Emma's Halloween Joke

Silverwood's Halloween Carnival

The excitement of Halloween is here! Emma and Camden both ran into the bathroom yesterday morning when I was getting ready for school and shouted, "BOO! Happy Halloween!" Here they are heading out the door to school(Thanks Aunt Jessi for the cute shirts!). It's Dora and Diego ready for the Halloween Carnival at Silverwood!
Diego trying out my witch hat. :)

Diego loved the fishing game...

Dora was a pro at the beanbag toss...

Trunk or Treating (in the rain!)

Visiting Miss Susan at the playhouse for some goodies.

Dora and Diego were professional Chicken Dancers!

Emma waited all night for the cake walk. She held Camden's hand the whole game and finally won a cake. She was a little bummed that the cat cake we had made was already gone.

Kickin' back at the end of the night with the cute little pumpkin cake they won.

Henry Goes to Washington

Last week Henry (Emma's beloved stuffed dog) was lucky enough to be Chris's travel companion to Washington, D.C. We received many pictures of Henry via cell phone and the kids shrieked with excitement every time they heard my phone beep with a new text message.

I will admit that it was tough on Emma, Camden, and I to miss out on such an important trip. After all, we do consider ourselves to be Chris's biggest cheerleaders. We are so proud of Chris competing in the Marine Corps Marathon and send a big thanks to Pops, Tim, and Henry for filling in as his support crew. Check out Chris's Running Blog for the full rundown on his trip.

Chris sent a picture of Henry in front of the White House to my cell phone on Friday. When Emma saw it, she exclaimed, "Henry's at Obama's house!"

300 Memories

October 2, 2007 was the beginning of the Kasparek Family Memories. Here we are two years later and I'm writing my 300th post.

I had the idea to start this blog because we were starting a new chapter in our lives. We'd just made our big move from Japan to Washington and I wanted to have a way to really stay connected with the friends we said good-bye to in Japan and those 4 VIPs in Iowa (a.k.a. the grandparents).

Little did I know that this would become a living scrapbook that I hope Emma and Camden can look back on one day. We've shared lots of laughs and this has also been a journal for us to work through some tough times.

I know there are at least 3 million memories we've made in the past 2 years and I've tried to capture as many as I could on film. Chris will tell you that I am always taking pictures with a blog in mind. As soon as we get in the door, I have the urge to go blog about the memory we've just made.

Thank you to our loyal readers. I know that even if no one looked at this blog, I'd still cherish every word of it.

Here's to many more memories!

Tattoo Torture

Emma got a pirate ship tattoo at school yesterday and proudly showed us how she could put it on her arm all by herself. Being the wonderful big sister that she is, Emma asked her teacher for a tattoo for her brother and was very excited to help Camden put his on this evening. Here's the big reveal!!!!!
Seconds later: sheer freak out!!!! The Jolly Roger on Camden's arm scared him to death, so I quickly scrubbed it off.

Checking to make sure I got it all...

No more tattoos for me!

Love My Boys!

Look at this teamwork! My 2 favorite guys working away vacuuming-a girl's dream! :)

Cheering on the Hawks

How about those Hawkeyes?! A perfect way to spend a rainy Saturday morning-watching college football. I will say that Chris was a little edgy coming into the 4th quarter and Emma did have to remind him, Dad, it's just a game. :)

(did you notice he's moved from eyes closed to a one-eyed squint now?)

Fuzzy Feet

Emma found 2 pairs of Elmo slippers buried in Camden's closet this morning. After our trip to the grocery store in a monsoon, they needed to warm up their feet and couldn't have looked cuter! :)

"I Winned My First Trophy!"

That was Emma's reaction to her trophy presentation tonight! The Red Robins finished their soccer season and celebrated with a party at their namesake restaurant. On the way home, Emma told me, "I want to go to soccer every day!" We're so glad she enjoyed playing and can't wait until next season! ;)

They're Back!

Last month we had a real kick in the gut. Our external hard drive, with every picture and video we've taken in the last 2 years, bit the dust. Essentially every memory from this: to this:
had vanished into computer limbo. After saying a few prayers, Chris rushed off to Best Buy to see if the Geek Squad could work their magic. The hard drive was sent to the Geek Squad Empire in Kentucky and after hearing:
"Your hard drive is the worst it could possibly get."
"We're going to take it into a static free room and we think we can recover everything."
Our new external hard drive has returned home with everything in its place.
Lesson to us all: that external hard drive you're told to back up everything on needs a back up of its own! :)

Have You Seen My Princess Gloves?

Leave it to our Emma girl to think that the little panty hose footies she got at the shoe store yesterday were glamorous princess gloves. :)

Soccer Star!

Here is a little peek at Emma playing soccer. She has on a red jersey and pink socks. Watching six 4 year-olds play soccer is true entertainment!

Fabulous Fall!

October is here and I'm trying to convince Emma that she doesn't need to ask, "long sleeves or short sleeves?" anymore. Bring on the sweaters and jackets-fall has arrived! It was a rather hectic week for the Kaspareks with Camden battling his first case of the flu (we consider ourselves blessed that he's never had the flu before). Chris and I took turns staying home with him 2 days this week and I'm happy to say he is back to his old self again!

Thursday was my marathon trip to Mount Saint Helens with my 3rd and 4th graders. 21 kids and 12 adults-we had a great time! There was definitely a taste of winter in the air and the volcano was looking beautiful!

Here is Camden harvesting some apples:

And Miss Emma being her cute self: