School Halloween Party!

Jack's school had a Halloween Party today. Jack was excited to be Batman with his friends, and Lauren insisted on wearing her costume this morning as well. I didn't know Batman would be so popular this year. There were four boys dressed as Batman in Jack's class. Batgirl and Batman before school....
Thomas the Train, Super Grover and Batman
Jack's friends at school

Three out of the four batman (Jack is on the far right)

Superheroes

Carving Pumpkings

The pictures say it all in this post...."You want me to put MY hand in there?" We thought that Lauren would love this part of carving pumpkins....
...but she refused to do it!

Jack got after it, though. Even though through that smile I know he thinks it is gross.

Blue eyes!
Drawing her face...I think there were ten eyes, three mouths and five noses on her pumpkin!
Jack told me this was his favorite part.
Face drawn-Ready to carve

Ready to carve

All done...carrying the pumpkins outside.
Jack's was so big that he needed help getting it outside.
All lit up!
He loves his jack-o-lantern

Seattle!!!

We headed up to Seattle for the weekend! We had a great time and took tons of pictures. On Friday, we took Lauren to a Dr. appointment for a second opinion. And, thankfully the Dr. said that Lauren's previous surgeries went well and she is looking good. Great news! We also spent some time with my grandfather, went to Liese's first bday party, went to Pike's Market and the Seattle Aquarium. Here are pictures from our trip.

Lauren and Jack with Great-Grandpa Frank
Pike's Place Market
We can't take pictures anymore without having a silly one in there too!
I love how Lauren is hugging Jack in this one.
We liked this pig.
At the Seattle Aquarium...Jack refused to touch a starfish and told us he would do it next time..."like when I am 4 yrs. old." Lauren had NO problems touching them....until she saw Jack freaking out about it. Then she wouldn't touch them anymore!

According to Jack, the best part of the aquarium was seeing Nemo.
We have taken tons of these kinds of pictures lately.

The kids loved seeing the ferry boats. Check it out in the background.

Jack with the bday girl, Liese.

Lauren's scary face. She better keep working on it. She still looks cute to me!
So surprising that Lauren has cupcake frosting all over her face. We call her Miss Piggy most of the time now. She is SO messy!!!
Jack figured out how to put his trick-or-treating bag on top of his head. Yes, this is another picture that he will kill me for posting in a few years! Ha!!

A walk to see the halloween lights...

There is a really cool light show in our neighborhood and we decided to take a family walk to see them last night. I couldn't get good pictures, but the kids loved walking in the dark with their flashlights.
In front of the lights....
Lauren loved collecting leaves on our walk.

Watching the light show.

The above picture is one that I took of Jack last year when we started this tradition. Thinking back to last year, I left Jason and Lauren at home so Jack and I could get out of the house for a bit together. I remember just one year ago, Lauren was still SO fussy and was still a total mama's girl. Oh what a difference a year can make! I am so thankful of how great things are going this year. Happy kiddos=happy mommy!!!

Our week so far...

We have had a pretty mellow week so far. Here are some pictures of a few things we have been up to.Jeremy came over for dinner. And, the kids did an art project after dinner. They went outside, collected leaves and glued them onto paper. They both really seemed to enjoy this.
We also got out the "smart cycle" so the kids could get some energy out during a rainy day this week. Jack does such a good job and really understands how to play. Lauren on the other hand, doesn't understand any part of it. Jack is so sweet and tries to explain how to play, but she doesn't get it.
See I told you Jack was sweet. Here he is trying to pedal for Lauren, since she wasn't doing it and was going to "lose the game." (as Jack put it"
As you can tell, Lauren could care less about the game...she just wants to smile for the camera and have fun! Got to love it...

Piet's Birthday Party

Piet turned two on Sat. and we went to his bday party at a pumpkin patch. It was a lot of fun, even though it was raining SO hard the entire time. Jason bought me some rain gear earlier this year and it has really come in handy. I have already worn it twice! It does a good job of keeping me dry on these rainy days!The bday boy
Look at those dark clouds. This is right before the downpour began.

The bday group--Makenna, Piet, Allison, Jack, Fin and Lauren

Jack loved holding the baby and felt like SUCH a big boy!
Pony rides in the rain! Jack rode the horse like a pro. This is the third time he has been on a horse.
Lauren even got to ride a pony too. This was the first time she had been on a horse and she LOVED it! She didn't want to get off.

I have a feeling this is the first of many horse rides for Lauren. She wasn't scared at all!