Can we carve 'em YET Mom?

So we got pumpkins last Saturday and ever since, Porter's been chompin' at the bit to carve them! I wanted to do it when we could have a family pumpkin carving activity, but with Peter's schedule this last week (getting ready for the Home Show and trying to get all his other work done on top of that) it just wasn't happening. So on Tuesday when the little girls (Charley and Brook) were taking a nap Porter's imploring was finally satisfied. I decided it was better to do the carving one-on-one with Porter anyway! So once we were all done with his, Makenna came home from school and we moved on to hers! They loved pulling out all the pumpkin guts and then deciding on what design they wanted carved out. I had to help with the carving part, but they did the rest!

When we took this picture it was dark out and I used my night flash on the camera. Charley was so freaked out it was all we could do to keep her on the porch for a picture!

I tediously pulled out all the pumkin seeds and roasted them - it was worth the work!

They were soooo yummy!

1st Annual Tot Trot

The 1st Annual Tot Trot was held this last Monday on Oct. 6th - and it was so amazing! Krissy organized it all and to top it off made it a charity event. In this, the kick-off year, this Tot Trot benefited Hatcher - who was born with Hypo-plastic Left Heart Syndrome. He's already had 3 heart surgeries and will undergo another around age 2. His parents, Britt and Randy, call him their little fighter and he truly is a miracle. They are so grateful to so many who have blessed their's and Hatcher's life in helping them through this experience. We want to thank Krissy for all her efforts and to the many others who helped to sponsor and donate to this event. The participants were outfitted with official T-shirts, race numbers, goody bags, there were treats, pizza, drinks, and a whole lot of support from the community. In total there were about 100 kids in the Tot Trot and donations totaled right around $1,000 - that will go directly to the Hatcher Wheatley Fund. These are just a few of the pictures of the wonderful event.

Trip to Bellingham Aug. '08

Visit to Twin Falls!

So I got to finally meet Hatcher this last weekend! I'm SOOOO bummed though because I forgot my camera and didn't get one picture of Hatcher, or any of Britt's family, or her new house (which is so cute), ugh! But I wanted to post the most recent picture of Jaxyn and Hatcher anyway! He is doing SO GOOD and getting so much stronger, he's such a sweet happy guy, a pure angel. We got in really late Saturday night, but still visited a little and Sunday morning I was in heaven just being with my Sis and her fam - playing with her kids, giving Hatcher a bath, it was yummy. We got to go to their sacrament meeting and Britt and Randy spoke - it was amazing and emotional. Little Hatcher was on my lap and all he wanted to do was stand up and jump! He's quite the miracle. I can't wait until my next visit because this one was torturously too short! We loaded up the Subaru (it was the car we bought when we got married) and now we have our old family car back, or as Jaxyn liked to call it, "The Shaggin' Wagon!"

School's in Session

It's the end of Sept. and I thought it might be time to post some first day of school pics! Makenna is now in the 2nd grade and loving it. Porter just barely missed the cutoff for kindergarten (it's OK, it's a good thing). We're doing a kind of mom co-op preschool with him, Brook and friend Ryun where us Moms take turns doing preschool at our house once a week. He's also doing a 2 hour creative play class at our local rec. center that includes 45 min. of gymnastics and a mini preschool following where they have snack, a theme, make a project, read stories, etc. It's great for him and fun that Brook is doing this class too!

You gotta love the puffy morning face! She is up pretty early though!

So the greatest thing about this school year so far: THE BUS! It comes right to the end of our driveway, can it get any better?! Plus, Makenna loves it and loves her bus driver. The other day she made a card for her bus driver that said, "To Brenda, I love you. You're more than a bus driver, you're my friend." And this was with no help from me, so cute. Here's to another great year!

Bubblegum birthday

So this cake is much better than the other one I made for the first mini party (you'll see in my next post) - because it is so much simpler! Originally Port wanted a snorkeler cake we found on Familyfun.com - but I couldn't find a snorkel so we did a mini bubble gum machine with strawberry malt balls all over it to look like pink bubble gum! He loved it and couldn't stop asking for gumballs all day. (That's not really a good thing).

Once at the party we had dinner together and then it was scavenger hunt time. Grandma set up a series of long yarn stings leading to different things throughout the house. He (and his gerbil entourage) were lead first to a box for the gerbil cage, then to some gerbil food and wood shavings, then to the actual cage . . . and then to the GERBIL! It was so cute to see his eyes get wider and wider as the realization set in that he could ACTUALLY be getting a REAL gerbil! He was thrilled!







Please click on this image with all the kids. Notice Peter's eyes and the bewonderment,

ahh the excitement of little critters!

A few good hugs!

Since the gerbil was a gift from everyone, Port made the rounds

with thank you hugs to all. These are a couple of the squeezes!

Ahhh, thanks Grandma, and to all, this is a birthday he'll never forget!

More Birthday Pics!

So Porter's real birthday is on Sept. 5th and we knew we couldn't celebrate it with the whole family until the 14th, so we had to do some celebrating on the actual day! Peter was leaving on the 5th for Portland so we had to do it the night before - and since we didn't have his present yet we got the OK from Krissy and fam to come out, get the present, and do mini party #1 at their house. He was thrilled about it and got a remote controlled car and an oversized sticky hand (if you know Port, he's happy with anything squishy). Krissy and Ray had a large lollipop they gave him too - Port's other passion, sweets. It was complete with a spider man cake that I must say turned out pretty ugly - I'm no cake artist. I do have to say he put the letters on himself and had eaten a couple of them while I was on the phone so we had to improvise with some squiggles. He requested vanilla icecream with cherries on top to go with it!