Because my daughter is a ham...

...she will do funny poses for me.
Her favorite word or phrase right now is "ta da". In this picture she is saying "ta da" as if it's so amazing that she can sit on a pumpkin.
And since my daughter is a ham, singing with a microphone is a must! Here we are doing some karaoke action on Sunday afternoon.
This morning when I came in to get her up, she jumped up and threw her arms out and said "Ta da!!" I couldn't help but crack up at her.

Pumpkin Patch Day

From Jade: Today Dad and Mom took me to the pumpkin patch. When we first got there we had to wait around to catch a ride to the actual pumpkin patch, so I killed time by checking out the animals. Dad lifted me high so I could tough a Llama, Mom wasn't to excited about that and she said she had to stand far away. I'm not sure why.
I spent a lot of time trying to touch and feed the goats. Mom and Dad are cheap so they didn't buy me any actual feed to give the goats, so I tried to give them sawdust instead. Apparently goats are smart, because they didn't eat it.
Finally we got our tractor ride out to the pumpkin patch. At first I wasn't to sure about the whole thing. We were out in a muddy field full of orange balls.
But then Daddy got down and showed me that you could pick up the balls...er...pumpkins and carry them around.
I found a good one. I said, "ma ma!" and Mommy turned around with her camera to take a picture.
Then I tried to pick up the pumpkin and...ya, it was to heavy.
But then I found another pumpkin, it was just the right size. I could carry it every where. Eventually I got bored with it and threw it on the ground.
Mom picked me up and we walked around for awhile until we found a better pumpkin.
Then, we got back on the tractor ride to go pay for our pumpkins. I am bummed here because Dad's pumpkin is bigger then mine.
I wonder if I could steal it away from him when he isn't looking?
After we paid for our pumpkin (or I should say, Dad paid for them) We got a cart to pull the heavy pumpkins to our car. I'm a pretty big girl so I offered to help Dad pull them the long way to the car.
But then I got this brillant idea, why walk when you can ride? And so I told Dad he was super strong (beef up his pride, ya know) and he let me ride in the cart.
All in all, it wasn't a bad day. I got a pretty cool pumpkin and so did Dad. Poor mom, she was so busy taking my pictures she never found one for herself. Maybe next year.

For Grandma B

Jade got a few new outfits from her Grandma B this week. Jade was so excited to get the box and was happy to pull out all of the shirts and sweaters and pants that were there. This morning she helped pick out what she would wear. She wanted the red shirt with the scotty dog on it. In this pic she is pointing to the dog saying "daww" for her Grandma B
In this pouty pic she is upset because she wanted me to the take the pic of her sitting in my lap
so we also took a pic of her sitting in my lap. Oh, the socks she is wearing in the first pic are also from Grandma B they have dogs on them too. Jade loves doggies:)
Thanks Grandma for Jade's new clothes!

Good Morning Friends

A just because picture with my little cutie.

A few pictures from our photo shoot last month

One happy family

One laughing dad and a daughter who likes her toes

One little daughter who loves her mommy

One little baby who is sad

One smart father teaching his daughter to throw rocks.

One big girl swinging on a big kid swing

One little girl, as cute as can be:)

We were hoping to go to the pumpkin patch

So we put on our rainboots figuring there may be some mud. However, it started raining kind of hard after these pics. So I guess we'll have to wait for another day to go pumpkin picking.

Jade is trying to copy me here:)

Going green!

Well, I'm not really going "Green" for green sake, more for my sanity sake. The amount I spend on disposable diapers every month and the amount of trash we accumulate every week...is starting to make me go insane.

Jade is so smart, and so big and so ready to be potty training any...month now! (lol) That I figured we can just stop buying her diapers and maybe go another route. The answer...Cloth diapers!!

I stopped by Simple Cloth that just opened up in downtown Olympia and had the gal tell me all about the many options of cloth diapers that are now available for us.
I was most attracted to the Knicker Nappies both for the simplicity of use but also because you can pull them up and down like a pair of panties (or pull-ups) for potty training your toddler (or baby). They are super cool, with this special pocket at the top that you insert the cool "Loopy-Do" inserts. When the baby goes potty you just pull the insert out and put the diapers in a diaper pail to wash later or stick in the wash right away. I've been using these for almost a week now and so far I'm thrilled!
They are very absorbent and the special outside liner holds in moisture very well. Jade can notice the difference a little bit though and is able to tell me right away when she's gone potty. We are still trying to teach her to to tell mommy before she needs to go potty, but that will come soon enough. For now we'll save some money on diapers and maybe help the environment while we are at it:)

1...2...3!

Ta Da! Here is Jade showing off her new rain boots!

Our weekend

This weekend our family spent at a nice resort near Canada called Semiahmoo (sp?). It was for a work event and we wives and children just came to enjoy the surroundings (not for work). There wasn't really to much for us to do, but the kids did find throwing rocks in the water very enjoyable. They even found a huge (dead) jelly fish on the rocks! Eck!
The first day we were there we had a nice time touring the resort and playing near the water, but the second day we decided to see what there was to do around town. First, we had to make a stop at Jack in the Box for some healthy lunch:) Then it was off to TJ Maxx for some shopping!
Saturday afternoon Jade and I went and played in the pool, it was outdoors, and while the pool itself was heated, we did get pretty cold. So we checked out the steam room for a whole of two seconds and then went to "nap" and watch some cartoons. Later that evening all the moms and kids got together in a big room and we ordered room service. Then it was back to our room to watch "Horton Hears a Who" with all six of the kids piled on our two beds (plus moms). It was fun!

Sunday was a short day and then a long drive home. We are back now and ready to do some resting and laundry before Monday starts.

Oh, and here are some pics I got at Kamerons birthday party on Thursday. Not that I have any pics of the birthday boy, he was to excited and thus never stood still. But I got Jade and her little friends:)


This is Jade chillin' in the bouncy house. Not sure if you can see or not. She would lay down and let everyone else around her jump up and down. She laughed and thought this was the bes way to do the bouncy house.

Jade's Room

These aren't really fancy pictures or anything, I'm just proud of myself because I've finally put some thought and effort into my daughters bedroom. I (thanks to the idea from my sista, Nic) decided to do Jade's room in lavender and green colors, so for those of you who saw her room before, now...she has lavender walls!
I also finally got around to hanging her "J-A-D-E" letters that I got awhile back and, that flower picture on the wall I got on super sale at Target (it was normally $60!)

I still have a few more things I want to add to her room (like tie backs or hooks for the curtains) and things I'm looking forward to getting rid of (hopefully!) in the next few months (such as her changing table. But all in all I'm happy with her room.

Off to the Fair

Yes, it was raining today, and yes, we did knowingly decide to go to the Fair on a rainy day. Jade wasn't to pleased with the thought, and cried most of the drive over.
But once we got there and took her to the petting zoo, she was much happier. Granted, it was hard to get her smiling...
no face there...
not sure what to think here...
very intent here.
She would point at the horses and try to poke them through their fences, and she was smiling a second before this pic was taken in front of the draft horses
She liked to stare at the cows.
And liked to walk holding Dad's hand
Here she is with the sheep.
we did walk a lot in the rain, and tried to get her a ride on some cars. But the age limit was 2 year old, and she is only 20mons, so she wasn't able.
She did have a hot dog, some of my corn dog, parts of my scone and lots of french fries. And that pleased her greatly.

Cold and rainy as it was, we did have a nice time at the Fair.

Grumpy Jade

Jade has been super grumpy the past couple days. Hens, my lack of posts and pictures. I'm not really sure what's going on in that little head of hers. Maybe she is teething, maybe she is growing, maybe she is just upset and unhappy. Who knows, I sure don't. It's been kind of exhausting mentally and physically for me. She is usually such a happy little girl, so her tantrums and grumpy attitude has been hard to deal with. Thankfully, like everything in life, this will eventually pass and my happy, cheerful, little daughter will emerge once again.

New clothes for Jade

A few weeks ago Gymboree had a whole bunch of "French" inspired clothes on sale. Cute little blue skirts and adorable shirts, little cardigans, socks, shoes and dresses. I wanted to buy them all up right then and there. But alas, my budget would not allow me to.

So tonight, many weeks later, I went to Gymboree in hopes to find something left over from this line still on sale. And it was!! In Jade's size there were only these two pieces, so I bought both of them. I'm so excited too, since tomorrow we are having pictures done of Jade. And now she will have a new, blue dress to wear!!
The T-shrit I just got because it was cute and because Jade calls me "Ma, Ma" and says it very much like you may think a little french girl would say it.

Poser

Jade gave me my camera and then stepped back and grinned really big. "Oh" I said "do you want a picture taken?" lol.