We fit in lots of fun memories in the last few weeks before baby Kate made her appearance. Here are some of our adventures:
Sarah started pre-school in September! She was super excited to finally go to school. She was just a couple of months too young to start kindergarten this year. To celebrate her first day, I surprised her with a new dress for her and a matching one for her elephant.
Sarah's most exciting yard sale find ever: unicorn costume!
Sarah got much braver at swimming this year, which we were really proud of. During our last swim of the year, Sarah managed to bang her chin on side of the pool and split it open. Two sets of stitches for our family this year.
She was super brave at the emergency room and sat very still while they did her stitches.
Chris loves his brown bear. He has also adopted Sarah's pink blanket as his own. I don't blame him. It is super soft.
I spent so many months being sick this summer that Chris's wardrobe got a little neglected. He really needed jammies one night, so I had to dig a pair out of the 2t girls box. Poor Chris.
On Chris's birthday, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Cashway Lumber, the business started by my grandpa and run now by my dad. All of us grandkids grew up working there. Cashway has been a huge blessing in all of our lives, and it was wonderful for our whole family to get together and celebrate.
Chris loves to steal everyone else's shoes.
Chris's favorite snuggle spot is to lay on my legs, use my belly for a pillow, and tuck himself into my bathrobe. Unfortunately, the bath robe started getting too small for all of us as my belly got bigger.
There have been many happy hours spent building train tracks since Chris got this set for his birthday. Mommy and Daddy like to get in on the fun too.
One big project that has been plaguing us for the last couple of years has been solving a flooding problem in our side yard. When they built the house next to ours, all of the water from their property started draining into our yard. Our soil is solid clay, so the water had nowhere to go, even when we dug drainage holes two feet deep. This led to a nasty, buggy, stinky swamp in our side yard all summer. We finally ended up having to dig a trench a foot deep and close to 75 feet long and bury perforated drainage pipe leading down the trench, under the sidewalk to a french drain in the swale between our house and the street. It was a beast of a project, and in my very pregnant state I wasn't much help to Kelson. The day after we finished it, we had a huge rainstorm and felt immense joy as our drain worked and there was no flood in our yard. We are so glad to have this finished!
Sarah loves picking me flowers and arranging them in the vase on the kitchen table. Mommy's girl!
Chris and I went to pick up the rocks for the trench and rewarded ourselves with a pumpkin milkshake date. I'm glad I have someone who shares my appreciation of pumpkin ice cream!
It's not fall without a visit to the pumpkin patch. Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Katy brought the Hindman cousins over for a fun day.
I think this donkey bit Sarah just as I took this picture. This was a very traumatic moment. We stayed away from the donkeys after that.
Going for a swim in the corn
It's true. I never met a pumpkin I didn't like. I love fall!
Hay ride!
Chris (who wasn't talking much at this point) was very proud of learning the word "donkey"
Train ride
Cookie decorating was a very popular activity. Grandpa even got in on the fun.
A little more bathrobe snuggling. I had to soak up my last few weeks with this boy as my baby.
The first weekend of October, we went for a little hike to Hoffer Lakes. There was a couple of inches of snow on the ground, and the kids were super excited. It even snowed on us a little bit, which was even better. Yes, Kelson was wearing shorts.
Chris rode with Daddy
Hoffer lake is so pretty!We have been there in the summer, but it was pretty magical in the snow. Plus, the mosquitos were dead, which made it much more pleasant.
Breaking the ice on the lake
Sarah did a good job of hiking up to the lake, but then she got a little tired. Super Dad carried both kids down.
We could see trout swimming in the creek under the ice. Fun!
Kelson and I left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa for a weekend and went to Leavenworth, Washington for a little getaway before the baby was born. We enjoyed lots of delicious German food.
This was the best sugar cookie I have ever had. It was German chocolate. A chocolate cookie topped with coconut pecan topping. Yum!
Kelson was very excited about this sausage.
Leavenworth is a Bavarian village filled with really cute, themed shops and restaurants. It was wonderful to just enjoy strolling in and out of places without worrying about kids. Thanks, Grandma & Grandpa!
Grandma came over to spend the morning with Chris so I could go with Sarah on her preschool field trip to the pumpkin patch.
Sarah was really excited about picking her pumpkin until she fell in a patch of goatheads. Ouch!
All better. She specifically wanted a green one.
Playdough glasses. Silly Daddy!
Sarah & Daddy went on a date to see The Lion King Jr. They looked very fancy.
We had planned on spending Thanksgiving in Baker City with family, but it turned out that there were several people there who were sick, so we decided to keep our tiny Kate home and have our own little Thanksgiving. Chris helped me smash the pie crust into the tin.
Sarah was a great helper with Kate while I was cooking.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Kate enjoyed some delicious Thanksgiving milk.
Oh, Mommy was there too.
Everybody had matching Thanksgiving shirts, including elephant. Chris's turned up missing on Thanksgiving.
On to the most important course: pie!
Sarah got to make a Thanksgiving feast at school too. She enjoyed the roll and the pudding from her pie.
We had a wonderful fall this year!
