My little "Sunbeam Missionary"

This funny kid was officially a "Sunbeam" today. He wore his little suit from Malachi (his cousin...incidentally it's the suit I bought for my nephew who is now 8 years old when Evan and I got married) and looked very handsome. He was so excited to be what he called a "Sunbeam Missionary." In fact when he was all dressed this morning he ran up to Evan and very excitedly said, "Daddy! I look like a nissiomary!" So cute.

When I dropped him off in Primary he sat right down by two of his little buddies and they sat there on the front row with these huge grins on their faces holding hands. It was seriously one of the cutest things I have ever seen.

He had so much fun today in primary and I milked the "Sunbeam Missionary" thing for all it was worth. He bowed his head and folded his arms during the prayers in Sacrament Meeting today because I told him that's what Sunbeams do.  He thought he could pass the sacrament today because he was now a Sunbeam. I had to tell him "not yet." He also asked if he could go up and talk in the microphone now. Again, I told him "not yet." Too funny.

He wouldn't take his suit off the entire day because he was a "sunbeam missionary" and missionaries leave their suits on all day. He wanted to sleep in it and I had to break it to him that missionaries take their suits off and put jammies on when they go to bed too. When I finally got him to take the suit off tonight he told me, "I was a good sunbeam missionary today." He sure was. Priceless and so cute!



I hope he always wants to be a missionary! :-) 

Changes

Last week we had a change in our weather...

A couple inches of snow shut down the entire city of Seattle the few days before Thanksgiving. That was good for us because it meant that Evan stayed home from work Tuesday and Wednesday and so we...

decorated the Christmas tree, the day before Thanksgiving. I've always thought it's "proper" to wait until after Thanksgiving to decorate the tree, but it just seemed like the right thing to do since we were all home and snowed in. I love being snowed in...there's something about being "trapped" at home that makes it okay to stay in your jammies until noon and drink large amounts of hot chocolate. It was splendid! :-)

On Wednesday another change occurred at our house. Lauren and I ventured out into the snow to get her hair cut. I had gone back and forth on whether to cut bangs for her because her hair grows straight forward from the crown of her head. It drives me crazy. I try and comb it to the side, but it's so straight and wispy that it just hangs down in front of her eyes. Hence, I considered the bang option and in the end went with it. Here is the result:

What do you think? It's definitely growing on me. The morning after I almost cried because it just didn't seem right, but now I can honestly say I like it. It helps that she's so darn cute. Love this girl! :-)

Thanksgiving day was spent at Grandma's house with lots of Hatch relatives. It was such a fun day and Grandma made an amazing dinner for all 25 of us. While Grandma was busy cooking the mashed potatoes Sam and Daddy made a snowman on her front lawn. Sam LOVED it and thought his snowman was the coolest thing ever...and it was.

Meanwhile it's officially Christmas time at our house. I love this time of year. I feel such gratitude for Jesus Christ and the mercy He extends to all of us. I'm always trying to tell Sam that when we mess up or if things don't go the way we want them to we have to just "try again" and we can always "do better next time." I'm learning that I need to listen to my own advice. I'm humbled by this and grateful for the Savior who makes it possible to "try again" and "do better next time".

A Sunday Stroll

This afternoon something very exciting happened at our house...it snowed! :-) The snow didn't stick to the ground, but Sam was not to be deterred from being outside. So, Evan being the amazing daddy that he is took Sam on a walk around our neighborhood in the freezing cold...for an entire hour!! He sent me this picture that he took with his phone. It's classic Sam. He wanted to wear a hat and only this sun visor would do. I guess sun visors go well with puffy jackets, especially when you're three. Of course he had to push his baby "Judah" in the stroller (there's a kid in his preschool class named Judah. I think that's why he named his baby this). And of course there's the stick he picked up along the way that turned out to be a great walking stick. Walking stick in one hand and the stroller in the other. I love it. I love that he had such a fun time being himself outside in the cold. I love my little boy and all the quirks that come with being three years old! :-)

Halloween 2010

In case you are wondering, Sam is an elephant and Lauren is a lion. ;-)

This year's main Halloween event was our ward's annual "Trunk-or-Treat!" Both kids were very tired and equally as grumpy right before we left for the party...so much so that Evan and I thought about putting them to bed and watching a movie downstairs with our big bag of Halloween candy from Costco. But we decided against it and put both kids in the car (without their costumes on) and left. At the church we coerced them each into their costumes (as long as there were no hats/hoods that had to be worn they were okay).

They both ended up having a great time (although we couldn't get either of them to smile for the camera). Who wouldn't have a great time in a parking lot full of friends with a big bucket of candy?!?

Later that night Evan and Sam lit our jack-o-lanterns. Sam thought it was the greatest thing ever.

Love this picture of Sam with his Daddy. :-)

The Pumkin Farm

This week I took Sam to the pumpkin farm with his preschool class. We had such fun and I was so glad that it was just him and me (thanks, Natalie!). I took a few good pictures, but none in the actual pumpkin patch. Darn. I was too busy trying to convince Sam that ALL the pumpkins were dirty and that we'd have to wash it when we got home. He was determined to find a small, CLEAN with no dirt on it, orange pumpkin. No such luck. I finally convinced him that we could wash it at home and he chose a pumpkin. It helped that the tractor/hay ride was pulling up and everyone was lining up to get back on.

Double the Pleasure, Double the Fun!

So, remember when I mentioned in my last post that I bought a second baby and stroller for Sam. Well, I think we've already got our money's worth. Sam and Lauren been having a great time chasing each other around while pushing their babies around the house.

The other night they were especially having a good time with their favorite new activity (pushing strollers). I thought it was hillarious so I got out the camera. Well, as soon as Lauren saw the camera she didn't move and would only stand there and say, "Cheese!" She's such a funny girl. It's been fun to see her personality shine a little more the last little while. I think preschool has helped. The poor girl is constantly in Sam's shadow and now that he's in preschool three mornings a week she gets a little time to herself.

Happy Birthday!

 Last Wednesday (September 22nd) was Lauren's birthday...she's 2 years old!! Evan is super busy at work so we picked him up for a few hours and drove over to Gasworks Park to celebrate. It was a beautiful day and so much fun!

For her birthday Lauren got a baby and a stroller. Wow...I had no idea what kind of a hit this would be. She loved it! I was so happy! Funny side note: Sam also loved the baby and the stroller. Let's just say that by Saturday he had *his* own baby and stroller. I never thought I would do that...buy two of the same toy, but sometimes sanity doesn't have a price tag. :-)

 We had cupcakes with lots of yummy frosting. Sam ate so much that he got a little sick. It's funny because now if his tummy feels sick it's because he ate "too much cupcakes."

 They had cupcakes at preschool this week for someone else's birthday. He made sure to tell me that he didn't eat "too much cupcakes" and he didn't get sick. Phew! :-)

 Lauren loved her stroller and baby so much that she just pushed and pushed it all around Gasworks Park. It was hillarious. The funniest part was that she wouldn't push it on any of the paved paths, just all over the grassy parts.

 She also loved looking at her cards or "papers" as she calls them. She'd push her stroller for a while and then plop down in the grass and read her "papers."

It was also Evan's birthday this week (September 21st). On his actual birthday the poor guy worked the entire day. I think he left home around 6 am and didn't get home until 9:30 pm. We made sure to listen to Earth Wind and Fire's classic song "September" before we went to bed and he did open have a few presents to open.

We had an impromptu birthday party for Evan Friday night. It was so fun! I think we had almost 20 adults here and who knows how many kids. We just ate pizza and had cake. We feel blessed to have so many great friends here in Shoreline and a place big enough to have them all here at once. A fun night!