Spirit Week and Halloween

The kids got into spirit week this year, but I only got a few pictures:

Crazy Hair Day:

Jane is sporting a waterbottle, wrapped with a large elastic headband, and topped with a fabric hair flower.  Rat's Nest hair, you ask?  Nope, these are all flowers and butterflies, thank you very much!

 Alex is showing off his lovely bedhead, while Becky demonstrates backwards hair day.

Crazy Sock Day (Thanks to their Aunt Melissa.  They switched socks on Crazy Sock day so they had one of their own and one of their sibling's):

Halloween Parade:

Alex is an army dude:

Becky is a beautiful princess: 

Jane is Hermione from Harry Potter: 

James is a jealous Buzz who wants to be Woody:

Halloween:

I didn't get any pictures of them trunk-or-treating, but I did get a picture of the 4 of them together just before everyone passed out for the night. haha!

Random Happenings...

First up on the random list:

My nephew's birthday was snake themed, so I decided to try this tutorial I found on UCreate:

It was interesting.  A couple things I learned: ties were not made to be stuffed (it might be easier next time to make my own template instead of having to sew along the back seam to keep it closed); and my kids thought they were great whips.  Apparently they didn't look very snake-like to them. haha

Next on the random list:

Old-school Lakewood 3rd Ward Youth Reunion.  I was going to say High School Reunion, but all these people went to different high schools, so that doesn't apply.  Anywhooo...

Sean has some great friends from his youth days that we still keep in touch with and whenever they come back into town we all have to get together.  It had to be one of the hottest days of the year (note James' red face), but the kids were entertained with a sprinkler and mini pool and the parents stayed in the shade, so it ended up being a blast!



Third on the random list:

Our littlest (and cutest) soccer fan:

Harley was so great to come to the games and beat the heat.  Look how "cool" she is! haha

Randomness #4:

Family Harvest Party. 

Dusty and Melissa came into town and organized (with Lis) a Harvest party.  The food was delicious and the games were hilarious!  Team 2 won (I have to throw that in since I was on team 2! haha) and it was so fun to see everyone argue and banter with each other.  Monroes are competitive, but hilarious!

Harley shows off her clapping skills.

James was in charge of leading the music (with the help of Uncle Dusty).

 Haha, our red eyes match our shirts!  And I'm too lazy right now to fix it, so deal. haha  This is part of team 2, thank you very much! :)

Our Thanksgiving Jeapordy game.  It was HILARIOUS!



"What did you win?" you ask?  A huge bag of candy, of course!

Last Randomness:

Becky shares her load with James, and he's quite happy to help out.

James loves picking up the kids from school.  It is the happiest part of his day.  The saddest part?  Dropping them off.

Soccer!

Opening Ceremonies for the kids' soccer season was the Saturday after school started.  We all headed over for team pictures and to join in  the fun, but we got there a bit early, so we played at the park for a bit:

When it was time to go James was NOT at all excited to trade the ball and bat for watching his siblings get pictures taken:

The kids are having a GREAT time playing soccer and love being involved with a team.

First Day of School

The first day of school brought a lot of excitement at our house! I was determined this year to get everyone up early so we wouldn't have to rush the picture-taking process.  Overall we were up and ready in record first-day time!

All the kids looked spiffy in their new clothes.  They had these picked out weeks before! (All except James, who didn't really care what he wore as long as it included  his Buzz/Woody boots).

After our photo shoot we got in the car and headed off to school.  We parked in our normal spot, and when we got out of the car James realized this was the real deal:

Not to worry, though.  He perked up after we dropped Alex off in his classroom and daddy was there to take our picture:

 Then James got a picture with daddy:

And then we celebrated in first-day-of-school fashion - we went out to breakfast!  Just James and me at Mimi's Cafe where he colored and I had the most amazingly huge hot chocolate!

Which, of course, I shared:

All in all it was a successful first day experience. :)

The Last Hoorah

The first item on our Summer To-do list ended up being the VERY last thing we did!  We painted the girls' room:

We're excited to get some new bedding to match their new color.  I know we kinda did it backwards, but it'll all work out, I'm sure. :)

John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl!

Sean and I celebrated mom's birthday by going to the Hollywood Bowl:

(Sorry for the blurry pictures, my hand isn't that steady when it's chilly out.)

He played all our favorites, except for Jurassic Park, but if he did everything we'd have no incentive to go back next year.

Yeah, right.  We'd still go back!

The best part had to be when he played the Star Wars theme music and everyone pulled out their light sabers.  THAT was cool!  When he turned around at the end of the score and saw all the people waving their sabers he was touched and played some more.

This has to be one of our favorite summer traditions!

Diary of a Traveler - Last Two Days

My last two days in Seattle consisted of a lot of rest, packing, and more cleaning. :)

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family!  I couldn't have made this trip without the support from such a fabulous husband, who lets me have these vacations with my parents and sister without the worry of how the kids are doing and how everyone is getting on.  I love you, honey! Smooch!!

I also couldn't have made this trip without the support ($$) from my parents.  They are so generous to give me not only their time, but their financial support to come invade their home, eat their food, borrow their cars, and simply do what I please.  They are the best parents and I am so grateful they are mine! :)

Just before I headed out to the airport to come home I snapped a few pictures of Ollie (my parents' doberman in the red bandanna) and his pals from next door (two rottweilers):

They are such good pals and LOVE playing together. 

And now I'm home, enjoying my family once more.  Boy, what busy lives we lead!