Anticipating Halloween (part I)

I must admit that it's not just my kids that love Halloween... I too love this holiday.  It's just so fun with the decorating, the months of costume discussions & planning, trips to the pumpkin farms, school parties and all of the beautiful fall colors.  Sooooo, I wasn't surprised when Luke started asking me at the beginning of September if we could start setting out all of our Halloween and fall decorations!  I put him off as long as I could, but we finally got the totes out last Saturday and had a fun afternoon of setting things up around the house.  As you'll notice from the following pictures, I love the 'cutesy' Halloween decorations. 

 Every year at this time I make a trip to downtown Sumner where they have a number of darling little shops.  I always find something new to add to my 'cutesy' collection.  This was my latest aquisition...

I got these cute little decorative pumpkins in Sumner too...

Just love the owl that Luke made in school last year...

Well, as I mentioned earlier, this is going to be a two-part blog entry because...

 Every year Luke has been asking us to add some scary decorations and we've slowly added a couple of things here and there to appease his want of all things gory (spider webs, a plastic skeleton, and even a realistic bat that we hang by the front door).  Well, apparently these things have been a little too tame for his taste and this year he has asked us to up the ante a bit.  This is the reason for the two part blog entry.  Tonight when I got home from the Seahawks game I was in for quite a surprise... apparently Luke and Daddy visited the Halloween Superstore!  It was quickly getting dark, so I only had time to take this one photo, but it will give you an idea of the direction our Halloween decorations are going...    

more photos (and possibly a video) of how Luke and his dad transformed the front porch!

Go Seahawks!

Fabulous day with my fabulous friend Dorothy!  Her hubby works for the Seahawks organization, so I was the special friend of the weekend who got to enjoy an exciting and awesome game in great seats on the 40yard line! 

We started out the game with a 24 oz. Bloody Mary and perusing the program and choosing who we thought were the cutest players... then the Seahawks scored a touchdown and from that point on we became engrossed in the game!  I can't remember the score exactly (maybe 27 - 20), but it was a fun one! 

Fall has Arrived

Fall is here in the Northwest.  It's my favorite season.  Beautiful, warm colors.  Crisp days.  And delicious baking smells.  

Spent a few minutes replacing dead daisies with fall mums.  Affordable way to bring a smile to my face when I'm pulling in the driveway.  I hope it makes the neighbors happy too... thanks for the coleus Lisa!

Fresh from the Garden

This morning on the way to the bus stop Luke asked if he could make dinner.  Well, I'm no fool!  I was all over it!  He couldn't remember the name of what he wanted to make, but among the ingredients he requested I have on hand were meat (ground beef) and soup (cream o' something).  Then, after mixing & heating it up with some spices he served it on a bed of farfalle.  It was basically a poor man's stroganoff and even though it was delicious, I just couldn't bring myself to take a photo of it because, well, it kind of looked like dog food.  :)  But, it was the best darn dog food... I mean stroganoff that I've ever had!  The gorgeous part of the meal was the salad that he made. 

He picked some green and red leaf lettuce, roma tomatoes, pole beans, pea pods and a couple of different varieties of carrots.  I just think it's the neatest thing to be able to go out in your garden and pick food right out of the soil and serve it up immediately for a meal.

He put this lovely salad together all by himself!

What Summer Looked Like

Summer just flew by (like I'm sure it did for everyone) and I just never found the time to keep up with my blog, so I've decided to sum up our summer with some photo highlights and a few words...

CANNON BEACH

SEASIDE

THE FOURTH ON ANGLE LAKE

RECONNECTING WITH THE DES MOINES NEIGHBORS

WAKEBOARDING AT MOSES LAKE

LEARNING TO WAKEBOARD AT MOSES LAKE

MORE ANGLE LAKE FUN

A DAY SPENT AT SEATTLE CENTER AND THE SPACE NEEDLE

IT WOULDN'T BE SUMMER WITHOUT GOING TO THE DRIVE-IN A COUPLE OF TIMES

SUMMER DAY CAMP

COUSIN TIME IN MALIBU

COUSINS LAUGHING TOGETHER ...NOTHING BETTER!

BUILDING SAND CASTLES IN VENICE

JUMPING IN THE WAVES IN VENICE

WE FINALLY MADE IT TO LEGOLAND NANA!

DOING AN AWESOME THING IN OUR DOWN TIME (THEY RAISED $42 AND A BOX OF FOOD THAT DAY!)

LOTS OF WONDERFUL TIMES AT THE KSTC... thanks Dawn!

OVER 25 POUNDS OF DELICIOUS BLUEBERRIES THAT WE'LL BE ENJOYING THROUGH THE FALL & WINTER...

I wish it could've lasted a little bit longer, but I have enjoyed getting back into old routines and schedules.  We feel so lucky to have had such a fabulous summer doing amazing and fun things with family and friends!  I'll have to keep referring back to these photos to get me through the monsoon season!  :)

Friends, Fires & Fried Onions

Different cities, busy sports schedules, jobs, school and just a whole lotta life make it very difficult to connnect with friends and it's been many months since we've been able to spend some good, quality time with our friends Jake and Max!  We've really missed them so we were excited when we were finally able to fit in a sleepover this past weekend.  After only a few awkward shy teenage moments the kids were able to pick up right where they left off in May!  Hayley and Jake have known each other since they were nine months old and I just love the fact that they're still awesome buds.   

Most of the games are the same... they all still love the trampoline, roasting marshmallows, board games, Nerf gun wars and the Wii...

But the cell phone & texting were extremely popular this time around...

Jake had mentioned that his Uncle Pat had made the most awesome Onion Rings this summer.  This immediately made my mouth water and inspired me to try to make them myself for the first time!  They aren't as intimidating as they seem... just very time consuming.  They were delish!

We sure had a great time with the boys and no one threw up on my watch, so I consider our time together a great success!  We love you guys!

Back To School(s) 2010

This is the day that has been long awaited by at least one of my kids.  She started middle school today and she's been looking forward to this day since the last day of school last year!  Luke, on the other hand, would love to continue his summer indefinitely.  Big surprise there.  This year is a bit sad for me because my kids will never be in the same school at the same time ever again.  That also means for the next six years they will never be on the same schedule... ugh.  From here on out I anticipate not getting much information about school happenings, friends, & teachers because a) I have an almost teenager who is not interested in sharing as much with me and b) because I have a nine year old boy who never thinks anything about school is worth discussing!  :)  I'll have to find other information resources this year...  

Only three at the bus stop this year.  Can't believe Miss Nora is starting school!  Time slips by so quickly!

Luke giving me an embarrassed little wave good-bye...