End of a Thankful Day

So many things to be grateful for today. So many things to be grateful for everyday. It's good to have a day that forces me to put it all into perspective.

Thank you, Lord, for the abundant blessings that I do not deserve but gratefully accept.

And if I were to make a list of all those things, this would be at the top...

Happy Thanksgiving.

8 Years Old

Dear Padyn,
I can't believe you turned 8 years old today. Long gone are the days were I could rock you to sleep or pick you up and swing you around. Actually, I can still do that last one, but only at risk of injury to one of us.

I can't believe how grown up you are becoming. You certainly look more grown up. Your face it maturing and you are getting taller. You don't like to be called "cute," even though you certainly are. Would you prefer beautiful? Pretty? Adorable? All those are true. And you are much more capable and confident than you were a year ago. You read, you spell, you solve math problems, you try to help me solve problems. I'm so glad you are finally interested in doing things for yourself! And when you choose to be, you are extremely helpful, especially with your brothers. These are things I really look forward to as you grow older.

But I also fret. I worry as you get older that you will stop talking to me and telling me things. It has always been incredibly hard to get you to talk about anything, and I fear it will only get worse as you get closer to your teenage years. Already you show signs of the future years...moodiness, attitudes, crying even though you don't know why....sigh....I am so not looking forward to that. I would love to just stop time and have you stay 8 forever. In third grade. Innocent. Happy. Carefree. I know you want to grow up, but trust me. Later you will wish you could remember more of this time, enjoy it a little longer. I know I will. I pray this 9th year will be full of joy and friendship and growth and happiness and fun. I hope you know how much your Daddy and I love you. It makes me cry, you growing up. Soon you may want to have much to do with us for a bit as you can sort out who you are and what that will look like. I pray that will be a very long time from now. Until then, enjoy being 8. Be nice to your sister. Enjoy your friends. And keep giving me hugs and kisses. Keep telling us that you love us. We feel the same about you.

Love,

Mommy

Favorite Comic Strip of the Week

You can see it bigger here.

Photo Sunday-Playing with the Fishies

On Friday we headed out to the fish hatchery on the American River to watch the amazing quantities of salmon that are spawning at this time of year. And while we often visit a fish hatchery when we visit Grandma and Grandpa in Oregon, this one was humbugs in comparison. It was a bit of a different experience. Plus, I think it's the first time I've let Robbie out of his stroller to feed the fish. You can see that he thought this was the best thing since the yogurt he had earlier in the day... There were two areas with these troughs of trout and salmon, each the length of a football field. In each area there were at least twelve troughs. At one point the feeding truck came through row by row, shooting fish food into the troughs. What a scene. Between the fish leaping out of the water to get all the food and the mass quantities of children running behind the truck screaming with joy, it was pure, delightful chaos.

Then there was the extra long fish ladder. I'd seen a few fish ladders in my day, but never one this big. In this picture, we are about a third of the way up from the gate entrance on the river. What you can't see is at the top of the ladder, it makes a sharp 90 degree turn to the left and continues another considerable distance.

The kids (and their friends) could have spent a hour walking along the ladder, watching and cheering for the salmon as they made their way up stream. They were especially fascinated by the gate. Salmon packed in gate to wall, fighting for their chance to get past the gate and up the ladder. And they just seemed to keep pouring in from the river. Really amazing.While the other kids were watching the fish, Robbie spent some time enjoying the vegetation. Kooky kid.

Happy Sunday.

Photo Friday-Funderland

Thanks to the teacher in service day today (sorry, teachers, that you still needed to work today and we didn't), we had a random Friday off of school. And since it was a beautiful sunny (yet chilly) November day, we decided to take a family outing to somewhere we had never been-Funderland. Yes. That is what it is called. It's a little tiny amusement park in our state's capitol city. There are only about 9 rides. We only rode on 8...but the kids loved every minute of it.

The Octopus Ride (Padyn was too big for this one)

The Cars

Padyn as a train

The Carousel

The TrainThe Log Ride

The Airplanes

The Dragon Rollercoaster (the girls favorite)

The Tea Cups (Mommy refused to go on this one)

Happy (Fun) Friday! Hope you had as great of a day as we had.

Happy Halloween!

Here they are...all decked out for Halloween last night. We cruised the neighborhood with the kids in our hood. There was...

Kate! The "Karate Girl"

Padyn-the Hip Hop Dancer

And Robbie-Dragon Boy...He got into the whole trick or treating tradition. By the third house, he was running down the street yelling, "I want some CANDY!"

Hope you had as great of a night as we did...and collected the same absurd amount of candy.

Signs Stating the Obvious #382

I really hope no one had to stop and consider why this sign at the pumpkin patch was posted. Unless they thought that starting a fireball under hunderds of children was a fun trick...

Airplanes!

Our local university airport had their annual open house this weekend. We decided to check it out. The kids always like seeing the other side of Daddy's life. These airplanes are, of course, much smaller than the ones Daddy flies, but still....we did see the plane that Daddy did his first solo flight in.

As soon as we got out to the runway, Robbie started running out toward the airplanes shouting, "Airplanes!"

The girls liked the paint job on this one...

...but the rainbow plane was Kate's declared favorite.The kids hung out inside an Army chopper for a while.

Robbie did not want to leave this seat once he was strapped in. Safety first!

I think she is feeling the fabric wing...or she is just posing. She's good at that.

Photo Saturday-Arm Bands

There is a story here, but for now, just let the pictures speak for themselves. I call this collection "Photo Shoot with Arm Warmers."

Happy Saturday

I TWO!

Actually, Robbie, today you are two and a half.

What do you like to do at 2 1/2? The same things you liked to do at 2, but now you talk about them more. You LOVE talking about what you are doing. You are the master of stating the obvious. But you do it in this super cute way, as if you are asking a question, so it isn't too annoying. Well, not me your Daddy and me. Padyn sometimes gets annoyed, but you can just ignore her.

You like to climb and jump (two footed) and run and yell and dance and sing. You love playing the piano and reading a book. You love your cars and your sisters. And your mommy and daddy.

Your favorite phrases include, "I did it!" "Tah-dah!" "Great job!" "Carry me!" "NO! I no want it!" "Actually, no." "Mommy, sit in my lap." "Change my diaper." "Play Chica?" "Watch Cars?" I see Daddy!"

You wake up in the morning exceptionally happy, but not always so from your nap. You are really really REALLY cranky when you have to poop. It's almost impossible to do anything else because you just want to be held. You love dancing around to some song in your head and you have this funny little wiggle-sideways-chicken-winged move that you do. And the look on your face as you are doing it tells me you KNOW you are being silly and you LOVE it.

You are super adorable and we love you so. Even when you are a pouty whiny mess. Can't wait to see what 3 brings!

Photo Friday-Grandpa's Barn

One of our many local pumpkin patches has a little barn petting zoo. Last year I made the mistake of only taking the kids once during the month of October. This year, we bought "season passes" (I know, I know. Can you really call the month of October a season?) so that we can go as many times (and for as little duration) as we like. If there are too many people holding the kittens, we can say, "Oh well. We'll come back tomorrow and hold the kitties." And everyone stays happy.

We've been three times already in the past 12 days. I'd say I'm getting my money's worth. The first day we went, it started raining so I didn't pull out the camera. But here are some photos from our last two visits.

The ducklings are more popular than the chicks. They don't squirm as much when you hold them.These guys are my favorites...baby pygmy goats. I so want to bring one home...P and C posing the on hay pyramid that hasn't quite been finished yet.

Daddy and Robbie in front of what I think is supposed to be some type of maze, but is really just trampled vegetation.

Robbie-King of the Hay Pyramid

The first week, the hay maze wasn't finished yet. Yesterday was our first visit where it was complete. The kids loved it. I don't love losing Robbie in it, but fortunately, it's not that big.

Hay maze Queen

Katelyn found a fuzzy friend that didn't live in the barn.

Robbie did not want to have his picture taken with me. I had to resort to tickling to get him to smile and look at the camera.
Padyn asked for this picture to be taken. I think her exact words were, "Take one of me sitting on the fence." But don't call her "cute." Apparently she hates that.We ran into one of Kate's preschool friends at the patch. (As well as some church and school friends, but we only took pictures with these guys.) The boys decided this kennel looked like a good place to hang out. Kate and Robbie thought so, too.
In a cage...right where they belong. Happy Friday. Maybe we'll get out to the corn bath pumpkin patch this weekend and get more fun photos.