My Beautiful Babies

I love my beautiful babies so much.  Rather than the lame school photos, I got the kid's photo taken by April Johnson at talkstoryphotography.com.  There was some discussion on whether or not to allow McKenna to wear her crown--but it's what she does. She pulls it out of the drawer and says "crown."  I try to talk her into barrettes and ponytails, but she isn't having it. 

Suck sweet kiddos!

Halloween

I love, love, love dressing McKenna.  It is still not old. It was fun dressing her up for the holidays, and taking her to storytime and pumpkin shopping.

She had several costumes to choose from.  For the business trick-or-treating she chose to be the witch.  The hat did not last long. 

Loren's parents brought a huge pumpkin from their garden, it was big enough that we could have a panda on one side and a cat on the other.  Guess who usually won?

The boys chose to be Darth Vader and a ninja, and they rocked three separate Halloween events.  

McKenna was a princess strawberry, of course.

She was scared of the Darth Vader mask, so usually the boys went without anything on their faces.

For the ward trunk-or-treat we had two ninjas. 

And a princess unimpressed with the chilli cook-off.  

And a princess cat--because McKenna stole my sparkly ears.

Later I got them back!  McKenna got her first sucker and was pretty much done for the night.  There was no taking it away from her.

Even though I tried my best to explain to her that chocolate was better.

Fall soccer

Every Tuesday night and Saturday morning we are back on the soccer fields!  We have been in soccer for the past four years, and most things stay the same.

Except we have this little cute cheerleader this time around.

Logan has been acting as keeper for a bit each game.  He wants to play keeper, and, although his kick doesn't go that far, he has had some great saves. 

I think McKay is the smallest in the entire league, but this year he is more aggressive, and is out there with the big boys. 

He is not afraid to get in there and get after the ball.  I love it!

Logan had a goal already this season! Super proud of him!

Julie has made almost every game, and we even had these cute spectators stop by!

Loren has done a great job with our team.  We had several players that had never played before, and we are starting to look pretty strong!  I love that he coaches and is involved with our sweet boys. 

Hitting the Green

For living in Phoenix, we show quite the aversion to tennis and golf.  Unless it is mini-golf.

Then we join Julie quite often! 

McKenna mostly likes to steal everyone's balls and wreak havoc.

The boys get quite competitive and want to win.  They are still too small to actually play well, or take it seriously.  With McKenna playing with us, we really can't keep score.  But it is still beautiful here--and snowing in Montana!

Taking book club on the road!

Logan's favorite authors are J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordian.  We have been working through the Percy Jackson series--Logan has finished, McKay is on book two.

We found out Rick Riordian was visiting Phoenix!  We packed up the kiddos and headed to Mesa.  We got our new Magnus Chase book signed and got to hear a lecture on the new book.  Logan loved it!  McKenna was less than impressed. 

McKay mostly wanted to make sure we got ice cream later (we did). The new book is okay, we were mostly excited to hear the next book is headed back to Camp Half-Blood.

So this happened....

You know what happens when you monkey around in the pick-up line after school?

This.

He got in the car with blood gushing and one tooth down.  Apparently Logan and McKay "ran into each other."  Sigh.  The two missing teeth, in combination with the dimples, is really too much. 

AZ United!

The boys have been playing soccer for a few years, and we finally went to see the AZ United take on the LA Galaxy.

It was monsoon season, so we got rain dumped on us, but it was great fun (and we won!)

We got to go courtesy of Vet Tix, and Julie's service, and loved seeing soccer played at a higher level. We would definitely go again!

The Many Faces of McKenna

With the boys gone at school all day, McKenna and I have to entertain ourselves.

We go to library storytime...

And the gym...

And dress up like Jersey girls...

And hipster girls...

And try new hairstyles while running errands...

And practice gymnastics...

And try to bring back the 80s...

And try out some shades...

And help with chores...

And cheer on our Cougars (albeit a little reluctantly).

Then, we just destroy the house and make a big ole mess until it is time for naps!

New Activities

We let the boys each pick one activity and one sport.  They, of course, chose soccer for their sport, but their activities suprised me.  Logan chose violin.

And did not hesitate to start his own little concert series.

He got a violin for an early birthday present, and has been charming us with such musical favorites as 'Mary had a Little Lamb" and "Hot Cross Buns."

McKay chose chess.  I think it is because the Chess Club had the largest trophy at the sign-up day, but I can't prove it.  He has been diligent about practicing, however.  Watch out, he is kind of a chess shark!

First Day of School!

Look at these handsome devils!  We are still at Anthem Prep, which we just love. (The school supplies and books, not so much).  McKay has Ms. Wilcox for his second grade teacher this year, Logan's former teacher, so he is excited to get started. Logan is starting the third grade with Ms. Womack, and it is going to be a little bit more of a challenge for him. (With 99.5% national test scores in English and Math, he is not used to a challenge).  This year he needs to learn to conjugate Latin words, he starts cursive, and he gets into the nitty gritty of long division.  Homework is going to be intense!  

I'm Flying!

At the beginning of the year I make a long list of things we are going to do over the summer:  summer movies, the splashpad, Lowe's Build and Grow, etc.  But there is always one standard:  JumpStreet.

Jumpstreet is where my little one's small body mass is a huge advantage. They may not always make the shot....

but they fly through the air!

The foam pit is a favorite.  Logan's first jump is usually feet first, McKay dives in.  But by the end they are trying to do as many flips and leaps as possible. 

McKay moves too fast to grab many pictures, but I love the abandon that Logan has as he sails through the air. 

Look, Mom, no hands!

He can get some serious height on his jumps, since there isn't much gravity pulling on him. 

Princess was less than impressed, and would just do little ladylike jumps and prances.  (I have pics of Aunt Julie and Amanda on the mechanical bull--less ladylike--but thought I shouldn't post without permission!)