Happenings

Random pictures over the last few weeks from the phone and camera.

Colin has been doing "cup stacking" in gym class for the last few weeks and they invited parents to come watch. Jack went and took a few pics. Of course, they gym teacher sent home an order form to purchase your own cup stacking kit. And now, Colin wants to be a professional cup stacker.

 I made cream cheese frosting for the first time. I caught the boys licking some leftovers. =)

Colin will be 6 this Saturday! Holy smokes!

Morning walk & Jack went running. For the record, I was bundled up as much as the boys.  Justin lasted 1 block before he said that he couldn't feel his face.

 Jack made the boys guns. Seriously.

 "Mom, will you play checkers with me? But it's Justin's checkers. My rules." - Justin. In "Justin checkers", you can jump up to 24 times. And the kings are called "robots." Colin said, "I'll take pictures because Justin cheats."

 I spy Justin. No worries - C & J made sure that there was an air hole for the buried person.

Other tidbits:

• Fireman Sam is the current favorite TV show.
• Break dancing videos are the favorite youtube find. And my children think that they can break dance now. Too bad they have Jack & Jamie non-dancing genes.
• Justin wants a football helmet so he can play football. "an orange one, like the cleveland browns."
• Colin made his own 2014 calendar. Months and all.

Justin @ 3.5yrs

"I'm three AND a half!" - Justin.

His school pictures.

 And the big guy can write his name.

Growing up and growing up fast.

SF for 48 hours

I flew (solo) to San Francisco for a quick 48 hour trip for my Auntie Kiyo's funeral service. She past away about 2 months ago but the services had to be postponed til this weekend. Some of my cousins also made the trek, so it ended up being a very nice family weekend.

This is my Auntie Mary, Uncle Frank and mom.  And cousin Tyler. Lots of activities around the service, so I don't have any other pictures of family time. boo.

Somehow, I was able to sneak in quite a bit in those 48 kid-less hours. San Francisco ordered up 70 degree, sunny weather for the weekend.

 Stow Lake is a 10 minute walk from my parent's house. And I took the opportunity to run for the first time in a year, maybe?

You can't see it, but lots of surfers out in Ocean Beach and a sand castle competition was going on.

 My dad's first selfie.

 Time with Grandma.

Lots of good eats and I even got to see my bff's, Lin-Shao, new house! And she rides this scooter to work everyday. How cool is that?

Spent quality time with my nephew, Milo. =)

 I am fully aware that I'm spoiled silly when I go home. I actually left some clothes at my parent's house so I would have enough room to fit all of these goodies in my suitcase! Thank you everyone.

All of this time in SF made me more homesick than I could imagine. And after 10 years, you'd think that I wouldn't get homesick anymore.

Cousin Time

Reagan & Brooke turn 9 & Elwell cousins came into town to celebrate. The girls had a lego themed party - look at that cake! And it was delish!

Birthday selfie.

 Tami had the boys over for a sleepover after the party. Justin started out the night hiding on the couch from Mario. And Tami sent me these pictures on how Justin ended the night! Mario is the sweetest dog and I'm so happy Justin warmed up to him. And thank you to Nick for waking up twice with Justin. =)

 We picked up the kids on Sunday and Tami surprised us with Fall pictures of the kids. Colin even told me that he loved taking pictures with Aunt Tami!! Best surprise ever! Thank you.

Sunday gave us a perfect Fall day. Colin taught us the 10 versions of tag that he's learned in kindergarten, I raked leaves & Jack fixed the teepee (from a huge wind storm) and made a fire.

Lastly, Jack made dinner for our little friends in the basement. Chipmunks or mice is the question in our house? I vote chipmunks. We'll see.

 Updates:

• By now, you should have caught onto my theme of "I'm starting to workout again." Well, Tami started a 30/30 challenge. Workout for 30 minutes for 30 days. I don't like to commit to things I don't think I can do - but what they heck, I thought I'd give it a try. We're 3 days in and I'm 3 for 3. Only 27 more days to go!
• Jack worked 13 days straight. His first day off was today (Sunday). 
• Colin saved his money to buy a marker maker. He's becoming very aware of costs and I love it.
• Justin woke me up with a kiss on my forehead last week...and I still think about it. Love that kid.

Back to School

I took a couple days off of work and headed to the kids' schools for some fun events.

Thursday was Colin's kindergarten Halloween parade and party. Here are all of the school teachers as M&Ms. So much fun!

 I loved seeing all of the kids in costume. But what was most surprising to me was the number of parents who showed up to the 2:00pm parade.  That gym was packed!

Classroom party craft time and estimation games.

 A decent wind/rain storm rolled through on Halloween night so we stayed indoors. Moms hid some treat bags and the kids had to find them. It all went so fast, so I only have the aftermath. =)

 The kids all enjoyed giving candy to the 6 trick or treaters that came by that night. Colin even said, "I don't want to go trick or treating next year. I just want to do our candy hunt and give candy away."

 Then on Friday, I headed to Justin's school to kick off November literacy month. Justin picked out three of his favorite books and we ended up reading all three! (Oh, and it was pajama day too!)

 By coincidence, it was also Justin's day as the group leader. He did a great job at the calendar and counting days. I loved seeing him in front of the group!

 Then I was back at Bryden elementary to celebrate November birthdays. (all kids with November birthdays celebrate the first Friday of the month.) Colin having fun with his lunch table friends!

Going "back to school" may not be the ideal way to spend vacation days, but I had a blast! Loved every moment and I'd do it all over again. Plus, I'm spending the last half of my vacation day blogging, eating their halloween candy and watching tv. =) haha.