Fall Fun

On Friday we went to a local farm and pumpkin patch with some friends. Sam has been begging me for weeks to go to a petting zoo, so this was right up his alley. Besides a petting zoo they had a fun play area for the kids with tractors to ride and climb on, a big slide, and not to mention the huge bin of corn to play in. Anyway, Sam LOVED it. Lauren liked it too, especially when she could get out of the stroller and crawl around.

On the drive up to the farm I kept telling Sam we were going to a farm and a pumpkin patch. Well, he must have heard me wrong because since then he's started calling any and all pumpkins "pumpkin hatches." We'll be driving down the road or going into Fred Meyer and he'll see a pumpkin and say, "Look, Mommy...there's a pumpkin hatch!" Or, "Look, Mommy...look at all those pumpkin hatches!" It makes me chuckle out loud every time I hear it. We've tried to correct him, but he won't have anything to do with a pumpkin patch...it's a "pumpkin hatch!"

And, finally the petting zoo...The other funny thing Sam did was he kept taking handfuls of corn from the huge corn bin and then he'd run over to the animals and "feed" them corn. He did this at least three or four times...running from the corn bin to the animals. He'd get up to the pen where the animals were and say, "Here Sheep (or pig, or duck, or horse/mule)...have some corn." Then he'd drop it on the ground inside the pen. They're probably not supposed to eat corn, but I couldn't interfere with his fun. Besides I was having too much fun watching him! :-)

Our new pet...

We were at a friend's house last week and in her D.I. pile was this enormous stuffed dog. Well, Sam immediately fell in love with it and instead of going to the D.I. the dog came home with us. Sam named it, "Soft Dog" and loves to feed him (usually bread), pet him, and ride him like a horse. As you can see from this picture, he also likes to put him to bed at night and he gets a soft pillow and one of our best blankets. :-)

Here Comes Trouble

Lauren's in the power crawling stage where she gets into EVERYTHING! I'm certain she'd crawl to Alaska if I let her out of my sight long enough. She seems to know when the front door is open because any time it's open she makes a B-line for the door. She has no problem crawling outside and loves to crawl on the sidewalk, lawn, mud, and rocks.
She also thinks it's fun to pull mom and dad's books off the shelves. The other day she was in our room with me while I was folding laundry and would say, "Uh-Oh" with every book she pulled off the shelf. It was cute.

The Big Brother

Sam has a small cold and when he has a cold he thinks a Kleenex is the solution to everything. Well, yesterday morning on the way to church I handed him a Kleenex and then hear

this conversation in the back seat...

Sam: See, Lauren (holding up the Kleenex for Lauren to see)...this is called a Kleenex. You go like this (in my rear view mirror I see him demonstrating how you wipe your nose) and the Kleenex gets all your snots!

Lauren: squeal, ah-dah, ah-dah, squeal...

I LOVED it. It made my mama heart so happy to hear. Lauren is so lucky to have a big brother who I'm sure in the coming years will teach her many things.

Happy Birthday!!

September 21st is Evan's birthday and Lauren's is the 22nd, so last night for FHE (September 21st) we celebrated both birthdays. Woohooo!!! It was fun...Grandma Hatch and Analise (Evan's cousin) joined us for the fun.

Happy Birthday, Evan...I love you so so much!

This is Lauren's 1st birthday, so it's kind of a big deal. We got some FABULOUS pictures of her opening presents and eating our birthday cake (dirt cake...Evan requests this every year for his b-day).

Just a Few Observations...

Observation #1: Lauren is still super cute and is a daddy's girl...


Today after I picked Evan up from the bus I got Lauren out of the car and went to carry her inside the house. However, she had other ideas. She started crying and looking at Evan and it was clear she didn't want to have anything more to do with me. The minute I gave her to Evan she was a happy camper. Then later tonight when Evan was vacuuming he picked her up and held her while he worked. She was perfectly content and loved every minute. Now when I try and hold her all she does is try to squirm herself out of my arms. She's definitely a daddy's girl.

Observation #2: While the cat is away the mice will play...

I went out of town over Labor Day weekend and left the kids home with Evan. They had such a GREAT time and went all sorts of fun places...the zoo, the children's museum, and the Burke Museum (UW campus). Anyway, here are a few pictures from their time together.

Sam sitting in his favorite window at the zoo watching the penguins swim by...

Sam looking at the giraffe...another favorite of his!

It was raining the day they went. Lauren doesn't look too thrilled, but Sam sure does!

Sam and Lauren playing with these cool blocks at the children's museum...

Observation #3: I give a mean haircut...Not too shabby if I say so myself!

In an effort to save money I've started giving Evan a haircut when he needs it. I think this is the fourth haircut I've given him and for the record we have indeed saved a lot of money. I was super nervous the first time I cut his hair, but now I'm much more confident and definitely not as nervous. Anyway, now if only Evan could learn how to color my hair. Then the real savings would begin...don't think I haven't thought about this. I just have to find someone willing to teach him.

Observation #4: Sam is experiencing some spiritual growth.

On Sunday morning Sam was ready to go to church in his sunglasses and anxious to bring his *pink* bag full of Lauren's clothes. We somehow convinced him to leave the glasses and bag at home, but it was the first thing he went to when we walked through the door after church. Anyway, he's adorable and I couldn't love him any more! ;-)

Every night part of our bedtime routine is reading the Book of Mormon with Sam. We only read one or two verses, but Sam has gotten in the habit of doing it. Well, lately he wants to read them all by himself instead of one of us reading to him. I caught him on camera "reading" the other night. He saw me and got embarrassed and so unfortunately you get the inhibited version for your viewing pleasure. Oh well...it's still cute.

Observation #4: My kiddos like to wrestle...

I caught this cage fight on camera. :-)

Observation #5: Sam is a true boy...

Tonight he wanted to fill his dump truck with dirt and go digging outside all while wearing his new dinosaur rain boots. It was late and a little past his bedtime when he announced his plan to go digging, but I had to let him have his "boy" moment. Let me just note that I have a cold and sound like a frog in this video and when I was filming this I all of a sudden felt like I needed to cough up a lung...

"Uh-oh" and "S-A-M"

Well, friends...this is as good as it gets around here...I tried to get some really great "uh-oh" videos for you to see and ended up with these two. They're alright, but not stellar. I'll keep trying. I sure love my little girl. She's just so easy going and fun to have around...well, I guess that depends on who you talk to. Sam prefers for her to stay far away from his books or his animals. You'll notice the animal line-up in the background of the 2nd video.

Sam is learning the letters in his name and is pretty excited about it. We worked on it for the first time the other day. We "colored" the letters in his name. I'd take a turn and then he'd take a turn. It was fun and it's exciting to see him learning! :-)