Weather

We had some pretty wild weather last year.
First, it was so hot and dry that there were some serious fires nearby. The sky was full of smoke.

That's the sun!

Then we had a giant windstorm. Power was out at some places for 10 days. The wind blew over fences and trees. We were safe, and we didn't lose power. We were very blessed!

Fence blown over, and trampoline.

 Siding on the house blown off.

Finally we got some snow. This is what an elementary school field looks like after the first snowfall:

Random

We always need a "Random" post every once in a while, right?

Basil did her own pony tail--and was pretty proud of it


She also put on June's clothes the other day and said, "I'm baby Junie! Now you can change my diaper. That would be great!" (She is potty trained, so she was really pretending she was June here!)


Cute vest at the store she tried on.


After we got our Christmas things out, the girls dressed Pyper up like the tree.


June--BUSTED!


This is what happens at an Elementary school playground the day after it snows:

Love this sweet face!


Pyper and Basil play so well together now that Pyper doesn't go to school and the older two are gone all day. Here is a picture of them making beds in the living room.

I always love seeing things like this:



Pyper reading to Junie.


Pyper and Basil getting set up to play . . .


Basil and June


Summer had a bottom tooth start to come in before her baby tooth came out. Needless to say, we began wiggling that baby tooth extra hard over the next few days before it fell out.

Claire and June

Pip and Basil

Basil and June

Thanksgiving

We were soooooo lucky to have my sister and her family come join us for Thanksgiving. We had a great time! The girls LOVED playing with their cousins. Poor little Jax had four new mothers to follow him around, try to feed him his bottle (which he is too independent for that!), and even try to carry him around a few times. They loved it--I'm not sure if he did! haha. But it was so fun to have him and Boston here to play with. Boston added a boy energy that the girls don't have around here. It was such a fun few days.

I love these pictures my sister took.

Thanksgiving Dinner

We gave Tanner and Kate a tour of Rhett's work. 

We loved the visit from the Wrays and can not wait until they come back!

. . .

The girls got a wig from Grandma Kartchner and we had quite the fun with it . . .

The Great Pumpkin Race

One of the many things Rhett is involved in is the Spokane Meals on Wheels. He is on the board, and this year, was in charge of their fundraiser: The Great Pumpkin Race.

Yes, it was a little stressful, but it all came together and was such a blast!!!

The Wednesday before the race, us crazy parents got Summer and Claire up at 4 in the morning to go be on the local news. Here's a link to watch the "stars of the world" (as one of Claire's classmates later said): http://www.krem.com/videos/news/local/spokane-county/2015/10/21/pumpkin-race-supports-meals-on-wheels/74322992/

I sent the link to the girls' teachers and they watched them in their classes. The students thought the girls were famous now. It was such a fun thing! (But by 5:00 that night, I vowed to NEVER do it again and the girls were in bed twenty minutes later. haha)

The night before going on the news, Claire said, "Mom, I'm nervous. I've never been on TV before." 

I stayed home with the sleeping kiddos and watched the news on the computer, waiting for the Barney Stars. Rhett said that up until it was time for the cameraman, Claire kept saying, "I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to talk at all." Hahaha. She almost took the mic from the lady in the clip! So funny.

Saturday morning, Grandma and Grandpa Kartchner helped us build our pumpkins. 

Cat: Summer's        Witch: Basil's

Claire colored her mini pumpkin black

Pyper's is a green pumpkin between the bear and crown

We did a few practice runs in our driveway.

THE EVENT

Since Rhett was in charge of the event, I took pictures for it. I got a few of the girls, but lots of other ones as well. (Click on the pictures to make them larger so you can see everyone's faces. So fun!)

During registration, I turned around and Summer's holding this little guy.

Candy from the goody bags

The Scoop, a local icecream and coffee shop showed up to serve free hot chocolate.

Our chiropractor and good friend Kim White (in the purple hat whose lap Basil is sitting on) and her husband Mike (talking to the news cameraman) came to help with registration.

This is one of the heats. I love this picture. (No Barney girls in this one, but I think the guy in the middle thought I was taking a picture of him! haha)

This was Basil's race. The head rolled off the wheels, so . . . 

Rhett kicked it all the rest of the way down.

Action shot (Notice Little Tike Cinderella rolling out of her pumpkin coach)

 Another action shot

Claire's in the pink coat, Rhett is following behind her

Action shots

One of the funnest things was watching the pumpkins start at the line, and then everyone chase after them as they turned and crashed into the curbs. One giant pumpkin even ran over a smaller one! Huge crash! The whole crowd erupted.

Summer's in the pink jacket in front of Rhett

Finish line

 So they took the 1st place winner of each heat and had a final race. This kid in the red sweatshirt won. His brother is in the gray sweatshirt--totally excited that his brother won. 

Michael Baumgartner, one of our State Senators, was the emcee for the race.

Here's a link to the followup report on the news regarding the race. And yes, that witch head with a wig rolling down the hill is Basil's! 

http://www.khq.com/clip/11948040/pumpkin-races-in-spokane

The race was a great success. They had about 75 participants (twice as many as last year), and earned enough money to feed 500 seniors for the next year. Great job Rhett!