYU cheering with his cousins. Bridger, Ashton, and Mason were all born within about 10 weeks of each other. It was nice for me to be around the other new moms - inevitably there was another "Dairy Queen" nursing at the same time I was. :)

Connor and Ellie got to build a gingerbread house. Messy, but fun. Yes, the gingerbread house stayed in Montana.

Connor and Ellie spent a lot of their waking time out in the snow. They loved it! I've decided that I'm a much bigger fan of snow than rain; it's much easier to play in!

The UW ortho department had their annual graduation dinner a couple of weeks ago. Jake is now officially one of the oldest. We have a year left until he graduates. One. Uno. Hallelujah!!

Mason is now 2 months old. I'm amazed at how much time has gone by so fast! He's filling out quite nicely. He's now 13 lbs 4 oz and 22 inches. His weight for height ratio is now off the charts. I hope that changes eventually. For now, I'm really enjoying his double chin and rolls! He looks like he's going to be a redhead, too. I hope it stays. I love it!

I came downstairs the other morning to find Ellie making "flour sugar." It's an easy recipe: just mix an entire canister of flour with one canister of brown sugar, and stir with a dry erase maker. Voila!

We went to the Garden d' lights in Bellevue with our friends Jeff and Carly on Saturday. Because of said ortho graduation dinner, they'll be moving and entering the real world soon. They'll be missed. Our kids will be in withdrawls!

Part of the awesome Garden d'lights. They make a garden out of Christmas lights. This is the pond scene. Very, very cool.

We're heading to Idaho tomorrow for Christmas and are very excited. Hopefully it won't take me another month to blog about those happenings, but in case it does : Merry Christmas!

No, you're not imagining it. I really am back on track with blogging.

Maybe it's the fact that I don't have a whole lot of pictures from this week, thereby making a post seem less intimidating, but here I am. Getting back into my old habit of blogging on a Sunday. Seriously, our last few Sundays have somehow been really busy. What happened to it being a day of rest? Anyway, here's the recap of our week- at least before the rain started coming. Yes folks, I think the prelude to rainy season is upon us. . . One of my very favorite things about Seattle is the wild blackberries. Since I'm not responsible for a yard, I love them (I'm sure if I were to find one growing in one of my hedges, I'd be very upset). But as it is, I just appreciate that the grow wild everywhere and I can just go pick them whenever I need/want some, thereby saving myself $3.99 for a measly half-pint. I may get poked in the process, but I'm cheap enough that it's worth it. Ellie seems to be looking at me saying, "Mom, is this really worth it?" She loved the berries, though, and kept coming over to me for "Mo bewy".
Mmmmmm. . . so tasty. . .

We were blessed with a few last days of summer earlier in the week, so we took advantage and went to the beach both days. The water's freezing, but the kids had lots of fun. As you can imagine, my real fun happened at home, cleaning the sand off of everything. . .

So let's see- news. Jake has a calling- he's in Primary, teaching the 6 year olds with a team teacher. I knew getting to sit by him in Sunday School wouldn't last long. He's excited, though. I think it will be fun for him to get to be in there with Connor.

I ran 7 miles yesterday. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought. Endurance wise I was fine, my knees just weren't very happy with me. They REALLY won't be happy with me tomorrow when I do hills. . .

Washington State Fair

Last week we headed down to the fair for some good old fun and (fried) food. We had a great time- I think it made Jake and I a little nostalgic taking our own kids to the fair. I have so many memories of going to the fair with my own family and it was fun to get to see them experience the fair for the first time.

Ellie loved riding the carousel. It wasn't quite as dramatic getting her off this time.

The kids and I reminding ourselves why we're putting dad through school- so maybe we can afford to buy one of these someday. . .

Connor getting a "lesson" in milking. . with a plastic cow. . .

Trying cotton candy for the first time. Ellie wasn't sure about it at first, but finally ate some after we squished it to make it not fluffy.

Connor loved the slide- Jake and I loved the expression on his face.
Connor in little boy heaven.
Ellie was really excited to get on this ride. . .
. . .but after a few times around she decided she was done.
The kids loved the petting zoo- Ellie kept running around saying "Pet the Mamb! Pet the Mamb!"

She also petted the bunnies quite a bit
Connor actually got this huge turkey to gobble for him. I had never actually heard a turkey gobble in real life until then.


Sorry this video's sideways. We were listening to a Peruvian (I think) band who was playing in a both, and Connor just started randomly dancing. Jake and I had a hard time not laughing too hard that he'd see us.



Our elephant-ear scone. Can't leave the fair without one!!

We had a great time- can't wait for next year!