Our rock chick!

Any guesses what the teenage years hold for us?  Yesterday, Kate got temporary tattoos all the up both arms (something she asks for frequently).  And, this morning, she wanted her "rock" shirt because "it looks so good with tattoos."  I wouldn't be at all surprised if she joins a band someday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our wonderful, amazing friends and family!  We're just back from a great time (and great food, of course) at Grandma Connie and Grandpa Bill's.  Apparently, our kids are still young and cute enough that all we are asked to bring is "the kids" so thanks to everyone else for doing ALL the work!! We all have many and much to be thankful for--too much to mention, in fact.  I did ask Will what he was thankful for and, although he has no idea what that means, he answered, "my tiger costume, Tucker (his best friend) and dreams about riding my bike."  A pretty good answer, I thought!!  Kate is now thankful for "all girls and maybe Cooper and Charlie" which is, maybe, a step up from last year's answer of "Metallica."  Cheers to another great year!

Firsts!

A couple of "firsts" this past weekend--the first snow of the season and our first family bike ride!  We only got about an inch of snow, but it was enough to drag the sled out and we could already tell that this winter will be much more fun than last.  Will's old enough now to enjoy the snow, rather than just waddle around like the Michelin man having now idea why he's supposed to having fun.  And Kate, despite being unwilling to look at the camera in these photos, is even more excited about sledding and skiing this year, and is already telling Ryan which lifts she wants to go on first when the mountain opens (based on name/color of the lift rather than any actual ability....)  The snow mostly melted in a day, so on Monday we took our first family bike ride!  It was not long, mind you, but it was the first time that we were all on bikes at the same time and didn't have to worry too much about any of us falling, lagging behind, etc.  It's shades of things to come and makes me excited that our kids are growing up!

My favorite Kate moment. EVER.

Kate regularly makes me laugh but today was the topper in her first four years.  Unfortunately, I have no video of it but I'll try to give you the visual....I doubt I will ever forget it.  So, Kate is in a class called "hip hop for tots" mainly because the thought of watching a bunch of under-5 white kids learn hip hop was too good to pass up.  Plus, the dance studio is in Sisters and run by a fantastic lady and, in my book, if someone is willing to attempt teaching toddlers to get down, you support it wholeheartedly.  It is generally hysterical but today it was downright amazing.  Lonnie, the teacher, had them all in a circle and was calling them in one by one to "freestyle" in the middle.  I thought there was NO WAY Kate would want to do that but, when called in, she got down on her hands and knees and started kicking her legs up in some handstand/cartwheel combo.  She followed this up by lying on her back and trying to spin around.  For a "finale," she got up and put her hands on her hips and shook her tush while dipping all the way to the ground.  This whole scene made me oddly proud and definitely made every bit of the $45/month tuition worth it.  If you're in need of a laugh, visit us on a Wednesday afternoon!

Better late than never...

Yet again, the norm now, it seems, the past week flew by with little time to breathe, let alone update life here.   I continue to be amazed that two small people can make life soooo busy, but they do and I'm working on living in the moment with them rather than worrying about documenting it (I'll probably wish I documented more later but I'm hoping that I'll remember all the extra hugs I gave when I wasn't behind the camera!) Anyway, the kids LOVED Halloween and Kate did indeed change costumes for the parade after school (and she changed costumes AGAIN after the parade to go trick or treating so she got full value out of this holiday).  The parade was the most fun one yet since both kids were old enough to participate.  The parade is all the things I love about living in a small town--every shop decorates for the kids and all the shop owners come out to pass candy to the kids.  Every little kid in town is there and it's all about them having fun--highway traffic even happily stops to watch them parade.  We've never gone trick or treating in the evening before, but we decided to go with some friends this year and it was worth it.  The kids ran to every house (we only went to about 5) and were amazed every time that saying "trick or treat" worked.  It was a full, fun day and, luckily, the kids have totally forgotten about the mounds of candy they received!  As for the past week, we've spent nearly all of it outside because it's been so warm and un-November like.  Yesterday, we all wore shorts and flip flops and it was in the 70s!  We've got one more day to enjoy it, though, because it's supposed to cool down and snow on Friday.  That's Central Oregon for you!