Scooby Doo, Where Are You?

Hanging out at our house, of course! It's always a sure sign that Halloween is just around the corner when Scooby Doo makes an appearance in his witch costume :)

Fall Color

The tree in front of our house has already lost most of its leaves. Unfortunately I haven't had many chances to get good fall pictures because of the perpetual rain we've had. But today the blue sky made an appearance, so I grabbed my camera! I love the colors of fall.

School Conference

This week was school conferences, which meant Gabby had early dismissal. It also meant I got to leave early from work every day to hang out with her :) A definite plus! Her actual conference was on Thursday. Of course she did fantastic! Instead of having regular grades, MTS is implementing a new grading system based on whether or not students "meet" or are "approaching" benchmarks. Gabby scored "meets" in every category except for science (we were told no one got a "meets" in that category because they have not completed their module). I took Gabby out to lunch afterwards at Brewery City to celebrate.

Crock Pot Recipe

This recipe is unusual, but quite tasty. I bought some pork roasts at Costco about a month ago and was surfing the Internet for easy recipes. I came across this one for a crock pot- 'Cola Pork Roast'. I thought it was kind of weird, but decided to try it, and it turned out really well. Even Scott liked it and he's not a roast person. The meat came out very moist and was still yummy the next day. If you try it, let me know how yours turned out!

2 to 3 pound pork roast
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 package dry onion soup mix
12 ounces (1 can) dark cola, any kind (I used Dr. K, which is a generic version of Dr Pepper)

I just put the meat in first then dumped everything else on top. Cooked it on low for about 7 hrs. So easy!

Pumpkin Patch

Today we visited Lattin's Cider Mill. We told Jerry & Brenda about their famous apple fritters so they came along to check them out. After we had our fill, we went in search of the perfect pumpkins. The weather was cool & sunny-just perfect for pumpkin huntin'. Then we fed the goats and checked out some of the other animals. It was a lot of fun......until next year!

Heading into Lattin's for yummy fritters, donuts & cider. The sign said that each pumpkin weighed in at 621.5 pounds. Wow, that's a lot of pie!
We found a really rickety wheelbarrow. Here is Scott trying to get it to roll.

There is Gabby enjoying a chocolate donut. So good!

Corey found this cute little pumpkin to bring home.

You can see how much Corey likes goat slobber :)

Here is Corey sending up goat food using the pulley.

That goat was the only one up there so he got all the food.

Even I fed the goats-their tongues are really ticklish.

There is Corey being brave! She does not like goats. She's been bitten twice before!

Corey Turns 15!

I can't believe how quickly my kids are growing up! Our Cor-bear turned 15 today! Gamma flew over from Spokane to help us celebrate. We met up with her in Southcenter & had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. As usual the food was yummy, and the portions were HUGE! Only Gabby had room in her belly for dessert. She ordered the Red Velvet cheesecake which Scott ended up "helping" her finish. The staff sang to Corey & she got her own personal sundae.

Waiting to be seated. We arrived during a lull so it didn't take us too long to be seated.

Sisterly love.

Gamma & Scott.

Corey and her sundae.

When we got home it was time to open cards & gifts. She got quite a bit of cash (always good!). She received the first 2 Toy Story movies as well as Harry Potter 6 on DVD. A Subway gift card-her favorite place to eat!

Gabby picked out this gift...what can it be?

An awesome Woody doll that says 25 different phrases when you pull the string on his back.

I am so proud of the person that Corey has become. She is naturally a happy person & her fun personality always brings a smile to our faces. She is a great student & takes pride in her school work & extracurricular activities. I love that she cares about her sister even when Gabby drives her crazy. She is a true blessing to our family and we love her very much! Happy Birthday!

Late Bloomers

2010 will go down as one of the weirdest weather years in western Washington. We had an incredibly warm, early spring (Feb-March) with lots of early blooms, then a long and wet spring (we didn't reach 75 degrees until July 5th!) followed by a really cool & cloudy summer. Hardly any of my plants bloomed, and I lost several of my potted roses. We are now into fall. The past week has been warm & sunny (what bliss!) so my garden produced some late blooms. Here are a few pictures I took to help sustain me through the awful rainy & snowy winter that the weather service keeps predicting.

My beautiful roses....I am so disappointed that a lot of them did not bloom at all this summer.

I love that I hardly got any slugs this year and my salvia is thriving!

Funny that these hydrangeas are from the same bush since their colors are so different.

Early Birthday & Rutledge Corn Maze

Next Sunday is Corey's 15th birthday (hard to believe, I know!). Because Corey is going to be incredibly busy next weekend with color guard activities, we decided to celebrate her birthday a little early. Today she had a couple of friends over. First we went to the Rutledge Corn Maze followed by dinner at Applebee's.


Gabby, Corey & Emily at Rutledge. Kathryn was at a swim meet and so met up with us later at the restaurant.
A view of the maze from one of the bridges.

Gabby & Scott on top of the bridge trying to figure out where we were.

There are 12 different checkpoints in the maze. This was the first year they did not number them, so we didn't know which ones we would find. It made it a bit more challenging.

It was funny because we broke up into two groups but ended up at this checkpoint at the same time.

It was me, Scott & Gabby in one group with Emily & Corey in the 2nd group. We were racing to see who could get to 6 checkpoints & back to the main area first. Our group won! This year's corn maze was a tribute to Captain Phil Harris of 'Deadliest Catch'.

Here are Corey & Emily coming out of the maze after the first half. They had found only 4 of the first 6 checkpoints. Gabby ended up going with them for the 2nd half.

We ran into them again at another checkpoint.

At the end. Team Parents won by at least a half hour after hitting every checkpoint. The girls ended up only finding 10 and getting hopelessly lost. At least they finally made it out of the maze!

Then we headed to Applebee's. Everyone was starving-especially Emily. We had to wait about 20 minutes to get seated. They were pretty busy.

Waiting.......................................then Kathryn finally came.

Kathryn, Corey & Emily.

After we got home Corey got to open her presents. She got some Pocky.......

a Target gift card.................

a very appropriate shirt ;) ...........................................

a gag gift (she HATES sock monkeys!).....................

She read the book to her friends and sister.