Away in the Manger

On this the eve of a most special month, I would like to report that we only have had 1 Baby Jesus related injury in this house. (So far.)

Thus resulting in only 1 time the mama of this house, ahem, shouted: 'WE DO NOT THROW BABY JESUS!' (So far.)

Thus resulting in one time-out for throwing Baby Jesus at her brother. Ahem, LILA! (So far.)

Thus resulting in one small gash on 'her brother's' nose. (So far.)

Wait!!!, it's not even December yet?

Uh-oh!

Downtown

Crunch

Thanks to our neighbor, and his ginormous maple tree, Lincoln + Lila have been having a ball for the last couple of weeks. If we are bored, and it's not raining, we walk down to his front yard.

OR if Lila + Lincoln are driving me bonkers, we will also walk down to his house.

We walk in the leaves, crunch them, roll around, bury each other, throw them in the air, kick them, collect the prettiest...you name it, we've done it.

There is a certain part of this ditch where the leaves go all the way up to Lincoln's waist. A gazillion leaves.

Today the sun made an appearance. It was quite lovely. The perfect autumn day.

You wanna know what someone, {ahem}, is going to anonymously leave on this neighbors doorstep...

...a freaking rake!!!

Apple Picking

We have 3 very lovely apple trees in our backyard. And this fall we have about a gazillion apples. We have made applesauce, apple crisp, dried apples, enjoyed them plain, shared with neighbors and we still have about 500. So I had this semi-fabulous idea, if I do say so myself, that I would take about 20 or so, and throw them out front to feed the deers that we see from time to time...

... In no time at all I made a new BFF when a little buck starting visiting our yard at dawn and dusk. The kids loved it! And then a week or so later, my BFF brought a buddy--a big-daddy buck and we just loved checking in on them twice a day.

Cue the bunnies.

Now we have 7 or 8 of the most adorable bunnies rotate in and out of our yard at any given time munching on the apples. So the twins and I pick a bag full of apples every day and feed them to our buddies. And then we watch them. Or the twins play in the yard while the animals munch away and watch us.

Today I wanted Brian to snap a few pics of us doing our favorite fall routine. But the twins just wanted to be dork-fishes. Man, I love them.

For the love, the Swishers will be on a farm in no time.

Mark my words.

Tis the Season...

...of thankfulness.

And can I just say that Brian + I have so much to be thankful for. We talk about it all the time. God has blessed us beyond anything we ever dreamed. But please don't think that means everything is perfect. Because it isn't.

The other day Brian said that 2011 has been rough on us. And I thought what in the world is he talking about? And then we went on to discuss the stillborn birth of our niece, 2 failed fertility attempts for us and a large possibly-cancerous tumor discovered on Brian's knee. The tumor turned out to be non-cancerous, but needed to be removed ASAP. So surgery. And then the awesome recovery from that surgery. Oh yeah, all that stuff.

Brian + I learned very early in our marriage that we are not in control. We learned that when I was sick, for you know, almost 2 whole years. And it just completely changed our perspective on everything. Gratitude.

And during this season, like most everyone we know, the first thing that comes to my mind, is being thankful for our family.

I didn't know when I was 18 years old and moved to the NW that I would be here soooo long. But I met the raddest guy who made all kinds of promises to me years ago, and he just never lets me down. And so I stay here in the rain. And he keeps taking care of me, and this year we celebrated our 10th.

And then it took us a while to start a family. But we were never worried. God had brought us through so much. And we already learned the We-Are-Not-In-Control lesson, so we just waited. And decided to take advantage of the extra time with just the 2 of us. We are sure glad we did.

And bam! We were pregs with twins. And we knew it was going to be a wild ride. But we were so thankful. Just beyond grateful.

Now we have the pleasure of raising two of the raddest little humans that ever were. They have made life more colorful for Brian + I. They make the happy times even more joyful and they remind us the rocky times are temporary.

We are so thankful for their healthy, strong bodies. Those are the same bodies that we watched grow and develop from...well, the very beginning.

Lila Pearl is just a tender-hearted silly-willy. She reminds us a fake belly-laugh sometimes just lightens the load. That pretty things make you feel....pretty. And that a hug can turn your day right around. I've said it before, but she is every reason I ever wanted a daughter. I'm so thankful for this little lady.

Lincoln brings the house down with his gut-busting laugh. When he's laughing, if you're not, then something is wrong with you! He reminds us life is too short not to dance when the music is pumping and that nothing is impossible with a little imagination. We are so thankful for this inquisitive, bright and determined little dude. He is just a perfect fit for our family.

We are so grateful these guys love each other so much. (Because they are together all. the. time.) And we are so thankful that they made us a family of 4.

So let the good times (continue) to roll! I know these turkeys will be down with that.

Happy Thanksgiving-month!

Oh, Canada

The Swishers left the country last week. We headed north to Vancouver Island to visit Sierra and Judah. Canada does not disappoint. Friendly people, beautiful country, no guns and did I mention the friendly people?!

But it took us 10 loooonnnng hours to get there. Thank goodness for iPhones.

The ferry ride was very fun, and it broke up the hours in the cars, which was fantastic.

Good thing we have the very best toddler-travelers in the history of forever. (And a rented minivan.) (And Grammie + Pops too!)

It was worth every minute.

Sierra was in a community play, Anne of Green Gables, which also happens to be one of my personal faves.

Lila just lit up when the play started. She loved it. She has worn 2 braids almost every day since. Because she wants to be like Anne. Sierra even inspired me to check out our own community theatre here in Gig Harbor. And re-read the books.

And if Brian is very lucky, watch the movies.

Vancouver Island is breathtaking, and Sierra is the very best tour guide. We will be back. Oh yes, we will be back.

School Yo!

My name is Karla, and I'm a teacher. Always, always have been. You can ask my mother, and she will tell you about the hours I spent wearing her shoes, teaching my imaginary students in her classroom throughout the years. You can ask my sister. Poor Kelsey, she always had to be my student. In fact, she is my only student I had the pleasure of teaching year, after year, after year. After year! You can ask the hundreds of students I taught throughout the years. You could ask Brian. He likes to remind me that he is, in fact, not a student in need of my instruction. Ahem!

And now even Lincoln + Lila can testify. At the end of summer I decided to start being more purposeful in the projects I do with the twins. And since I certainly have enough ideas and storybooks for several classrooms, I decided to put it to use. I chose several seasonal related themes, and a couple times a week we go to 'school'. Totally informal and totally relaxed. Just way fun.

These pics are from September on the first day we tried it. They were fans.

*And nope. I will definitely not be homeschooling. Not for me.

*For several reasons, but mainly because I could never do it justice after observing my amazing cousin Alane.

Walk The Plank

Lila + Lincoln were pirates. The most adorable pirates I saw. I'm the mother of this mess so that opinion is completely biased, but nonetheless, they were pretty freaking cute. These pics were from Saturday when we met up with some friends in Puyallup to trick-or-treat their downtown stores. So fun.

The twins certainly understood what was happening this year, say the magic words and receive a treat. But you know what was awesome?! They always said thank you, they shared their treats and they certainly were way more excited to look at all the costumes than they were getting tons of candy.

Having children has certainly made Brian and I more involved in the community. Seeking out fun activities to do and getting involved. It's fun to participate in all the activities that are out there to enjoy. Just another way that having kids has made us much better peeps.

The End.