Annika Grace Meadows

We met Annika Grace "Kiki" Meadows face-to-face on Thursday, October 13th. She weighed 7lbs 7oz and was 21 inches long. We were all very excited to meet her. She is a very sweet little baby and as her brothers say, "She just eats and sleeps!" We all love her very much!

Monkey News

Several weeks ago, Owen woke up with a big grin on his face. He told me that every night, in the middle of the night, he drives his race car to "Monkey News" at the Capital Theater in Yakima. Only "Owens" are aloud and there are hundreds of monkeys there. Every morning since, the first thing he tells us when he wakes up is what he learned at Monkey News. Sunday, he told me that they had church at Monkey News. He said, "But it wasn't like our church. The monkeys...well...they don't preach. (He seemed very happy about this part...no offense, Jacob! Ha, ha!) They let you play and then give you a snack and a coloring sheet and if you don't finish your coloring sheet Mighty Gorilla hits you on the bottom with a ruler." Oh dear! He assured me that his real Sunday School teacher doesn't hit him on the bottom with a ruler if he doesn't finish his coloring sheet. I think we've been reading a little too much Little House on the Prairie! I do love that child's imagination though.

Logan's Theology

Yesterday, I was in the back room when I overheard the boys having the following conversation:
Logan-"You have to put it away, Owen."
Owen-"No, Logan."
Logan-"Owen, the Bible says, `You get it out...you put it away.'"
I'm not really sure where that verse is found, but it sounds good to me:)

Fall Fun with Grandma

Jacob's mom visited us last fall and joined in on all the fall fun.


Jacob, Owen, Grandma, and Logan made buckeye necklaces from the buckeyes she brought out from Ohio.


Raking leaves with Grandma (later to be jumped in, but for some reason, all my jumping photos were blurry:) )


Carmel apples with Grandma


Bobbing for apples. I think Jacob was the only successful bobber. The boys just kept taking bites out of the apples in the water:)


Where's Logan? I found him like this under his bunkbed one day.


Trick or Treat


Enjoying hot chocolate by the fire.

We really enjoyed our time with Grandma and look forward to her return this July!

Fall Fun at Bill's Berry Farm

Last spring we found a great family farm in the valley. In the fall, they have a festival with lots of activities for kids, a pumpkin patch, hay rides, apple picking, and apple cider pressing. I think we did it all and had a great time.


Logan and Owen having fun at the festival.


Logan helping Owen put his pumpkin into the wheelbarrow.


Logan declaring, "I can do it myself!"


Owen in Sheila the Sheep on the "farm train" (pulled by a 4-wheeler)


Logan in Clara the Cow


Picking apples


Owen and Logan with their pumpkins.


Scooping out the guts


The finished jack-o'lanterns. This year, the boys drew the faces and we carved them out.

Aunt Mandi and Camping

Last October, Mandi visited us. We were close friends in Savoonga where she was a teacher. We left for WA and she went to Teller, AK (a remote village outside of Nome). We felt pretty special to have her travel so far to visit us and it was great visiting and walking with her again.


She helped us harvest some of our late crop. The garden is looking much better this year. Last year, as you can see, we randomly through a few tomato plants and other plants here and there and called it a garden. It was a start.


After Mandi left, we went on our last camping trip of the season. It was a bit chilly at night, but still a lot of fun. Logan took this picture of Jacob, Owen and me.


Owen took this photo of Jacob, Logan, and me.


Logan and Jacob popping popcorn over the fire.

Perspective

I was doing a little "woe to me" this morning as I said, "I have to clean and weed and plant and...ah, so much to do." Logan said, "And Logan has to have fun, fun, fun!" Ahhh, the work of a child:) I will say, they have actually become quite helpful lately, but as they remind me, even this work is fun. "I LIKE washing dishes mama." "Can I put the laundry in the washer?" "I will dig up all this weeds with my big shovel!" I think I need to adopt some of their enthusiasm for my daily work!:)