Halloween Warm Up

We dressed up to trick or treat at Nanny and Papa's before they left for CA & for the parties at school.


Miss Green Fairy (with a droopy wing)


The Shark is back in action this year

Alice and her buddies Alyssa and Reyn at school

Kyle is not too sure about his first parade

Mini Farrah

Trying on Dad's wig

Beer Frame Bowling League - Halloween Style

It was Halloween night for the BFBL, which is always entertaining. If anyone from your team shows up without a costume, there are beer penalties...so EVERYONE dresses up. For those of you that didn't know:
Yes, we are in a bowling league
Yes, we are 2 time defending champions
No, we are not embarrassed by any of this


2009 Dead Celebrities - Captian Lou Albano, Bea Arthur, Partrick Swayze, Farrah Fawcett, Natasha Ricardson, David Carradine


TMP Crew

Cocktails - Sex on the Beach, Bloody Mary, Mai Tai, Blue Hawaiian & J Daniels

The 'Not So' Hot Karls...Yes, they are mocking our team. Normally we wear sweet flame bowling shirts (Nope, still not embarrassed that we own bowling shirts with our names on them)

Swimmer, Jail Bait, Magnum PI, Fairy, Black Cloak Guy & Flasher?

The Random Pregnant Group - Chick Magnet, White Trash Prego #1, White Trash Prego #2, Nerd, Prego Nun with Naughty Priest

The Greasers and Dilbert (yes, there are 3 girls in this photo)

Yep, she really is pregnant. No, she's not white trash

The Whole Gang

Seeing double, the real 'Dr. Schoomps' and his look alike

Bea without her 2xl jacket, check out the sweet shoulder pads she concocted

Cori, the 'Blue Hawaiian'

Happy Birthday Andrew

We celebrated Andrew's 6th birthday with the family this weekend. Shane was in town from Couer D'Alene, so it was fun to catch up with him. Here are just a few photos from the weekend:

Make a wish

Crazy Cousin #1

Crazy Cousin #2

Crazy Cousin #3

I've been living in Idaho for too long, I think this is a legit/normal birthday gift.

Carving a pumpkin and saving the seeds for baking

Chilling during Kyle's 1 hour of no helmet

Thank Goodness for Football Season

We could not have asked for better timing for our 'helmet therapy'....it's perfect for football season.

Our Little Urlacher watching football


Hi!

I tired to get some photos of him with all the leaves in our backyard, but all he did was eat and gag on them.

He's really into Alice's computer


and very tolerant of Alice.

Alice's Progress Report

Alice came home with her progress report last week. We are VERY proud parents of our big girl!!!!

Social/emotional skills:
Alice is a very happy and independent little girl.
Alice will play with most of the kids in the class along with some little lambs but she does have a few special friends (Alyssa and Miles). She is very social and has a lot to say.
Alice is very empathetic towards her friends when they are hurt or sad. She is always willing to lend a hug or soft touch.
Alice says good bye easily at drop offs. It’s fairly easy to get Alice engaged in an activity while mom/dad say good bye and leave.
Alice sometimes cries easily when redirected or talked to about her behaviors or following directions.
Alice sits and participates at circle time and other group activities with minimal interruptions. She is pretty good at not bothering her friends and following directions.

Motor skills:
Good gross motor skills: runs, jumps, hops, can briefly stand on one foot.
Alice loves to play out side especially on the “Big bike!” She listens and responds well outside and in larger group activities.
She can climb up the climbers and slide down the slides; Alice can even peddle a bike!
Alice can dress and undress herself with minimal help.
Good fine motor skills; paints, colors, tearing, glue sticks, building, and pealing.
Alice has mastered using tongs and pouring her drink at snack.
We introduced scissors for the first time on 9/11/09 and Alice took off with it! She figured out how to use them within a matter of seconds and stayed very engaged with it for several minutes.
Alice seems to definitely be favoring her right hand.
Alice is in underwear and uses the potty with little help!

Verbal skills:
Alice has great verbal skills; she expresses herself clearly and is easily understood by her friends and teachers.
She seems to feel comfortable communicating with teachers and friends about things she needs/wants or issues she is having.
Alice enjoys participating at circle time; she sings songs answers questions and will reflect on what she did over the weekend.
Alice communicates how she is feeling emotionally and physically (hungry, tired, or needs to use the restroom etc.)

Self help skills:
Alice is washing her hands by herself.
Alice can serve herself snack without any help.
Alice is fully potty trained.
Alice gets her own lunch box and gets out her healthy choices all by herself.
Alice is awesome at getting “fancy,” she gets dressed up all by herself.
She takes her shoes off and on all by herself and puts them where they belong most of the time.
When she wants to she will help with everyday tasks like cleaning the table.
Alice still needs some reminders to clean up after herself when she is done playing with something.


Cognitive skills
Alice can sort shapes.
She can match basic shapes and sizes.
Alice knows most of her shapes: square, triangle, circle, heart and star.
Alice knows red, orange, blue, yellow, green, purple, pink, brown and black! WOW
Alice sings ABC’S all the way through!
Alice can count 1-11, 19 20. Very cute
Alice is recognizing some letters A,H,G,M,O,X but mostly just guessing at this point.
Alice knows specific books by their cover.Alice loves pretending with friends. She will read and play cook with Alyssa and Sofi very cute.

Alice's First Field Trip

Alice's class had their first field trip to the pumpkin path. The kids were SUPER EXCITED! I wasn't there, but I guess there were 7 parent chaperons and 3 teachers for 10 kids. So there was a nice 1:1 ratio for the day. :)


Riding on the bus...they did a few 'practice rounds' around the block weeks before the big trip. I guess some kids did NOT like the bus, so their parents had to drive them to the patch. Funny


Class Photo


Hanging out with one of her teachers, Kaitlyn

Found her pumpkin


Sitting by her BFF Miles

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's......

Super Kyle! He has an indestructible helmet that allows him to save damsels in distress and watch over the safety of his family. We all feel very protected with our new super hero.

So far so good, our super hero has adjusted just fine to his helmet. We're wearing it 23 hours a day with no problems. Unfortunately we ordered a dark blue helmet, but it's a little too purple for our taste. He's our metro-sexual baby, getting in touch with his feminine side.

In a single bound, he was able to save his sister Alice from the jaws of a great white shark!

His sweet super hero outfit intimidates his enemies


Check out my cape!

Pumpkin Patch

We headed to the pumpkin patch with the Chrismans, Dahlbergs and Wongs this weekend. All I can say is BURRRRRR! We all had fun despite the freezing weather, and may try to go out there again if the weather improves next weekend.


Group shot of all the kids

Assembling the kids on the hay bales


Mom and Super Kyle

Found the perfect pumpkin, which was the first one she found (thankfully b/c it was COLD).

Alice and Paige going down the slide


Alice, Cayla and Paige on the swings.

Congrats to the Grinnells

I just want to say 'Congratulations!' to Dana and Frank who welcomed their baby boy: Rowan Blackington Grinnell today! We are so thrilled for your new family and cannot wait to meet the new little man. The hospital has restricted visitors due to the Swine Flu, so we all have to wait a few days before we meet him. Darn it! Kyle has some new competition with the ladies now....should be interesting. I place my money on Kyle because he'll use his helmet to head butt his opponent. :) Don't worry Rowan, Kyle is a lover, not a fighter.

A weekend of firsts....

Alice set the table for the first time...I'm pretty impressed. She got all the mats/silverware/bowls out of the cupboards on her own.


Alice began to feed Kyle...check out their faces, they are exactly the same!

Hey - I kinda dig being fed by my sister!


Mom ran her first half marathon with Danny, Sarah and Colbi (in the freezing cold rain). Thank you ladies for keeping me motivated through the early am and long runs. A special shout out to Danny for keeping us on track every week. Let's make it a yearly event!


Kyle's first day of sitting...wow!

Kyle's first tooth! Finally! He's been drooling like a mad man for months!