Happy Halloween!
This year we had a little Scooby Doo (C) and a vampire who looked a bit like Freddy Munster (Ky). C loooooves all things Scooby. I think he has a crush on Daphne. I tried to talk Ky into being Shaggy or Fred, but he was set on being something "scary" this year. We chose vampire (so original I know). He did NOT want to sit still for makeup so we didn't quite get his whole face finished. He was still pretty adorable - I mean scary. Grammy C and Grandpa F came down to watch the fun. We didn't carve our pumpkins until Halloween day. C wanted scary and Ky went with the ultra-classy "puking pumpkin". Gross - for sure, but it was a hit with all of the trick-0r-treaters. K did a great job decorating the front yard so our house was pretty popular... fog spewing pumpkin, ghost lights, orange porchlight, giant spiderweb, and a battery-operated bat with glowing eyes that flew in circles around the porch all night. The boys had a great time walking around our very busy neighborhoood collecting their loot. We usually meet up with friends, but went solo this year. It was too hard to keep us last year with the big kids running from house to house, while C was practically getting left in the dust. It was nice to get some quality time in with K's mom and dad too since we won't see them again now until March or so. They are leaving early for Arizona this year. The boys will miss them! Anyway, despite having a cold that just won't quit - I had a lot of fun. It was a great Halloween!

Day trip to Bellingham, October 2010
Grammy C and Grandpa F wanted to have a special day with C so K, Ky and I dropped him off at their house and then drove north to B'ham! It always feels a little like going home once you hit town. We drove around aimlessly for a while, then visited our friends B & J and their adorable little guys. Lunch at Boundary Bay was decent... it did dawn on me that people in Bellingham (or at least those hanging at the brewery for lunch) could definitely stand to shower a bit more often. The "granola" hippy chick thing was cute for a while, but I have to say I am completely over it now. You can save the earth AND still have a shower, peeps! We wandered around the shops in Fairhaven, walked along the boardwalk in front of our fave hotel (Chrysalis Inn) and hit a new store I now love downtown "Diggs". Then to wrap up the day I FORCED K to drive home along Chuckanut and stop at one of my favorite spots in the whole wide world... Larrabee State Park. The tide was high sadly, but Ky and I scrambled around on the sandstone cliffs as much as we could. K looked like he was about to have a heart attack so to save his nerves we didn't go far. No fossils, but Ky was happy to find a dead crab. It was a beautiful day as you can see by the pics above... I heart Bellingham!

Maris Farms, October 2010
My favorite pumpkin patch! And this year we brought Grammy, M and S along for fun. The boys were so excited to show their Grammy and cousins around the farm. Highlights: jump pillow, mineshaft slide, corn maze, corn box, and of course the fresh roasted corn! C can take down an ear of corn with unbelievable speed. M was a little shy at first, but I think she had fun with her rowdy older cousins. Back at our house she took a liking to one of our outdoor Halloween decorations... a spooky, rubbery black cat. She packed that thing around all day saying "Niiiiiice" and patting its head. I think she even gave it a kiss or two. She is a beautiful little girl with attitude! S, K, and C played great together as always. I love how much they love each other.

JJ Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Friday, October 29th... what a great day to hit the pumpkin patch! Our gang got very lucky and we had a momentary break in the weather. C's preschool class hit Thomasson Farms and it would seem that all of the kiddos had a blast. C chased his favorite girl around the farm, jumped in the corn box, stomped a rotten pumpkin, made big bubbles, and had fun on the hayride. Lots of cute kiddo photo ops!

The end of a 7 year chapter...

The end of August also marked the end of a chapter for our family. C started at a new child care center closer to home on September 1st. We had been at Bright Horizons since K was a baby back in 2003. It was an emotional day for everyone... endings are always tough. I am grateful for our time at Bright Horizons - some of my most cherished friendships are people I met there over the years. K still to this day considers his group of friends from there his "best" friends. We had wonderful teachers and we will miss them very much. That said, the new center is much closer to our house and seems comparable in almost every way. C will be in class with kids that he may actually go to kindergarten with. It will also allow our bank account to breathe a sigh of relief. Bright Horizons is easily the most expensive child care center in our area. The price was only going up and we finally decided that it was time for a change. Luckily for us a few of C's friends from his BH class decided to make the switch along with us. When all was said and done he ended up already knowing 3 friends in his new class. So far so good and our fingers are crossed that it keeps going well.

Beer!

My mom and I bought K a homebrew kit for his 40th birthday. He and our good friend/neighbor jumped right in and are on their way to becoming Brewmaster Extraordinaires (or something like that). They have who knows how many gallons of beer in various stages of brewing right now. They even let the wives help do some bottle capping (see pics above)! It has been fun watching them navigate the in's and out's of this hobby and hearing the lingo they have adopted along the way. I now know (or at least kind of know) the definition of words and phrases like wort, pitching yeast, specific gravity, priming, and what a hydrometer is for. I also know far too much about the fermentation process and have stared down a particularly feisty batch of fermenting beer wondering if it was going to explode all over my kitchen. Good stuff!

Party Like a Rock Star

K's best bud turns seven in style. The boys (D, J, R and Ky) formed their own "band" and arrived with the real band via limo. They "played" an entire set with them on stage. Ky was on bass guitar and he was awesome! The highlight of their set was "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" though K still argues with me that it is "DUNDER Cheap". Ky, D, and R also did a little karoke later on... they sang "Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi... aka the "Deadliest Catch" song as K calls it. Krista went all out for this one... I don't think I could even convey with words how amazing it was. There were hair and tattoo stations where the kids could spray and spike their hair and add rock star tattoos to their heart's content. The adults had a ton of fun too at this one. K took C home early, but Ky and I closed the party and stayed to help clean up. Epic party!!!!

Father's Day 2010

 

For Father's Day we met F & C at Chandler's for a delicious brunch. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and we had to abandon our hopes of a leisurely breakfast on the deck. Afterwards K and I took the boys to Discovery Park to play on the beach...

Wild Wild West

My friend Krista throws the most *AMAZING* birthday parties. I don't know how she does it. Here are a few photos from the most recent extravaganza... this particular party was for "Baby" Tucker who at the ripe old age of TWO is no longer a baby I suppose. He is the youngest of our gang of boys though so in our hearts he will always be the baby. The theme was RODEO and came complete with stick ponies, panning for gold, a cardboard western town, cowboy hats, cowboy crafts, and most importantly - real ponies and a horse for the kiddos to ride. Yee-haw!