Pumpkin Time

 We went to a local produce farm today and picked out pumpkins. Here's the documentation of our carving projects so far . . .

(Rhett told the girls to change their clothes so they wouldn't get them dirty, but I told them to put their clothes back on because what they were wearing was fine to get dirty. Somehow, half of the girls ended up dressed, one ended up undressed, and one came out half-dressed.)

Basil's reaction to the "guts."

Claire's reaction:

 Summer's reaction:

She preferred using the fork . . .

Pyper's Reaction:

Uh-oh! Guess what fell in the pumpkin . . .

 She got it out, and I missed the picture of her putting it in her mouth and discovering her binky was covered in pumpkin slime. Yuck!

What a fun time!

Blast from the not-so-long-ago past

Look at these sweet little girls!!!

Phone clips

I'm going through phone stuff again. Here are some videos that I've found. 

This was probably the beginning of 2014. Pyper would sing along with her sisters, but she would repeat the only lines she knew:

"Do you want to build a snowman? Do you want to build a snowman? Do you want to build a snowman?" and "Let it go! Let it go! Let it go! Let it go!"

I tried to get her to sing it, but she was more interest in seeing herself. But you at least get a little bit of it.

This was taken when Pyper was probably 18 months-ish. Love this one!

This was probably about a year ago. ??? 

(Have I posted these before??? I can't remember.)

It all comes to an end.

School has started for Summer, and Pyper and Claire start this coming Monday. We are excited about changes and getting into a routine, but we are sad to say goodbye to the summer. It has been so wonderful!

Here's a list of our 2014 summer highlights:
Basil
Started walking at 15 months
Started talking--first words were "Thank you" and used them often (most often when we gave her food), also says, "baby," "shoe," "doggy,""Mom," "Dad," "stuck," "I did it!," and "backpack."
She also shushes when she puts the doll to bed. Love it!

Pyper 
Potty trained herself (wore a swimming suit for a week and didn't want to have an accident in it because she wanted to keep wearing it, so she just went on the toilet!)
Learned to sing "Let it Go" and "Do You Want to Build a Snowman"
Can pump on the swing all by herself--she gets going pretty high!

Claire
Practiced her front flips
Can spell her name and is working on spelling other words
Is working on clipping her own toenails
Learned to do the fire pole at the park

Summer
Learned to ride a bike (woohoo!)
Did lots of reading
Wrote stories and journal entries
Celebrated her 6th birthday

Brittney
Finished a middle grade novel I've been working on for three years (A little over 200 pages long)

Rhett
DRUM ROLL . . .
Was interviewed on a radio station in Seattle! (There was a great debate about a picture of a monkey selfie--the monkey took the camera from the photographer and took a picture of himself. The debate is: who owns the picture???) You can see the awesome picture and listen to Rhett's great interview here.


What a summer!


And finally, click HERE to see our 2014 Summer I SPY book. I'm so excited about it! Can't wait to get it in the mail!

The Misdre

The Misdre

By Summer

I wus so skerd bekes the flawrs in the vas wus gon. I wundrd how tuk it. I lokt up hi. I lokt dan. I sow it wus a ant orme. I told the ant orme that that wus not ok so the ant orme pot the flawrs bak and I gav the ant orme a flawr. The ant orme sed thak yo. I sed yar welcum.

(The Mystery

I was so scared because the flowers in the vase was gone. I wondered who took it. I looked up high. I looked down. I saw it was a ant army. I told the ant army that that was not okay so the ant army put the flowers back and I gave the ant army a flower. The ant army said thank you. I said you're welcome.)

The Fun of Summer Break

Here are some pictures of how we've spent a lot of our summer break:

This was when Rhett got all his guitars out. Everyone rocked out, singing at the top of their lungs.

(Notice: our new bedroom carpet, and the walls we painted "sterling." I love how it turned out! We just have to get the trim back on now, and our room is done.)

The girls and I made fairy gardens. Summer used a broken wasp nest as the chandelier in the house, and then sewed a little bag for the gold pixie dust. Then she drew Tinkerbell and put two little styrofoam balls on her shoes.

 Claire helped me build a campsite for the fairies.

We have been doing a TON of bike riding. Now that Summer can ride her own bike, we go in the evenings, on the weekends, and sometimes twice on Saturdays. This time, we found a river that we let the girls explore.

 (Basil picks things off her feet often. For some reason, I think it's so cute!)

 Somehow, this trip turned into the girls' first--and hopefully last--skinny dipping experience!

(Here she goes again!)

Some shots of Basil

Pyper, staring down whoever is in the yellow swing--their favorite

Summer rigged up this rope thing so she could swing on the rope

 The clouds that evening:

Here's a shot showing Pippy on the yellow swing. She can actually pump. It's amazing. She gets on the swing, and then starts pumping. That little body gets going so high!

We made cat masks with paper plates.

We (I mean Rhett) cut up one of our free range chickens and we grilled it.

We watched a tutorial on how to draw Olaf.

Claire's:

Summer's:

We had a lesson on making goals and I had the girls draw a picture of a goal they would like to work toward.

Summer drew a picture of her running in a race

Claire drew a picture of her riding a bike

We went to Bowl and Pitcher and hiked around

Pip sporting the glasses

We got free tickets through Rhett's work to go to a baseball game. The girls really enjoyed it. At least they enjoyed the snacks and munchies. It was a little past their bedtime, so they were pretty tired, but we had a fun time together.

Last night, as we rode our bikes, I noticed the leaves changing colors. School is starting next week, and soon, these carefree summer days will be gone. We are sad to for the change, but excited for a new schedule and new adventures.