Luke Pics - 5 Months

CinderElla

So, Ella is definitely into the princess thing. Pretty much anything princess-y is right up her alley....and of course those Disney princesses are big favorites. Cinderella is one of her favorite movies, and books, which makes sense right? Cinder - Ella? So when it came time to discuss a costume for Halloween, Cinderella was at the top of the list of options (other candidates were Tinkerbell, a witch, or Buzz Lightyear). To be honest, I'd have preferred Ella to want to be a superhero or something that I think would make a cool costume.... but this girl knows what she wants and who am I to talk her out of wanting to be a princess? So I picked up the Cinderella dress-up dress at Shopko and showed it to her the other day. Here's a sneak peek.....

Have I mentioned.....?

I might have put down a sentence or 2 about what a good big sister Ella is, but I think it's worth making it the topic of an entire blog entry. As any toddler would, she has her moments of wanting our full attention and acting out if we need to take care of Luke. She has never shown anything but love toward Luke though, and she is such a sweetheart when it comes to her little brother. She gravitates toward him and we often have to remind her to give him space because she wants to kiss and love on him constantly. She reads to him, sings to him, consoles him when he cries and tries to make him smile. When she hears him cry from another room, she runs in, saying "I'm coming, buddy!" It must have been a good day with the kids, because I'm raving about them instead of cursing! Whatever it is, I feel so lucky.

Warm Fall Days

The weather here has definitely cooled off. We're down around freezing at night the last couple nights. But late Sept, and early Oct, we had some great, warm weather. Perfect for running around in the back yard before the snow and ice take over.

Queen of the jungle gym

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

One of Ella's favorite activities this summer..... drawing with sidewalk chalk

Rauer Power Baby

Seth's sister, Maia, and her husband Steve are expecting a baby at the beginning of March. Today they found out they are having a baby boy! Such an exciting time for them and we are so excited to meet our little nephew! Congrats guys!

Goodbye old friend

I am truly sad. I have had a feeling for a while now that I was probably going to be losing one of the best parts of my day - Ella's naptime. Today marks the 2nd day in a row that Ella is refusing to go to sleep and none of my usual tricks or threats are working. Pretty sure it's all over.

Oh, but she did have give me another quote to note today. We were downtown, about to head home after visiting the children's museum. She'd seen me put money in the meter when we parked, and as we pulled away, she said: "You left your money in there."

So football season is here again, and again it's a tough year for the Cougs. But - it's still a great time of year because we love football AND we get the family together more often than during the rest of the year. That's mainly due to Gabe and Nancy heading this way for the Cougar games at least 4 or 5 times during the season. This year, it's even more fun because Jameson and Luke are a part of it all. We've already had a couple weekends together, including one trip to Pullman with the whole clan. Seth and I with our kids, Gabe, Nancy and Jameson and Zac & Kristen too. Awesome. Papa Jim and Grammy Sharon have also taken advantage of having all the grandkids in one place.

all of us!

Go Cougs!

Jameson's first Coug game - vs his Mom's alma mater, USC

tailgatin'

Holding my nephew :)

Papa & Grammy with Luke & Jameson

upside down time with Uncle Gabe - a technique also perfected by Uncle Zac

Grammy with her grandbabies

A day at the fair

So back in August...... Lynn and I took our big kids to the fair in town. It was fun, and exhausting! We walked around and saw animals, ate lunch (burgers, corn dogs and ice cream), and headed for the rides. I need to apologize to my parents for costing them so much money every year when the fair rolled around. Holy cow it costs an arm and a leg to ride the rides! The arm was paying for Ella's wristband and the leg was for my wristband when I realized that she was too small to ride the rides without an adult! Not that she would have done much on her own anyway.... I have to admit though, it was fun acting like a kid again! Isaac and Ella both passed out in the car on the way home.... the sign of a good outing!

riding the zebra on the carousel

self portrait of the group

Isaac and his dragon

Isaac and Lynn

round and round....

coming down the big slide