Thanksgiving and Grandma Davis's Birthday

 Happy Thanksgiving!

 He always picks the turkey leg.

 She always picks bread with lots of butter.

 We had clear blue, beautiful fall days when Grandma and Grandpa were here.  We were able to enjoy some great hikes.  This one is at Robinson Point where the light house is. 

 The kids loved being able to celebrate Grandma's birthday with her.  Avery spent quite a bit of time preparing a surprise for her.  He created a ninja themed scavenger hunt for her to find her birthday gift complete with a map and ninja traps.  Alia created  a dance party for grandma and decorated her gift.

 She found the treasure!

 Happy Birthday!  At one point Avery trained Alia on how to be the best Ninja and keep Grandma out of the room.  She is showing off her ninja skills here.

Grandma picked chocolate cupcakes for her birthday treat.

Dining Room Table

A few years ago I saw a picture of a coffee table that was made with pallets and had stained glass on the top.  I loved the idea and wanted to have a dining room table with a similar concept.  Last year we sold our dining room set and bought a new one when we moved.  The table was originally an outdoor piece with slats.  Scott filled the slats with wood and caulk so the project could begin.

The kids were pretty patient with the whole process considering that they lost their silverware through the slats daily!

 We ordered many pieces of opaque glass.

The cutting process took 3 days.  Once they were cut we kept moving the pieces around until we were happy with the color combinations.  Once we were happy with where we put the pieces we glued them in and then grouted around them.  The last step was covering the table with epoxy.


It's finally done!

Happy Halloween 2014!

 This year we picked pumpkins at a local pumpkin patch on the Island.

Avery's pick.  He always takes a long time picking his pumpkin because he wants the heaviest and roundest pumpkin he can find.  He was disappointed that he couldn't have the display pumpkins.

Alia picked a white pumpkin.  We had never seen one before.  The pumpkin was a little thicker than the orange pumpkins and the seeds were a little bigger. 

This was the self pay station after picking the pumpkin.  The rooster had a tube connected to him and you would put your money in a tennis ball and send it down the tube.

We carved pumpkins in the rain!  You learn to do everything in the rain during the fall/winter here since it rains almost everyday.

 They both drew pictures on their pumpkins ahead of time and then we helped them carve them out.  Avery drew so many pictures on his that the pumpkin barely held together after I carved it out.  His was funny because all of the sides told a story.


 I loved how Alia drew her scary face and then added the circles around the top.

 Alia was a zebra this year.  Her only request for a costume this year was that she had to wear a tutu.  I didn't really want to do the princess thing so I began a search on amazon for fun tutus and came across this one.  Once I found that I found a tail and ears, and zebra jammies.  She was excited to be a zebra!  The door in the background was her idea too.  She insisted we decorate the whole house this year.  She made so many pumpkin pictures and then asked to decorate the door.

 Avery loves being a ninja and wanted to be one for Halloween. Almost everyday before school he teaches Alia ninja moves and how to be strong.  He had her doing sit ups and pushups the other day! Alia was really excited to be able to dress like her stuffed zebra.

Avery showing off his real ninja skills

 We went trick or treating in downtown Vashon.  They close the downtown area down and all of the businesses hand out candy and decorate their stores.  It was a really fun experience and a great way to see your local businesses and neighbors.

 We ended up with 5 pounds of candy.  Many places were handing out full size candy bars.The best part was that one of our neighbors was handing out fair trade organic chocolate. I had to steal that from the kids.