Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I hope you have a spooky night!


Everyone is always telling me how much Braden looks like Madeleine. I agree! I could barely tell them apart when putting this together:

Party Girl!

Madeleine is a self proclaimed party girl...and she's right! She had her preschool Pumpkin Carving party last night and is off to another Halloween party this afternoon! She told me that I should I call her a "party girl" :-)

Madeleine had to bring her "special guy" to her preschool Halloween party so of course she picked her daddy! They carved pumpkins (we gutted ours before so it would be easier, see pics below), had a bouncy house, ate spooky treats, went fishing, did some bowling and had lots of fun!


Madeleine is "First Mate" at preschool on Monday (ON HALLOWEEN!!!) which means she unveils her Halloween costume and brings a special snack to share. Since her preschool party was before her first mate day, she decided to wear her princess costume so she wouldn't ruin the surprise on Monday.

Here are some pictures from her preschool Halloween party with daddy!

One of our pumpkins all lit-up!

Madeleine Jumps!

Madeleine is back in swim lessons which she LOVES! She is getting better and better each lesson!

When Madeleine was younger, she would jump in the pool without a worry or care but lately she has been scared and wanting someone to hold her hand when she jumps in. With lots of encouragement from us and her teacher, she finally jumped in all by herself on Monday night and tonight Jeff got some pictures of it!

Right before she jumped in on Monday, she looked over at me and stomped her feet saying "I can't do it, I can't do it" and then her teacher really encouraged her and she did it! She was so excited and proud of herself! She couldn't wait to jump in again tonight :-) We are so proud of our brave little girl!

Braden eats a cheerio!

Braden Laughing!

Braden was cracking up last night when I would make a smack sound...so cute!

This could be trouble...

Braden is loving driving our little red car and big sissy is having even more fun pushing him :) This could be trouble...she doesn't always remember he's a baby and can't go fast but that's okay, mom & dad were close by!

Here's our big boy! 7-months old with 7 TEETH! #8 is taking it's sweet old time.

Pumpkin Carving with Grandpa & Grandma!

Jeff & I headed out to celebrate Jeff's birthday on Saturday while my parents brought Kathryn up to carve pumpkins with the kids. They had lots of fun!

Fall City Farms!

We visited Fall City Farms this year to get our pumpkins. It was a cute little farm and super close to us! Enjoy the pics!

Meow!

Halloween Preview! Madeleine wanted to be a kitty cat for Halloween and a friend of mine let us borrow her little girl's costume from last year which I thought was super cute! Madeleine is on her way to a Halloween carnival through the YMCA (which we are now members) with daddy & friends!

Here comes our kitty cat down the stairs :-)

1st Field Trip!

Madeleine went on her first field trip today with her preschool to Baxter Farms in Fall City! All the moms went too and we had a blast! It was fun to see Madeleine interact with her new preschool friends. We had spectacular weather...a perfect Fall day to visit a farm!

Madeleine picks her 1st pumpkin of the season!
Mommy, Braden and Madeleine

Petting a chick & bunny...

Madeleine riding on the tractor with all the boys...we are in trouble! It was so funny to watch her on this...she spent the entire ride waving to everyone on the farm. So cute!

7 down, 1 to go

It feels like Braden's teething is taking forever. Slowly but surly these teeth are coming in, one by one. He has four on bottom now and three on top with the fourth just about to pop through. Thankfully his sleep has improved from getting up multiple times a night to getting up once or not at all. It's not unheard of but quite unusual for a 7-month old to have EIGHT teeth! I can't wait for a break from teething!

Super Diamond

Jeff & I headed out for a concert and late night for his birthday. We saw a really fun band, Super Diamond! We saw them years ago when we were young and well rested and tried again last night. We had fun but boy did we feel old! I had been up since 4:45am with Braden and Jeff was tired from helping with Braden at night and working all week. We were both yawning on our way out to the concert at 7pm. Yikes! The doors opened up at 8pm but Super Diamond didn't come on until after 10. We had a babysitter for the kids and it was her first time watching Braden so we had to be home by midnight. We were bummed that we had to cut out early and didn't get to hear some of our favorite Neil Diamond songs but we were so tired, we were ready to head home. The opening band was really fun to watch too, Stay tuned. The played songs from popular tv shows from the 80's. Jeff & I danced to Charles In Charge, Silver Spoons, Fresh Prince of Belair...pretty funny!

Fall is here!

The air is getting cooler and the leaves are changing color, Fall is here! We took advantage of our beautiful weather and took a walk up to Starbucks for morning lattes. My foot is finally healed and this was my first walk in over a month! I still can't run on it but can slowly get back into weight bearing activities like running.

Jeff & I were too lazy to push Braden home so Madeleine did it ;-) She actually pushed him quite a ways and walked the entire way home...over a mile! Go Madeleine!

The trees on our street are so pretty!

Happy Birthday Jeff!

We celebrated Jeff's 37th Birthday over the weekend! I was really excited this year because we got him something he wanted, not needed...an Xbox Kinnect! Jeff's mom, my mom and I all went in on it together. Thank you Julie & Mom! Jeff was super surprised! He set it up right away and we all took a turn playing. We love it!

Birthday Card for Daddy!

Madeleine made a birthday card for Jeff! We are celebrating his 37th birthday this year! Madeleine drew all the shapes she knows how to draw (circle, square, triangle) and she wrote HER NAME!!! I am so excited and I know Jeff will be too when he sees it!

Dancing...

Madeleine is having lots of fun at her dance class again this year! They added tap this year which all the girls love! Here are a few pictures from today's dance class...
Madeleine before class tapping away!

Arabesqueing

Twirling...

And twirling some more...

Learning how to tap!

Getting Ready for Fall!

I love Fall! I couldn't help but put the kids in their Halloween clothes now that October has arrived!

6 teeth & preschool!!!

Jeff & I are a tired pair over here. Braden has 6 teeth coming in all at once! Ouch! He already has it bottom two teeth and two more are coming in on the bottom, plus all four top teeth are coming in. He has been getting up at least once a night, maybe twice. We've had one night of sleeping through the night in the past week. Once these teeth come in, we are going to have him cry it out (if he still wakes up) but can't bare to do it right now when we know he is in pain. Poor guy!

Otherwise, Braden is growing and growing! He is eating a ton too. Today he ate an entire #2 jar of baby food plus oatmeal...and then a bottle! I've never seen bigger cheeks or thighs on a baby! He is such a smiley little guy and very happy!

Madeleine is busy going to preschool and dance class each week. She loves preschool and is learning so much. Every day I ask her what she did and she responds, "I don't know" or "Nothing"...but then later I will hear her reciting something she learned and it's really cool to hear. She is growing up so fast! The other upside FOR ME is obviously that I get a break and some one on one time with Braden...but the biggest benefit for me is that she actually misses me now! Jeff has always been her #1 pick and FINALLY she misses me and wants to be with me :) If you've ever been around Jeff & Madeleine, you know what I am talking about...she much prefers him over me so it's nice to feel wanted :)

Salmon Days...and ready for some FOOTBALL!

Madeleine & I had a great time at Salmon Days this year but missed Braden & daddy at home. Braden takes a morning nap so the boys stayed home and we met some friends to watch the parade! We picked Braden up a super cute football hat so he is ready for football season!