Primary Party

This is Santa's Little Helper at his Primary Christmas Party!

He was so excited to see Santa today that he decided to sleep

in his hat last night. He even woke up in the night to get a

drink and was wearing his hat. He kept in on all night long!

S first enjoyed a story about Jesus. He wanted to listen to it on the floor under the table.

S even got to make an ornament. This by the way is not the one he drew, but some little girl wanted a picture of hers so here is an example of what they looked like. We don't have the finished product yet, they are supposed to cook them or something and the crayon melts and looks really neat. (We'll see.)

This is S running away from Santa after Santa gave him this present. S didn't want to go near him, so Mom had to go with him. S got his present, jumped down, and took off!

S and M enjoying their "goods" from Santa. Looks tasty!

Don't worry S didn't do this face to Santa Claus! He did do this face to one of our friends who was egging him on. He was pulling so hard he was shaking! Ouch!

Christmas Ships

We went to the beach and viewed some Christmas ships today. Here they are as they come closer and closer. . .

This main ship had a boys choir singing Christmas songs. They did a nice job and S was enchanted by the ship and the music.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

The Crazy Days of November

Is it already the end of November? Wow! Time has been flying. Here are some random pictures taken this month and also some from Thanksgiving Day. It has been raining A LOT this month (it is Seattle, right?). We got S some rainboots so he could do what he loves best, splash in the biggest puddles around.





Speaking of water. On one of the few days it didn't rain this month we went to Snoqualmie Falls. The water filled the entire opening and was awesome! We could only look at it for a few seconds at a time since the wind was spraying the water at us.

With all the rain, we have to get creative. S likes to put on Mom's jewelry and model it in the mirror. (Dad isn't too fond of this.)













We spent Thanksgiving Day with some friends
and the missionaries in our ward. This is our friends carving their first turkey. The turkey was good-looking, moist and delicious! (Way to go guys!) We had to make mashed potatoes (REAL mashed potatoes) and sweet potatoes. It was our first time making sweet potatoes, but they turned out great.

The boys liked the dinner, but pie was the winner in their book. We all enjoyed the pie! We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Halloween Day 2006

Obviously, S was a lion this year. . .

the cutest lion EVER!!!

We spent the day at the Children's Museum with one of S's new friends. They had fun playing with the bones in Clifford's bowl. This is Stratton's favorite place to play there.

S got soaking wet playing in the water, but he had a great time.

S climbing through a whale's mouth!

After all of that playing, S and M decided to get down and dirty! They painted pumpkins, painted pictures, and created with play dough. The play dough smelled so good that both boys decided to eat a bit of it to see if it tasted as good as the smell. It didn't. Instead the museum workers gave them some trick-or-treat candy to chew on.

This is lunch time. The boys did more playing than eating! They chased each other around under the big pine tree, on the rocks (S decided to give hugs), and on the grass.

S had a great Halloween Day!

P.S. He makes a better lion than a chicken, that is for sure!

Carving Pumpkins

Here are the sad little pumpkins that S chose from the pumpkin patch at the local grocery store. When we brought them home Dad didn't think they were the best looking pumpkins he had ever seen, but he had to be happy with them. Let's get ready to carve!!!

S did not want to touch what his dad just opened! Even when Dad showed him it really wasn't that bad being messy. S said, "No, I not touch it." (Smart kid!)

S really got the hang of it after a while. . .

After the pumpkins were cleaned out the contest was on! Who was going to make the best carved pumpkin the fastest with a two-year-olds help? We'll see...

The finished product! Can you guess which one was carved by Mom or which one was carved by Dad? It's a tough call!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Fountain at the Seattle Center

This is a huge fountain that is in the heart of the Seattle Center, just outside of Key Arena. It is huge. The fountain is synchronized with music played around the area. On Friday, after the museum, Dad was able to spend some time with us at the fountain. We had a great time.

The fountain is open for anyone to play around. People will wait for the fountain to quit spraying and then they will run and try to touch it before it starts again. It is funny. One boy was showing off for his family and did a little dance right by the fountain. The fountain went off and got sprayed right up the shorts! S wanted to touch it so Dad took him up really close. It was a while later when S actually got the courage to go up and touch the fountain.

Dad and S going up to the fountain. Yeah, they got it!

Hurry, run away it is going to blow!

Ahhhhhhh!!!!!

As you can see S was fascinated by the fountain. Every time the fountain went off he would cover his mouth and keep it covered until the fountain stopped spraying.

A nice man took pity on us and took our family picture in front of the fountain. S couldn't take his eyes off of the fountain. When it is warm we are going to stand under the fountain and get drenched!

The Children's Museum

S explored the Children's Museum on Friday since Dad only had to go into the facility for a few hours. Right when we walked up to the doors of the Children's Museum Stratton was excited because the floor to the entrance was covered with a matt of bubbles! He could have stayed right there all day smashing the bubbles that were on the ground and watching the new bubbles form. S was very upset that we had to actually go inside. He soon got over that when we entered the first exhibit, which was a huge room dedicated to Clifford, the big red dog. A huge statue of Clifford was in the entrance and then there was lots of things to do. S started and ended with Cliffords dog bowl full of giant dog bones. S must be missing Shiloh because he loved the dog bowl and kept going back to it. The dog bowl has a pulley system on the side where kids can put dog bones and then turn a wheel that makes them go into the dog bowl. As you can see below the dog bones were nearly S's size and looked so yummy that he decied to taste one!

A couple of other things S did in the Clifford part of the museum. . .

Drove a truck.

Played with extremely childproof scissors!

After the Clifford area we explored other neat parts of the museum. The construction zone was amazing! S got to wear a contruction hat along with a work belt. He worked with nuts, bolts and tools to help build a cube (mom's idea). We didn't finish due to attention span, but maybe next time! S also enjoyed the pretend stage with all the buttons and lights and the pretend restaurant. He made a taco!

In the construction zone!

"I'm so cool."

This is S climbing in a marmot hole. He also saw a glacier and some bats in a cave. There was a slide with snow on it that he slid down about 100 times. He really enjoyed his time at the museum and will probably be going there when weeks of rain hamper the idea of going to the park everyday. There is a ton more to see at the Children's Museum so look for more in the future!