Our Snowy Adventures

This morning we had snow all the way up to our front door! It was amazing!!!
Mikey loves the snow. You can tell by the absolutely blissful expression he has in every single picture.


Natty wanted so desperately to catch a snow flake on her tongue. Once she did, she didn't seem to like the taste of it...
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Happy Birthday Natty!!!

Today is Natty's fourth birthday. We planned on taking her to Chuck E. Cheese, but mother nature has decided that we should celebrate her birthday at home this year. (I'm not the best driver when the roads aren't covered in ice, so I'm not going to try my luck today!) Natalie has been such a blessing. After Mikey, we tried for years to have another baby. I cried and prayed and begged and bargained for another child. When she was born I was ecstatic! I remember sitting in the nursery with her and just sobbing because I was so happy to have her. And I've been just as happy every day since then. Natalie is a joy. She is spunky and sassy, but she has the biggest heart of any four year old I know. She loves her family, especially her older brother (who is her hero and her best friend). She loves to sing and dance and apply multiple layers of lip gloss. She is a princess and a ninja, depending on the situation. We love you Natty! Happy Birthday!!!

Snow Day (and a little Dance Recital)

Today is my first ever, official SNOW DAY!!! We woke up this morning to find Covington covered in a thick blanket of perfect white snow. Then we got a call from our home teacher letting us know that all our church meetings for the day were cancelled. A real snow day! How exciting! Don't get me wrong---I love church. But snow days are the kind of thing daydreams are made of. A whole day where you are forced to lounge around the house in your pjs with your family. Heaven!!!


In other news, yesterday we attended Natty's dance recital. It was adorable. All the girls did so well. Natty loved being on stage (she gets that from her daddy). Chad recorded the whole thing and we should have it posted on our blog in the next few days. In the meantime, here are a few pictures. She danced to "What a Wonderful World."

Dr. Fasslar Got Me Pregnant

Hmmm...maybe my title needs some clarification. After several, several years of unsuccessful "trying," Dr. Fasslar correctly diagnosed and medicated my fertility problems, allowing me to become pregnant. But, the baby is Chad's.

I am six weeks along & due on August 2nd, 2009. I have an ultrasound scheduled for December 23rd to check the heart beat.

I am happy.

Looking for Some Free Christmas Fun?

The Auburn Adventist Church is hosting a "Journey to Bethlehem" 12/4-12/7, from 6pm to 9pm. I guess it is a twist on the traditional nativity scene. In their words, "What if you could see the story of Jesus' birth unfold before your eyes? What if you could wander the streets of ancient Bethlehem, hear the shop sellers hawking their wares, listen to the bleating of lambs or the whinny of horses? What if you could see the star of light in the night's sky? What if you could see the angels announcing the birth of Jesus and visit the stable where Mary and Joseph watch over the new-born Jesus?

Ahh, there is a way.

Journey to Bethlehem, an interactive drama, is a four-night outdoor production in Auburn that features more than 200 costumed actors, vibrant sets, colorful storytelling, and live animals--including camels."

It sounds pretty awesome. We're taking the posse out Thursday night. If you want more info, you can look it up on this site. Oh, and be sure to dress warm, since it is all outside. If you any of you guys decide to come check it out too, look for me next to the live camel. I'm not sure that I've ever seen a real one before!!!

Dog for Sale. Actually, dog for free.

So, after much consideration, we Perkinses have decided that we just aren't cut out to be pet owners. Our dog is not bad, we just don't enjoy animals. We don't like to pet them or play with them or walk them. I don't like to clean up after them. Thus, we are looking to give our dog away. He is a little over a year old, black miniature schnauzer. He is teachable. Even I (being the terrible pet owner that I am) have taught him to sit, stay, back up, and roll over. You can put a dog treat on the floor in front of him and he won't go for it until you tell him "okay." I was really proud of that trick! He is also fabulous with kids. Natty will lay right on top of him and he just rolls over and licks her face. He likes to play and likes to be loved. We paid a couple hundred (ugh) dollars for him in May of 2007. If you know anyone who would like a dog--send them my way!!!

p.s. We have all his gear to give away with him---leashes, bowls, toys, crates, even a little polo shirt.

Potty Talk

So we decided to take this last Tuesday off in honor of Veteran's Day. Being homeschooled and self-employed, we often work through the holidays and take our vacations while everyone else is in school. But, this time the call of Seattle was just too strong and we couldn't stand to stay cooped up in our house all day. After weighing our options carefully, we opted to catch lunch at Paseo and then head over to the Seattle Art Museum.

Paseo was DELICIOUS! It is a caribbean restaurant that specializes in the tastiest sandwiches created by mere mortal. They are seasoned so incredibly well. The taste is indescribable. I highly recommend this place.

Then we headed off to SAM. It was our first visit to Seattle's Art Museum. Now, I gotta be honest with you guys. I enjoy going to art museums, but I have no idea what is going on in most art pieces. I don't know what the artist is trying to say or why the piece is poignant enough to be placed in a museum rather than on a hotel room wall. Even so, I can appreciate the fact that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that it is admirable to see things from different points of view. That being said, one of the pieces in the modern art section of the museum was a toilet. Literally. It was a brightly colored, much adorned toilet. Upon closer inspection I found that there was actually, *ahem*, poo in the potty. Seriously, art museum? Poo is art? How much did they pay for said poo? Is there a way that I can sell pictures of poo to finance my children's education? I may not be Picasso or Rembrandt, but I can certainly manage a likeness of a bm for the right price. Perhaps I am an artist after all...

6 Quirks

I have been tagged to list 6 of my quirks. I was actually tagged a while back, but I couldn't think of any. I think I am pretty normal. That is, I thought I was pretty normal. Since I was having trouble coming up with some on my own, I asked Chad for help. His response? "Dude. Name anything. You have a lot of quirks." Huh? Excuse me? I was perplexed. I expected him to say something to the effect that I am a delight to live with and it was impossible to think of anything quirky. So, I asked him to expound. What is quirky about everything I do? To which he responded, "I don't know. Name anything." Well, fine then. I won't list my fear of talking on the phone or getting crumbs in my bed, because those have been addressed on previous posts. Apparently it shouldn't be a problem coming up with 6 new ones...

1. I can't go to bed with dirty feet. I will wash my feet before retiring at night unless I've worn socks all day long and I am positive that my feet are squeaky clean.

2. I refuse to watch scary movies, or any show that reenacts crimes of any sort, if I know Chad will have to go on a business trip anytime in the foreseeable future. I just know that if I do, I will see something that will give me nightmares while he is away.

3. I am super scared of losing my cell phone. So scared that I will reach into my purse every 15 minutes or so to make sure that it is still there. (That thing has my calendar, my address book, my pictures, my music--everything on it!)

4. I can't eat a meal until all the dishes from the previous meal are washed and put away (i.e. I won't eat lunch until that cereal bowl sitting in the sink has been taken care of)

5. I am a sucker for the underdog. Always have been. I would take the brooder with a Bunsen burner over the captain of the football team any day.

6. I hate putting away laundry. I will wash it and fold it, but it'll sit in the laundry basket for weeks.

Geez. Maybe Chad was on to something here. This really makes me sound a little like an obsessive compulsive control freak. Naw. If that were true, my house would be way cleaner...

I tag Courtney, Busy Wheelers, Cranston 5, Todd & Jess, Candace and McAngela. Or whoever wants to.

Yay!

Last Friday, the kids and I made a trip out to Issaquah to visit my sister-in-law at her new photography studio. It was so much fun and she did an amazing job. I love the way the pictures aren't posed. It really looks like the kids! Anyways, she did an incredible job. Thanks so much Angela!!!

p.s. To any of you who aren't grandparents/aunts/uncles of Mikey and Natty, I apologize for the extremely picture heavy blog!!!

Halloween #3

Hey--thanks to all you bloggers who posted about your field trips to Thomasson Farms. What a fun place! Me and the kids trekked out there this afternoon to (finally) pick up those prized Halloween pumpkins. It's pretty late in the season, so the gourds were a little picked over, but (on the bright side) we had the place to ourselves. Since we were all alone, I climbed into the corn box and played with the kids (shhh!!!). Also, we ended up with some pretty sexy pumpkins. I guess it was a successful trip!

Halloween Part Deux

The kids and I had so much fun at Woodland Park's Pumpkin Prowl, that we decided to hit up the Pacific Science Center's Halloween Bash the next day. We have a membership there (making it free for us) and Chad was still out of town, so we decided to just go for it. The Pacific Science Center put on a pretty good shindig. It was more craft heavy than candy heavy, which was nice considering the amount of loot we gathered at the zoo the night before. They had tons of booths set up everywhere with things for the kids to make. Mikey and Natty walked away with masks, animal noses, kazoos and home made slime. Of course, there was some candy. It just wouldn't be a Halloween party without it. But, it was minimal. They also had shows every half hour or so, and a costume parade for the kids. We only caught the magic show, but it was awesome. Mikey's favorite part was when the scientist shot a teddy bear out of an air pressure cannon. I have to admit that it was my favorite part too.

Anyways, so we hit up the PSC for a couple hours, then ran off to the airport to pick Chad up (yeah!). Then we went straight from the airport to our next Halloween destination: Full Tilt. Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "What? Full Tilt? The punk rock ice cream shop? What does that have to do with Halloween?" It just so happens that Full Tilt was also having a Halloween bash. A band called The Not It's played a free show in the shop. The Not It's are a Seattle based band that play rock and roll for the kiddies. They are akin to the bands you see on Nogin, only much cooler. They sang songs about bath time and kindergarten and playing airplane. The best part was that there were a bunch of toddlers there totally rocking out--banging their heads and pogo-ing and the whole bit. So cool. Oh, and there were "prizes" for kids dressed in costumes. So the dancing kids were dressed up like fairies and butterflies and storm troopers. So fun.

From Full Tilt, we made a bee-line for the stake center for the ward's trunk-or-treat party. It was a very nice social, but I was a wee bit tired by this point in the day. We collected our candy and then rushed home to put the little monsters to bed. This has been such a fun Halloween. I am so impressed by all the activities Seattle has to offer for families. Next year and I think we should gather up a group of families and go together!!!

A Few Side notes:
1. If you like the Not It's and are interested in other kid music that I think is awesome, you should check out Kimya Dawson's cd "Alphabutt." It is hillarious!
2. I just discovered that Full Tilt has a birthday package. For $75 you get to submit a recipe for your own ice cream flavor (which they make for you), ice cream for 10 and a pint of your homemade creation to take home with you.

Pumpkin Prowl

Me and the kids headed out to the "Pumpkin Prowl" at the Woodland Park Zoo tonight. Chad was busy, and I was in the mood to do something festive, and this fit the bill. Oh my heavens! It was so, so fun! They had all kinds of trick-or-treat booths set up for the kids. And they were handing out some good stuff. I'm talking Top Pot donuts, coupons for free cupcakes at Cupcake Royale, beanie babies (not the small ones, either. Real ones), boxes of granola, Cliff Bars and all the regular candy. They also had live shows every half hour or so and a chick walking around on super tall stilts. The "Zoomazium" became the "Boomazium." It was decorated extremely well and I would've loved to taken more pictures in there, but Natty quickly informed me that it was a "bad room" and she wanted to go. Anyways, if you are free tomorrow night (which you're probably not because it's our ward's trunk-or-treat), it's from 5-8pm and you can buy discounted tickets at Bartell's.
P.S. In case you can't tell, Natty is a "scary kitty cat" and Mikey is a zombie (he insisted on saying "trick-or-brains" instead of "trick-or-treat" at all the booths because, "mom, zombies eat brains. That is their treat.")