The Princess and the Cow

More on the Puckett family fable later... but now, some pictures of the kids and our friends from our day at the farm and pumpkin "patch".

Michaela and Isaiah on the John Deere

Michaela and Lily (and Lily's doll) taking the hay ride to the field o' pumpkins

"Can we please buy this $10 pumpkin mom, please?!"

He kept trying to lift the pumpkins

The only photo of Lily and Michaela actually standing still

And now, without further ado, our fall dress-up photos:
Because to title this post "Halloween" makes it sound so... dated. And I like to pretend like I have a hand up on the things going on in life and am not running behind as a normal matter of business. I really enjoyed anticipating Halloween trick-or-treating and dress-up with Michaela this year. She set her sights on becoming a princess and never really deviated. We had a great costume in the hand-me-down "magic box" for Josiah - a cow. I appreciate that Josiah, if he has an opinion on costume selection, cannot effectively voice it, so I still get to choose. So, however late the photos, Grammy, here they are!

Josiah spends a lot of time in this "hugging mom's leg" position

Princess Michaela

Princess Michaela + wings and 2 wands

Eating the spoils of trick-or-treating.

Trust me, this face doesn't reflect the real joy that  she exuded. Until next year, Halloween.

Just Swimmingly

Since mid-September, Michaela has been enrolled in a session of swimming lessons through our local swimming pool. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning, we packed up the little backpack with a towel, snack (for after-swimming energy) and clean underwear (I forgot two out of these three items the first day of lessons - so glad I remembered the snack) and headed the 5 minutes away to the pool. Michaela was shy for the first several sessions, but really warmed up to it after that.

First day excitement!

She has been so sad now that swim lessons finished last week. Her little class of 4 preschoolers was just perfect. I enjoyed watching our little tornado of a daughter try to learn how to put her face in the water and kick, as well as laying semi-still and semi-flat on her back while trying to learn to float. 

She did learn how to put her face under water, how to blow bubbles, how to scoot along the wall of the swimming pool while holding on with her hands, and how to jump in and be caught by her teacher. I think we plan to do another session in the winter or spring. Josiah was pretty jealous about being left behind, as soon as he could he would escape and crawl towards the pool as fast as possible. It's a good thing I'm faster!

She excels at splashing!

Waiting on the "boat" for her next turn

A "little jump"

It was always amazing how well she napped on the days she had swimming lessons. An extra bonus.

One Year

One year ago today... our second little (fuzzy) bundle of joy joined the family. One year ago Josiah looked like this: 

Yesterday he looked like this!:

He has changed so much lately. I never got around to an 11-month-post (that I recall), however, I've been prepping one mentally for a while. He FINALLY started sleeping through the night about two weeks ago!!!! I haven't wanted to commit it to print on the blog for fear of jinxing it, but I feel that he has definitely made the change. He got two top teeth, for a current total of four. He has started walking. He doesn't walk long distances, but he can take a good 6-10 steps before collapsing, and he is SO proud of himself when he does. He is beginning to climb more... up the stairs... on top of the kids' picnic table... on top of the kids' inside table... He says "Mama" and "Dada" and "Bye-bye" and I heard him say "duck" the other day. I was using some pretty strong cleaning chemicals at the time, though, so I can't be sure. He tried peanut butter sandwiches this week, and loves 'em. 

Josiah likes playing in the bark chips at the park (and tasting them), swinging, going down the slide while holding onto my hands provokes cackles of glee, going for walks in the stroller, roughhousing with his daddy, eating, being held and cuddled by his mama, giving kisses, nursing (he's down to twice a day), music - it makes him dance, playing with Michaela's toys, and glimpsing illicit snatches of "Curious George" when Michaela is watching an episode at his bedtime.

He does not like napping, though he does it, getting his diaper changed, getting his face washed, being out of sight of his mama, long rides in the car or sleeping anywhere but his comfy crib.

We love this little guy - Happy Birthday Josiah!

Cousins' Weekend

 Growing up, I spent what felt like a week every summer (might have been more, might have been less - I was a kid!) with my cousins. For many years they had a backyard, in-ground pool, which I was in love with. I also remember flashlight tag, video games, My Little Ponies, and the Farming Game. Time passed, however, and now all of us cousins are grown up. And even weirder, many of us have our own little ones. So, though the week is condensed to a weekend, it's been very fun to get together with my cousins at my Aunt and Uncle's home for the past few summers. Though most of the adults aren't pictured, here's a shout-out to Ben & Landra, Janae & Mark, Elise & Scott, and Jeff & Milla, who made this such a fun weekend. Turns out it's fun to be a grown-up sometimes, too.

Josiah playing with Rocco, Janae & Mark's son

Not my baby, but so stinking cute!

Belated Birthday Bash

Though Michaela's birthday did occur more than a month ago, it's always good to relive great family times. The credit for these photos goes to my father-in-law, who is the resident photographer at any family function. Thanks Papi!

As you can see, we ate...

Yummy Pirates' Booty!

The kids' table - a birthday present from Grandpa and Nana

It's a plane! (Greyson spent much of the afternoon looking up)

And it's a cupcake!

... we opened presents...

A whole box of fun princess/ballerina/fairy clothes

...and we swam... (read, the children splashed a lot)

I love my nephew's look of mischief!

and then there were three...

Little Liam, #4, will be in there next year!

Right after this someone poured a bucket of water over Josiah's head and he howled like a banshee...

and after cuddling and comforting by Mama

Summer Stuff

We may be well beyond order and organization in these posts from summertime. When the weather was so nice, I really had a hard time holing up in the office and working on the computer (wait - I used to do that on a daily basis! - how times have changed).  So the blog has suffered. But here I humbly offer some pictures from a few of our fun times this summer.

BEACH DAY, June 2012 ~ Fun but exhausting. The kids both loved the sand, and Josiah tasted it to see how good it really was. Michaela would love it more if it didn't make her so "dirty." It turns out that taking our black lab with us (who loves the water but whose stomach does not agree with ingesting large amounts of saltwater) just equals adding another toddler to the mix. But I love the beach, and breathing the salt air and dipping toes in the cold, cold water, is always refreshing.

SUNRIVER - July 2012

We spent a 4-day weekend with my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and nephews. It was a baby vacation, with 4 kids under the age of 3. It was nice to get a change of scenery... who doesn't love Central Oregon? It was a big hit with our daughter, who still asks when we are going to go back to vacation in the 'Sunriver House.'  Hmmm... maybe when our 4 kids are all over the age of 3? And though you don't see them, Adam and Dave, and baby Liam, were all present as well.

Empty cooler full of water and melting ice cubes = instant fun

Air High Fives!

They were supposed to be posing for a cute photo...

Morning coffee hour on the deck

Smelly feet?

There was a great park at Sunriver