Leaves are falling all around, on the rooftops on the ground....

Another week has been here and now has gone.
We are keeping busy as usual.
School is keeping us on our toes. We are doing a lot more online classrooms with other teachers who teach for WAVA. This has proven to be both helpful and fun.
One class that Aeva is now doing once a month is a Washington State Quilting Bee.
She is going to attempt (with a bit of help) to make a quilt with symbols and facts about our state.

Saturday we cleaned up the backyard and front porch. Wow, there were tons of leaves on the ground and in the gutters. We raked them all up and put them in our compost pile that we are doing for our garden next year.
We were able to do most of the work before it started to rain.

Aeva and Myles were sent inside while Chris and I finished up the rest of the work as it started to downpour. Rhaevyn was so nice. She had stayed inside to take care of Elsa and made hot chocolate for all of us.

Elsa is getting into trouble. Nothing is safe these days. She got a hold of Myles's shoes. I don't think I need to say more.....you all know what a germaphobe I am. She is one smart cookie. What works as a barricade one day doesn't work the next. She figures out how to get around them, through them, under them, and over them.

Myles has been coloring me some very nice pictures lately.
This is a picture of him.
Myles says it is a boy with no pants, and would be accurate if this really is a picture of him because he often wears no pants....just undies.

This is a picture of a baby who has one huge eyeball.

Rhaevyn calls this the leaning tower of markers.
This is the kind of stuff they do during breaks from school work.
Silly girls.

Chris fed Elsa her rice cereal the other day. I think she eats better for him.

I found Myles a free soccer shirt. It is a bit big, but I figure he can get lots of wear out of it.

He absolutely loves wearing it with his soccer pants and cleats.

I'll close with a bit of dancing.

There is nothing like putting on some music and dancing around with my children.

Oh the laughter.........what a wonderful payment for a job I truly love!

Here are three of us making some memories.

Last Week of October

We've had a somewhat busy week and a very fun weekend.

This week Aeva took an online class on the 'Science of Fall'.

She took the challenge to find a leaf that still had some chlorophyll and label it.

She went on the hunt for the perfect leaf right after the class and found that leaf across the street.She emailed the picture below to the teacher, and waited on pins and needles for the mail each day. She was very excited to get her prize......a special "leaf Expert" certificate along with an Applebee's card for a free drink of her choice.

Elsa is everywhere. We have learned now to close all the doors to the bedrooms, bathrooms and laundry room. She is pretty quiet, and she tends to sneak up on me. I have to really be aware of where she is before I make any movement to walk anywhere. I think she really likes to follow Myles around.

She pulls herself up on her knees to reach things she wants......things put out of her reach for a reason. I caught her the other day actually trying to pull herself up on her feet. Luckily she is not that strong yet. I just want her to stay a baby for a bit longer.

Ben and Stacey were down this weekend. We enjoyed visiting with them as usual and wish they lived so much closer.

We had fun out at dinner together, watching UP, playing ping pong, racing slot cars, trick or treating, etc., with them.

Ben named this picture "gaggle of girls."

They were all playing a computer game together.

Racing cars together.

Elsa and Auntie Stacey.




A picture before they leave.


Saying Goodbye.

Our time always seems to go way too fast with them.

Poor Myles thought they were only going to be gone for a bit.

He asked about half an hour after they left where they were, and I told him that they were on their way home.

He started to cry. He wanted them to come back to our house.

See you soon!

Just some other random pictures from this past week.

More rice cereal. I think Elsa is finally getting a bit used to it. More of it is making its way into her tummy. I think she is still unsure if the gruel is supposed to go over her tongue and down her throat or be catapulted out of her mouth and down her chin.

What a character.



Aeva and Elsa.

I just loved watching Myles rock with Christopher yesterday for about 45 minutes.

My handsome little man.

Aeva and me.





These pictures crack me up.

This was right after her bath.

Elsa is starting to clap now.

Ever the big brother, Myles likes to think he is teaching her to clap and gives her a shout of praise.

Too cute!

Happy November everyone!

Halloween

The kids had a great Halloween last night.

Uncle Ben and Auntie Stacey took three of our four munchkins out trick or treating, and they were thrilled about that. They all promised to share some candy with Auntie Stacey too.

Aeva felt especially glad that she got to take Auntie Stacey trick or treating for the first time.

The day started out with Myles dressing up in his first outfit.

Can you guess who is is dressed as?

Ben guessed it right off the bat.

He said "oh, it's a mini Ben."

We call this Myles's Uncle Ben shirt.

We had a Princess Leia.

Darth Vader.

And a cute witch.

I was told that this witch was absolutely having no warts drawn on her face.

So, I gave her a little spider web and spider instead.

Ready to head out for candy.


Uncle Ben and Elsa.

I totally forgot to get a picture with all four of them together in their costumes.

Here is Elsa in her Halloween outfit.






The Trick or Treaters!