august 6

 

we had a full day, soaking up seattle.  we headed downtown early, checking out a modern art park, the new  great wheel and, of course, pike place market.  we sure do love this city!  brooke, hannah and gavin have so much fun together.  hudson is definitely the odd one out.  tonight we went to giuliana, rundeep and jay's new house for dinner and had a great time catching up with them.  i miss our seattle friends.

august 5

 

back in snoqualmie for a pool day!  the pool is a new addition to the ridge, so it was fun to check it out.  it was packed, and the kids had a lot of fun in the pool.

august 4

we started our day at knead and feed - the cutest little bakery and breakfast shop in coupeville.  it was a beautiful morning, so we strolled along the wharf before heading back to seattle.  

august 3

 

it was a beautiful day on whidbey.  we had happy hour down at the water.  brooke, hannah and gavin played for hours in the cold water.  we stayed out long enough to catch the prettiest shades of the sunset.

october 31

i love halloween.  but this year it's been hard for me to get into the spirit with all we have going on.  i wasn't even up for making or buying costumes this year.  brooke and gavin both had cute michigan uniforms, and i talked them into wearing them for halloween.  they were pretty darn cute if you ask me!!  the weather couldn't have been worse for trick-or-treating though.  it was very cold and rainy and windy.  we braved the elements with coats and umbrellas, but we were all ready to call it a night after a quick round of treats in our neighborhood.  come next year, i don't think we'll have to worry about cold or rain on halloween!

october 30

it snowed today.  for real.  a dusting of snow before halloween!  crazy, crazy.  we spent the day gathered inside in front of the fireplace, and i prepared for my last "official" day as an employee of P&G.  due to the terms of my voluntary separation package, i have to turn in all of my work equipment and my badge tomorrow.  i pulled out my work bag that i haven't touched in 3.5 years and booted up my computer to clean up some files and save some documents before handing it over.  i was surprised how the simple act of opening up that computer took me right back to my working days in an instant.  i'm so far removed from those days, yet it all came flooding back.  tomorrow will be bittersweet, but definitely more sweet than bitter.  there is no job better in the world than being a full-time, stay at home mother to my two children.

october 29

i looked outside tonight, and the sky was on fire!  i grabbed my camera and ran out the door to capture this...

october 28

thankfully kevin is working from cincinnati this coming week so he can take part in all of the halloween festivities, starting with a cousins' halloween party this afternoon.  all of the kids were so adorable in their costumes, and stella's hand-made dragon costume was unbelievable!  my sister is amazingly talented!!  the kids had the best time together, and aunt heather had some hilarious halloween surprises in store.  the kids had a mummy contest where we wrapped them in toilet paper from head-to-toe, and then they tore it all off.  it was crazy, out-of-control, messy and hilarious!  we could not stop laughing.

october 27

this morning we had stella over while heather and danny went to the doctor for their implantation appointment.  praying that is works and all goes perfectly this time around.  the kids had a fun day together.  this evening we carved big pumpkins to get ready for halloween!  as usual, kevin and i did all the work while the kids supervised!  happy kids, happy pumpkins, happy parents :)

october 26

fridays have taken on a whole new level of fun because kevin typically flies in on the red-eye and arrives home first thing in the morning while we are still in bed.  it is a tough schedule for kevin, but it allows us to be together as a family for 2-3 days, and that's important to both of us.  this morning we made cinnamon rolls for daddy and walked brooke to the bus stop.  kevin and gavin put on their matching batman shirts and had a fun morning goofing around.  super hero powers unite!

october 25

today i got out my "real" camera and practiced with different sources and direction of light.  the kids cooperated for about 2 minutes, but it was just long enough to get some good shots of them.

october 24

i had the pleasure of spending the morning with chase - just the two of us!  we ran a couple errands, and i was so tickled to hear him yelling out the letters he saw in different signs/stores along the way.  such a smart little cutie pie!  we came home and chase played on the little roller coaster in the driveway until it was time to pick-up gavin and joey from preschool and get brooke off the bus.  then chase had lots of fun playing with his cousins :)

october 23

today i got to volunteer in brooke's classroom for the first time, and i enjoyed every second of it.  one of the biggest differences between kindergarten and preschool is that i am never at the school.  with bus service, i very rarely have to step foot on school grounds.  i miss the day-to-day interactions and closeness that i felt with brooke's preschool(s).  so today i got a peek into a day in the life of a kindergartener.  it touched me to see the kids saying the pledge of allegiance, and i marveled over the way the kids fought to sit next to brooke and i during circle time.  i had to administer a benchmark-type test and saw a wide range of abilities.  i also offered to help mrs. nowak by taking home a project, which made brooke extremely happy.  brooke was so excited that she did the entire project (collating ABC books for each student) by herself after school today.  finally, we ended the day with brooke READING a Bob book all by herself for the very first time!!!  it was such an exciting moment for me.  what a great day!

october 22

we enjoyed a warm, indian summer-like day at the zoo today with heather & stella.  we saw snakes and tigers and rhinos and much more, then we topped it all off with some ice cream.  i treasure these days.

october 21

brooke attended her first birthday party of the school year today.  lila had her party at build-a-bear, and brooke could not have been happier!  it was cute to see her huddled on the floor with a big group of girls.  it was hard for gavin to be there with me and not get to take part in the party, so i let him make a black teddy bear and bought a batman suit for the bear.  gavin named him "bruce."

october 20

we started our day with a drive to milford for saturday morning donuts and ended it at an over-the-top neighborhood birthday party with pony rides!  that's a pretty good day if you're a kid :)

october 19

gavin is such a little ham.  he makes me laugh every single day.

october 18

those beautiful eyes - one more green than brown, the other more brown than green.  the pair of them so unique.  my beautiful brooke.

october 17

right now there is nothing prettier than that bright red tree in our yard.  it makes me so happy just to look at it.  tonight we rode bikes through the neighborhood and enjoyed the nice weather.  i also agreed to let the kids have a sleepover in my bed tonight.  it's one of their favorite things to do when daddy is away.

october 16

today was gavin's preschool's fall festival.  since i attended this last year with brooke, i knew what to expect and was ready for some fun with my boy!  we played lots of games and sang songs together in music class, enjoyed some treats and picked out a special little pumpkin.  gavin loves preschool so much this year, and i loved sharing special time with him today.