Winter Finally Arrived

 Last week, we started being teased with the idea of lowland snow in our area. It is fair to say that we snow-lovers in Seattle are a bit skeptical when snow is in the forecast... we've been burned too many times. Well, this past weekend, the snow-loving Olsons were over-the-top happy with the weather! Over a 3-day period, we accumulated almost 11 inches of snow in our yard, with a couple of drifts in places that measured over 2 feet. WOO HOO!

The timing of this series of storms really couldn't have been more perfect. It was a long weekend thanks to Presidents' Day and the kids' school being on mid-winter break. Plus, due to the pandemic, we were home anyway! 

We had snowball fights, built a couple of snow people, shoveled the walkway and sidewalk, made snow angels, went sledding, and just enjoyed the beauty of the snowy landscape. All-in-all, a fairly perfect few days of winter. 

Snow: Day 1

Conor, Huck, and Finn checking out the snow

Not sure if the dogs or Conor had more fun

Ready for sledding

WHEEEEEEEEEE

Snow: Day 2

Snowy fun

Nothing to sneeze at here

Conor and our baseball cap-wearing snowman

Smile!!

Snow angels for the front yard

Snow: Day 3

Ready... aim... fire!

Annika taking cover behind the snowman

Snowball incoming

Exploding snowball

Snowball action

Happy campers

Snow fun

Snow fun is exhausting

One mighty happy kiddo

Thank you to Mother Nature for sending this chapter of winter weather our way. We thoroughly enjoyed it and appreciate you taking us into consideration. 

Driving with Conor

No, not driving a car.... driving golf balls, silly readers!!

Earlier this month, Conor and I pulled a few golf clubs out of our bags and headed to the driving range near out house to get some practice and dust off the proverbial cobwebs.

Neither of us had picked up a golf club in a couple of months (longer for me than Conor, I think), so there was a bit of remembering that needed to happen. That said, we had a great time and wound up sharing three buckets of balls. (Yes, we were a bit sore the next day.... thank you for asking!)

Each time we head to the driving range, we leave saying how we'll need to go more often because it is such fun and a great way to spend time together. We also need to sign up for some more lessons - it was pretty obvious that some nuances have been forgotten or a bit rusty.

Rustiness aside, it was still a great outing and we both hit a few really nice drives. (We also both completely whiffed it numerous times and didn't even make contact with the ball ... hence, we need more lessons. Ha!!!)

As a closing thought, I'd like to mention (so I can remember down the road when I re-read this post) that to decorate the driving range for autumn, the driving range added three scarecrows as decor near the 100-125 flags. I hit (completely by accident ... and usually on a bounce) two of the three scarecrows. (My apologies to the scarecrows!) If I'd hit them on purpose, I'd be impressed. Considering I hit them on accident, I'm just entertained! :)

Halloween Synopsis

Our kids love Halloween for MANY reasons. Of course, we do love going to the pumpkin patch and carving our pumpkins each year. Honestly, who wouldn't love doing those things???

Another reason our kids love Halloween is they get to wear their costumes to school instead of their uniforms.

(Side note: They have a MUCH more lenient uniform policy than we ever did as kids. I see this as a good thing because it creates less resentment toward the clothes as kids age. They even get to wear shorts!! My inner St. Charles student is very jealous of that fact!)

In order to wear a costume to school, the uniform has to follow certain guidelines (understandably), which can make deciding on a costume a little tricky at times. In years past, Annika has really liked the idea of a scary costume, which doesn't fit the school policy, so she wound up having a school costume and a scarier trick-or-treating costume. I decided we were done with that... too much work for the grownups. Fortunately this year. both kids chose easy and school-friendly costumes. WHEW!!!

Annika dressed as a kid who overslept for school and Conor dressed as a Jedi. (He did have to leave the light saber at home because of the -- quite appropriate -- no weapons part of the school costume guidelines).

All smiles

"In character" poses

The note on Annika's PJ shirt

In other pre-holiday news, the kids decorated pumpkins as literary characters for their library projects. Conor decorated his to look like a Master Pokeball (does a Pokeball really count as a character???) while Annika chose the Headless Horseman. (Yes, we beheaded a Ken doll .... what's your point??)

Conor showing off his Pokeboall

Annika and her headless horseman

Ready for school!

We also spent some time this weekend decorating Halloween cookies. I know, BIG surprise there, huh??? I had to play with my new cookie presses... I simply HAD to! They actually worked out really well because decorating them was quite quick and considering they were for Conor's class party today, many cookies a bit faster = win!

The kids are now old enough, they really enjoy lending a hand with the cookie decorating and really do a good job. It is neat to be able to give them a little instruction and a pastry bag, and then let them go to town on their cookies. The ownership of the creativity and skill is really fun to watch.

Annika putting smiles and eyes on our happy bats

Conor giving his ghost cookie a green heart

 

Bats and ghosts

Cookies for the 2nd grade's Halloween party

Family Pumpkin Carving

Last night, we covered the kitchen table with plastic garbage bags, grabbed some knives and spoons, and collected our pumpkins from the front porch for our annual family pumpkin carving event.

Now, when I was a kid, we grabbed our pumpkins, knives, and spoons. We carved triangle eyes, a triangle nose, and a zig-zag mouth and called it good. Fast forward many years to when I married an artistic man and we had kids. Now, pumpkin carving requires a sketch pad and a lot more pre-planning than I ever imagined. That said, our pumpkins looks WAY better than any of my pre-Eric pumpkins every did.

We had lots of fun making grossed out sounds as we scooped out the pumpkin's insides and sang along with "Monster Mash" on our Echo/Alexa. Once the pumpkins were hollowed out, Eric sat down with each kiddo to sketch out his/her desired pumpkin face/expression. (Meanwhile, I went to the computer and printed up the Seahawks "12" logo and used a pin to transfer the numbers to my pumpkin. I figured the Hawks deserved a nod after their nail-biting win a few hours before!)

I have to give Eric immeasurable props for how he handles this process with the kids. They often want VERY elaborate things that simply aren't possible ... due to physics or the tools we have on hand. He very gently guides them toward a more practical design while keeping the essence of their ideas in mind and always remaining positive and having them talk through the evolution of the design. There are many moments that I've stood there and thought "Dang! He is such a great dad." and watching him figure out pumpkin faces with the kids was yet another example of when I had that exact thought. Conor definitely wanted jagged teeth in his pumpkin. Annika HAD to have a tongue sticking out. Conor wanted angry eyebrows. Annika wanted vampire fangs. Leave it to Eric to figure out how to incorporate their ideas and transfer them onto a pumpkin. :)

Let the pumpkin carving begin!

First cuts

Conor takes after Eric ... lots of sketches!

Annika and Eric co-piloting the knife process

Conor's topless pumpkin

Scoopin' out the guts

Planning time!

More sketching!

Annika inspecting her pumpkin's insides

Getting out the last seed stragglers 

Conor's pumpkin mid-carved

ROAR!!!!

BLEHHHHHH!

After many, many, many knife cuts and pottery tool scrapes later, the kids' pumpkins were done. We all agreed they looked amazing and would make our porch very "Halloweeny".  The icing on the (pumpkin) cake was the LED pumpkin lights that I picked up at the dollar store earlier in the day worked like a charm!! 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!! BOOO!

2017 Family Pumpkin Patch Excursion

Today, we made our annual excursion to Fairbank Animal Farm to pick our our pumpkins for Halloween.  This year was extra special because the Hall family joined us.

Considering the day before, we were about to start researching plans for building an ark, we were beyond overjoyed to have nothing but sunny weather today! I'm talking we needed sunglasses it was so nice! The rain from the previous days required us to don our rain boots to avoid getting overly muddy, but oh well!!

We started off visiting the goats (like we'd start anywhere else ... duh!) and moved on to the various birds (ducks, geese, peacocks, chickens) and fed them the little cups of feed that we got when we paid for our admission. While it is fun to see the birds, it is also a strong reminder that I'm not much of a captive bird gal ... they suckers are loud and smell like ... well, wet birds.). We made our way to the piglets (about a month old) and were (once again) awed by the sheer size of their mamas. Those are some large tired ladies ... then again, I would be, too, if I'd given birth to 12 children a few weeks before!)

We wound our way through the petting barn and got to pet the baby chicks, ducklings, and bunny. While they were cute, the baby sheep and month-old twin goats were what captured my heart. Beyond cute!! We also saw a couple of bearded dragons and a legless lizard (which ... only after my snarky statement "yeah... most people just call 'em snakes" I learned is quite different from a snake due to its eyelids, external ears, and uniform scale pattern.) Annika and Benji even watched a chick break out of its egg and join the world. How exciting is that???

Anyone want to guess who won this staring contest??

Eric proved to be an expert goat scratcher ... pretty sure she would have
followed him home if the fences hadn't gotten in the way

Annika giving the chicks a little love

Annabelle, Conor, and a goat
(I love how stumpy the goat's legs are!!)

Annika and Benji watching the chicks emerge from their eggs in the incubator

After we gave the animals their much-deserved attention, it was off to the pumpkin patch to pick out our perfect pumpkins! (Or in Annabelle's case, three perfect pumpkins!) Picking out THE pumpkin is such a different experience for adults than it is for kids. I'm pretty sure the kids inspected almost every pumpkin available before choosing which one to take home. Well.... Benji actually picked out his huge green pumpkin pretty early on, but then had to check out all of the other options before finalizing his green pumpkin decision. Annika and Conor both tromped through multiple pumpkin patches and considered many pumpkins before (finally) making their decisions. Annabelle went with three little pumpkins instead of one big pumpkin approach. We adults, on the other hand, basically walking into the patch, found some that fit our criterial (not rotting, not eaten by a squirrel, fairly uniformly shaped) and called it good within a couple of minutes. Yeah, we're just boring that way

Eric and Annika with her pick of the patch

   

Conor considering a massive green pumpkin

Pretty sure this thing weighs more than she does!

Conor and Eric returning from the patch with Conor's gem

The Halls

The Olson Four

Annika and Eric wheeling the pumpkins to the front of the farm 

While the dads paid for the pumpkins, the kiddos opted to run around the little play/photo area and burn off a little energy. The kids were in and out of the teepee, up and down on the wagon, and all too eager to put their faces in the various painted scenes so we could take their photos.

Conor being silly in his stump hidy hole

Annika and Annabelle just kidding around
(haha! Get it???)

Our cute babies