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??

Chalk Art

Sophia has been having a lot of fun on the new cement slab we had poured out front last April. She is really getting good at her letters and pictures.

This was the first time she did her name by

herself without asking me the last few letters!

This was her first attempt at her last name

A cute little person

A Sunshine

And the most impressive, a picture of her brother

(with his hair spiked up, of course)! How cute is this!

Sodo Mojo

Kyle has always loved Ken Griffey, Jr. So you can imagine his excitement when it was announced that Griffey was coming back to Seattle. In fact, that is where our inspiration for Baby Griffin's name came from. Kyle liked Griffey, but I, of course, liked a full name - Griffin.

So we finally bought some Mariners tickets and a week later Ken Griffey, Jr. calls it quits. Just our luck, huh? Oh well, the game was still fun without "The Kid" and it was a gorgeous day!

Griffin just couldn't take all the excitement.

He had to take a little snooze by the 5th inning.

A New Level

Oh Boy - just a quick post. That's all I have time for now that Griffin-boy is even more active. He can now open the doors in the house since we have the lever-style handles. He can climb up onto the couch. And he is trying his darndest to get up onto our bed. (I'm sure we will have a few trips to urgent care in the next few months, he has no fear of falling straight on his head.) He is into every nook & cranny, but somehow still manages to always be under my feet! I don't know how he does it.

Just a warning, if I finally get a moment to sit down (without being a human trampoline) - I will no longer jump up to get the phone if it rings! Ha!