Flannel Jams

He's been a stinker lately, but really he is a very sweet boy!



I absolutely love fall! Beautiful colors, cool crisp days with bright sunshine, soups and cider, sweaters and jeans, scented candles, the list could go on! One of my favorites is flannel jammies. There is just something so sweet, cute and snuggly about little ones in soft flannel. Thanks to Grama Cheryl and Grampa Joe for the cute new "jams"!

The Ice Cream Cones

The beginning

Doesn't that just look huge!

The end - and we did clean that car seat!

Cora's about to fall asleep in hers

These are the ice cream cones that the kids had on the way home today. It was sticky and messy but they lasted all the way home and then we put them straight into the bathtub! I have to say I haven't had a DQ cone in ages and I was really shocked at how big a "small" was. They looked enormous in their little hands, but with a little help from mommy when they started dripping, they both handled it quite well! Yummy, yummy, sticky sticky!

Super Lake

Cora and her "appoo"


Wyatt, so proud that he pulled up the campsite marker


The girls


My jeans, t-shirts and hats crew!


View of Cooper Lake and the mountains


Wyatt in the water


Cora "all wet" as she said


Boggsy, our 1st baby

Today Mike had the day off and we took advantage of the beautiful fall weather and drove up to Cooper Lake (bless his little heart, Wyatt called it Super lake all day!). We all very much needed to get out of town and do something besides the everyday stuff, and I think we needed to spend some time together, just the 4 of us. Wyatt and Cora have had some very rough days in the past week, and we thought a fun day together might really help! We had a fantastic time! The plan was to take a walk, explore a little, throw some rocks in the water and have a picnic lunch. However Mike and I should have known, the minute we got next to the water off they both went into the water, jeans, shoes and all! Eventually all the clothes got to wet and came off and they played for a while in their birthday suits. Thankfully it was very warm outside and really wasn't a big deal, also (thankfully) we had brought a change of clothes! After the playing at the lake for a while we took a drive WAY up this huge mountain and got to see some absolutely amazing scenery!
On the way back home, going through Cle Elum we stopped at DQ and got the kids their first ice cream cones! (They've had ice cream a ton of times, but never in the cone.) I'll post those messy pictures in another post. Overall it was a great day and everyone went to bed happy!

Cheese!

I forgot I had taken this picture - for once I had actually gotten the pigtails even! Oh, and she is eating cheese!

I love nuggets!

I'm just full of posts today! I had to post this picture of Cora, what a little ham! This was last Friday night while Mike and Wyatt were out getting a movie and ice cream. I made her favorite dinner, chicken nuggets and ranch, with corn. I pulled out the camera and instantly she grinned (stuffed cheeks, messy mouth and all) and wanted her picture taken. So silly and so sweet!

Preschool, the after-party

The Pizza
The Chocolate Ice Cream
Playing trucks with dad and mom

Last Friday night we had a little celebration of Wyatt's first day of preschool. He had taken a nap that day so he got to stay up late, after Cora went to bed, and have some special time with mommy and daddy. While I got Cora ready for bed Mike took Wyatt to pick out a movie and get some ice cream for dessert, and as soon as they got back the pizza arrived. Wyatt was so thrilled, I guess the whole time they were gone he kept telling Mike, "this is special time for just Wyatt and mommy and daddy!" We had a little picnic in the frontroom with his own little cheese pizza and favorite ice cream and we watched a movie while we ate. This is something we never do so it really was "special". The intent was to play games afterward but he just wanted us to play cars with him, so we did, and we taught him how to jump the monster truck over the little cars - the things parents teach kids! He went to bed one happy little tater (that's his nick name :) ) that night!

First Day of Preschool

Sharing the spot light with sissy (who isn't headed to school but thinks she is)
Showing off the new backpacks, yes Cora had to get one to, she calls it her "packpack"
All smiles and ready to go!
Right outside before I took him into the classroom, barely slowed down for me to snap this pic

As you can see Wyatt had his first day of preschool! It was last Thursday (little late on the post!), and he did great! I didn't get to much out of him about what he did, but he did mention the water table, the sand box, painting and "um I think I played with Ben?". He had a great time though and asked when he could go back!
A funny side note, a friend of ours asked him last Wednesday "is tomorrow your first day of preschool?" and his reply was, "yeah, and I GET TO HAVE PEANUT BUTTER PANDA PUFFS!" He's almost addicted to that specific cereal and you only get a little box for $4, and I've just been buying WAY to many of them. So I told him we'd start having that special cereal on preschool days, and I think he was more excited about that than the thought of going to school the next day!

The Grand Finale

Last weekend was the perfect "grand finale" to a fantastic summer. Of course I'm still hoping that the weather stays nice for a while, but now that school and all of the fall activities have started (oh, and don't forget hunting seasons!), fall really is here. Last weekend was the Ellensburg Rodeo and county fair. The whole weekend is SO fun and kind of the big even of the year in Ellensburg. This year Mike's parents came over and spent Friday and Saturday with us, it was so good to have a couple of days with them, we all had a blast!
We started it off by going to the fair Friday night. We hit the rides first (so nobody would loose their dinner), then found the pizza and ice cream and ended the evening with a tour of the barns. Wyatt absolutely LOVED the rides and would have gone on the "big boy rides" had he been big enough and we let him. Cora's favorite part was the animals. She was completely enamored and wanted to stop and see, and pet every single one (even the cows!). I had no idea she was such a little farm girl - I think we need a pony!
Saturday morning we went to the parade and I was shocked that the kids sat through the whole thing and really enjoyed all of it. For a small town it is quite the parade, great entertainment, lots of horses and "big trucks", and floats, very very fun!
Saturday night my parents came up and watched the kids while we went out to dinner with Mike's parents and then to the Extreme Bulls event. It was a cold evening but we had fun and it was a great show!
Sunday we had planned to go back to the fair but decided it was too cold, so instead we stayed home and just hung out. It was so nice and relaxing, we don't get to do that very often! Monday we spent the day in Yakima visiting with the rest of my family and enjoying the sunshine.
It was a fantastic weekend and a great way to end the summer!

Fair and Rodeo 2008