out of order…Grandparents’ day

Nana and G pops came a couple of weeks ago for Charlie’s Grandparents’ day at school. I was so glad they could make it otherwise I am not sure who would have gone as his special person yet. When they arrived – Ellie and Claire were showing off their gymnastic skills. The best thing that has come out lately is that the leg that dominated when they were little STILL dominates! How incredible is that!??! When they were crawling – Ellie would crawl her left leg dragging behind and Claire would crawl with her right leg dragging behind. Well – today that looks like this when practicing their single leg hops.

Double leg hop for Ellie

Single leg hop – Ellie on her right leg!

Claire’s double leg hop

Claire’s single leg hop on her LEFT leg. It is honestly amazing to watch and see these small things crop up.

The kids were loving Nana reading so much!

Nana and G Pops went to the Grandparents celebration at Southside and Charlie was delighted.

Charlie in his class (between Maddie and Braxton).

G Pops and Charlie – I have no idea where the under bite came from.

pile on g pops during the crash zone!

Saturday – Bill was on call – so we drove towards Schweitzer Mountain to check out a lot Bill was excited about.

Lily was loving the adventure.

After checking out the lot, we drove up to Schweitzer to take a little hike. I love the views from up here. If only the haze had cleared.

we took some photos on the hike and this is the photo I got from E&C when I begged for normal smiles.

C,E&C

G Pops with his girls.

and more reading with nana!

and g pops!

G Pops did a few projects around the house and the kids assisted.

I don’t really have anything to say about Ellie’s outfit.

SOOO thankful they came as Bill had a busy call weekend. Can’t wait until the next visit!

the day after…

Bill always spread all his candy out on a towel after halloween so saturday morning we started the same tradition. The kids had a blast accessing their candy, grouping it together, talking about their favorites, etc.

then after a few candies they all piled into lily’s kennel – because….why not?

ellie’s new line is: “see lily’s eyes – she sad!”.

Halloween 2014

Halloween started with a morning of prep for school. The girls were going to preschool where Miss Mary was having a party for them so they were all ready to go!

I thought Ellie was going to wear this fairy princess outfit, but then she changed.

Claire ready to go!

Eleanore all ready!

Charlie’s school had PJ day on Halloween. I have always disliked PJ day and still do. I just feel uncomfortable with everyone wearing PJs. the kids were happy though!

Then after a quick afternoon of prep – we were ready for the evening. Bill had a weird late surgery that day (new guy I guess) so I was on my own for costume prep, dinner, answering the early trick-or-treaters. We put on frozen to preparty while eating dinner. 

For the morning I had curled the girls hair. But for the night I did double braids and put on mascara and lipstick. they were so excited. I barely touched the mascara to their long lashes because they kept blinking, but it was still a dramatic look!

E – so pretty

C – so beautiful

after answering the door for awhile we decided to put out a bucket and make a loop. having a neighborhood is so great for this!

Ironman, Elsa A (ellie), Elsa B (claire)

double the fun!

one photo while out trick or treating. so many of our neighbors went all out with the decorations – hiding, spiders, weird noises, it was actually pretty fun.

Bill met us when we had almost finished and landed at the neighbors who were chatting and handing out bud lights to neighbor adults. bill finished up with a few houses and then I met some adorable little trick or treaters at our door.

what a fun night!

current life

we have settled into a nice Fall routine and the weeks are clipping by. With school every morning for Charlie it is amazing how quickly the weeks turn over. We spend most mornings getting Charlie to school and picking him up by 11:45am all days but Tuesday and Fridays. The girls and I spend time at storytime, BSF, and they do preschool Thursday and Friday mornings. Charlie and Bill have been attending BSF on Monday nights and Charlie has soccer one night a week (which ended this week).

our current life is busy despite not being that overscheduled. we have quickly fallen into a routine and our weeks are clicking by. Here are some things that are constant these days.

Little dollies put down for naps or set up for tea around the house. 

I always stumble into them.

we had a couple of great visits with Uncle Tom as he was staying for the night before heading to and from Seattle. the kids love seeing someone and it is great to catch up with Tommy.

Claire’s work – you can see where their help ended.

Ellie’s work

playing the camera’s they purchased with the money they earned.

happy claire.

Charlie saved for a month and then was able to purchase a Hero Factory with his well earned money.

legos allllll over the floor are a constant in Charlie’s room as well. He does clean them up when we put it on his chore chart, but the next playtime they come out instantly.

Charlie’s school work – I love reading what he writes. Typically he has not been willing to try to write things out in fear they won’t be correct. I was so happy to see this when he brought it home. (the fish is escaping from a shark).

he also brought home a booklet that they could fill in however they wanted to. reading his entries really showed what he cares about.

This is a costume for Jack  - our 13 year old neighbor boy who Charlie adores!

although he didn’t draw a picture I love that his second entry was for Addison.

and thirdly – a Ninja for Millie. Oh how we miss our friends the Agars.

This one is classic because Liam was a 5 year old when Charlie was 2-3 and he adored him. he probably hasn’t seen liam for almost 2 years!

with all of his great school success – he still ended up somehow writing his name this backwards/idon’tknowreally. I saw this and my brain couldn’t even figure out how he actually pulled this off.

he does a great job doing his own homework and is very focused when he works on it.

we have our family wall of fame – it is on the wall coming into the house from the garage. I love it and can replace papers after awhile too.

Claire and Ellie are doing a rec Art class on Monday mornings for 6 weeks. Here is Ellie’s project from last week. glad they are free to paint someone though!

Claire’s.

Charlie’s ABCs

These beautiful roses are from our roses bushes. I have never really cut my own roses before and they smell incredible! nothing like store roses!

we hosted a end of the season soccer party yesterday and had a great time! I wish I had taken more photos, but it was busy with lots of kids running around and plenty of good adult conversation. There are 6 kids on Charlie’s team – here is the only picture I could catch of the boys actually sitting. We were feeding them dessert! Otherwise they were outside playing or downstairs wrestling. Our house ended up being great for hosting, which was exciting.

you can see charlie in the far right.

we also color A LOT!!! I am loving this! there are still some fights, arguments, but with markers being washable life is great.

lots of focus!

Bill is loving work and he is pretty available, which we love. The weather has been great this fall and we are enjoying another sunny 70 degree fall day. I am sure these are soon going to be done, but we have enjoyed it! So thankful for all God has blessed us with here!