October here and gone...

There was a free Fall Fest./Halloween Fest. thing at a local funeral home (PR stunt?) that we went to with the girls and the Naps (pictured below). Free tractor rides, free hot dog, free hot cider, free pumpkins and treats for the kids, free face painting, free petting zoo and bouncy house. Pretty fun little shindig. 

Our good friends Derrick and Kate Nap, and Zoe and Isaiah.

Kendra loves to get in the crib with the girls. 

Daddies girl.

Kayla fell in while fishing for the toys at the bottom.

 Kayla.

 Kendra, Kenzie and Kayla.

Since it was raining outside, we took the girls to the mall to Trick-or-treat with Zoe. What a zoo...                         

We jammed Kayla and Kenzie in Kendra's front seat so that both the big girls could ride for the long walk back to the house. One loaded chariot...

All for now. Much love from us.

B, S, K1, K2, and K3.

Recent projects...

Other than trying to keep the circus running somewhat smoothly, I did have some time for a couple projects. It needed to be done! There is sometimes a need for change/improvement/ what ever you want to call it. :)

We had an old gold frame (about 3x4 ft. and solid wood) from Brian's grandma which I just couldn't seem to get rid of...then I figured out why; it was a treasure waiting to be found! I spray painted it matte black and the pictures just don't do it justice. It will hang downstairs with a mirror in it, after the remodel (yes, remodel. More on that in the Spring of 2013).

I love my kitchen but I really wanted more space....some how...not sure how I was going to do it. Then I saw it, the perfect piece of furniture for the perfect addition to the kitchen! A partially pre-assembled white and oak island from Ikea. I painted it black and dad moved the legs by the stools in a few inches. Voila! 

We love it.

Ah yes...the best project of all...and not yet complete...and not sure when it will be complete at the rate we're going... In any effort to get Kendra to use the potty frequently, I installed this chart right in front of the potty. One sticker for every potty and another if her diaper is dry, and if we get 5 in one day she gets a treat! Good deal, right?! "Kendra, do you need to go potty?" (for the 5th time that morning...). "Nope. I will tomorrow, mommy." (tomorrow is inclusive of anything later be it in a day or next week).

Winthrop bikers...

Bikers dream = North Cascades Highway.

Couple weekends ago, mom, dad, Joanne, Ben (Jo's friend from Australia), and us took a long weekend for a bike trip to Winthrop. Dad, Joanne, Ben and Brian rode their bikes while mom and I drove the support vehicle. Such a beautiful drive and such a cute town!

Diablo Lake

The girls trying to narrow down lunch choices at the Old School House Brewery. GOOD food.

While mom and the girls and I wandered town for the day Friday, the four bikers took a couple side trips.

This is sunset from Sun Mountain. There were and still are wild fires just on the other side of the mountains, hence the smoke and gorgeous shot. 

Even Kendra got a quick ride on Auntie Jo's bike around the parking lot at 8 mph. :)

No road trip is complete with out a stop (or two or 5) for coffee/milkshakes.

And to give the little ones a chance to stretch and roll around.

BFF's...

These two are SOO cute to watch. They gravitate towards each other and there are big hugs all around when they get together.  Kendra is now starting to ask to sit by Zoe at meeting. Are we there already?!

This was taken at Milltown convention this year.

As was this...

Kendra and Zoe had a play date today at Emily and Jonathan Long's house this morning, along with Elias. I heard that the five of them had a blast!  When I dropped Kendra off, Zoe was the first one out the door to say hi and gave her a huge hug. 

Melts my heart.

Off to the races...

The latest development...not only are the twins crawling at full speed but they are pulling up on everything. Kayla is already trying to move her feet so she can walk along things but we haven't gotten that far yet. Thank goodness... I can only take so much at one time! :) 

(Kayla, Kenzie, Kendra)

They're getting so big...!

Oh, and GO HUSKIES! :)

(Kayla, Kendra, Kenzie)

Coffee = normalcy...

So, I have wanted a Keurig for quite some time and finally started combing Craigslist. Found an older model with all of these k-cups for $30! 

I have a hot coffee...or two...at the push of a button every morning. Fabulous...

Months in a nut shell...

So much for resolving to post more often...  The craziness never seems to slow down so I guess I'm just going to have to find other ways to keep up. 

Speaking of crazy, we took a two week trip to China the beginning of June to visit Brian's oldest brother and wife, Merlin and Tina.  Their sister, June, came with us as well and thank goodness she did. The twins got sick the day before we left which made for a horrible 12 hr flight over and an interesting first couple days. But after that, it was a wonderful time. Beautiful city!

Kendra on Merlin and Tina's balcony on the 34th floor.

Merlin, Tina and June allowed us a two day, kid free trip to Beijing. Cannot begin to say how wonderful that was. Took the fast train, stayed in a beautiful hotel, and saw lots of amazing sights.

July 14 was our 6th anniversary. We usually go somewhere for a kid-less weekend but didn't feel right about doing that to someone/the grandparents when the twins are still young. But we did go out for a very nice dinner and Brian even took me shopping!!

Mid July, we had a mini Jacobsen family reunion at a rental house in Anacortes. Only three and a half days but so fun to be with everyone. One of the days we took the hr ferry ride to Friday Harbor. Cute place. Would have loved to have had more time to explore!

Kendra and her cousin Henry on the ferry.

We had a couple weeks of really hot weather which we took full advantage of. 

Had evenings on Papa and Grammie's boat.

Daddy made a sprinkler out of an old bottle, duct taped it to the end of the hose, and hung it from a tree. Not only was it hours of fun, the lawn got watered!

Even the twins got some pool time.

Kendra is such a good big sister. She loves to get into the crib with one or both of the twins. No, they don't sleep in the same bed still. In fact, all the girls sleep in different rooms...meaning one in our room. But it actually makes for better sleep for all of us!

Kendra's biggest challenge right now is learning how to share. All the toys have been hers, until now. Both girls are crawling and pulling up on things so nothing is safe anymore.

Going to the store is becoming less challenging since the twins can sit up now. But, someone needs to make one of these carts for three kids!

Kendra is also very interested in Daddy's work and his truck. We dropped off some lunch for Daddy one day and she was so excited to be able to go inside the big brown truck.

Getting things done is always a challenge. We have some nursery rhyme CD's and seems like all the girls really like them! I've only tried this twice as the twins have a really short attention span...
However, since we've put the twins in separate rooms to sleep, things have gotten 100 times better...hence the blog update today. :)

I think the biggest shock I've had numerous times the last little while is how big my K1 is getting. She's such a good, happy, curious, kind little girl. I saw a quote the other day that has really changed my thinking recently. Something to the effect of, "Don't get so concerned with raising a good kid that you forget you have one."

Since I seem to be able to organize my time a bit better, I really will try to update more often..even if it's just a small one.

Love, B, S, K1, K2, and K3.