Halloween Fun!

We love Halloween!

Here are a few things we did to celebrate this fun holiday!

We went to a Pumpkin Patch!

We convinced Jacob to be a pumpkin for Halloween!

For a month every time we asked Jacob what he wanted to be for Halloween he would respond that he was going to be "Jesus". As much as we want him to "try to be like Jesus", we know it was not appropriate for him to dress up as Jesus for Halloween. Being the very opinionated 2 year old boy that he his, it was hard to convince him otherwise. A week before Halloween we spent an hour trying to make this pumpkin costume look cool by having each member of our family put the head part on and also by showing Jacob pictures of Landon and Mason wearing the same costume when they were 1 1/2. Finally he put it on and was excited about being a pumpkin.

The one time he put the pumpkin top on his head.
Trick Or Treating "Attachemate" in Seattle

It had been 3 years since we went trick or treating to Dad's office. It has always been something we loved to do, so we were excited to go back this year.

First the kids Trick or Treated the offices. A company that use to cover 2 buildings now only covers 3 floors. But that was still plenty of candy for our crew.

After the trick or treating "Attachemate" had a great party for the families.

Lots of food, games and crafts.

Landon dressed as a Werewolf and won an award for great kids costume!

He felt so tough in his costume he went along to protect me in the spook alley.

Wait he left me in the back to be cased by the crazy chainsaw doctor.

Adult Friend Party

Zeke and I attended a party as a witch and a mummy.

Witches were popular this year at the party. There were 3 of us.

Carving Pumpkins
We were a little behind this year and left the carving till Halloween Day. We were excited though because for the first time we grew our own pumpkins and ended up with 2 beauties.

Here's Lydia's and Mom's pumpkin!

The boys pumpkin!

Halloween Night all dressed up!

We wanted to show Grandma and Grandpa our costumes so we first stopped at their ward's Trunk or Treat.

There we enjoyed some warm cider and donuts.

Then it was off to Trick or Treat!

I love how so many people in our neighborhood get into it. This house cracked me up.

Jack in the Box answered the door.

and this guy was creepy... but fun!

But most of all it's fun to see fellow friends out and about.

Pink Dad!

For those who know Zeke well, knows his passion for sports. He has always encouraged our children to participate in sports and has often coached many of their sport teams. As busy as he is with work and church stuff, this fall he was only planning on coaching Landon and Mason's flag football team, however when we were notified that Lydia's soccer team didn't have a coach, Zeke was willing and jumped in and took the role as the team coach. He spoke with the Parks Department and asked all the questions like when is practice, whose on my team, what's the team name but he forgot to ask a very important question ....

"What is the team color?"

Then he would have known it was.......

PINK!!

When he came home with the bag of shirts, the first thing I said was

"That's a perfect color for a little girls team, Lydia will be thrilled"

He's response was

"But what about me?"

Growing up in a house with 7 boys and 1 girl, Zeke didn't experience a lot of pink stuff, let alone ever wear pink. A game doesn't go by without a comment about the shirt from other parents. Our next door neighbor even admitted seeing Zeke in the pink shirt out the window and calling his wife over to see it. And one early Saturday morning game he walked by his football buddies, wearing it. We've had some good laughs about the pink shirt, but I really think he looks great in it and I am now trying to convince him to try other pink shirts.

More than anything it makes Lydia happy that her Dad loves her enough to coach her team even if it means wearing a pink shirt.
Oh and Lydia is doing great on the soccer field, she has become quite the hustler this year.

It must be because she has an awesome coach!

Back to School

The kids returned to school the Wednesday after Labor Day. It's hard to believe that my two "not so little" boys are in 5th grade. They were pumped the first day of school because they are now the big kids in the building. They are always eager to be involve at school. They are greeters again this year and they also help get all the kids to school safely by being part of safety patrol. Because these activities require them to arrive to school before the rest of the kids, they leave 20 minutes before Lydia and often choose the quickest mode of transportation -their bikes!
I always watch them leave from my front window. This is what it looks like on most days. And often this is what I am thinking "What a blessing it is that they have each other!

Lydia also started 1st grade! I was sad to see her leave me for the whole day, but I know that she is ready and is so glad she loves school.

The biggest adjustment has been for Jacob. He's best playmate is his big sister, and now that she is gone all day and not just during nap time (last year- Kindergarten), it has been a big change for him.

But Jacob and I lived it up the first two days of school.

Day 1 back to school: Jacob was invited to a birthday party at Chuck-e-Cheese. He wasn't much for rides as discovered air hockey, and many ball games.

Day 2 of back to school: Jacob and I hit the Puyallup Fair with our friends Tara and Natalie. Jacob loved seeing the animals, especially the cows. I think there is a little bit of dairy lovin' in his blood;)

Day 3 back to school: Landuary, Landuary, bathrooms, grocery store. But best of all more one on one time with Jacob.

We love summer!!!

It has been a great summer for our family. We are left with only one week left before school starts and we wish we had another month. The time has flied by this summer and we have manage to squeeze in as much as we can since this has become one of our family's favorite season!!

Here is some of what we have been up to this summer:

Hanging out at Lake Tapps

We love Lake Tapps, for many reasons.
1. Grandma and Grandpa live there

2. It's beautiful!
3. The kids have their swimming lessons there.
4. Golf, basketball, tennis, pickle ball, playground, lake, blackberries, etc.

Winthrop WA, 4th of July!
Our family went up to Winthrop, WA for the 4th.

Winthrop is a beautiful small town in the mountains of north-central Washington.
We meet three other families there and had a nice weekend playing and relaxing.

Playing Baseball in Winthrop!
Craft fair in Winthrop! Lydia loved making all sorts of things at the local 4th of July craft fair.

It was fun to spend the weekend with friends.
We had 15 kids total in a cabin and they all had a blast!

Mariner's game!

Zeke came home one day with great tickets to the mariners game from his boss. We were seated in the 11th row behind home plate. We are so use to being up high that it was different. It was fun to have Grandpa come along with us. The Mariners won, which made it even that much better!

Cub Day Camp!

It was Landon's and Mason's last year at cub day camp. They were not that excited about going this year. However, I volunteered the first day and within the first 1/2 hour they told me that they were so glad they came, they had forgotten how much they like cub day camp.

Tacoma Children's Museum

While the boys were at cub day camp, Lydia, Jacob and myself with another family took advantage of a free day at the museum. We had not been there for many years.

Picking Berries

Summer isn't summer to us without visiting a berry farm. The boys have become great berry pickers, which is great, because we never seem to be able to get enough.

Summer Food Academy

Landon- (who likes to cook) signed up for a cooking class offered through the school district this year. They made breakfast and lunch each day. They also learned about gardening. A lot of the food they cooked with came from a large vegetable garden our school district maintains.

Sleeping Beauty Dance Camp

Lydia participated in a sleeping beauty dance camp. It was held one week for three hours each day. She loved it and had a great time doing it with two other friends, Abigail and Carly.

Drive in Movies
Auburn has one of the last operating drive in movie theaters. One night we decided it would be fun to go. We had a lot of fun.

Cameron surprise visit!

Cameron came to Washington with his dad Chris on business trip. We didn't tell the the kids he was coming, so they were totally surprised. The three of them have a great time together.
Pioneer Day! July 24th
We had fun celebrating pioneer day this year. Our ward had fun activity the night of the 24th and we had fun dressing up and making a cover wagon for the children's parade!

Landon, Mason and Lydia were also asked to sing a pioneer song for a short program they had before dinner. We were so proud of how willing they were to perform a new song they didn't know very well.

Record breaking heat!

Seattle has had one of the warmest, and driest summers ever. One night when it had hit over 100 degrees we escaped to the lake for an evening on the wave runner. It felt more like Lake Powell then Lake Tapps.

Discovering parks and beaches!

Lake Washington, Bellevue, WA

Elliot Bay, Seattle

Watching the sunset after a bike ride along the sound in Seattle.

Moonlight Hike

Chinook Pass

A few women from my ward enjoyed a night hike around Chinook Pass. This particular night was a full moon, so if the sky is clear you can hike this 5 mile hike by moonlight. It was a perfect evening, and the scenery was amazing.

The start of our hike.

The scenery half way through.

Museum of Flight

We could have spent a lot more time here. So much too see!

Finlay's visit!
It's always great when the Findlays come, but the only pictures we took while they were here is this one. Lydia and Jack have a great time together. Aren't they cute!!!

Visiting Boise, ID!

We spent a few days in Boise, so we could meet our newest niece Izabel and attend her baby blessing.

All the McKinney side of our family was there!
The kids loved being with their cousins.

In Boise we went to a water park.

Bronco vs. Seahawk game!
While most of us are a little sad to see summer end Zeke is thrilled that football season has begun. The Broncos came to Seattle last Saturday night so of course we were there! Zeke loves the Bronco and he was so excited to see the Broncos in this pre-season game.

Weekly Playgroup
We have also enjoyed many summer playgroups this summer with friends from church.

It's about time!

It seem like I am always behind on blogging and then I have so much to post. Below you will see 5 entries. I hope I can break this bad habit.

Seattle Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon!!!

10 years ago I never thought I would run a 1/2 marathon, but after 7 years of running at 6am in the morning I finally got myself to sign up for one. The Rock and Roll run sounded like so much fun.



So June 27th was the day. The weather was perfect, it was my 12 year anniversary, and I felt pretty good. We left the house at 5:30am and headed to the starting point along with 25,000 other people.



I have ran a lot of 5K's but this was different. So many more people and such long lines at the potties.



When the horn blew we were off and what a perfect day it was to run along beautiful Lake Washington into down town Seattle.

After 10 weeks of training we wondered how we would do. Zeke has been experiencing some back and alelies issues, two days before the race he didn't even know if he would run, but in the end he "rocked" the race and ended at an amazing time of 1 hour 40 minutes 46 seconds. He came in 505th overall out of 15,541 half marathoners! Wow! I was so proud of him.

It was Tara's first 1/2 too. We ran together and it was so much fun. We surprised ourselves with a great time of 1 hour 53 minutes 28 seconds. Which put me at 1884th place.

What a feeling of accomplishment it is to pass the finish line. The pain was worth that feeling.

The day before the race we picked up our packet at the expo and my kids made these signs along with Tara's kids. They stayed over at Grandma and Grandpa's while we ran. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for taking care of them on your 40th anniversary.

Later that night Zeke and I went out to dinner on Lake Union to celebrate our 12 year anniversary. Following we went to the post Rock and Roll run concert. KebMo performed and it was nice to sit back and relax.

Rock and Roll 2010 sign me up!!