late October/November 2010

We've been having a fun and busy fall and winter. Basketball is in full swing, which means Josh is gone a lot but life is never boring, thankfully. One fun thing from the last part of October was our church's annual pumpkin carving. This is Bonnie and her friend Brooklynn. These two share a love for princesses and Barbies and LOVE to discuss these things in the middle of church. They are learning self-control together.The kids and I went with Lesley to Arkansas the last weekend in October to go to my cousin's wedding. Dad has the better camera and took most of the pictures, but I did get this one. Unfortunately the kids look not so good in this picture. My dad is a retired Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy, and the groom is in the military so he asked my dad to wear his uniform. So glad we got this picture. We don't get near enough of all of us.
We trick-or-treated with the cousins! It's so fun having them live here! Our neighborhood is awesome for trick-or-treating and we had a great time. Josh stayed in our driveway handing out candy and, I'm told, threatening to call the coach of some jr. high basketball players who were not even in costume and came looking for candy.
Noelle doing her thing:
At a playoff volleyball game...
Kellen is quite the bookworm. Dinosaur books are his favorites.

My dad and Josh's mom came for the kids' Grandparents' Day at school. There was a good program and we all had a good time.



Granddad fixed pancakes for the girls while I went to sign K up for basketball.
At the last soccer game:
Soccer party!!!
Ready for church. Don't you love the tennis shoes on the wrong feet? Hey, I'm just happy because everyone can put on their own shoes now! (However, she did change shoes before we left.)

October 2010

I sat down to write a blog post and looked at my pictures and realized I've taken almost none in October. Not to say that we haven't been up to anything, quite the contrary. I'm teaching on Mondays and Wednesdays, which is going well except it REALLY cuts into my free time! We have soccer for both kids, which is normally 3 or 4 days a week, including practices and games. Kellen is doing great; he's really improved since the spring. Bonnie tolerates soccer (being reminded that this is what she chose to do), but says she'd like to go back to gymnastics. Poor Noelle just has to go with the flow. So here are the few pictures I have so far this month.

First performance of the year at Casa Manana. We have season tickets this year, and this is something the big kids and I really like to do together. The tickets are for Sunday afternoons, so Josh and Noelle come home and take naps. Kellen and Bonnie and I see a show and then go to Central Market for gelato. It's a win-win.
She's not supposed to be on top of the table. Good thing she's cute.
Backstory: My mom made Lesley and me matching clown costumes when we were 2 and 5. Bonnie will not have anything to do with the bigger one. I had Lesley send hers down so I could put it on Noelle. As you can see, she was REALLY enjoying herself.

Pictures

Super Six

We celebrated Kellen's 6th birthday last week. Here is a picture on his actual birthday:We had his party on Sunday and it turned out great. It was a beautiful day, and he had plenty of friends and family come celebrate with him. He wanted a sports/race-themed party, so we had it at a park. The first activity was the three-legged race.
Then we had potato sack races.
After a little break to (as my granddad used to say) stave off the specter of starvation...
...the kids did a tug-of-war. I didn't get too many pictures of it because I was videoing, but it was great. The kids loved the third time we did it, when it was all the kids against all the dads. The whole park joined in.
Kellen is a great kid and a blessing to us. He's a big help in a lot of ways, and Josh and I thank God every day for him.

First Day of School 2010

Here we go again! A week ago, Kellen started Kindergarten and Bonnie went to PreK. I spent a couple of days cleaning up from summertime, and now the house is awfully quiet! Thursday was a chapel day, so K had to wear his fancy shirt. Bonnie gets to be more casual until Kindergarten.


Once she realized everyone was taking backpacks, Noelle insisted on carrying hers, too.
Yay! Bonnie has Mrs. B, who taught Kellen last year. We love this lady. This was a very hard picture to get because Bonnie just wanted to start with the Play-Doh.
What a big boy...his classroom is a few steps away from Bonnie's.
Going home...
Oh, wait...no one to bother me. Noelle hasn't missed a beat, and I'm really enjoying our special time together.

Noelle and I start at the Parents' Day Out next week!

Life of a 2-year-old

Favorite book right now: "Daw Doe" - Go Dog GoEating pizza dough which was supposed to be rising on the counter:
Finders keepers, losers weepers...
Lots of time in the corner...

Noelle's 2nd Birthday

We started today with our traditional birthday trip to the donut shop. Always a favorite time for the children.
Then, we took a little early morning trip to the park, dropped Josh off at physical therapy, went to Dollar Tree, picked Josh up, and had a normal day. My mom and Josh's brother and his family came over for dinner tonight. I had cut up some watermelon, and the girls found it.


Not sure about the candles:
Oops...don't get that close...
She wanted Josh to blow out her candles. We'll try again next year.




Surprise!
She was worn out.
I'm not entirely sure Noelle knows what a birthday is, but when asked she said, "Nee do-day." That means "me birthday." She speaks her own language. Anyway, we had a great day and I think it's official that we have no more babies in our house. Happy birthday, big girl!