Happy All Hallow's Eve!

Wishing you a Happy All Hallow's Eve from our little family!

Here's a peek into our little townhouse on this spooky evening ...

Our three pumpkins waiting for the "trick or treats" to come.

Three pumpkins in our little townhouse.

A little witch reminding us of Sienna's first Halloween.

A purple witch with a cauldron full of candy.

Mama's witchy sign.

Our nature bookshelf ... a work in progress.

And unfortunately our little purple witch has the sickies again today.

This afternoon, Sienna was able to spend some time with Nana while Mama and Daddy ran some errands. Then, we got cozy in the little townhouse and waited for the "trick or treats" to come. That's what Sienna calls them! So cute! We had a total of six in all.

But, as promised here are a few pictures of a little purple witch's broom ...

The little purple witch mounting her broomstick.

Showing off her broomstick for you to see!

Holding it up high to the sky!

I'm sure we'll be adding this costume to her dress-up basket very soon!

A Little Purple Witch's Day

Today a little purple witch made her grand debut at the little townhouse.

She had a very busy day ahead of her ...

First, we met Daddy at the school district office during his lunch time. This was also the first time that Sienna and Mama met some of Daddy's coworkers and the secretaries for his department.

Sienna all dressed up and ready to go!

One of the secretaries, Donna had the most delicious treats waiting for Sienna and Mama. She also bought a very cool purple witch wand for Sienna.

The label was so cute on the box!

Yummy! Mama loves the coffee mug cupcake. We can't wait to try them after dinner ...

Sienna's purple witch wand.

After visiting with Daddy at his work, we made the trek over to Nana's school for a Halloween Party in her classroom. Sienna loves to visit Nana at school and play with all of the very cool things in the classroom. I can't wait until one day when she can visit Mama's classroom, too! One of her favorite things to play with is Nana's kitty cat mailbox.

The purple witch mailing all sorts of things to Nana.

A closer look at her costume.

Nana and Sienna

Next, we spied Daddy working in the field near Nana's classroom.

We spied Daddy from from Nana's classroom window.

Then, Mama decided this would be a good time for Sienna to pick out a Halloween book to read. Nana's students were busy doing Math work.

Nana's collection of Halloween books.

The funny witch book Mama read aloud to Sienna.

After a little read aloud, we played with some pattern blocks and Sienna colored Nana a very pretty picture.

Playing with pattern blocks together.

Coloring and watching it appear up on the document camera.

Coloring with her favorite color.

Then, it was time for the Halloween Party to begin. The little purple witch started winding down and we decided it was time to make our trek back to the little townhouse.

Halloween Party yummies. We left when they were being served.

We are looking forward to Friday night pizza and our cupcakes for dessert!

Be sure to check back again soon ... I'm sure there will be a few more appearances from the little purple witch before Halloween.

P.S. About a month ago, Sienna requested to be a purple witch for Halloween. (I think she's watched Mama's favorite movie, Practical Magic a few too many times!) Mama and Nana handmade the purple and black tutu and embellished the hat with a matching bow. Sienna also has a broom that matches, too. We'll be sure to take some pictures of that next time the witch makes a debut. Sienna loves it!

Farewell to the Little House

As our family begins a new adventure, we will always remember in our hearts the almost year and a half that we lived in the little house. There are many special memories that we will never forget.

The little house

Some of the things that we will remember fondly are the coziness, our garden, and the privacy of living on three acres.

A cozy Christmas in the little house.
The garden that Daddy grew at the little house.

Sienna walking Sassy down the very long driveway to the little house.

Another thing that will always be etched in our hearts is how much Sienna grew up in the little house. When we moved in, she had just turned one year old.

Sienna's first sink bubble bath at the little house.
July 2009
And now, our family is discovering many new luxuries in the little townhouse.

Sienna's favorite so far ... a big girl bubble bath. (In the little house, she couldn't have a big girl bubble bath, because the claw foot bathtub was cracked inside.)

Sienna's first big girl bubble bath in the little townhouse.
October 2010

Her ducks are all lined up and ready to watch her take a bath.

Join us next week for a tour of the little townhouse ...

A Cozy Sunday

On Sunday, we decided that our little family would stay home, rest, and do things together around the little townhouse. Daddy was still feeling pretty icky and Sienna also was starting to get Daddy's cold.

One of the most important things that was on our little townhouse list was to carve some of our homegrown at-the-little-house pumpkins. We picked three of our pumpkins to carve and while Sienna rested, Mama made pizza dough, and Daddy made plans for the pumpkins.

When Sienna awoke from her rest, we all went into our kitchen to help Daddy carve the pumpkins.

Daddy hard at work with the first pumpkin.

Sienna eating her raisins and watching Daddy carve the pumpkins.
(Chai Guy waiting for a little treat to fall down!)

Mama's favorite pumpkin of the homegrown bunch.

A funny face and a spooky tree in the night.

An owl for Sienna.

Our three pumpkins together ... we can't wait for All Hallows' Eve!

After the pumpkin carving celebrations, we ate some yummy pumpkin seeds and Mama finished making our cheese pizza . We can't wait to start having Friday night homemade pizzas in our little townhouse!

Pumpkin seeds ... they needed to be put back in the oven for a little bit longer.

The pizza dough rising in the oven. We have to hide the dough from Chai Guy!

Yummy! Mama's homemade cheese pizza.

And ... our little black table set. Just waiting for our pizza to bake!

Stop by tomorrow for our adieu to the little house ...

Little Bird, Little Bird

On Saturday, our little family ventured down to Seattle Town Hall to see one of Sienna's favorite musicians, Elizabeth Mitchell. We've been listening to her music since Sienna was just a teeny tiny baby. We have all three of her albums and can't wait to buy the newest album, Sunny Day.

We had a very fun time singing along, clapping and doing hand gestures to some of the songs. Sienna sat on Mama's lap the whole time and listened patiently. She loved that they sang some of her favorite songs, Little Bird, Little Bird and Three Little Birds. We didn't get to hear Sienna's very favorite song, The North Wind from the album You Are My Little Bird. (Hmmm ... I think we may have a birdy theme here.)

Sienna didn't mind though, because she was so busy loving the live music. I think we'll be bringing this little one to many, many future concerts. Even though Daddy was feeling a little bit sick, he also enjoyed the show and especially the guest musical appearance from Caspar Babypants or Chris Ballew of the presidents of the united states of america.

Sienna was very excited when we stopped the car at Seattle Town Hall!

Mama and Sienna listening to good tunes.

Elizabeth Mitchell and her band, which includes her husband and daughter.

There was lots of audience involvement for the little ones.

Sienna loves to clap!

Now, to decide which concert will be next ...

Busy Bees

We've been quite the busy bees around here at the little house. We are down to 2 days before actual move-in day (Friday) to the little townhouse. With lots of packing, cleaning, visits from special people (Grandma Casey and Elizabeth), and a touch of the sickies ... we are now just awaiting the "big" day.

I'm planning one more post before we go ... a farewell post to the little house and then you probably won't hear from us for a bit, as we get settled in and wait for internet connection.

And here's a little glimpse of the mess we are living in and what a good helper the little one's been ::

The messy dining room.

Our messy bedroom.

Mama's little helper.

See you in a few days!

A Farm-y Kind of Weekend

This weekend our family took a few little road trips around to many local farms for the Skagit Valley Festival of Family Farms.

On Saturday morning, after Grandpa Paul and Grandma Diane arrived at the little house we ventured down the farm roads a bit to our first stop, Gordon Skagit Farms. This was Mama's favorite farm, because of the beautiful Autumn displays.

Sienna and the very cool French pumpkins!

Mama loved all of the blackboards with little messages scattered throughout the farm. This was my favorite!

An old farm truck with a beautiful Autumn display.

Another very cool message!

Our favorite little pumpkin girl, Sienna. (She has quite the pumpkin collection at home ... 15!)

More messages ...

I love how this one is centered around the tree.

There was a haunted house for kids with little displays like this one.
(This one is a spooky old elementary school.)

Mama, Sienna & *happy* chickens in their coop.

Our next stop for the day was to Schuh Farms. We only visited for a little bit though, because we had to go on a very important trip down to Bellevue to pick up a farmhouse table for our little family. Mama's been searching for one for a few months and it just so happened that Saturday we found "the one"! Pictures to come of that later ... it needs a little sanding and oiling.

One of the displays at Schuh Farms.

We thought this one was funny!

On Sunday, we decided to continue our tour of the farms.

Our first stop on Sunday morning was to Sakuma Bros. Farms. Here, we ended up with 3 bags of delicious Honeycrisp apples, since Grandpa and Grandma got VIP passes. Yummy!

Sienna, the little blueberry.

Our second stop was to the Golden Glen Creamery. Sienna didn't like the smell of the cows, but she sure enjoyed seeing cows and pigs, too! Here, we enjoyed free americanos, lattes, and ice cream bars! Grandma bought Sienna her own container of fresh butter.

Mama & Sienna next to the giant cow!

Daddy and Sienna with real cows.

Three little piggies.

A funny sign.

Taylor Shellfish Farm

Fresh from the Puget Sound

Mama & Sienna

Afterward, we walked around the tiny town of Edison. Mama has two future blogs, in mind! One will be a little blog about Edison. The other will be all about my beautiful farmhouse table! Something, I've always wanted to have when I had a little family...