Halloween

The kids had a lot of fun this year--especially Sophia. She was very gung-ho with the whole Trick-or-Treating thing. We did one big loop around our neighborhood with our neighbors who have twins. The kids got a lot of candy which I'm not sure what we are going to do with. Sophia really wanted Chris and I to dress up so at the last minute I put pig tails in my hair and threw on a baseball hat. Sophia took one look at me and said, "Mom, I like your hair, but you need to go put a dress on." And to her dismay, I didn't put on a dress, I stayed in my jeans and sweatshirt. She's all about the dresses :)

Since having kids, I wasn't sure what I thought about Trick-or-Treating, but have decided it is a great way to meet neighbors and strike up some good conversation. Here are some pictures of the kids.

Matthew on the run (okay, not the best picture, but you try and photograph a 17 month old in a tiger costume!)

Pretty Fairy Princess...

And after many failed attempts of a perfect portrait of the two of them together, this is what we got!

It's time to party!

Today was Sophia's Halloween party at school----here are some highlights...

The Frankenstein heads Sophia and I made for her party.
Sophia and a few of her classmates.

Sttttrrrrike!

Fishing for goodie bags.

Decorating her mini pumpkin.

The finished product!

Sophia's First Field Trip

Sophia had her first field trip last week. She went to Linder Farms with her class (Matthew and I joined her too). We had a lot of fun! Here are a few pictures....

Sophia surveying the pumpkin patch.

Hey! This looks like a good one!

Matthew enjoyed looking at all of the pumpkins too...

Sophia and Teacher Karen...

Matthew has a good dialing finger!

I am taking a sewing class on Monday nights for the next 6 weeks so Chris was home last night by himself with the kids. I was only gone for 3 hours but there was quite the drama in a short period of time. As soon as I walked in the door he told me that something happened that he had never before seen in his life happen that evening. He told me that the incident involved Matthew. I was assuming there was blood involved and maybe a slight head injury or something because I always assume the worse. Thankfully that was not the case. Chris was busy doing something and Matthew was playing with the cordless phone. Matthew was busy pushing the buttons on the phone and called 911. Can you believe that? What are the odds? Seriously....So, Chris heard the dispatcher say "911, what is your emergency?" He grabbed the phone, but Matthew had already hung it up. Immediatley after that our phone rang and it was the dispatcher asking what our emergency was. Chris had to explain that Matthew was playing with the phone and accidentally dialed 911. She then hastily said she would cancel the dispatch. Pretty crazy---you hear of that happening, but I've never personally known that to happen to anyone that I know. Now thanks to our son we can say that kids accidentally calling 911 really does happen. I can't wait to tell him that story when he gets older...

Remember when....

Remember when you were in labor and how it all went down?

How long were your labors?
Sophia - 11 hours
Matthew - about 4 1/2 hours

How did you know you were in labor?
Sophia - I started having contractions at home while waiting for Chris and my mom to pick up my sandwich for me at Subway.
Matthew - I was induced.

Where did you deliver?
Sophia - St. Luke's (downtown)
Matthew - St. Luke's (downtown)

Drugs?
Sophia - had an epidural as soon as I could!
Matthew - waited as long as I could, and finally caved~had him a 1/2 hour later after the epidural was administered (at least it took the edge off!)

C-Section?
Nope (on both).

Who delivered?
Sophia - Dr. Carlson
Matthew - same

I got this from another blog and was told to pass this on---! So go for it! I want some details (nothing too gory though please) :)

St. Luke's Women's Fitness Celebration

We almost didn't walk this year, but at the last minute I changed my mind and decided we would do it again! This was Sophia's 3rd year participating...and my 7th? I think (???) It was raining horribly on Saturday morning (not to mention there was thunder and lightening), but we went for it. We met Emily downtown at the race. It is the nation's largest 5k walk/run for women. Surprisingly Sophia did really well. I didn't even bring the jogger stroller! She walked most of the way (with a little help from Emily and myself carrying her off and on). Sophia was a real trooper. We were soaked at the end---seriously, literally soaked! I had my camera in my backpack in a plastic baggie but it still got wet and now doesn't work....so there are no pictures to post. Note to self: take camera in to be fixed. Next year should even be better since Sophia will be 5 years old. I am glad we ended up doing it again this year---it has been fun to start a mother/daughter tradition with her at an early age :)

I did it!

Well for those of you wondering---I survived my zip line adventure. Being up in a tree on a platform is not my choice of places to be, but by the 5th line I was doing good and finally enjoying myself (unfortunately there are only 6 lines---technically 7, but 6 & 7 run parallel to one another so you can race with a friend). Anyway, there was no screaming on my part like I thought there would be. I did however close my eyes a lot at the beginning and missed the great view of the trees, but made up for that on the last two. I don't have any pictures now, but here is the website from the tour that I did www.zipidaho.com

Sophia's First Day of School

Yesterday was Sophia's first day of school. Her teacher's name is Miss Karen and she really likes her. Yesterday was a short day where they went over rules, ate a snack, played on the playground and did a Weekly Reader (remember those?). Tomorrow she will be there for the full 3 hours. Here are a few pictures I took before the big school day....

TV's and the environment....

Some interesting information I found online....

Plasma tv's use as much energy as your refrigerator! That's about $78 a year based on how much tv an average family watches. Old school tv's (like we have) cost only $11 per year.

BUT, like my friends and I were talking about the other day it would be nice to have one when the kids are teenagers so that they will want to hang out at home (along with their friends) and not at someone elses house :) Just something to think about!

Belated Blog Entry #2: The Oregon Coast

Here is the other belated blog entry I had promised in my last entry. This one will cover our family vacation to the Oregon Coast (specifically Portland and the Enchanted Forest). We went the last week in July. We actually left the morning following Sophia's birthday party so things were a little hectic--getting packed, etc., but we made it :) The first night we stayed the night in Portland. It was an interesting night because we had both kids in the room with us which was a first. Matthew screamed his head off for about 45 minutes straight before he went to sleep---thankfully Chris was in the hotel lobby with my dad (Bert or a.k.a. Poppy) working on their Whatifsports thingamabob that they do together. He gets a little edgier than I do with screaming kids---I'm used to it being at home with them all day long. Anyway, Matthew finally went to sleep.

The next day my mom (Lynn or a.k.a. Glynnie), the kids and I went to the mall and hung out the entire day while the boys (minus Matthew--he was with us) went to the Oregon Brewers Festival. The mall we went to has an ice skating rink so that was a big draw for Sophia and kept her occupied while my mom let me go wander off and do a little shopping for myself. I love the store Forever 21---we don't have it here in Boise but are getting one soon. It's cheap like Old Navy, but their clothes are trendier (my opinion). So, I got a few things there and was able to try on clothes in the dressing room without 4 little eyes staring at me and a toddler complaining she is ready to go---it was a nice treat. We all went out to dinner at Claim Jumper's which was pretty cool---I've always wanted to go there. The food was pretty good---what was impressive was the 6-layer Chocolate Motherlode Cake. We got one slice to go for $9.95 and couldn't finish the slice between the 4 of us.

The next day we went to the Enchanted Forest (http://www.enchantedforest.com/). It is a small amusement park in Salem, Oregon that I have gone to numerous times as a little girl. I have very fond memories of it and it was fun to share it with the kids (this is the 2nd year in a row for both of the kids that they have gone). Sophia was more into it this year and was braver than last year. She even rode on the Ice Moutain Bobsleds. The ride that really freaked me out was the Frog Hopper. It was a kiddie ride (they have a whole kiddie section with a little train, etc), but that thing was scary! Sophia was fine of course. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry---I decided to laugh until I was crying instead. Here is an action shot of the two of us on it together.

Some other pics from the Enchanted Forest...

There is more to our trip---Seaside, etc. but I'm going to post this anyway for the time being since it obviously takes me awhile to post...

Belated Blog Entry #1: Sophia's Birthday

Sophia's 4th birthday was last Thursday and we had her birthday party on Friday. Then on Saturday we woke up early and headed to the Oregon Coast for a week...thus the belated blog entry! Belated Blog Entry #2 will be about our vacation to the Coast (stay tuned).

Even though we were having a birthday party for Sophia on Friday, it didn't seem right to let her "real" birthday go by without a little bit of a celebration. For her "real" birthday we surprised her with a 1/2 day at Princess Camp! She had a great time. Her dance teacher from this last year was holding the camp and it just happened to be on her special day---we couldn't resist.Sophia with her Princess crown she made that day.

Later that night Glynnie took us to dinner at Red Robin to celebrate her big day. The wait staff came out and sang Happy Birthday to her which she liked and she enjoyed a clownie cone from Baskin Robbins for dessert.

Her birthday party was the following night. She had a great time playing with all of her friends.

Honk Honk!

One of Matthew's latest tricks is "honking" our noses. If you ask him, "Where's Mama's nose?" He will then proceed to squeeze your nose. You can tell he is proud of himself and thinks this is a big accomplishment (see picture on right). Some of his other current "tricks" if you will, are pulling the cereal boxes out of the cupboard and dumping cereal all over, giving hi-fives, and helping me empty the dishwasher. There are many others but these are just a few.

Dirt Dawgs

The Dirt Dawgs placed 4th in the Boise city men's upper division end of season tournament. There are 14 divisions in Boise ranging from D-1 to D-14 and Chris' team was in D-3. The link to the team's website is www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=dirtdawgs2007

They start the fall season the first of August. Good job Dirt Dawgs!

Matthew's 1 year pictures

Matthew recently had his pictures taken by my friend Nikki. He is at a great age to have his pictures taken because his smile is genuine (unlike his sister who knows the fake smile all too well). Here are a couple of the pictures and the link to Nikki's website (http://www.nikkihoover.net/).

Busy Month

We have had a very busy month! Matthew turned one year old last Sunday. We had a party for him at Uncle Ron and Aunt Julee's house in Lewiston. When Sophia turned one, she barely touched her cake...but Matthew on the other hand was a different story. He tore the cake apart! He also enjoyed everyone singing Happy Birthday to him and getting to play with his new toys.Sophia started swimming lessons last week. She cried the first two days and by day 3 her fear of the water had drastically decreased. She is doing a great job and we are very proud of her!

She also was in her first dance recital on Saturday night. She loved her outfit and felt like a princess!

Baby Backpack

As my friend Emily knows, even before I ever thought of having kids I have always wanted a baby backpack. We bought an REI Piggyback backpack today off of Craigslist and couldn't wait to use it so we took it on a stroll around the neighborhood and through the park....Matthew enjoyed sitting in it and seemed comfortable having Daddy tote him around.

The Circus

Saturday we went to the circus with Chris' mom and stepdad who live in Eagle (Grandma Pam and Grandpa Jim). The kids had a great time and we thought it was pretty entertaining too :)

Sophia loved her cotton candy!

Sophia's first ride on a pony! Yee haw!

Matthew and Sophia hanging out after the circus....

Oh what a night...

So, we had big plans to get up this morning and go to Lewiston (Sophia, Matthew and I---Aimee). But, Sophia woke us up at midnight crying hysterically which in turn woke Matthew up. We were seriously up for 4 hours straight! Not kidding! This was the worst night we have had as parents so far. Of course there have been sleepless nights when they were both newborns, but never had we been up for 4 consecutive hours. I took Sophia to the doctor today and she has an ear infection so she is on antibiotics. Hopefully she gets better soon. We'll see what tonight brings...

Easter

Easter was a lot of fun! Here are some pictures from the big hunt!

MySpace and pretty pictures...

So, I cancelled my MySpace account the other day. No offense to anyone....I don't know if people take offense to these things or not. I don't think they should, but you never know. I had a wild urge and just did it! It said it would take up to 48 hours to cancel my account. For some reason it felt very liberating. I have moved on to better things---such as blogging! Which I think everyone should do! It's the latest thing I am trying to push. I guess you could call me a blog pusher.....

One other fun thing...check out http://photocrazy55.blogspot.com/ to view some pretty pictures of my cousin Jasmine.

It is official!

It's official! Sophia is registered for preschool. I got there an hour early to register and there were already 7 people in line in front of me. This whole preschool thing is crazy! But, she got into the class we wanted her in! She is pictured above modeling her new preschool t-shirt.

Tomorrow

So tomorrow is the big day. I get to go register Sophia for preschool. Chris is staying home in the morning with both kids so I can get down there early. We looked at a few different preschools and finally found this one. It is a small non denominational preschool held out of a Methodist church not far from our house. The teacher to student ration is 1:8 which is better than the others we looked at. Her class will be held twice a week for 3 hours in the morning. I think she starts late August or early September. When we went for the tour last week she started crying when we had to leave so I thought that was a good sign. I can't believe how fast she is growing up---it is exciting and sad at the same time...

Lazy Day...

Today was a pretty slow day---went to Starbucks, church, came home, ate lunch. Matthew took a nap while Daddy and Sophia did yard work. They cleaned up the front yard and fixed the weed eater. After the yard work was an evening of pizza and Peter Pan!

Finally!

Finally another post from us! This past weekend we decided to move our computer into what we would like to be our office. Of course we missed the minor detail of checking to make sure that the phone jack worked (yes, we still have dial-up). So, of course I went to update our blog and what do you know? I can't dial up to the internet! Oh the frustration. My friend Nikki lent me three looong phone cords so my temporary fix is plugging into the phone jack in the living room. But at least we can get online now! Note to self: call the phone company and have them come fix the phone jack!

This past weekend, Aimee's mom came to visit (otherwise known as Glynnie to her grandkids). She graciously watched Matthew and Sophia overnight on Saturday so we could have a whole entire night to ourselves. It was the first night we had ever left Matthew overnight. We went out to dinner at Los Mariachis (2 stars from us--our favorite Mexican restaurant is Fiesta Guadalajara but we didn't feel like driving that far--we wanted something close to our hotel). After dinner we went to our hotel. Chris booked us a hotel room at the Doubletree Riverside. Imagine our surprise when they informed us they had overbooked the hotel by 10 rooms. They asked us if we would mind staying at their Parkcenter location for free! For free? Are you kidding us? That sounds great! It was a nice stay. It looked like it had been recently updated with contemporary furnishings and colors. Matthew even slept for Glynnie untiil 5:45 that morning. Thank you Glynnie!

Fire in Indiana

After two of my friends started blogs for their own families I thought it would be fun to do one of our own....so yes, we are jumping on the bandwagon! So it appears that with a family blog you update others with the current happenings of your family.....so here it goes! Chris received the news on Sunday, February 3rd that his parent's home in Indiana burnt down. They had lived there since 1977. Thankfully, they were not at home when the fire started but were babysitting their grandkids in Indianapolis (2 hours away from their home). They lost everything except what they had packed in a small overnight bag.

Chris flew back "home" on Tuesday the 5th to help them sift through the rubble and do all the other tasks that come with a devastation like theirs (apartment hunting, meeting with the insurance agent, etc.). He arrived home safely on Sunday. It was a LONG 5 days without Chris and we were so happy to see him. Pictures coming soon. In the meantime, here is a picture of Sophia and Matthew hanging out and getting ready for bed.