A Weekend Away, Halloween and Big Sister Prep

Josie spent last weekend up at Aunt Liz and Uncle Ed's. She had such a great time. They went to a pumpkin patch and Josie went for a ride in the wheelbarrow and picked out a few pumpkins.

And she jumped in the hay house

She also had a great time with a little girl that lives next to Liz. How fun to have someone to scoot with and be able to look at all the animals as you go by.

She also did some painting

It was such a fun weekend for Josie and a wonderfully relaxing weekend for Marty and me. I spent the weekend in Port Ludlow with a group of college girlfriends.
There were no photos taken of Marty's weekend. Although if I had to paint a picture for you it would be of him blasting the music in our new stereo system upstairs. Maybe dancing in his boxers... not sure. Not sure I want to know.

I got back from Port Ludlow on Sunday afternoon and Josie stayed at Liz's an extra night. We were able to go out to dinner and a movie on Sunday. What a treat! Thanks Liz and Ed!!


Last week we carved pumpkins with Bryn. Here they are scooping out all the gunk.

And here are the girls with the final product. Not the most creative jack-o-lantern but it will do.

Josie has been talking a lot about her baby sister. She is convinced it will be a sister even though we keep telling her that it might be a brother. She decided to practice reading books to her babies in preparation for her role as a big sister.

Halloween on Bainbridge

A couple weekends ago we took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island for an annual Halloween celebration with friends.
Here is Marty and Josie leaving the Seattle terminal.

The party, as always, did not disappoint. It was complete with "smokey" drinks

A big band

and of course, spider cupcakes.

Josie's favorite was the cupcake, no question.

The ferry ride on the way home was fun too. It was an unseasonably warm October day and we all enjoyed the ride back on the top deck of the ferry

This is what a bunch of sugar and no nap looks like:

Josie's 3rd Birthday

Josie turned 3 last Tuesday. Just because her birthday is actually only on one day is no reason that she should not be able to celebrate for at least a week, right?! The weekend before she had a bunch of friends over for a friend's party. The day after her friend party Auntie Kim came down from Bellingham with gifts and kisses. Thanks, Kim!The day before her birthday we made cupcakes to take to preschool. She thoroughly enjoyed licking the beaters.

The morning of her birthday she got her gifts from us: the new ladybug bedding for her new "big girl bed" and her two favorite books. These are Spanish books that we had checked out at the library and she was always sad when we had to return them. You can see she is happy when she realizes that these are for her to keep.

On her birthday she was so excited to wear her new back pack from Grandma and Papa. Thanks, Grandma and Papa! She loves wearing a back pack and feels like a big kid.

We brought the cupcakes that we made to share with her preschool friends. It was one of those funny "wow, I really am a mom" moment for me. I remember having the same feeling when I gave my first test as a teacher. I know I've been a mom for 3+ years now but I have such fond memories of my mom bringing cupcakes to my classroom every year. Without fail she baked, packed and delivered cupcakes for each of us kids - and there were 4 of us and we are all born in November!!! Thanks, Mom! More and more I'm realizing all that you did for us :)

The celebration continued into last weekend when we had the whole Riemer clan over for breakfast. Again, Josie was spoiled with gifts. Thanks, Liz, Ed, Eric and Stephanie!

And, of course, the big hit was the scooter from Oma. Thanks, Oma!

A few days after the final celebration, Bryn and Josie had fun with her new "Let's go Fishing" game. Josie often asks Marty, "Daddy, can we go fishing?" and he replies, "I never thought I'd hear a child of mine ask that!"

Josie is thoroughly spoiled by not only gifts but by a loving family and friends!