school house rock live!

We took the kids to see School House Rock Live! tonight at a local theater. Our seats were amazing--front row and center!!!

At intermission, the kids got "Lolly Lolly" Lollipops.

Here's Bill on Capitol Hill.

And here's a picture of Gracie before we left home this afternoon. A friend of ours gave her these pink boots and they fit her perfectly. Aren't they adorable? We had a great time and we finished off the evening walking up the street to The Old Spaghetti Factory to have dinner after the show.

family time at starbucks

a hospital visit

As many of you know, Phil is doing his first rotation in Ritzville, WA, a little over an hour from our house. When he works, he's able to stay in a house right across the street from the ER. The kids and I haven't been able to go see him, but I thought we'd better get over there before the roads start to get icy. He's working another 6-day shift, so it was nice to go visit him and break up the time. One of the sweetest things about the trip over was when we heard the song "You Are Holy" on the radio and all 4 kids sang out as loudly as they could! My heart wanted to burst.

We met up with Phil, looked around the clinic and the hospital, went out for pizza, then headed back to the house.

Phil got a call from the ER right as we walked through the door, so the kids and I hung out for a bit. They loved exploring the house--I did, too! It was probably built in the 50's and it has never been renovated. I was in Formica heaven! The stuff was even on the ceiling!

The only thing we could find to watch on T.V. was Lawrence Welk...seriously. The kids have never watched it, but they thought it would be fun to dance around the living room with each other.

Caleb got tired after awhile and decided to snuggle with me on the couch instead.

Time to say goodnight and goodbye. Cozy jammies are on, teeth are brushed and warm blankets are waiting for them in the car for the trip home.

thanksgiving preschool activities

I spent the evening preparing for the wonderful group of moms and kids who come over for Friday Preschool. I couldn't help but get excited, because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!

Tomorrow morning we'll read books, sing songs, play with beanbags and probably get a little silly.

I found this cute craft here . It's one of my favorite websites for preschool craft ideas. After lunch we'll make some sort of rendition of these cookies.

I'm just wondering what's going to happen when I put this tray in front of 18 children.

pumpkin carving

halloween night

Our church didn't have its annual Harvest Festival this year, so we went to a friend's house for her amazing pumpkin chili and trick-or-treating. I forgot to take pictures of the kids without their coats on. The boys wanted to be Transformers (Jared is Optimus Prime and Caleb is Bumble Bee) , Lily wanted to be Cinderella and Gracie wanted to be Sleeping Beauty.

Sorry about the hand...I must have been bossing a few kids around. :)

a visit to the dentist

All 4 kids had dentist appointments this morning. Jared's an old pro at going to the dentist. It almost looks like he's running the entire office from this chair.

Caleb chose banana flavored toothpaste this time.

Gracie chose chocolate...that's my girl!

Lily chose cotton candy toothpaste for her cleaning. She was so excited to see that the staff members wore their purple Dora shirts today.

I couldn't get over how little the girls looked in the chair! Good news: no cavities! The kids got to put their names in the "No Cavities Club" box for a free drawing to win frozen yogurt or a t-shirt. I got to enter our family in the family "No Cavities Club" box (I'm not quite sure what that prize is).

snuggle time

Phil gets to come home on Tuesday nights, because he doesn't have school/work on Wednesday. Lily loves to have him home. Before he leaves, she tells him, "I'll save my snuggles for you." This is what we woke up to this morning. She had set the couch up for their snuggle time and was waiting patiently for Phil to wake up and join her.

playing in the front yard

the pumpkin patch...sorta

Last October I was so disappointed with the prices at the pumpkin patch! Last year we played in the corn maze, took lots of pictures, but then stopped by the grocery store for our pumpkins on the way home. This year one of my favorite grocery stores, Yoke's, is selling pumpkins for 15 cents a pound, so I took the kids to pick out pumpkins yesterday. It's great to tell the kids size doesn't matter this year and then pay only $6 for four pumpkins!