H*A*L*L*O*W*E*E*N

          Happy Halloween!

 I think the scariest part of this Halloween might be the mold that is growing on that pumpkin and the rat we saw running across the street in our neighborhood while trick or treating.  Here is our pumpkins in all their glory.Our pumpkin carving wasn't the greatest. Mitch wasn't around to help carve so after I finished carving four pumpkins with a little "too much help" I was a bit cranky.  Have to say...glad that is over!

The Seahawk

Cam originally wanted to be Usain Bolt for Halloween but after finding this helmet at Party City his mind was changed permanently. 

Super Girl

Super girl was a little scared to go to any house that looked scary and stuck close to Dad when going door to door.

Olivia

What can I say?  Super cute.

The Chicken and the Cheerleader

Lucy was the cheerleader at the Ward Halloween Party and the warm Chicken on Halloween night.  Can you guess which costume Mitch bought her?

A little blast from the past----Past chickens of yesteryear:

  

 We also had some guests come with us to our Ward Halloween Party last Saturday night! What a cute bunch of kids!

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!  We will spend the next few days gorging ourselves with candy!!  Our blood sugar around here is a little HIGH!

Thou Shalt Not Covet Costco

Why is it that every time I go to Costco I want at least one of everything in the store?  Well make that two!  I seriously want everything that is in the bakery to the whole aisle of cleaning supplies, clothing, canned food, gadgets, etc... No wonder I try not to go more than once a month or we would be broke!  The other day while I was trying to show some restraint in buying while walking up and down the aisles, I watched a man on a machine that cleans/squeegees the concrete floor.  I thought to myself, "Wow that is an awesome machine and the floor is SO clean, I need one of those!"  I think I might need professional help with my Costco addiction.

This fall I bought the kids some really cool winter jackets from Costco.  On the first day that was cold I was with Cameron on a field trip.  I think that about half his class was wearing the same coat (different colors) from Costco and then when I went to the bus later that day more kids had the same coat on too.  I might not be alone on this........

Natalie's Zoo

Grandpa Swany was getting rid of a great big white board that he had and we took it home and found a place for it.  The kids LOVE it.  The other day Natalie was hard at work drawing on it.  When I came into see what see was doing she informed me that she was drawing a zoo.  It was so cute:

Field Trips

The month of October has been full of field trips. 

Cameron and I went with his class and visited the Shadow Lake Bog.  It was interesting, I have never been to a bog before and learned all sorts of interesting facts.

Julia and I went with all the 2nd grade classes to a place called Pioneer Farms.  It is a hands on field trip were the kids learn about how it was to live in pioneer days and also in an Indian village.  I brought my camera along for Julia's field trip:
 



Learning how to behave in a pioneer school

  

Milking a cow!

I am glad I have the opportunity to go with my kids on these field trips! 

One!

I am still in disbelief that it has been a whole year.  We celebrated Lucy's day with a lady bug party!

Our Oregon cousins came to town and it was fun to have them here.

She wasn't so sure about blowing out the candle.

Showing everyone how old she is!

Soccer 2012

I know I already shared pictures of my Long-Legged Gazelle playing soccer so I won't add too many more but Julia was sure cute.

Julia isn't the most aggressive soccer player, usually she would be out running around the field smiling though.  When the ball was coming her way she would back away from the ball instead of running toward it or would give it one good kick and then be done.  She did do an excellent job of playing her position and tracking the ball and kicking it out of her area.

One day before a game Cameron told her, "Julia you need to be more aggressive and go get the ball"  after hearing this multiple times Julia finally said, "Stop saying that! I don't even know what that means!"  That made me laugh!  What a sweetheart.  



Flag Football 2012

Cameron had a fun football season and improved a lot this year. He learned to cut and weave around players instead of running directly to the sidelines and out of bounds which he did a lot last year. It made a big difference...Mitch and I were trying to remember how many touchdowns he made this season and we came up with 18.  He is definitely a driven little athlete.  There are always a lot of comments from other people about his speed, the kid is fast. 

School Pictures

                                                

 Cameron--4th Grade-- Age 9

Julia--2nd Grade--Age 7

Natalie- Preschool- Age 4 1/2...well almost 5

Happy Birthday Lucy!

I can't believe my girl is ONE!!  What a fun year it has been. 

Introducing...

the TOOTHBRUSHINATOR

We were having toothpaste issues at our house. 

I bought this at Wal-Mart the other day and I tell you it works wonders!  The kids call it the toothbrushinator and I call it sanity.  Who knew for only $9.99 you can buy your own sanity? They now can get toothpaste on their brushes themselves and I don't find toothpaste all over the bathroom. Seriously, does life get much better than this? 

Cup of Heart Break

Julia came home two weeks ago ecstatic.  In second grade you are able to take zero hour classes before school that are fun.  She wanted to do cupstacking so badly.  We turned in the form saying she would like to participate and then you wait to see how many people sign up for it.  If there are too many kids they do a drawing to see which kids get to be in the class.  Last week Julia was so worried that she hadn't heard if she was in or not that I e-mailed the teacher to see if she knew when they should hear back.   Today Julia got off the bus beaming!!  She had a BIG surprise for me and wouldn't tell me what it was until we got into the house.  She kept saying, "This is a really, really great surprise!"  When we got home she threw open her backpack and handed me this note:
__________________________________________________
Zero Hour Notice--Cupstacking
Student  Julia Stuard     Teacher  Lagerquist

Due to a high number of registrations, a drawing was held to determine those selected to attend this class.  Your student was not among those names drawn.

Thank you
__________________________________________________

Julia thought that getting a note meant that she was in the class and didn't read it before she gave it to me.  When I told her that this note was telling us that she didn't get in she cried and cried like her little heart was breaking.  She just held the note and cried.  It was so sad.  What a real bummer. Blah.

Cam on the other hand is signed up for a zero hour math story problem class starting next week.  He is crying for a whole other reason.