Halloween Craft

 

My Halloween craft, inspired by my friends. I mustered up the enthusiasm to be a little crafty for Halloween.  I made cookies and we painted ghost feet on plates. The kids had fun getting their feet painted and Avrie's feet are almost too big for the plate so it was good I did this project this year. Only one more day and my house will be covered in candy wrappers, Oh Joy!

Field Trip

Avrie had her first field trip and her first ride in a school bus. She asks me at least once a week why she can't ride the bus to school and I guess it is not apparent to her that our 3 minute, 2 block walk is not worthy of a bus ride. So today was the big day, she spent all day yesterday telling me who she was going to sit by on the bus ride, I had to explain that no matter how small kindergarten kids were 7 of them would not all fit on one seat.  She tried to convince me that somewhere on that bus was a bench big enough for her and all of her friends.
I had to work so Scott and Kelsie met the school bus at the Pumpkin Patch. Scott was in charge of pictures. They stayed for about 90 minutes and then headed back home thinking that they got plenty of pictures, they made some face time with Avrie at the pumpkin patch and they were good to go.

 Avrie and some of her friends!

 Kelsie just to prove that she is a good big sister and went to the pumpkin patch to give moral support to her baby sister, and who wears flip flops to the pumpkin patch?

 I love how her little glove hands make it look like she has wings sprouting out where her ears should be.

 She was really excited to see the animals.

  Avire's class.
I heard that the mom who was watching her after Scott left lost Avrie and her daughter for about 20 minutes those two are going to be trouble, they think they are so smart now that they are in kindergarten.

It's Coming...

One of her 2 front teeth is coming in. We have been waiting a long time and watching it get ready to poke through, now the other one needs to hurry up!

Moments that Matter

Sometimes I  need a reminder about what matters most. Some days I am in a hurry trying to get all the important things done,  but it is nice to have a reminder that my most important things are all around me talking, playing, arguing, laughing, singing, and making messes!

Yeah I am talking about you two!

Quote for Today

I don't have a quote every day but ran across this one today and thought it was pretty true for me.

"You live inside your parents' lives until, one day, they live inside yours."

This is happening, I can't wait to hear from the older kids that are gone, even if they are only a couple of miles down the road, or an ocean away. I want to hear the details of their lives and be a part of it. Wish I could buy a ticket to Hawaii just to come by and hang out on the beach with Katie and talk.  I get to see McKenzie quite often, and love spending time with her and Tim.  She is doing the same job as I am now, working on getting some experience and planning on going back to get her Master's, hopefully next year. I ran into her at the office today and we will be working together on Friday's so I am excited about that.
Now where is that plane ticket?

81 Days

81 days since it last rained in Bellingham, I think it is a record, I have sure enjoyed the sun and warm days.  But is gone, the rain is back the forecast looks dreary no more sun!  But is was great while it lasted. Soccer games in the sun shine, capri's and tee-shirts, smoothies.

 I took this picture on October 6th, there were people out on the lake wake boarding and having fun all the leaves were green with just a hint of color change.

I took these pictures today, the leaves on the trees have all of a sudden started changing colors 6 days ago everything was still green on the other side of the lake.  Now it is time for sweaters, hot chocolate, and cozy nights by the fire. But wait there are still 3 more soccer games to go hopefully the rain will give us a break on the next couple of Saturdays.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Here is a small list of some of my favorite things, these are just things that make me happy and that I am enjoying right now!

It all started when I heard my new favorite song by Train on this album,

50 Ways to Say Good bye, it has a catchy tune, love the Mariachi band, the lyrics are funny and the video is silly, but when I hear this song I turn up the radio and sing along and it puts me in a good mood.

My favorite TV show right now is Parenthood.

  With my big family I can relate to a lot of the situations on this show, I love the characters and story lines.

My favorite jeans right now are my new Miss Me's.

It was a birthday present from my kids, and my mother in law (thanks for the cash) BTW that isn't me in the picture just in case you were wondering...I would never where 4 inch spikes with my jeans!

In order to fit into my new jeans, which I needed to get because all of my other jeans were too big, I love going to yoga.

It is the only thing I do, as far as exercising goes. I have lost about 10 lbs give or take the day, over the last 2 years since I started going to yoga. I'd like to loose 10 more but I will take what I can get without killing myself with workouts, or cutting out all my favorite foods.  It is a great all over workout, not only does it work every muscle it is great for clearing the mind and I have had a lot of inspiration while lying on the mat at the end of practice. I find it very spiritual as well, I can go in with a lot on my mind or weighing heavy on my heart and can come out feeling able to tackle it all, or at least find an hour of peace away from everything else, and get all hot and sweaty as well.

I go to yoga so I can enjoy these little gems..

I had my first pretzel roll at a family reunion this summer, not actually our family but long time friends, and I was hooked but forgot to find out where they got them or who made such yummy things. Then I went to Costco and found them, and was in pretzel heaven.  I have been limiting myself to one bag a month, but then I came across a recipe on pinterest and thought I would try it, or rather ask Kelsie to try and make them. The first attempt didn't turn out like the ones pictured but they tasted pretty good. But today Kelsie went in search of another recipe and she hit the jackpot they taste and look as good as the Costco ones and we made them at home for a whole lot less, they are kind of spendy at Costco but we will have to limit how often we make them or my old jeans will be fitting again.

Last but not least on my list is a pedicure. I was 40 years old before my friend drug me kicking and screaming to get one.  My feet are big, and ugly and the most ticklish part of my body, so for years I was too embarrassed to show my feet, to the point that I hardly even wore sandals in in the summer. But I did it and now I am hooked and so are my feet. I used to get horrible ingrown toenails, not anymore. For me it is worth it to have healthy nails again, my feet are still big but they are not quite as ugly and I wear sandals all summer long!

Yes these are my real feet, at least half of them, and I know my toes are long as some people's fingers!

The Birds and the Bees

Well in this case it is just about the bees. Our friends have bees, why? I don't know, but they do. I try to kill bees and don't want them anywhere near me, but they are "raising" bees. I know bees are very important I did watch that Seinfield movie...Anyway we were over there a couple of weeks ago and they needed to go "shake" the bees, whatever that means, but Ryan wanted to get in on the action. Now this is a kid that has been stung by several bees and he is allergic to them, he swells up and needs Benadryl not an epipen but he of all my kids should be the most afraid of bees. One time when he was about 2 he was eating a cookie outside and we happened to have a beehive under our deck stairs that we did not know about. McKenzie was outside with her friend watching Ryan and when 2 bees started gathering around the cookie in Ryan's hand McKenzie ran inside to hide from the bees and left her little brother out there to fend for himself, luckily her friend was brave enough to grab Ryan and get the cookie out of his hand and get him into the house. He had 2 bee stings and his hand was huge. Another time he was playing in our back yard, at different house, the day before pre-school started and he got stung on his face close to his eye. It was swollen shut the next day. And the last time he got stung was about 5 years ago right on the side of his nose while playing at the park, again swollen eye. This crazy kid got all dressed up in the bee suit and went and helped do whatever it is to the bees in the hive that needs to be done. He thought it was great fun! And he didn't even get stung!

Doesn't he look cute!!

 Ryan with the crazy bee keeper at the hive!

Job well done!

I am in the back ground pretending that having thousands of bees that close isn't bothering me, but the honey sure was good! What I really love about this is that there are adults in Ryan's life that care about him and love him for the crazy kid that he is!

A Little Worried

After Katie left and Mckenzie left, I was a little worried that Kelsie would be left..without her best friends. The 3 of them have been pretty close and Kelsie has spent her whole life playing catch up with her older sisters. She finally was old enough to hang out with them and then they leave.  McKenzie has been really good about inviting Kelsie along when they are doing something fun or inviting her to just hang out at their place. Kelsie was able to spend 2 weeks with Katie this summer as well. Now it seems that Kelsie and Ryan are now hanging out.

These two are doing things together more often and getting along great. They are only 18 months apart and have not always gotten along. When they were younger we took them to Disneyland I think they were 4 and 5 and it was torture for Scott and I, they could not even stand close to each other without fighting. I remember breaking up a fist fight between the two of them while waiting in line for a ride.  I love to see my kids hanging out and being there for each other.

This is for you Katie!

There is a great spot to take a picture of the fall leaves, I am sure there are a lot of great spots but this one is one we drive by almost everyday and one that Katie took a great picture of a couple of years ago. Every time I drive down this road and the leaves are changing I think of you! So as we were coming home from soccer on Saturday I snapped a few pictures. We actually stayed about 20 minutes the girls were having fun gathering the leaves and throwing them in the air, and dancing around!

To Know them is to Love Them!

It was so nice outside the other day I took the girls outside to take some pictures, and that is when I saw the deer and cat, so now here are the pictures of the girls, Avrie doesn't take a bad picture there are always so many cute ones of her. Destina is pretty cute too!

I love the moon in the background!

None of these photos are edited, don't have time for that lately, but these are some pretty cute kids.
I still, on occasion, go back in time to the decision we made to adopt and what a blessing they are to our family. I have made a lot of stupid decisions in my life, this was not one of them. These girls belong in our family, they deserve to have the life they are living. I sometimes wonder if Avrie's big personality would have come out had she stayed in Haiti fighting each day for survival. She is such a social butterfly, as I was walking her to school today I asked her if she wanted me to walk her to her class and she said yes, then the next instant I turn around to hold her hand and I look back and she has slowed down and is walking next to a little boy from her class talking to him. She looks at me and I can tell she has found a friend and doesn't need me to walk her to class.  She came home yesterday from school and told me that her and her best friend Eva cannot sit by each other during work time because they talk too much. She told me there was a new boy in class that didn't speak English very well and she sat by him and helped him with his work. 
I have learned so much from these two sweet girls, anyone who takes the time to get to know them loves them.