Happy Halloween!

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happy Halloween!

We had visitors this Weekend

Doug's mom and dad came to visit us this weekend.  They came to watch soccer games and they got to catch a little glimpse of our busy lives.  Friday was Jack's literacy parade.  He dressed up as Ben 10

That afternoon we visited a pumpkin patch to pick up our last couple of pumpkins for carving, and some minis too.

Super Luke!

Of course Grandpa made puppy dogs with a little improv on the first day.  We decided this was the Halloween version.

Saturday we spent the entire day in the rain watching soccer games.  Mer and Jack made goals and Max played some awesome defense.    Grandma read stories. 

Grandpa helped out with the chores.

We went swimming a couple of times and played with blocks.

Saturday night we carved pumpkins and made candy apples while listening to halloween music.  Such fun!  I love this shot of Doug getting into his Angry Bird face carving.

Thanks for coming Grandma and Grandpa!  We had such a great time seeing you.


Now it's time for Halloween.  The kids are super excited. Luke went to sleep  in his Superman suit. I just have to pick up a couple of Hippie accessories for Mer and paint Luke's superman shoes and we are ready to go.  The forecast says rain, so we may be trick or treating with umbrellas...awesome!

The Weekly Report

I am happy to report that the staples are out!!  Here is the picture to prove it.  

Jack's head is healing nicely and he is doing well.

I am also happy to report that we have been experiencing some cooler temperatures over the last week or so.  I am loving it.  We have actually had the windows open and the A/C off on some days. The kids have even pulled out the long sleeve shirts on occasion.  Oh happy day!

Luke started his Little Sports class this past week.  T-Ball.  He had a ton of fun!!

 We have also been getting ready for Halloween.  Luke made some Jack-o=lantern cards for friends and relatives.  Call yourself lucky if you actually get one!

In other news,

• The kids participated in their primary program at church on Sunday.  Everyone did a great job on their multiple parts.
• We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa Markos at the end of this week.
• Doug installed 3 new ceiling fans this weekend
• I am trying to pick out a new paint color for our living room/kitchen area.  It has me stumped.  My plan is to paint the hall in the color I think I like.  It's all prepped and ready to go.  I hope I get it painted this week.
• Jack is reading so well. He has really made a lot of improvement since the beginning of school.  This afternoon he got the scriptures out and read a couple of verses.  He was so excited that he could do it. (with help on the big words of course) 

Until next time or next week... Good Night!

Howdy!

Time for an update, has it already been a week?


I'll get to the most tragic news first.   Well not too tragic.  Jack split his head open tonight.  We have seen our fair share of head wounds in this family but it has been a while since the last one.  Jack and Max were doing Karate moves as they bounced all around the living room and  Jack's head made contact with the entertainment center.  Max and Jack both started to panic when they saw handfuls of blood.  Thankfully Mer was around to help settle down max because it is a little difficult to try to reassure to hysterical kids while applying pressure to a head wound. 

Not a great picture, but he got 3 staples to the head.  Staples are new to us.

We had a bit of illness in the family this week.  Max and Jack both missed a couple of days of school.  It was a cold virus I suppose.  It was one of those illnesses where they sounded too sick to send them to school but they felt too well to keep them home.   

And so you don't think they watched TV all day long here is proof that we squeezed a little academics in.

I think it's worth noting that at one point this week I had all the laundry in the house clean and put away.  There was not one article of dirty clothing to be found.  I really don't think I have ever accomplished this, so I thought it was worth noting.  It's safe to say that laundry is my weakest housekeeping skill.

Luke has spent most of the week dressed up as a cowboy.  This is his hide out.

  He even persuaded me to dress up like an Indian in part of Max's old Shaka Zulu costume.  We have spent a lot of time playing hide and seek and shooting each other, making campfires, camping under the stars, roping cattle, and saying Howdy.

It sure is fun hanging out with this kid all day. 

Now good night y'all!

My Day Off

Today felt like Christmas.  The kids had the day off of school, it was Doug's day off too. We found ourselves with nothing much to do and it was absolutely blissful.  I sewed a bit and went running.  Doug took the kids for donuts.  It was an absolutely refreshing day.   Mer had a friend come over, Doug went to work for a couple of hours.  We swam, I actually read a magazine by the pool, (Marth Stewart Living...it  finally came).  We did a little shopping later and ordered take out from our go-to date-at-home eatery Tijuana Flats.

Last week I took some pictures of what's been keeping us so busy lately....Soccer.  Here are some action shots.

 Doug is helping coach both Mer and Max's team. 

This particular day Jack didn't have a game, just team pictures.  

This is what everyone who isn't playing does.  Seek shade and play with toys.  We were just catching a few minutes of Mer's game before driving to another field for Max's.

Max made a sweet attempt at a goal here...too bad he shot it just outside of the goal post.

One more thing that was noteworthy last weekend... the kids made us breakfast in bed Sunday morning.  Mer pulled off a pretty awesome crepe plate.

It sure is fun watching these kids grow up and do all the things they do. Tonight I am feeling like one lucky, refreshed, mama.  Now it's off to bed.  I'm hoping for another relaxing day tomorrow though I may have to do a little housework. We have no soccer games because of tournaments at the fields and I am going to enjoy every minute of it.

Swim lessons ended

Luke's last day of swim lessons was Thursday.  He got to jump off the diving board again, and this time I was able to get some pictures.

I also got a quick video, but really I don't know what I'm doing with this camera yet so it went all blurry at the end.



The last time he jumped in, he did it with no one in the water to help him come up.  I thought he wasn't going to make it swimming to the side with no  one to help him come up and get started after the jump.  But he made it.  This kid is a fish.

I'm so proud of this little boy.