News from the Northwest

The Dynamos had an amazing season together.

They learned how to work together as a team and it really came out toward the end of this season. It was a joy to watch the girls learn and grow together.

Next we follow Abbie in club voleyball!

Babies!

Maya, Luis, and Liberty all visited our house at the same time!

Maya belongs to my sister and the boys are Judie & Larry’s foster babies. The house was eventful with all those little ones here!

Larry and Maya all smiles hangin’ out together!

James was invited to a birthday party at a gymnastics center last weekend… what a fun idea! The kids had a blast playing with all the equipment.

James jumping and having a blast in the foam pit!

James was thrilled at the thought of candy while Abbie was excited to get out and hang with her friends in the almost full moon… they both ended with a night full of fun and a bucket load of candy!

Aana once again made great costumes!

Abbie was decked out as a pirate-girl

James as a scary vampire!

Before we headed out the door we spent some time decorating and dressing…

Abbie went out with a buddy and we headed to Garndma Karen’s neighborhood so James and Amara could walk around together. Amara dressed up as Princess Jasmine. Here she is with Grandma Karen-

Stephanie even went all out this year and made herself an excellent little tu-tu… she was a nice witch

Out and about with Amie

before we headed home, we stopped by Aana and Upa’s to trick-or-treat them!

A fun night… but the next day James and mama woke up with a very horrible virus that kept us down for a week… ugh!

We’ve been BOO’d!

Last night the doorbell rang, the kids went to open it to find this surprise package! The directions on the back tell us to enjoy our treat, copy the “We’ve been BOO’d” paper and hang a copy on our front door. We then create treat baskets and attach the other 2 copies to Boo our neighbors. Fun!

Abbie searching for a scary pattern online

Working on the perfect faces

James chose Frankenstein

Abbie’s skull

Josh carved these two for us!

Lots of pumpkin-y fun had at our house tonight.

Today was our day to find pumpkins!

We decided to try something new, so we hopped in the car and headed towards a highly rated pumpkin patch on Sauvie’s Island, which is about 45 minutes away. We arrived to the new-to-us pumpkin patch only to be disappointed… so back in the car we hopped, muddy boots and all and headed back to our local pumpkin patch… where we know we have fun!

After the long car ride, we needed to fill the tummies… hot dogs and apple cider did the trick!

We then went through the pressed cider display where Abbie and James were masters as they just did this exact thing with Aana & Upa 2 weeks ago! The fresh pressed juice was sweet and delicious.

 On to the corn maze where Josh and James got me through… we waited and waited and waited,no Abbie and no Lauren. Thank goodness for texting because they were so lost. Josh went in and found them and 10 minutes later out they came!

A tractor ride took us out to the fields where we all found our perfect pumpkins!

Lauren was looking for a small pumpkin with a stem… she finally found one!

Josh washing all the dirt off…

A very cold & wet day at the pumpkin patch, but we had FuN!

This morning James was outside looking for insects, worms, and frogs… so I took my coffee out to see what he had discovered and I found the most beautiful morning!

The sun was out, it was chilly, the colors were rich…  and it made me feel so happy!

After a great soccer game (2 wins in a row… GO Dynamos!), we headed to Target where we purchased some furniture for the family and living rooms…

Josh putting the entertainment stand together…

and the bookshelves our living room has been waiting for!

of course we also had to get some Halloween cereals and candies…

On a sad note, our little mice all died. We tried… at least they were warm with a little food in their tummies.

It all started two weekends ago when we cleaned out the last of our remaining stuff up at our house on the mountain. We got most of our tubs from our storage shed moved down to our garage. The motivation for the move of our stuff came from my desire to have my holiday decorations handy. Move forward a week… Sunday Josh headed out to the garage to unpack our Halloween tub. To all of our surprise we found a nest of newborn mice in the middle of the box. I was irritated as all of our past costumes and all decorations had been ruined by the mama mouse in creating her nest and food storage area. In the move, mama mouse died. I wanted the babies thrown into the forest, the kids wanted to build a barn to house them, and Josh wanted to at least give them a chance to open their eyes in the garage. They stayed in the garage…

Today I headed out to my car and heard little mouse peeps coming from the nest area and under the fridge. Josh was already at work and now I am super irritated! They are escaping and headed every which way around the garage, just what we need is a mouse invasion! I took the 5 I could find in the cozy little Halloween nest and marched them down to the blackberry bushes where I placed them to either make it or not. On the drive to school Abbie reminds me of the Tale of Desperuax (mouse movie) I remind her it’s a cartoon… she continues to pout. I drop her off. I go home and then take James to the dentist. Later I have to go out to the garage to get chicken out of the freezer for dinner. On my way to the freezer I nearly step on a tiny little mouse… it rolls over and plays dead. Why it made me feel for it I will never know… but I scooped it up and went down to the berries to find it’s 5 brothers and sisters…

A 2 hour search on Google, a quick call to Josh,  a stop by the pet store, and we are set up to raise baby mice.

Setting up their new home

the temporary home they were in while they waited for the pet store version

(the little wicker ball with red bedding was the nest their mama made them)

Abbie walked in from school to find us feeding the little guys

(she was all smiles!)

kitten formula, next best thing to mama mouse milk

feeding the babies

snuggling down for a rest after feeding and attempting to poop with the help of Stacie and Josh…

The cage resting on my heating pad to keep the little ones warm

**We plan to release these little guys into their natural environment as soon as their eyes open and they can eat without nursing**

In the middle of their 2nd season, Dynamos win their 1st game!

 What an amazing game… rain, mud, sliding in the mud, goals, awesome players!

- The girls won 4 to 3 -

 Abbie may have found herself a new position as goalie… she jumps, charges, and catches the balls flying at her. She looked amazing out their yesterday and has the mud to prove it!

Congratulations on a game well played… and of course it is one of the few games I’ve ever missed. Josh was there and enjoyed every minute. I stayed home with a stuffy-nosed James because of the cold & rain, bummer!