Our "Texan" Cousins Came to Visit!

Okay so they are not originally from Texas but they live there now and love it. We are so happy for them but we miss them. :( We are so glad they came to visit! When Alisha and I get together it is always as though no time has passed. We have always been "two peas in a pod." She is five days older than me born on my due date while I was born on hers!

Time with Dad

Joey took Jones to the Indoor Kite Festival last weekend at Camas High School. Jones really enjoyed it. He has taken a great liking to kites. The first kite he ever saw was in a book we took to Russia. He flew his first kite this summer and now he made & flew his own indoor kite. :)

VULNERABLE

Well, I thought I'd let you see me as I really look posting these blogs. This is how my kiddos view me many days. Oh, my poor kiddos!

Thrilled and Guilty!

So I have to admit that a lot of attention has been paid to Jones to teach him as much as I could this last year to get him ready for school since arriving from Russia. I work with Mollie too but not NEARLY as often. The other day I was practicing words with Jones and Mollie started naming letters! I decided to pull out the awesome ABC flashcards we have and quiz her. She knew 17!!! I couldn't believe it! She also is recognizing lower case and phonics! I am so proud of her! I can't take the credit, that credit goes to her little purple "Fun 2 Learn" laptop! Let's just say I am increasing the time I take teacher her now! Oh and to celebrate, we pulled out ABC Bingo and we could ALL play!!! It was thrilling!

Jones & Gpa take a ride......zoom......zoom.....

My Jam

Here's my baby brother. :) Love you Jameson.

Brandon 27, Brittany 25

Murder at the Soggy Biscotti

For my Brother & Sister's birthday's they chose to have a murder mystery party. It was a lot of work but it was all worth it. Plus it's always good to work together with my sibs. It was set in the 1920's at a speakeasy owned by none other than me! I played "Erin Marie" the widow pretending to avenge her cheating husband's death all the while promoting her speakeasy. Joey was "Chief Ronnie" who ended up being the murderer!!! He killed Brandon! Everyone really got into it and dressed and acted the part. It was great. Joey and I were trying to do it for close to free so Joey got made fun of quite a bit for his "hot glued", "$$ store", "wife made" outfit. They kept calling him the "button police." And since I was a business owner I got away with wearing my suit ala Coco Chanel. When I look back at the pics though...uugh!!! I know you are thinking it! I look like Kathy Bates in The Family Who Preys. Oh well, it was fun and it's over. Thanks Ben & Mel for the use of your house and your hard work. Happy Birthday Bran & Britt. And Jam, we missed you! I love all of you.

Finally! "Wallerween" Pics!

Well our goal was to do it for free this year so.............



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Haha! Just kidding! Well not about the free part! And if this offends anyone I am sorry. Believe me, the towel option did cross my mind! It is completely resourceful! I am still not sure how I feel about the whole Halloween thing so I don't know exactly what we were celebrating (Halloween, Wallerween, Harvest time) but we dressed up. Britt and I were busy preparing for a party the next day so we ended up getting the kids out the door too late for the Grandparent tour & the Harvest Party so we took the tour. We started with PICTURES of course with the cousins and then off to Great Grandpa & Gigi (Great Grandma) Lovelace, then my parents, then Joey's parents. Luckily the kids are still young and they didn't complain too much about missing the party although I personally felt pretty bad because I know Jones loves it. Instead we let him stay up "early" which is actually late (he is still working on this concept) and watch Journey to the Center of the Earth and eat his two choice pieces of candy from the bowlful we were given from all the grandparents. He was happy! Oh, and thank you Caleb for letting us borrow Buzz!!!

Da Boots

Okay silly title. I'm getting tired. Anyway, what is it with boots???!!! Mollie enjoys trying all the shoes on in our house (backwards) but she especially loves Jones' boots. As you can see Livi does too!

A big "boo boo" for Mollie

Well, our little "Boo" (Have you seen Monster's Inc. ? Did you see Mollie in it? I did!) got her first big "Boo Boo" on Thursday. She was having too much fun with her friends at Bible Study and tripped into a table. You can't tell in this pic but it was a nice big "goose egg." When I got back to her classroom to check it out she was so sad and kept telling me "I am hurt Mommy." Poor little thing. I have to admit it did scare me a bit. She still has a green bruise but her cut is almost healed. She still tells everyone she knows about it with dramatic detail and sometime real tears!

A Little Fall Baking (not all in the same day!)

Mmmm......"Pantry" Apple Pie (I am calling it "pantry" because we wanted a crunchy topping so we added everything we could think from the pantry- cereal, oats, nuts, brown sugar and on the inside we added nuts & raisins. It was alright, not the best I've had but it was our first time from scratch so we'll give it some grace. Oops, and I forgot to take a picture after it was done!)






Mmmm...Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars (from the Meal Makeover Moms website)








Mmmm......Great Grandma's Banana Bread Recipe (oops, forgot the final pic again!)