A Charlie Brown Christmas

Proud mom!
Singing "Christmas Time is Here"

What a cute house and Snoopy tree!

Singing "Oh Christmas Tree"

This was so cute! Katie's teacher, Mrs. Hogan, just happens to be the school's play director! She originally had the kids read the play as a "reader's theatre" but they loved it so much they asked to make it into a play and memorize all the lines! We were so entertained! Katie played the part of Violet and said her lines perfectly! She took it so seriously - reading the script every night, studying the lines. We are so proud of her! The other kids that played Charlie, Linus, and Schroeder were perfectly cast! There were so many parents and family that came they had to set up twice as many chairs as they'd planned! Thanks Mrs. Hogan for all your efforts! It really gave the kids the Christmas spirit!

Christmas Rush - 2009

The Moultons! (minus Taylor)
Ready to go!

These girls were awesome!

Last year we stumbled upon this fun family race down in Kent. Every year they have a Christmas Fun Run with a 5K walk/run and a 10K run. We decided to bring to kids this year so we took them running a few times to make sure they could finish it and signed everyone up! Except Taylor - he happened to have a rifle merit badge clinic right during the race! Next year Taylor! Katie and her friend, Abigail, ran the whole 5K with Aaron's coaching in 33 minutes! They didn't stop once! I ran with my friends Tracie and Coleen. We did great. And Brian ran the 5K in 28 minutes! Way to go! This has become a fun tradition that we hope to do every year! It snowed last year but it was dry (and chilly) this year. We are grateful for no rain or snow!

Happy Thanksgiving - 2009

Wearing their turkey hats - aren't they cute?
Katie with cousins Emily and Holly (we are so glad there are girl cousins!)

Posing for mom

Aaron and Kira

Jason, Aaron, and Barbara

I realized today that Christmas is in one week and I have three entries to post! Better get on it since I will want to put Christmas pictures on in a few days - We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! We feel so blessed to have family so close and are grateful for Barbara and Jason to open their home to all of us! And we are growing! Andrew and Emily are expecting their first (a boy!) in April and Barrett and Beckie are expecting their 5th this next year! We love it! This year we filled 3 large tables! The food was delicious - it always is! - and we really enjoyed ourselves. Thank you again for a wonderful day!

A visit from Kris, Megan, and Landon!

Kris, Megan, and a sleeping Landon
Landon loves the remotes!

We are so lucky to be able to see my brother, Kris, and his family as much as we do! Megan's family live in both Bothell and Vancouver, WA so guess who lives in between? You guessed it! We do! This time they were able to stay a few days longer this time which was so nice! We didn't do a whole lot while they were here but it was nice to visit and relax. Landon had the run of the house during the day when the kids were gone and he made himself right at home. It was a funny picture of all of our remotes and phones up high above the t.v. so that he couldn't reach them. It's amazing how fast he reprogrammed the television! They will most likely be moving to Arizona in December so they will be that much farther away. But at least we can see my entire family when we visit this next year!

Happy Halloween!

It's hard to get into the themed costumes with these two!

These two were hilarious!

Who are these people?

I told her she can never leave the house with

this much makeup again !

I loved his look!

We lucked out with weather for Halloween this year! We had both a Trunk or Treat and the regular trick or treating to attend to and both were beautiful nights! Our ward Harvest Party and trunk or treat was awesome! We had dinner of hot dogs with homemade chili and lots of sugar, including cotton candy. The kids had games in a few of the classrooms that they loved. Katie was dressed up as a witch and Brian dressed up as Pedro, as his best friend Alec was Napoleon Dynamite! They were a hit! They had that perfect look on their faces and were completely in character the whole night! There were lots of people there - we had a great time!

On Halloween, while Taylor and I handed out candy and watched Transformers 2, Aaron, Katie, and Brian joined David, Alec, and Hannah Downing for some serious trick or treating! They were gone for at least two hours and had to come home in the middle to dump out their loot! They also visited the most amazingly decorated house for Halloween. It could easily have been a set at Universal Studios! That was a major highlight to the night! Now we just have to get through that candy .....

Beautiful Fall Colors

Thanks to my friend, Coleen, I was able to find some pictures to show you the beautiful colors that were here a few weeks ago! They were breathtaking! And these weren't photoshopped, I promise! But now they are all gone - how sad! I also wanted to include a poem that Brian wrote last year that talks about the leaves:

Fall is When the Leaves Change

By Brian Moulton

Fall is when the leaves change

from green to brown

A naked tree shivering in the slight breeze

blowing through its skeleton

Fall is when the leaves change

The tree stands naked,

day after day after day

With no leaves gripping to all its arms

Fall is when the leaves change

Leaves lying dead on the ground

beneath the tree

A breeze rushes past the tree's feet

The leaves were here and now they're not

Fall is when the leaves change.

It's Pumpkin Carvin' Time!

We've had the most beautiful colors outside this fall! I should have taken pictures when I had the chance. Especially the reds! The colors tell us it's time to carve those pumpkins! I love that the kids now do most of the work. Brian, especially, spent so much time on his - lots of details! We've had a pretty mild October so I'm glad we waited until a week before Halloween. Hope you enjoy!

Grammy comes for a visit!

I love it when my mom comes to visit! She and I are the perfect companions. We could talk all day (and usually do!) She came on the best weekend, too! Thursday night was my bookclub, which she loves to join whenever she can. We were discussing "Wuthering Heights" so there was a lot of classical discussion as well as every other subject under the sun. As my mom put it, "I think you solved all of the world's problems in one evening!" That made me laugh. It was also the weekend of the Sassy Mei show here in Maple Valley. She was here earlier this year for their other show - it is always fun to visit. And it was also the weekend for the children's primary program on Sunday. They did a great job! My mom is an interior designer (and good one, too!) so when she comes there are always projects to work on! This time she helped me redo the window treatments in our family room and kitchen! I LOVE how they turned out! I went with different colors than before - blue and brown, instead of red. It is such a nice change and I get excited to see them every time I come home! We loved having you, Mom, and can't wait to see you again! XOXOXO

Salmon Hatchery Fieldtrip

I was one of the lucky ones chosen to chaperone for Katie's fieldtrip to study the salmon here in the Pacific Northwest! We had such a good time and we learned alot! The weather was perfect! A little chilly, but otherwise dry - yeah! Our first stop was the Cedar River near Maple Valley. We only saw a few salmon there - and they were dead! But when we got to the hatchery in Issaquah, there were so many! They were literally waiting in huge packs to enter the fish ladders. They were huge, too! Katie and her classmates were so good and they knew so much more than I did about the life cycle of the salmon. If you get a chance to visit I'd take it!

A Little R&R in Arizona

My niece, Megan!

My niece, Kenzie!

My nephew, Landon!

My niece, Addy!

My mom and I getting our pedicures! (Thanks Mom!)

Last weekend I was able to steal a few days and go visit my parents and family in Arizona. It was supposed to be "only" in the upper 90's but ended up being a little warmer (108 degrees on Sunday!)! But I had such a good time and I'm so glad I was able to go! I spent a lot of time with each of my parents (helped my dad wash the cars by "observing" and had a great conversation with him, and my mom and I went and had pedicures and went out to lunch!) I loved every minute of it! The trip was even more great because I got to see both of my brothers and their families! My brother, Kris, and his wife, Megan, and their son, Landon, were wrapping up a fun roadtrip to Cali by stopping by in AZ. And my other brother, Kelly, and his wife, Penny, and their girls, Megan, Kenzie, and Addy, live there in Surprise. You'd think that if they both lived in the Phoenix area valley they'd be pretty close but it's over 65 miles in between their two homes! I almost needed a break in the middle of the drive over there! I'm so glad we were able to visit with them all! We swam in Kelly's pool and had a really good BBQ. Then we ladies went out for ice cream at Culver's (yummy!) and stayed and talked so long the guys thought we had gone to the movies! I loved it - I could have stayed even longer! How refreshing it is to enjoy being with your family and to get along so well. We are so blessed! Thanks you guys for a great weekend! I can't wait to see you all again!

Family Pictures

I can't believe that two years have passed since the last time we had family photos taken but it has! The kids have changed the most so we wanted to catch them before they get even older! Jason and Rebecca Kidd took our pictures and we think they turned out so good! We had such a fun time during the shoot, too! We highly recommend them! Here are a few of our favorites! Check out the Kidd's photography site! http://kiddphotography.blogspot.com/Now all we have to do is choose!

Do the Puyallup!

Taylor and Brian going on the roller coaster

Elephant ears!

Look at the size of that pumpkin!

View from the ferris wheel

So fun!

If you are from western Washington then you know that catchy little jingle that comes on the radio and t.v. this time of year. The Puyallup Fair is here! We missed last year so we wanted to hit it strong this year. We went the Monday after it opened and were surprised to find it rather quiet! After the crazy opening weekend they had, we were a bit nervous! We had a great time looking at all the animals and going on a few rides. And who can miss those crazy sales people at all the booths? People actually fall for it, too! We also enjoyed yummo food including our favorite, the elephant ear! We could have gone for a few more! You just gotta love the fair!

Museum of Flight

Emerging from Air Force One

Katie

Taylor

Brian

The room behind us is huge!

Since we returned home early from Lake Chelan, we had a whole day to fill with things in the Seattle area! We worked at home in the morning and then headed out that afternoon to the Museum of Flight. The boys had been there on fieldtrips but it was our first time! Brian had been begging that we go all summer but we never did. What a great place! It is truly amazing to me that we can even fly! Especially when you see the original planes. They had big sections on space, World War I and World War II, the original Boeing buildings and planes, and you could climb aboard the Concorde and a retired Air Force One. We spent over three hours there and could have stayed longer! I would really recommend it to anyone who hasn't been!

Labor Day Weekend 2009 - Lake Chelan

Rocky Reach Dam

Look at the view!

Katie, Eden, and Brooke

Brian's face says it all!

Well, you can't say we didn't try to find sun this summer with the boats! We thought we picked a safe weekend to head over to eastern Washington for some sun. We did find some and enjoyed camping with our friends on Lake Chelan. But it could have been a little warmer!:) We were with the Greenwoods, Alldredges, Wellborn's, Collings, and the Puzeys. We stayed at Lake Chelan State Park which we loved! It has all the amenities you need (including a store with 24 flavors of soft serve ice cream! What's better than that?) and you can't beat the view! We had a few rain showers come through but heard of some more coming on Sunday so we took off early. We were sad because there is a cool water park in the city of Chelan that would have been fun! But we are going back next Labor Day weekend! We have the spots all picked out, too! Put it on your calendar now!

On the way home, we stopped by the Rocky Reach Dam. It was really interesting and we got to see the salmon swimming up the fish ladders! And the grounds were beautiful!

Brian and his Paper Airplanes!

Brian got a cool book of paper airplanes from his grandma for his birthday. We came down the other night and were treated to a "show" of all the airplanes that he has made and a commentary on how they fly! It was so fun! He spent so much time making each plane and I loved hearing about how they each flew. We all had our favorites and we even came away with a door prize - our own little helicopters! Thanks Brian for the entertainment!

Katie's first day of school 2009

Katie woke up to an alarm today - that's how excited she was to go! She is starting 3rd grade!She's the one I sometimes struggle with to get up in the morning. She doesn't seem to feel to need to move fast! Her teacher this year is Mrs. Hogan - super nice lady. She has one good friend in her class, Madalyn White, and her other good friends right next door! I love that she and the boys came home with big smiles on their faces! It would be hard to send them back when the first day didn't go well! She has grown up a lot too!

Brian's first day of school 2009

Brian is at the top of the school this year! 5th grade and his last year in elementary school. He was a bit nervous but after going through a day he is excited for the rest of the year! His homeroom teacher is Mrs. Blechschmidt (call me for pronunciation!) and he rotates to Ms. Pierce and Mr. Betlach for math and science. But to make it the best year ever he has his two best friends, Nick and Alec, in his classes! You can't top that! His kindergarten picture is so cute, too! (sorry for the turned picture - did I mention a new camera is on the way?:0)

Taylor's first day of school 2009

Well, it's September 2nd which means school is in session! Taylor went into 7th grade this year - his second year of middle school. It was nice to being going where you are familiar. He wasn't nervous and was even excited! He really enjoyed today and is looking forward to this year! I thought it would be fun to include his kindergarten picture. It makes me feel really old to look at it! Where to the years go?

Happy Birthday Aaron!

Yesterday was Aaron's birthday! Happy Birthday, hon! We won't tell anyone how old you are (although next year's a big one:)) We took him out to dinner to the Claimjumper. It was really good! Aaron's parents and his brother Derek came with us and then we headed back to our house for key lime pie! (Sorry again for the picture!)

Jetty Island - August 28, 2009

This is such a great place! We were supposed to go with our extended family but couldn't swing on their date. We were so disappointed! I got an e-mail from a friend who was putting another trip together on a day we could go. Our kids were so glad! We headed up to Everett early (had to leave around 7:15 - an "alarm day" as my kids call it!) We were able to get on the first boat! The clouds were just burning off and it warmed up to about 80 degrees! The tide was out when we arrived so the kids were able to walk out about 1/4 mile. Even when the tide came in they still amused themselves with logs on the beach and the sand. We ate lunch there and then headed home around 1:30. Let's do it again next year! (Our camera isn't working so my pictures come out like they want!)