Benj, Melinda, Jason, Kaitlin, and Samantha

Pumpkin Patch Time Again

The forecast was rain rain rain for Saturday, but we braved the elements and went to our favorite pumpkin patch with our friends the Marleys. The weather did not disappoint. Despite our rain coats, rain boots, and umbrellas we all went home pretty muddy and wet. I would have stayed drier if I could have button more than the top 2 buttons of my rain coat. I had a perfect triangle of wetness on my protruding belly :-). It was almost comical to see all the die hard families toting their toddlers through the mud to find a perfect pumpkin. It was worth it though. The look on Jason's face below says it all.

Jason sure loves his buddy Van.

Even though we went to the same pumpkin patch last year we enjoyed it just as much! You get to ride a boat to the pumpkins, watch a shark and lock nest monster jump out of the water, see some haunted pirates, and then ride a train back to your car. My only regret is that I didn't get to take more pictures of us and the green, orange, red, and yellow of the scenery around us. I was worried that my camera would be water logged from the few pictures I did manage to snap. This is truly a beautiful time of year here even though I fear we have hit the rainy season already. You have to love the NW because even as I type this the rain is pouring down outside and yet I can hear my neighbor out mowing his lawn :-).

Fun at the Zoo

Every first Tuesday of the month our zoo has a special $2.00 day. Jason and I meet up with some friends and finally took advantage of the discount. We had a great time even though it was pretty cold and rainy. I forgot my camera. Thanks Katie for the pictures!

Happy Birthday Mom!

We love you! I hope you have a great day. Thank you for being so wonderful.

LED's Again

So I had to do another cool project with LEDs. Here's a video of the finished project.

Heaven

Jase: "Momma, I so happy to be here with you."

Melinda: "Thank you Jason, me too!"

Jase: "Yeah, Momma I came down from Heaven to be with you and Daddy."

Happy October!

I love this time of year. I love the beautiful leaves, the cool sunny weather, the fun apples farms and pumpkin patches, and the festivities of Halloween... I also love that my sweet little Jason will be turing 3.

In the spirit of Fall I thought I would share some fun things:

For a silly movie click here!

For some fun Halloween Tricks and creative yummy Treats check out my friends blog here!

"...and a half!"

Jason: "Momma, I am only 2 and a half. When I turn 3 and a half I will be a BIG boy. Then I can drive the car and look in the mirror like you right!?"

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A couple of months ago Jason and Benj were... um... having a little argument about something. I cannot remember what they were having a power struggle about, but in all my mommy wisdom :-) I gently reminded Benj that Jason was only 2 years old. Jason immediately stopped what he was doing, turned to me, and yelled "Momma! I am 2 and a half! Don't take away my half, don't take away my half!"

The funniest part is I am pretty sure we have never taught him about "and a half." Silly kid.

General Conference Time!

I am excited for this weekend! My parents are visiting and we get to watch General Conference!

In an attempt to help Jason understand what General Conference is and why it is special I have been compiling activities for him to do while we watch this weekend. Check out this site for some WONDERFUL ideas! It has conference activity packets, FHE lesson ideas, coloring pages, etc.

Boy Party

Last night I had a cub scout committee meeting so Jason and Benj got to spend some quality time together just the two of them. I told Jason he was going to have a boy party with dad. His response was "yeah! We need some party hats!" When I came home Benj showed me this picture he took with the cell phone. Looks like they had fun. Party hats and toilette paper roll swords, looks like some fun dad/son bonding.

Monster Friend

Today's craft.

You've got to love what a little batting and felt will create. Jason had fun stuffing him full and gluing the pieces down and it was a good way for me to review colors and shapes with him. The result is a new monster friend for him. His name is "Frabbit."

Ghetto LED LCD Hack

So a week or so ago we decided to get Jason a computer. He's started playing some learning games on our laptop and not only does he enjoy them, but it seems to be helping him get some concepts down so we figured he might as well have his own. (Not to mention he's almost 3)

Anyway, I helped some guy that I met off of Craigslist fix his push reel mower in exchange for a really good deal on a used computer. Then I found a guy in Vancouver that was offering an LCD monitor for $25. Like all things that seem to be too good to be true, it kind of was. When we got home to try it out we found out that the backlight didn't work. In other words, the monitor comes on but doesn't light up and you can't see anything.

After discovering that one of the lamps was burnt out which caused the inverter to fail, parts would cost about $50, I decided I needed to do a ghetto hack. $6 dollars of cheap LED lamps from the dollar store and behold, the ghetto LED LCD hack.

You'll see that there are some pretty noticable hotspots, that's the best part, Jason doesn't notice at all. Afterall, he's just a kid. The dark picture shows the monitor next to the laptop for a brightness comparison.

And the verdict is.....GIRLS!!!!

We had our ultrasound today. We are having two girls! Jason has been telling us the whole time that he has two baby sisters on the way, I guess he knew what he was talking about. We are very excited!

Bend a what....

..Bendaroos!

Grandma and Grandpa Murdock gave Jason some Bendaroos for a present and we absolutely love them! I say we because I think I have just as much fun creating as he does. The Bendaroos come with instructions on how to make things. It tells you how many of each color you need. Jason is a good helper and counts out each of the colors we need while saying "Mom the recipe says we need 5 cups of blue sticks, 3 cups of red sticks..."

Jason insisted we take some pictures to show Grandma. So here you go! Enjoy :-)

Also here is a shout out to Elder Lloyd. We are proud of you! Happy birthday!!!

We're Back

We have had an amazingly lazy summer. I won't delve any deeper because I know how jealous it makes people to know that teachers have the summer off. Actually this is the first summer of my adult life that I haven't had more responsibility. Anyway, I know some people might remember the power wheels racer project, here's the bad boy on the open road.

Washington Fun!

For the past month we have been in Washington. Benj's parents took a trip down to Ecuador and rather than be in Portland where there is no air conditioning we volunteered to stay in their air conditioned house, swim in their pool, and feed their dogs. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it :-). Favorite things of this summer so far:

*Grandma and Grandpa Lloyd's swimming pool!* Missing the record heat in Portland!*Mini golfing and bowling with G&G Murdock. * Jumping on G&G Murdock's trampoline with a sprinkler under it. *Lloyd Reunion and being with the family. * Canoeing in the Yakama River *Wrestling and running away from G&G Lloyd's dogs. *Sleeping in a king size bed. *Buying a van to fit our growing family. *Being together everyday and relaxing.

As a side note... the babies and I are doing well. I have to say that having twins really is double. I have felt twice as tired, twice as sick, and now I feel twice as big as I did with Jason. Everything is going well though so I cannot complain. I am feeling MUCH better now and we get to find out what we are having next Friday so stay tuned! If I get brave I will post a picture of my ever growing self....maybe....