September Favorites

Celebrating Grandma Karen's Birthday

with some fun party hats.

Sophia made a little person out of toys and asked

me to come in and take a picture. What a cute surprise.

My little helper will peel carrots for at least an hour...

I love it!

Poor little Griffin worked so long on the
tractor with Daddy that he fell asleep!

Puyallup Fair & Rodeo

At the beginning of September Kyle and I took Sophia to the rodeo at the fair. She loved it and was excited to wear the cowgirl hat that was passed down to her from me! I got that purple hat at a rodeo when i was about 4. She loved the rodeo and we had a great day. Things are so easy with just one child, especially a big 4-year old.

She practiced some of the bucking bronco moves after the rodeo.

Then she practiced some cow-milking techniques.

Then it was time for the kiddie rides. She had so much fun!

Lincoln's Birthday

My friend Victoria's little boy, Lincoln, turned one mid-September. She threw a cute Dr. Seuss party for him. I made the cake and Victoria made the cupcakes and other treats. She did a really cute job displaying everything. One unfortunate thing... The blue cotton candy that topped some of the cupcakes deflated before the party. I only got pics after the deflation.

Lincoln and Griffin are very nice playmates.

Soooo cute!

Josh and Victoria singing Happy Birthday

to their sweet boy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINCOLN!!

New Posts

I just did two new posts, but they popped in below the praying mantis post because I drafted them last week... Enjoy and have a great day!

Seriously, A Praying Mantis?!

I guess I never realized that Praying Mantises live in our area until I saw this one hanging out on our driveway. How crazy! In case anyone wants a refresher on these insects, here you go:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praying_mantis

Back to Preschool

Sophia has been back to preschool for a couple weeks now. She loves it so much and was so excited to get back to school! Here's our little poser ready for the first day.

We saw her friend Kayden in the parking lot on the way in.

They missed each other!

Giving her teachers hugs.


Straight to her favorite... the sandbox.

Next favorite - painting.

Then onto play-doh.

Griffin was excited to go back, too!

He likes to play with the Big Boys.

Then it was time for us to leave, a little tantrum... from Griffin.

Sophia has never had an issue with me leaving, thankfully.

Here they are coming out and ready to head home.

What a fun day!

Ocean Shores 2010

We stayed one night at Point Brown in Ocean Shores earlier this month. It was a great time even though the weather was not ideal. The day we arrived it was cold and windy, but the next day was beautiful! We made reservations at our resort for next year for two nights. It was so beautiful!

Sophia could play in the sand forever!

Griffin liked to play in the sand too, but didn't like it so

much while the wind was literally sandblasting us!

This pic really shows off his "princess eyelashes,"

as Sophia calls them.

Here is the jetty where the ocean goes into Grays Harbor.

We had views of both the ocean and the harbor from our room.

Kyle met a new friend on the beach who was dressed

TOTALLY AWESOME!

My cute guys.

August Favorites

Goodbye summer... It was fun.

A Day at Home

Today is one of the few days in the past month that we just stayed home. It was great! Sophia was a good helper and we cleaned and dusted. Griffin kept himself busy (which isn't always the case with that little koala bear). He pulled out a couple new hilarious tricks today that he came up with all on his own. The first being a mean face. Chin tilted down looking at you through a scowling brow - then when I would look back at him the same way we would both break into a smile. So funny. The second trick of the day - walking around on his tippy toes. Just randomly and for no reason that I can come up with. Sophia would do it at that age, but she also had ballet lessons from mommy. Griffin has not. I checked his heels for splinters - nothing. I guess it's just fun to walk around on your toes sometimes!

Summer Ballet

Sophia finished her summer ballet classes a few weeks ago. The last day was dress-up day and she chose to wear one of my old ballet costumes - my lion costume. I think I was 7 or 8 when I wore it, though. She is a TALL girl!

So here are the first few seconds of her little performance for the parents and guests watching. Then I ran out of memory card space and frantically started deleting old photos so I could free up space to video the end of the little dance. Hence the two videos...

It just makes me smile to watch these videos. She such a little dancer and absolutely loves it. She is learning tap as well as ballet now in a class called Discover Dance. We are still at Studio West Dance Academy and I am still so impressed with the management and teaching there. I hope Sophia continues on this path!

She will also have preschool 3 days a week this year. She is really looking forward to seeing her friends again in a couple weeks.

A New Big Boy Toy

I don't know who loves it more... Daddy or Griffin??