Getting Ready for Halloween

 Last weekend when Poppie went fishing Ashton and I made bat, spider and "Eek" cookies for this coming weekend. There is nothing she loves more than patting flour and rolling out some dough. Well, except maybe putting the sprinkles on the top at the end. She did like that too.

 Notice the necklace? Yep. She's taken to my jewelry box in the morning. She likes to try on my rings and begs to wear my necklaces. This one is amethyst and citrine. It's pretty weighted, but she still wants to wear the stones all day long. This little girl could end up being pretty expensive down the road!

Our Scientist

"Sink or float?"

This is Ashton's favorite bath time experiment. She lines up her animals and then just before she pushes them in the water she'll ask, "sink or float mama?" and then squeal at the result. She's been taking extra-long baths just so she can test all her animals. I love it. 

Bo's Birthday Bash

Somehow we all (as in G-mum & John from Texas, Gramps from Boise, Tyler from Spokane with Katie in Seattle, Audrey and Paul from Bellvue, and Lauren and Kyle from Portland) managed to get together for Bo's birthday on the 16th. This first photo is "the morning after" when G-Mum doled out the Halloween teeth for a quick family photo. It never quite came together (and I couldn't bear the teeth without gagging a bit). The second photo is much more "family" friendly--except for Izzi who has a goofy mask on, but ahh, well. Right?

 Here Ashton is practicing her "Happy Birthday" song with G-mum for Uncle Bo.

 Mila was all smiles when Ashton pushed her exocauser in circles. Who knew it could be so entertaining? Ashton liked Mila Eve's little playhouse....they certainly look like cousins in that pic, no?

 Here's Bo with his brothers: JC and Mike. Cheers!

 Izzi and G-mum having some "happy birthday".
 

 Lauren and Kyle playing games.....they look perfect for each other, no?

 It was a fun way to celebrate the big year Amy and Bo have had: having a baby, building a house and climbing a mountain as Bo stated in his forced "birthday speech". We love you guys. Congrats.

Playing with Auntie Audrey

A couple weekends ago Ashton got to spend some quality time with Auntie Audrey while I was at my AP conference and Jake went golfing with the boys for Bo's birthday. Needless to say (minus the cat scratch), they had a great time. Audrey just sent me these pics documenting their afternoon. They made several kinds of cookies, went to the park (with Izzi's rat-mouse of course), collected autumn leaves and did some art. Ashton had so much fun. Thanks Auntie Audrey. When are you available again?

 She's still not so fond of slugs. At least now she'll look at them rather than quimper and hide.

 Audrey said she filled Izzi's pallet with lots of colors, and what does my daughter do? ASK FOR BLACK. Nice my dear. Let's hope she doesn't go all emo in high school. I don't know if I could handle that.

It was so nice to see that she had a good time without me, but was still excited to see me.

Pumpkin Patch 2010

 Yesterday we looked at the forecast and decided to beat the rain with a little early morning adventure to the local pumpkin patch. We haven't been since Ashton was 5 months old, and figured it was about time. I put her in her Halloween colors to get pumped up for the event.

She had no problem racing to the first photo shoot spot, where she promptly turned with her classic scrunch-nose, squinty-eyed smile. 

 She was most excited to see the piglets. There were 11 babies this year, and four snorting adults. The smell was too much for me to bare, so I quickly ushered her back to the pumpkins. That's when we spotted some friends. She gave Bjorn (who was born two weeks before her) a quick low five and then ran to see his older sister Kinsey.

 The two girls sifted through several pumpkins looking for the perfect one for a jack-o-lantern.

Izzi had her eyes on the big ones.

 We thought we were just browsing until this perfectly abnormal pumpkin grinned at us. It was love at first sight for Izzi (see photo below).

We left the patch just in time, as the rain began to pitter-patter on our windshield as we pulled out of the parking lot. After a quick visit with Grammie Brennie we went to the river center for a picnic--asparagus soup and turkey sandwiches. While we were watching the water flow we told Izzi to keep her eyes on the sky too, as she would probably spot an eagle. Within minutes she was pointing and squealing at the feathered wings above. After discussing what eagles eat we asked, "What else eats fish?" She responded, "Bears can't fly. Bears don't have wings. But bears do eat fish." We all laughed.

After a few minutes of silence she said, "I like the rain. It's beautiful."

It was nice to finally get out and enjoy October as a family.

Embracing Black

 It's been interesting watching Ashton get into the spirit of fall, and the spooks of October lately. Her library book choices have revolved around Halloween, with a special focus on ghosts. It started mid-Septemeber, when QFC changed their seasonal display. Izzi immediately noticed the spirited sheets swaying from the ceiling. When the days started getting darker, she noticed that too. She stares out the window saying, "It's so dark right now guys." (Yes, she's taken to calling Jake and I "guys". Not my favorite. On the rare occassion, I'm Chels and Jake is still Poppie. He affirms, "That's right dear. I'll always be Poppie.") I was surprised the day she combined both ghosts and dark and grew afraid to go into the bedroom by herself. I probably didn't help the situation by laughing and teasing at her fear.  She thinks the lonely nipple shaped fixture in the middle of the master bedroom is a ghost. I explained that it is a friendly ghost, and now she runs in every morning cheerfully saying, "Hi ghost." For whatever reason, she's fixed on all kinds of spirits. Her drawings have mirrored her subconscious ponderings. She's gravitating towards black and orange for her "halloween" pictures. She said the one above started as a pumpkin and then became a tree. When I asked her if pumpkins grew on trees she looked at me like I was crazy and said, "That's silly." After she does some large swooping strokes she'll turn to small details, almost like she's writing. So, I asked her what this drawing said. She pointed her finger at the "letters" (scribbles) and said, "This says: G-mum, g-mum, g-mum, I love you." Ahhh, I nearly melted.

 This second painting we sat down to make a beautiful watercolor for Grandma Jadyne. It started with bright red, orange and yellow.....and then she found black. The dark, dramatic, emo color has it's hold on my little girl. She's drawn to its bold power. At first she said this was a "buff-lo" but then it became an apple tree. We're going to wait a bit and add another medium to brighten it up, when she's ready of course. That's the beauty of being an artist, the canvas can change with your mood.

 As a true English teacher's daughter, Ashton has started grading my students papers. She watched me put the name at the top of each rubric and then add numbers in each column. The shot above shows the big picture, while the one below illustrates her ability to copy her mum's work.  I just hope she gets more from watching Poppie paint, then watching Mama grade. Certainly the former is better for the "soul".

Rosalind's Birthday Too

 For Rosalind's birthday Ashton picked out a bird house to paint. She chose Grandma's favorite colors: purple and turquoise, and of coarse, her own, pinkalicious. I was impressed how controlled her strokes were. She really liked painting straight lines around the base and top. GrandmaR said she was going to take it to Mexico for the winter. Izzi also went to town in the garden picking raspberries to put on top of the dark chocolate fudge birthday brownies.

 On Saturday Mike and Roz invited us to go to the Dockside Grill with them to share our last meal together before their adventure south. We got several compliments on Ashton's behavior. She managed to sit politely for two hours through the gourmet meal. We were all suprized how much she enjoyed the calamari hourdourves. After that, the only thing that really interested her was her purse full of beavers. (She got a new little family of beavers for her doll house. She loves them.)

I tried to get a photo of the marina, but it was a no go. You can see goofy GrandpaR putting bunny ears on Izzi. He had the pleasure of sitting next to her all night and they both teased each other through the whole meal. She'll really miss not having her grandparents right down the road this winter.

Brennie turns 60

We had Brennie over to celebrate her birthday on September 24th.  Ashton made her a little card that showcased the drumming class we got for her. Izzi also had fun making carrot zucchinni cupcakes with chocolate frosting. She loves bringing in the fruits from our garden into the kitchen. We all savored the moment over a steaming bowl of soup. Happy Birthday Brennie. We love you.