Happy Halloween!

BOO!  Happy Halloween!  We had a great time this year.  I found a Spiderman costume a week or two after Halloween last year that Howard fell in love with.  Little did I know at the time I bought it, it wasn't just a regular Spiderman costume, but a BLACK Spiderman costume.  Apparently the black Spiderman is the evil one?  Anyway, we have been waiting for nearly 51 weeks to get to wear it out and about.  And man, it was an awesome Halloween!

I found a great deal on a super cute Zebra costume for the little Miss.  She looked adorable!  We took her trick or treating with us.  She was dressed in PJ's (with a onesie and socks under the PJ's), a fleece bunting and her Zebra costume over all that.  She was warm and happy as a clam, err zebra.

We trick or treated early in the day at Brian's work.  That is always fun, all his co-workers ooo and ahhh over both kids.  Howard loves the attention and candy.  He told me this year, "The girls at dad's work just LOVE me.".  :)  I took both kiddos out in the evening while Brian passed out candy to the 100 or so trick or treaters we had.

And yes, in case you are wondering, I have already bought Howard's costume for next year.  He chose Wolverine!  It's SO cool.  He loves the claws.  He loves it so much he was up at 5:30 this morning, changed into it and came woke Brian and I up... yes, I said 5:30.  He hasn't taken it off.

Snot & Greenbluff

It's that WONDERFUL time of year again.  The leaves begin to show their beauty by changing colors, kids are bundling up to play outside, there's a thin layer of frost on the ground each morning and the kids have colds, again!  YUCK!  Though Howard seems to be on the mend, Hazel is right smack in the middle of her cold and completely miserable. 

I would like to pretend that I love fall, after all I normally look forward to this beautiful time of year.  However, we had almost no spring and a too-short summer!  I am ready for a few more 100 degree + days before we go cold.  PLEASE!?

One of my mommy friends had to work today and we were graced with Jacob at our house.  Jacob and Howard have been friends before they knew what friends were.  Brian met Jacob's dad in college, before either were married.  We have become great friends with their family and Howard and Jacob love to play together.  They are even in the same kindergarten class, which we love! 

Today we made plans to take Jacob with us to Greenbluff to visit the pumpkin patch with another one of their kindergarten classmates, Luci and her mom and baby brother.  We know Luci's mom from karate (she's the instructor).  The 3 older kids played so well together while Hazel and Zach (Luci's baby brother) stared at each other and put things that didn't belong in their mouth, in their mouth.  What a perfect day to play and pick pumpkins.  Enjoy the pictures!

Cousins

My 13-year-old nephew, Nick is staying at a long-term care facility for teens who are having difficulty at their homes.  The facility is here in Spokane and so my family has been staying with us a lot more than usual to visit Nick and be involved in family counseling sessions.  This past weekend my sister came over with my niece who is 6 weeks and 6 days younger than Howard.  Alice and Howard LOVE playing together.  She is bossy and he does whatever she tells him to, until a mom steps in to remind Alice she has to stop being so bossy and remind Howard he doesn't have to do whatever she tells him.

I think both kiddos were overwhelmingly tired this visit because they played better than normal together.  No bossing around, just 2 5-year-olds playing great together.  Nick came over for a little bit too.  We made them all pose for pictures, which kids dislike, it takes away from playing time.  Hazel disliked the picture taking the most, but we finally got a great picture of all 4 cousins with the help of my sister.

Howard & Alice

 Hazel letting us know she wanted nothing to do with pictures!

 Finally a great shot, with Aunt Erin's help!

 Erin with her 2 kids, Nick & Alice

 Hazel still wanting nothing to do with pictures!

Frogs!

This past week at school Howard's kindergarten class started their first expedition - FROGS!  The Summit School does project based teaching, which they call expeditions.  They teach science, reading, math, spelling, ect all through and while learning more about frogs.  It's a very fun and cool way to teach.  The kids are able to apply what they are learning to something interesting.

Howard came home from day 1 with frogs and was so excited to tell us they had a REAL dead frog in his classroom with the bones sticking out.  They also have a live frog in the class during this expedition.  I can't wait to see their finished project at the end of the expedition.

Hazel is growing and developing.  I had to move the straps on her carseat this week to make it a little bigger!  She enjoyed having it up in the living room.  It was so much more fun to sit in it in the living room than in the car.  :)

Hazel had started taking out anything we put in her hair to keep her bangs out of her eyes, so we took her in to have her bangs cut.  Let me just say, I am not a fan of bangs on girls with long hair, which I hope Hazel has soon (long hair), but now I totally understand why parents have bangs on their little girls.  Hazel was taking any barret or clip out and trying to eat it.  She is still just as cute as ever and she will have plenty of time to grow her bangs out as she grows.

Hazel is a full, full time walker now.  No more crawling.  And she's starting to test things out, like screaming and turning the tears on in an instant to see if it will get her what she wants.  Oh how I remember stage with Howard.

We've been enjoying a lot of soccer, both on TV and the league games Howard is playing in.  I love this time of year for soccer, cook and crisp, lots of exciting little, rosey cheeked boys. Hazel goes along to games and enjoys making friends with all the players siblings.

What a busy week it's been!

Last week was so busy.  If you ask me what we were busy doing, I don't think I can put my finger on any one thing, just lots of little things.  Soccer practice, karate, school, soccer practice, soccer games... oh and did I mention soccer practice?

Howard just loves soccer.  On the nights he doesn't have practice for one of the 2 leagues he's in, he plays out in the back yard with Brian.  He tells us regularly he wants to have soccer practice 15 days a week.  :)

We have been trying to take full advantage of the last of our summer weather.  I love that it has lasted most of September!  We made it over to Discovery Park one day last week and had the whole place to ourselves.  The kids loved that there was no waiting for a swing and no kids to watch out for.  Hazel loved being able to roam free.  She loves the swings, as long as we don't push her too high.  :)

Howard said this swing reminded him of a roller coaster at Legoland.

Happy as a clam, as long as I didn't push her too high.

She was scared to death to walk though the giant pumpkin.  

 Fascinated with this worm, I think it was just the right size to peak her interest.

Soccer is among us

It's a sure sign the weather is about to change when soccer season starts up.  Howard is involved in 2 soccer organizations right now, the 2 Valley soccer leagues.  Brian is even coaching one of his teams, which Howard thinks is the coolest thing ever!  It helped him realize how cool it was when one of our 8-year-old neighbors told him that he thought it was SO COOL that Howard's dad was coaching one of his teams.  :)

I'm not too sure how I feel about all this soccer.  I mean, Howard loves it, he told us he wants to play soccer 15 days a week.  Right now with the 2 leagues, he has practice 3 days a week and a game or two, or even three every Saturday.  It is taking its toll, Howard is exhausted, but insists on playing it all.  We are taking it day by day, if he's too tired, we hold him back.

Here's some pictures from his game this past weekend.  I'm sure you'll see lots more as the season goes on.  ;)

It feels like fall

Yes, it feels like fall.  BUT, I was watching the weather report and it's expected to be 90 degrees this coming Saturday????  WOW!  I'll take it.  Another day of warm bliss....  ahhh.

Hazel is growing so fast!  I bought several clearance summer items for her for this summer and next summer at the end of last winter.  After having to give away some of the things I had bought for her for this summer because she was bigger than I thought she'd be, I pulled out some of the items I had stashed for NEXT summer, only to see that they are going to just fit her now, at the end of this summer.  So, I had to snap a picture of her in this super cute watermelon outfit that she will get to wear a time or two before it's too cold.

Howard has wanted cowboy boots for as long as I can remember.  We always look for a pair at the used kids stores when we visit.  We have found a few pairs, but his feet are just too tall to get into most boots.  That is... until we found a pair last week that FIT!  He was so excited.  He has worn them a lot, even to school once.

First day of Kindergarten!

I am pretty sure almost every mom finds themselves wondering how the last 5 (or 6) years went by so quickly when their sweet angel enters kindergarten.  I found myself wondering that very same thing!  Really... where did the last 5 years go???  Howard was SO excited to start kindergarten.  Many times during the summer, he would ask, "Do I have preschool today?  Oh wait, I'm a kindergartener now!"  He was half kidding asking about preschool, but he was sure to remind us that he is growing up!

At the end of last school year, Howard was going to preschool 4 mornings each week, so I was pretty sure I was ready to send him off to kindergarten without tears.  I made it through the morning tear-free, however I have to admit, there were so many worrying moments!  Howard is going to Summit School.  Many Spokane area schools offer kindergarten 5 days a week for 3 hours (either in the morning or afternoon).  Summit School has kindergarten 2 days one week, 3 days the other week, it alternates, but they go for full days (6 hours).  I found myself wondering who was going to help him if he couldn't open his juice pouch at lunch?  Or who would help him if he got lost in the school building?  All the little things that weren't concerns for us at preschool.

Howard picked out his first day of school outfit, which included a t-shirt with a pocket on the chest.  He told me he wanted that shirt, "so I have a place to hold my pencils during the day".  :)

I'm happy to report he had a FANTASTIC 1st day!  He got to school and knew 2 class mates - Jacob (a buddy we've known since he was born) and Luci (a friend from karate class).  The play ground was a little overwhelming at first, but as soon as Jacob showed up, I was given permission to leave (by Howard).  He told me his favorite part was recess and his not-so-favorite part was writing the big letter S.

Here's some fun pictures from his first day.

 With his teacher, Mrs. Ellis -

 The play ground is SO BIG!

 Sitting with Jacob.

Sandpoint!

We make a point to go to Sandpoint at least once during the summer.  Last summer we made the trip when Hazel was just a week and a half old!  We made our annual venture this past Saturday.  Joey (Howard's 2nd cousin) was with us for the day while his mom moved into a new apartment.  We decided Sandpoint would be a fun way for the boys to spend the day and if Hazel got tired or fussy, Brian and I could take turns pushing her around town in the stroller.  We found a great shady spot right near the water and set up our stuff.  We packed a lunch and let the boys play.  They played for over 4 hours in the water!  They found lots of fun stuff from logs to the shells of very small shrimp.  It was hot and sunny, a perfect day to be at the lake.  Hazel thought it was just ok.  She ate some sand (her signature "thing" to do at the beach) and enjoyed strolls around town.  After the beach, we all went to Jalapenos, our favorite Mexican restaurant in Sandpoint.  A fun day, for sure and everyone slept incredibly well that night.

Fancy new camera

When I was in high school, I was the head school photographer for 2 years.  I "ran" the dark room at school, with 3 other photographers working with me.  We took, developed and printed photos for the school newspaper and year book.  I loved every second of it.  The dark room was my 2nd home and I loved learning all about pictures and processing.

After high school, I went to college and still held onto the thought of getting back into photography someday.  Well, that day has finally come!!!!  We just bought a very nice, very expensive new camera.  After talking to a lot of people who are into photography, we bought a Nikon D3100.  I have 2 lenses for it and have been practicing taking pictures as much as people and time will allow.  I am falling back in love with it all over again!  I have the pipedream of someday getting into business for myself with children, wedding and senior pictures.  In the meantime, I'll be taking as many snapshots as I can to practice. 

I'm also starting to play with editing software a little, to enhance photos (you'll see a sample of it with Hazel's photo below).  I have a long way to go, but I love having this hobby for just me.

Here are a few shots from this weekend.

Raw image of Hazel:

 Enhanced photo of Hazel:

 Howard wearing a goofy grin, I had the wrong lens on to make this one enhanced much:

Our new favorite hang out

Let's just get this out of the way - We Love Liberty Lake County Park!  I drove out there 2 springs ago, before the park opened to check it out.  I couldn't get into the park, but I drove up to see where it was.  Then a friend called a couple of weeks ago and invited us to go swimming with them there.  I had completely forgot about the park.  And boy... have we been missing out!

We have been going to the park a few days each week, swimming, playing in the sand, and enjoying friends and wildlife.  It's a very affordable way for us to spend a fun day away from TV, video games and the every day life at home (it's $2 per person per day over the age of 6 to get into the park).  Here's a few memories from the park so far this summer.

Howard and Joey getting water for their sand creations!

 Lunch!

 Even Hazel loves the water.

 With Howard's cousin, Nick, the boys have fun digging.

 Howard and Jacob "boating".