A Fall Fave

 I had the weekend off and the weather was too perfect,

so we ventured to the pumpkin patch. 

 Caitlyn loved showing off for the camera.

She picked out her pumpkin all by herself this year. If it were up to her she would have picked them all.  To my surprise, she picked up some of the largest pumpkins there... In her attempt to pick up them all, she broke the stems off of a few too many pumpkins (which also meant she was breaking rule #6 at the pumpkin patch: no breaking off the stems).

Ashton enjoyed running up and down the rows of pumpkins. And to keep to our theme... he also enjoyed climbing up and over and on and around the pumpkins: breaking rule #4 at the pumkin patch: no climbing on the pumpkins.

79 pounds of pumpkin later,

we all headed home for a nap.

I have so missed our weekends together as a family.

September Recap

What would better recap the month of September...

 than a bunch of photos...

I worked full time this month

(including my weekends)

and on top of that I had something to do almost every single night for

the Rychlinski & Thompson Wedding.

Therefore, my Mom spent many days with my children...
(I didn't have a recent pic of my Mom with my kids,
but this one of her and Dad is so stinkin' cute)

and Ash spent many nights & weekends being a single parent.

I got to spend lots of time with my sisters...

as the wedding neared...

we got a few pedicures... 

I also spent time with my brother...

... and Caitlyn enjoyed dancing with her brother...

... and with Gram at sunset...

 ... She also danced with one of her besties

as they practiced for their future 'lighted box' debut...

... and I spent a tiny bit of time celebrating one of my besties big 3-0.

♥

Caitlyn experienced some wild hair days...

(seriously this pic makes me laugh,

if only you could've seen how darn cute she was walking down the hallway that morning...

she is so tiny with such big hair... LOVE her!)

 ...and we cut off most of Ashton's curls.
(I hope they grow back... LOVE him too!)

All in all,

it was a month to remember.

Although busy and stressful at times,

I truly enjoyed all the time spent with all of my favorite people. 

A huge thanks to my Mom for helping out with my family

and to my hubby for being the best hubby out there.

I am so blessed.

Ksavera & Jason's Preview

Here's just a preview of the pictures to come.

These were taken by Tasha Owen Photography.

Who I might add... Did a FANTASTIC job!

Bacchelorette Party

The last fling before her ring.

Hooray for Sadie, Hooray for Sadie.

Friday night we celebrated in style. 

We painted T-town red in our huge party bus.

Twenty-some girls got together to celebrate

Ksavera and her engagement to Jason.

We stopped by a few of her old favorite hot spots.

Few pictures were taken in the beginning of the evening.

Enjoy.

Grandparents Day

In honor of Grandparent's Day (September 12, 2010),

Caitlyn got to take her grandparent's to school.

Everyone was able to make it (Pappy met them at the school).

She is so incredibly LOVED!

Out of Towners

One of my favorite friends came to visit from Idaho. We used to work together... and by work together... I mean we used to carpool, pass meds, break, check blood sugars, go on candy runs, break, work doubles, train new emplyees, wander in the courtyard, and take breaks together.

She came in from Idaho and our other old work friend came in from Hawaii.  We all met up and spent an entire day together at the zoo, then at cold stone, then at the Tai Bistro.  It was so super nice to see an old friend.

Click on the pic of Caitlyn's hair as she slid down the slide... Priceless.

1st Day of Preschool

Caitlyn Leigh's 1st day of Preschool.

She attends a Lutheran school

2 days a week (Tuesday and Thursday)

She's in a class of 9 children.

Her and Audrey are the only girls,

3 out of the 7 boys are named Elijah.

Sept 30th-I'm in charge of snacks.

We took over a hundred pictures of her on her 1st day.

I will post only 5 so I don't bore you.  

Above is a picture of the proud parents and brother of a preschooler.

This one was taken in the parking lot when we arrived, I'm pretty sure she was giving me two thumbs up... reassuring me that everything would be alright.

I had to get one more right before she entered the classroom.

The night before, I felt a little anxiety as I realized that other children and teachers would influence her life now.  I felt a sudden need to remind her of how to behave... I reminded her to say please and thank-you, and to share her toys, and to be nice to all the other children.  The conversation ended with her telling me,

'Mommy, Me do yat... me do all of yat.'

That's when I knew she was ready.

When we picked her up, all the parents stood in the lobby and the teacher would call downstairs to the teacher's assistant who's parent's had arrived to pick up the children. It felt like graduation...

The teacher called Caitlyn's name and she climbed the stairs along with the other children all of them with their oversized back packs, carrying her lovely art work.

I was SO PROUD!

♥

Ash took this picture and I absolutely had to put it on the blog.

It reminded me of line from one of Mine and Caitlyn's FAVORITE books,

Someday.

Someday I will stand on this porch and watch your arms waving to me 

until I no longer see you.

Lake Trask 2010

Labor day was spent with Ash's family at their lake property.

Lots of fun and laughter... and spiders!

The kiddos LOVE it there!

Meet & Greet

We met with Caitlyn's preschool teacher and all her tiny preschool friends.

I cried twice... Ash and I were holding hands watching Caitlyn run and play with her new friends, he looked at me, squeezed my hand, and asked if I was ok. I nodded because I knew if I tried to speak, I'd cry.  I watched her as she played on a merry-go round type toy and she waved to me and asked, 'Mommy, you go bye bye now?' It took everything I had to tell her (without crying) that I was staying for this night and next time I'd leave her all alone... without my supervision... under the influence of all the other preschoolers and teacher Julie where she'd just begin her preschool years which, I know, will help her grow and develop into a beautiful young woman who will- with just a blink of an eye- be heading off to college soon. 

Sweet Summer's Eve

I'm not positive, but this might be the last day of nice weather this summer.  So we spent it with tons of friends at the sprayground, came home and took a really long nap, then headed back to the park for a picnic dinner. 

These two melt my heart.

Kite Festival 2010

The Kite Festival has come and gone and we had so much fun.

I am a little embarrassed to admit...

I didn't even get my camera out until the second to the last day.

Therefore very few pics were taken...

Caitlyn is a 'camping queen'...

which is just one more thing she did NOT get from me.

Ashton was also a great camper... until it came time to sleep.

He wasn't sure how to fall asleep without his crib.

The beach was a tad bit too cold for my littles, they were not interested in the sand or the waves. In fact the only thing they were interested in was being held by me, so we napped in the sand and then headed back to the camper before the kites were even in the air.

I might not have been voted the 'camping comedian' or even nominated for the 'gummi bear award'... but I'll tell you what!!!

I for sure won the most stylish camper with this smoking hot, vintage red sweatshirt, gifted to me from my mom (est.~1985).

Here's the whole camping gang after our tournament of champions.

(Caitlyn was super happy to be included in the pic.)

This year was probably one of my favorite years at the kite festival, and although I don't really have the pictures to prove it... my kids and everyone else loved it too. 

Fun in the Sun

These past few days have been

in the 90s here in Western Washington.

The second we saw the forcast, I called my Aunt Cindy to let her know I was bringing the kids over to keep cool.

My cousin, Larissa, loved to take pics of the little ones, the above pic is one of my absolute favs!!!

Caitlyn was introduced to arm floaties and about two seconds afterwards... she could swim independently.

She loved swimming so much...

another thing she loved... applying sunscreen independently... she's got the technique down, turn nozzle directly into face and spray into eyes until they foam... she was done after that...

and decided to steal her brother's bink and take a two hour nap in the 90 degree heat with her blanket.

after she awoke... she skinny dipped... totally cute.

Ashton all of a sudden couldn't get enough of the camera.

I've got about 30 pictures of him posing next to the monkey bars, each one cuter than the last.

Seriously... he's too cute!

I'm only posting this next collage for one person. 

There are 2 things that would've made this collage more complete.
1- if Tiffany was right next to me performing these highly dangerous dives

2- if my perfectly posed tripod was caught on camera.

I ♥ Summer 2010!

Caitlyn Leigh Turns 3!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my sweet daughter, Caitlyn Leigh.

We celebrated, luau style, on Sunday with all her favorite people.

Caitlyn has been talking about her 3rd birthday ever since Ashton turned 1. So I was a little surprised when she turned shy for present opening. Thanks goodness little Miss Avery was there to help her along.  Even though everything about the cake was NOT what I ordered (except the pink Hawaiian flowers), it was still a crowd pleaser and brought about many many blue laughs (see the pics below).

The party was everything I imagined for my 3 year old daughter.

There was family and friends

and lots of love and laughter.

I even surprised myself by holding it all together unless you count the three times I cried in the morning getting ready, the one time while we were opening all the cute clothes she received for presents and as I pictured her wearing them on her way to preschool, or the one last time I laid in bed with Ashley talking about the perfect day and I leaned over to turn out the light but instead grabbed her 'Welcome to the 2010-2011 School Year' packet and lost it again.

It was a great day. 

On her actual Birthday, Ash took the day off and we started with cinnamon rolls, lots of play time, lunch at Red Robin where we were joined by Auntie Scarlet.  After lunch, we all headed to the supermall to ride the carousel, came home watched two movies, ate dinner and headed to bed early.

Another great day for a great 3-year old. 

I know that this year is gonna be a big one.

She begins preschool in less than a month and I already know she's gonna l♥ve it!

Just for Fun

Cousin Brian, Poppy and his girls visited Washington during their way too short trip to the USA.  Caitlyn and Ashton absolutely LOVE Myranda and Kassidy. I wish they were here everyday!

Fun times were had by all... as they always are when Brian visits. We miss him and all his girls already.  We rocked the West End Karoake and man did it bring back some memories.  We went out just with our family and I can't even remember the last time I was able to relax and simply hang out with such fun people.  Although we have our ups and downs (as most families do), I LOVE each and everyone of these guys.  I couldn't help but remembering my Dad always saying when we were little (and he still says it to this day),

"Friends will come and go... Families are Forever!"

Oh, what a fun night.

The kids and I also traveled a little North on the 5 to visit Mandy. Ung-King Jon was able to get off work a little early to join us for a dip in the pool.  We had a blast and plan to do it more often... thanks Ung-King Jon and Mandy for such a great time.

♥

Handsome Haircut

Before...

During...

After...

...and after...

....again...

this time without his sister stealing his sucker

♥

♥

So stinkin' HANDSOME!!!