The Cheese Challenge

Our photogenic little guy is facing a challenge right now. When he says cheese, his eyes close. He's been practicing his winking skills lately and sometimes he tries to wink when he smiles. He does look awfully darn cute ready to cheer on Iowa, but I'd love to see those gorgeous hazel eyes! Here's to hoping we can overcome this challenge before our holiday pictures...

Emma's First Horse Ride

Claire invited Emma to go to the Puyallap Fair (a.k.a. Washington State Fair) yesterday afternoon. When Emma came bounding through the door last night, the first thing she said was, "I rode a horse!" Here she is riding Honey with a big smile on her face. She told us that she would like Honey to come live at our house and that he can live on the front porch and eat grass in the front yard. :)

Our BIG Helpers

Our favorite little kids have become quite the big helpers lately! Sunday afternoon the girls were inside doing some chores and the boys were outside doing yard work. It sure is more fun with Emma and Camden's twist on getting things done. I wonder if they will be so eager to help out with they are teenagers. I'll have to bring up this post in 10 years. :)

Fame-Emma Style

With all the hype about the new Fame movie coming out, I realized that I don't think I ever saw the original movie. When I opened our latest Netflix earlier this week and saw that it had come,I couldn't wait to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon watching the movie. With Chris at the UW football game, and both kids resting, I was one happy gal this afternoon.

Then just a few hours later, I had my own little future student of the High School of Performing Arts doing her thing.

Belle the ballerina.

(Dancing along to Barbie Swan Lake on T.V.)
Belting out A Whole New World on her own homemade stage.

Costume Change

Mulan showing off all her moves.

Great form on that kick!

And finally, a family picture that I adore!

Mama's Boy

Who could resist those eyes......or that smile? This mama sure can't! :)

B-A-N-A-N-A Bread

For the past month +, every time Emma opens the freezer and sees the brown bananas sitting there, she asks, "Mom, can we make banana bread?" Today she was thrilled when my answer was, "YES!" I thought we'd have a bread making day. It's September and I'm starting to crave some pumpkin bread. Nevertheless when I reached down to pick up some canned pumpkin off the shelf at the grocery store this morning, it was completely bare. Come on now! Fall starts next week and there is no canned pumpkin?!?! So, my little bakers and I had to be content with one delicious loaf of banana bread.

I've learned that if a recipe calls for 1 cup of something, I use my 1/2 cup measuring cup and they each get a turn-magic!
I stirring super fast, Mommy!

GOAL!!!!!!!!!!

Today was Emma's first soccer game! Her team, the Red Robins, has been practicing for the past month and today was the first official game. Here's the team in their pre-game huddle (Emma's #23).This was Emma most of the game, trotting around the field chasing after the ball. From time to time she'd look over at the sidelines to see if we were watching...
Here she is at a kickoff... In the last quarter she broke away from the group with the ball and scored a goal!
I was too excited cheering that I only got a picture of the high five with coach afterwards.

The Princess and Pirate Party

Sunday afternoon we helped Claire celebrate her 5th birthday-princess and pirate style. Emma decided her flower girl dress from Jessi's wedding would be the perfect dress for a princess. Not just any princess...a pirate princess. The pirates and princesses on a treasure hunt.

(Camden was trying his hardest to keep up with them!)
Time for a little dancing. I think Emma was so busy singing, she could have cared less about the hand moves.

the Chicken Dance...

Princess Emma and her favorite dance partner.

Camden wasn't too sure about the pinata...

Happy Birthday, Claire!

Summer in September

We had to take advantage of 80 degree weather on a September Saturday. It would have been a great day to be at a football game, but Camden, Emma, Claire and I headed to the beach. We had a wonderful afternoon at Faye Bainbridge State Park. Emma found a dinosaur tooth on the beach!
Adorable Claire! I rigged up her dress over her monkey bar shorts so she could wade like the pro that she is. Miss Claire is definitely a Washingtonian-she can brave the cold water!

Camden was watching some other kids ride drift wood like a raft in the water. He would sit on the log and then when a wave came up, the cold water made him run for shore!

Emma testing out the water with her toes.

Camden tested the water and then rolled in the sand

(point #1,452 that boys are different than girls!)

Nothing like a day at the beach with good friends!

The finale to our fun afternoon: a ride on the tire swing.

Camden the Brave

Camden was our big brave boy this morning getting his haircut. Oh what a difference 6 months makes! When he got his first haircut he cried buckets. Haircut #2 was given by Babi while he was sleeping. 3 times was the charm. He sat on my lap and was an angel. He's a new man!

We Kind of Missed You, Rain

I know Chris is not sharing my opinion since he got caught in a huge down pour on his 16 mile run today, but I cannot remember the last time we had a cool rainy day. It definitely felt like fall today.

Cutie pie Camden ready to head outside... I felt a cool breeze coming from Emma's room when she was "resting" this afternoon. I walked in and found her wrapped up in her bathrobe and blankets (It's cold, Mom!), in front of her wide open window, watching it rain.

Cute Kid Alert

My 2 favorite kids were looking extra cute this morning as we headed out the door to church, so I thought I'd share a few pics. :)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (for Chris)

Why you ask? It's college football season! I will say that my beloved definitely had a certain pep in his step Saturday morning. Nothing like a football game at 9:00 to get your day started. Our alma mater: UNI vs. Iowa. I was a little torn over who to cheer for. Chris on the other hand had no hesitation what so ever. It was Iowa all the way, baby!
Chris did scare the bahooies out of the kids yelping for joy at the end of the game when Iowa blocked not one, but two UNI field goal attempts (and about went into cardiac arrest in between when the refs were talking about it).
Chris headed to Seattle last night for the first UW game of the season and had an awesome time, despite the loss to LSU. It wasn't Kinnick Stadium, but he said it sure felt good being a part of college football again.

Fun vs. Disaster

I'm sure thousands of parents have had this debate in their heads. You walk into a room that looks like this: and the first reaction is, "What a mess!" I will say that I cringed as I walked by Emma's room yesterday afternoon. If I hadn't spent the past 3+ weeks cleaning and organizing my classroom for the upcoming school year, I don't think my reaction would have been quite the same. After taking a deep breath and deciding to grab the camera, I realized there was sure a lot of fun going on in that room!

Wicked

I found out Wicked was coming to Seattle last spring and told Chris all I really wanted for Mother's Day was a ticket to the show. I put an email out to the fine ladies of Silverwood School and we planned a night on the town. Tracy, Yvonne, Sherri, and I enjoyed a delicious dinner at the Purple Cafe (check out that 2 story wine collection behind us!) and then headed to the Paramount Theater. I absolutely LOVED the show. The 2 leads' voices were phenomenal and the finale at the end of the first act gave me goosebumps. It was definitely an unforgettable night!