Gingerbread House

We tried our hand at gingerbread house decorating this year! The kids had a blast...especially exciting was going to the grocery store to pick out all the candy from the bulk bins.

Aidan got to wear pajamas to school on Friday, so of course Lauren wanted to, also. They wore them all day! (They watched The Polar Express and had hot chocolate and popcorn in Aidan's classroom.)

Fish pond! We made a little bit of blue icing and then put two Swedish fish in it.

Aidan's side (note all the marching gummy bears).

Lauren's side!

AJ and the Beavers

We stumbled upon a practice happening at Reser Stadium tonight. AJ and Ryan hung around afterward (I had to take a sleepy Lauren home), and AJ got his little football autographed and his picture taken with some of the players. Super exciting!

With awesome running back Jacquizz Rodgers.

And with Jacquizz's equally awesome brother, wide receiver James Rodgers.

Getting an autograph from tight end Joe Halahuni.

And with head coach Mike Riley, who Ryan says was unbelievably friendly and thanked them profusely for coming to watch the practice! What fun!

Halloween 2009

A wonderful time was had by all! It was especially fun to see Lauren really enjoying Halloween this year and not being scared of it. She dressed as her alter-ego, "Spiderman Boy." Aidan was officer Mayfield! In the morning, we walked down to the football stadium where there was a fun event, "Trick-or-Treat with the Beavers." All the student athletes had different booths with activities, giveaways and candy for the kids. It was also fun to walk through all the tailgating hoopla in advance of the football game vs. UCLA. Some of the tailgaters even brought candy for the kids! In the evening, we had pizza and went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with our buddies Nick, Felice, Henry and Max. Happy November!

Third Referral Anniversay

I'm excited that so far we've managed to keep up with this tradition. Here are a few pictures of 3-year-old Lauren holding our first picture of baby Lauren. Love this girl!

Aidan's Dance Moves

Aidan loves to dance (and Lauren is really catching on, too)! He asked me to buy this song because apparently the counselors at his summer program at the university (college kids) performed a skit to it one day. He seems to remember a lot of their choreography--check him out at about 7 seconds in. They crack us up!

First Grader!

Dropoff went well, we'll see how the report is at the end of the day!

I let Lauren take a picture the other day and I think the lens got smudged, hence the interesting effect below. Oh well.

In the classroom, settling in:

For comparison, here's the picture from the first day of kindergarten, last year:

Fun with Canning

Blueberry jam, peach jam, dilly beans...we've been in food-preservation mode around here. It feels like there is such a bounty of delicious produce available here right now, and we're looking forward to enjoying the jam and pickles during the rainy winter. Aidan starts first grade tomorrow, so I'll be sure to post a picture of him!

First Sewing Project

Grandma Bev visited in July and brought her sewing machine with her! She helped me make these pants for Lauren. I love them, but Lauren hates them with a burning passion. She treats them as if I lined them with live scorpions. I had to bribe her to get her to even try them on (see pictures) but that is the closest they have come to her since then! I just bought a sewing machine yesterday so maybe if I enlist Lauren's help in picking out fabrics and patterns, she will like what I make her. Maybe.

Back in Time--4th of July

Downtown parade

Henry and Max came over for dinner and fireworks.

Lots of screaming!

Faces of 3-Year-Old Lauren

Our beautiful, spunky, opinionated girl!

The Chickens

Catching up with some photos from the summer. The chickens are doing great and laying 18 eggs a day right now!