A Weekend Away...

Probably not the post you were expecting! My sister and brother-in-law went away for the weekend...so the littles stayed with grandma and grandpa. Well, you can imagine since we are grandma and grandpa's neighbors...we also have the littles for the weekend. Landen has become extremely comfortable crossing the yard by himself (sometimes without notifying anyone!) This weekend away also landed on our church family's annual Thanksgiving Banquet! Of course we gotta get all cleaned up for the event! Here is grandpa and Kyla...ready to go! Matching even!!! (that part wasn't even planned!)

 Landen....hair spiked up and clothes changed!!! All ready to go...HANDSOME!

 It took about 10 tries...but I finally got an "okay" picture of Kyla on her own! Side note...she is much too familiar with the phone...finds it no matter where it is located and immediately puts the phone to her hear and says "HI" or "HEY" too cute!

 Landen was SO good once we got to the banquet! He literally colored and listened to the speakers the entire time! He was so excited to go this year...he asked me approximately every 10 minutes if we could leave for the banquet! On the way there he wanted to be assured that he was going to be early...when he saw all the cars in the parking lot he told me in a very grumpy/bossy voice "Great, we're late!" I quickly reminded him that we were actually 1 minute EARLY!

When we got home it was time for baths!!! Landen and Ky were both a little under the weather so it just seemed like a good idea to get all clean and warm before bed! Landen took a big boy shower...

 ...while Kyla took her bath in the kitchen sink...check out that sweet smiley face!

 Of course we had Joe Boxer too! He definitely missed his daddy while they were gone! (I think even more than the littles!)

We had a great weekend with the littles and are glad to "practice" parenting...and it is a quick reminder of how amazing my sister and brother-in-law are for doing this parenting business all the time! (and for raising two sweet kids!) Thanks for sharing them with us!

Happy Birthday!...and Our Update...

It was Ben's birthday on Tuesday so we were off to his favorite place to eat, Herb Niemans. He got his usual Cajun Steak...and we both got dessert...not something we do very often! It was so nice to go out to dinner for a date after the past few crazy months! 

 

Here is a little update:

-Ben just finished up another season of coaching football...it was a fun season and I went to a lot of the games this year! (Including Friday Harbor...in the rain!)
-I don't know how this happened, but I am going to school again! I am taking an online class (one a quarter) until summer...to earn a certificate in Teacher Leadership. This keeps me a little busy along with my role in the school with implementing these new structures. But what a great opportunity!?!
-We have decided to make our house a little bigger...so we are adding on! We looked around at other places and decided, there just isn't a house out there that we like as much as ours. Plus we love where we live and who we live by! It was a little bit of a process but we finally have our building permits and everything is a GO! We are preparing ourselves and our house for the addition and hope to start by the end of the month! Yippy!
I am hoping to keep you updated on the house progress...it will be a good reason to blog...!  Until then, enjoy this beautiful Fall Season...I LOVE IT!

Little Helper

On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday I teach an after school program called PACE. My mom often comes and reads with kids during this time, but last week she had Kyla with her. We weren't sure how it would go with the little lady, but she is so good. She loved sitting on Grandma-Grandma's lap and listening to little first graders read!

Some how I know it wont be long and she will be a first grader learning to read! Time sure does fly!

Big Boy!

Landen was asking for a new Seahawks jersey for his birthday. Uncle Ben and I bought him a jersey when he turned 1...and let's just say it has been well worn...and is a touch small. We bought him this new one for his 5th birthday...he thinks he is pretty cool. With the way this kid is growing I'm not sure it will fit him next football season! But he sure looks cute (excuse me I mean COOL) in it now!

A Girl and Her Cake-Pop!

My sister has turned into the the Cake-Pop queen...and this little princess absolutely loves them. She eats them as fast as her Mommy makes them. Can you say Junk Food Junky??

Silly Puppy...

Our sweet little dog is a little picky about which toy he plays with these days...Here he is IN his toy box trying to find the right toy.

Bathing Beauty

Remember when we had beautifully WARM sunny weather? Well sometimes bath time is more fun outside...This sweet little girl is growing up way too fast! We love you so much Kyla...

Did Someone Say Soccer?

Landen is extremely into ALL sports...you name it, he loves it. My sister heard about a soccer clinic starting this Fall, she checked into it before telling Landen about it, and it was a go. Naturally to play soccer you have to have the right gear. My sister went to a great second hand sports store in Lynden and got him all set up! Such a smart idea...!

The real trick was getting him to take this stuff off!!!!!!

It's That Time of Year...

I am not sure how I managed, but I talked my teaching partner into reorganizing all of our classroom books.  There were TONS of books in our room, she is so good at figuring out categories for books...so she piled them up and I came up with a system for organizing...it was a HUGE job...

 ...during the sorting crazy...

 

 After the sorting and classroom rearranging...

 

 I wonder how long these books will stay organized??? There was some definite teaching around where we put books back in our classroom!

 

Not bad for a days work....One of the best parts of teaching....ORGANIZING!!! I'm an addict!

Fair Day 2

That's right... I am back on the blogging ban wagon! AND I am back posting! I have so many pictures that I meant to blog, I have to put them up! WAY back in August, we went to the fair with my sister and her two sweet kiddos. This was our adventure!

 

 Sweet Kyla Joelle! We weren't sure how long she would last at the fair, it was so very hot! Our plan was to see how she would do and when she had enough Mommy would take her home, and Uncle Ben and I would finish off the night with Landen at the fair...turns out...she did AWESOME and we all stayed til dark!

 Landen and I had corn dogs for dinner...and not just any corn dog..."World's Best Corn Dogs!" I don't know if they were the best...but they were huge!

 Look at this sucker...no tricky camera angles...it was that big!!!

 And what fair would be complete without games!!! There were only 3 play til ya win games...and those are the kind this Auntie likes!

Oh, and of course the amazing prizes...I think he walked away with two of these fabulous blow up balls...because choices were a touch limited!

Playing the same game...AGAIN....

Yep...there's the second one!!! .

Meanwhile, Uncle Ben and Ky Ky were drinking some strawberry lemonade...

None of us thought Landen would go on rides...he has enter a stage in his life where he is extremely cautious! To our surprise he went on rides and he went on them ALONE! We were all so surprised and proud of him for being so brave!

Down the big slide!!!

And onto the poofy landing mat!

 



Hydrating...very important!

 

After this "ride" we (the grown ups) decided we liked the rides we could see him in at all times...this one made all of us a little nervous...

We ran into Maddie (a fellow football coach's daughter) and she let Landen feed her goat peanuts!

We learned Kyla doesn't just like...she LOVES cotton candy!

She kept a close eye on this bag all night...

Landen on the other hand LOVES bubble gum ice cream from the Dairy Women's booth!

There was some serious blue stain on that cute little face...kids like the weirdest things! (although I hear this is also his Daddy's favorite ice cream too!)

On our walk back to the car Uncle Ben said "My dogs are barkin" and Landen said "What are you talking about? What dogs?" Once we explained what that meant he informed Uncle Ben that his dogs were barkin too...so he got a ride all the way back!

 

I had totally forgotten about my funnel cake...so I had to grab it on the way out...but I ate it as soon as I got home...so here is my last yummy fair treat of the year!

 

We had a great time at the fair with the people we love...can't wait until next year!!!!