Looking forward to falling leaves:)

Hello friends. Fall is quickly approaching and the mornings are "crisp" here. To wrap up the summer I went over to Bellevue last month and had Lasik surgery on my eyes, so I am now seeing great without my glasses! I just love it! Emma started here first day of Kindergarten at Kittitas Elementary School a couple weeks ago.

Here she is for her first day of school photo.

It was raining outside that morning so she accessorized with her rain coat and boots:)

And Ken, not to be outdone by his big sister, promptly went back to his room and picked out some rain boots and a hat and was ready for his photo to be taken. What a little character!

And here is my little Emma lion. She got to be in the Farmer Consumer Awareness Day parade in Quincy this year. My mom is in the Lion's club and since Emma has been to a few of her Lion meetings and functions, they made her their mascot for the parade. She even made the Quincy paper!! So cool.

Ken is starting to show "a little" interest in the potty lately, so here he is wearing his big boy underpants. He was so proud wearing them around the house! Unfortunately they didn't really help him to use the potty when he needed to.

We went pinecone collecting up on Blewett pass the other day for a homemade bird feeder project we were working on. Yes, we could have just went to my mom's house and got tons of pinecones out of her yard, but it's so much more fun to go walking around in the woods in our rain boots:)

Big smiles while collecting pinecones.

My sweet girl and I.

Well that's about all for now. I'm off to bed early these days, as I have to have Emma to the bus stop by 7:15am.

Summer's coming to an end.

Just a few new pics and videos of the kids. This summer has been good. Looking forward to the fall time. Everyone is well; Emma sleeps so much better now after her tonsillectomy and Ken is doing great also. I am having Lasik done next month. Woo hoo, no more glasses!! I'm so excited.

Our sweet little Emma. She is so excited to start Kindergarten next month and very very excited to ride the school bus.

Ken and grandma relaxing. Probably watching the movie "Cars," Ken's favorite.

Emma posing on the cat walk.

He loves to play dress up with his big sister.

What a ham!

And here's a video of him in a home fashion show:)


Emma showing off her play dough creation.

And a video of Emma rolling some pizza dough.

He's our little comedian.

Emma having fun at a retirement party/bbq for a friend of mine from work.

The kids practicing their dancing skills.

New pictures of the kids.

Took the kids to get their pictures taken last week. They turned out pretty cute. Ken wouldn't smile in the pictures where he's by himself unless that little race car was in the picture, but that's ok, turned out cute anyway. Emma of coarse, loves to smile for the camera! Had the pictures done in Bellevue, so went to the Woodland Park Zoo afterwards. It was a good day. We were tired when we got home. Be sure to check out the new pictures on the side bar too.

Camping and Ken's 2nd birthday.

Had a fun week. Went camping at Lake Easton with my mom and the dogs. My mom got a new camp trailer and we had to try it out. It's a 23' Jayco Kiwi. Camping in style, a fridge, soft beds, stove; it was awesome! The state campground was nice. It had a nice beach, a playground and a good trail for bike riding.

Emma had a fun time at the playground and riding her bike. Ken had fun too, but he can't quite get the peddling down so he got pushed around on his tricycle.

He didn't mind. We went old school for smores and marshmallows; gotta do those over a campfire:)

The kids sure loved them, can't you tell.

She was really hoping to reel in a big one!

Cheesy Ken, loved his first camping trip.

Doggies had fun too. They got to walk around and sniff lots of new stuff and bark at chipmunks. We came home after 2 days and celebrated Ken's 2nd birthday. Emma and I made him an Elmo cake and he got a couple new toys.

Emma was trying really hard not to "help" him unwrap them. Then it was time for cake. After a few unsuccessful attempts at blowing out his candle, he let his sister do it for him.

And then with the candle safely blown out, he promptly leaned over and gave Elmo a big ol smooch on the mouth.

It was so funny!

Emma's graduation

Yikes, life has been busy, havent been able to sit and blog for awhile. Summer is off to a busy start. We have been working on our garden area and have it looking really good with a heavy duty ground cover and raised garden beds. Unfortunately, this is all done too late to plant anything, so next year we will have a great garden! Ken is doing fabulous!! He had his last frequent check up with the pediatric cardiologist and won't need to follow up with them again until next year. He continues on a daily aspirin and will have to do that indefinately. BUT all his test were good, although his left coronary artery is still mildly enlarged.

Here he is being his silly self. And below is a picture of the kids with a fun snack we made; potato mice.

Here's a funny video of Ken's "mad face."

Emma is also doing good. She graduated from the Little Country Preschool the end of May. She is so excited to start kindergarten in the fall. Here in Kittitas the kinder kids go all day, 5 days a week.

The little graduate.

Emma's graduation.

Emma and her BFF Maddie.


And with her teacher Mrs. Haberman.

And here's our silly boy getting ready to go to Emma's graduation. Then poor little Emma had to have her tonsils out the beginning of June. She was having trouble with snoring at night and not getting enough oxygen while she sleeps. Here is my brave girl getting ready to go back for surgery.

Sweet little thing.


And here is what Mr Ken was doing while he was waiting for his sister to come home.

They're a couple of little comedians.

Don't worry, we don't encourage him to climb into the dryer:) That's our excitement for now, we have just got back from a vacation to California. When I have some more time I will post about that.

Emma's birthday week.

Happy spring all! Just this week the weather has turned warm, it's been so nice:) Emma had her 5th birthday on April the 13th. It actually turned out to be a "birthday week." On Monday she had her preschool birthday party at school. Grandma helped her with her snack for the day, they made farm animal cupcakes (it was also farm week at school), the cupcakes were a big hit with the kids.

Then on Tuesday, I took Emma to the Great Wolf Lodge by Centralia, WA. Just us two girls! We stopped at the outlet mall in North Bend on the way there and did some shopping. The lodge was great, Emma and I had a very fun time. They have a huge indoor water park with water slides and a wave pool. We got back home on Thursday. We spent the rest of the week getting ready for her birthday party on Saturday.

Here are the kids decked out in their party gear.

Emma and I getting ready for the big day.

Ken having a pre-party snack.

Mommy, when will my guests be here?
The party was a huge success! We had so many great kids and friends show up; everyone seemed to have a good time!


Scooby doo was the theme.



Here is Emma blowing her candles out.


And opening her presents with some of her friends watching.


Here is Emma and cousin Elly playing outside.

Lil Ken got all tuckered out from partying so hard! He fell asleep in his swing. The next few months will be spent getting the yard and garden ready for this summer. The kids love to play outside while I work in the flower beds. We have a trip planned to visit some family in San Francisco in June and are all looking forward to that, it should be fun. Then it will be time to break out the camping gear:)