Adventures with Grandma and Poppy

We had visitors from Idaho! Like I mentioned in my previous posts, my parents came from Idaho to visit for the week and be here for Baylor's birthday. They were also here for Halloween and we went on some fun outdoor adventures when the weather cooperated.

They arrived Friday evening and then Saturday was Halloween. We had a busy day with getting ready for trick or treating but it was a gorgeous day so we took advantage and after lunch we went and walked at West Hylebos Wetlands Park. It has the oldest standing house in Federal Way and is a gorgeous walk which is mostly on a really nice boardwalk. There is information about the some of the plants and it was fun to be outside and enjoy nature and each other's company. 

Sunday was Baylor's birthday along with going to church and a Seahawks game. Monday was our last nice day before rain and so once Paige was done with school we drove down to Issaquah. Our plan was to go to the fish hatchery but upon arrival we found out that it is closed due to Covid which was super disappointing but we made the best of it. We first made a stop at Boehm's Candy story where they make their own chocolates and even hand dip them. We got to see some of them being made and Grandma and Poppy even bought some chocolate for us to try at home.

Then we made a quick stop at a playground which the girls thoroughly enjoyed.

And last I just looked up a hike that was nearby and found Grand Ridge Park. By this time though it had started to get cold and we realized that we were probably on the opposite end of the main entrance and so we just walked through the trees for a little bit before heading home. The trail was gorgeous and I would love to go back on a warmer day.

Tuesday was a very rainy day and so we were home pretty much the whole day. Paige had school and Baylor loved all the attention from both her grandparents.

Wednesday was rainy in the morning while Paige had school but after lunch it cleared up and turned out to be not too bad of a day. My dad had gone to lunch with Nate's dad and went for a drive and so I went with my mom and the girls to Covington Community Park. We had lots of Halloween rocks so we took them all and hid them throughout the trails for other people to enjoy. The fall leaves were amazing and then the girls had fun on the playground. It was really nice since there was hardly anyone there and it was nice to be outside and enjoy a beautiful fall day.

Wednesday night I had a youth activity that I went to but while I was gone the girls had fun in the hot tub with Grandma and Poppy.

Thursday was another rainy day. I went with my parents and Baylor while Paige was in school and went to Black Diamond Bakery to get some delicious donuts and then after Paige was done with school we went shopping for a few things my mom needed.

Friday was our last day with our visitors. We enjoyed our time with them and there was a lot of down time which was nice for visiting and the girls always love their time with Grandma and Poppy. Paige was really sad when they left since she felt she didn't get as much time with them since she had school. For our last adventure we went to North Bend and had a burger at Herfy's for lunch and then went and walked at Meadowbrook Farm before we went our separate ways. It was pretty cold but the fall leaves were gorgeous. The girls miss them so much and that night Baylor asked for Grandma to come back so she could read them their night time story. We always love having them come visit and we always miss them when they leave.

We already can't wait until next time!

An Olaf Party for Baylor

Baylor turned 3! I don't know why time has to fly by so fast but I can't believe that my little baby girl is three years old. She is full of spice and silliness. She has been waiting for her Olaf birthday for months now and it was such a fun day celebrating her.

Paige created this Frozen themed name tag activity that everyone did when they first arrived. Your first letter of your name was your first name and they were words like icy, magical, carrot eating, summer loving, royal, etc. and then your last name was a character from Frozen and that was based off your birth month. She put it together all by herself and had fun with Baylor setting it up.

My parents came for the week so they could be a part of Baylor's birthday this year and I'm so glad that Grandma came to the rescue and used her cake decorating skills and made this amazing Olaf birthday cake.

Baylor was excited for her day and loved being sung to but she started to cry when we all told her to blow out her candles. For some reason she had no desire to blow out those candles. Like I said, she loved being sung to and when she went to bed that night she was singing "Happy Birthday to Baylor" over and over and it was the cutest thing to hear.

While enjoying our delicious birthday cake and ice cream, we had a surprise visitor- Olaf! Baylor was so excited but also a little terrified. She was smiling and happy but also wanted to keep her distance and even when she realized it was just Nate she still wanted to stay far away and just look at him.

She was super happy that "daddy Olaf" gave her an Olaf stuffed animal as a gift.

Paige even took a turn being Olaf for a little bit though she struggled to keep the head on.

Baylor loved opening presents and was so excited about them all. Paige absolutely spoiled her sister and got her so many gifts and made her some very thoughtful homemade ones too. Paige has been planning and creating for months and I have loved seeing the glee and excitement in Paige as she would wrap a present and say how excited she was for Baylor to finally see them and open them. 

One cute gift that Paige made was a leash for Baylor when they play puppy. They have done this numerous times where Paige is the owner/trainer and Baylor is the puppy and Baylor loves to run away and get treats and learn tricks and do routines with Paige. And now Baylor has this fun shirt leash that Paige created herself and I helped her with some of the sewing. Paige made sure that there was padding in the front so that when the leash is tugged on it wouldn't hurt Baylor and it also has a little hand/glove for Paige to hold onto.

Happy Birthday little one! I don't know why you have to grow up so fast. At her recent yearly check-up, Baylor is 26lbs 8 oz. (11th percentile) and a tiny bit over 3 feet tall (33rd percentile). She is an inch taller than Paige was at 3 so we will see if she gets taller than Paige but for now she is still tiny and oh so cute. She did amazing with her flu shot and didn't cry at all which really surprised me. She has some of the best facial expressions and has the cutest cheesy smile especially when she is doing something she is not supposed to be doing. Baylor says the funniest things and uses the biggest word for a 3 year old. I really should have a daily log of all the funny things she says but one recently was while we were trick or treating she was trying to tell Nona something and I responded by saying mm hmm. She looked at me and said "no mm hmm mom. I'm talking to Nona." She uses words like actually and has quite the vocabulary and I love it when she says thank you on her own accord because you can tell she really means it. She is also a super loud talker and is just all around loud and loves to yell and sing at the top of her lungs. She sings and hums to herself all the time. The doctor was impressed with the fact that she is riding a normal bike with training wheels and drawing potato head people. I think a lot of that comes with trying to keep up with big sister and doing anything she does. She is such a busy little girl and is constant motion. She will hold still if you are watching a show she likes (Daniel Tiger, Peppa Pig, and Doc McStuffins are at the top right now) and if you are reading her a book. She constantly wants someone to be playing with her and is not good at playing on her own. (She has Pops wrapped around her little finger and can get him to do whatever she wants.) She is very non-affectionate and doesn't like hugs so on rare occasions when she does give you a hug, you know she means it. I love this stage where she is learning so much and is so curious about the world around her. She loves to be outside and loves water- playing in water, the hot tub, baths, jumping in puddles but hates it when water is on her head so washing her hair can be a little traumatic. She loves to ride her bike, play at the park, do anything with Paige, loves to be on our phones or the computer and look at pictures of herself, and loves her blanket and the tag on her blanket. That "tagey" gets lots of love and is constantly being smoothed between her two fingers when she is tired or watching a show. She loves doing puzzles as long as someone is helping her, playing simples games, and hide and seek. She is so much fun and brings me joy every day. I love my little miracle baby and I am eternally grateful that I get to be her mom!

October 25-31

We have had so much fun this October and it is kind of sad to see it come to an end. We had a busy and fun last week!

October 25- Spider Web Weaving

October 26 was our pumpkin carving day. We get our pumpkins at Trader Joes because they are $2.99 no matter the size. The girls picked out huge pumpkins and it was a fun family activity.

Baylor loved scooping out the guts but had no desire to touch them.

I let Baylor draw a face on her pumpkin and then I carved it out. Paige wanted a Mary Poppins pumpkin and she traced her outline on and then Nate carved hers. They both turned out perfect!

October 27- Baylor and I took all the seeds that we had picked out last night and roasted pumpkin seeds. I love the recipe I have and they always turn out great. We even had a little extra help from the puppy and Baylor was a good little helper too.

October 28- The girls made fizzing pumpkins. It is baking soda with some food coloring and a little bit of water and they formed pumpkins out of them. Paige put a couple of spider surprises in hers and then the next day once they had dried, they got to squirt vinegar on them to see them foam up and fizz. A little Halloween science and the girls loved it!

October 29- We took a walk around the neighborhood looking for jack-o-lanterns.

October 30- We saved this crafty one to do with Grandma and the girls had fun. It was to do spider web salt painting. In the evening they created their artwork with some glue and covered it with salt. The next morning they used watercolors to paint their masterpieces.

Then of course our activity for October 31st was to go trick-or-treating. I procrastinated on Paige's costume and made the skirt and help with the hat on the day of but it turned out so cute and she was the perfect Mary Poppins and Baylor was the cutest little Minnie Mouse though by the end of the night she had rubbed her black nose off. This year was a little different since we weren't sure about how to go about with everything with Covid. I had the idea a couple of weeks ago to ask people in the ward who were willing to have trick-or-treaters and so I put together a list and we made the rounds on Halloween night. It took us about 2 hours and I got quite the work out buckling and unbuckling Baylor and running back and forth with them. It was fun to see people we knew especially since we didn't have a trunk or treat this year. We have way to much candy but the girls loved it!

We had extra candy that we didn't hand out so when we all got home the girls went from door to door and did some trick or treating to Nate, Nona, Pops, Grandma, and Poppy. It was a fun way to end our fun night!