Halloween

Tonight we had giggling vampires, 1 countess, 1 pink lady, and 1 devil running around our house....
....and we must not forget the Seattle Seahawk's Football player that has been running laps through our house for the last week.

What is a Halloween night without counting your treats......

.....or tracking a little dog poop in the house...and getting a little on your costume too...

....being the custest little she devil ever....

...getting a new set of eyes.

Happy Halloween!!!

What Happens When the Sun Comes Out in Washington

Victoria.....the squirrel

So this is the little squirrel that lives in our yard.....Victoria, as the girls like to call her. She has been coming to visit our back door step for almost two years now. She had gone missing for a while, so were glad that she is okay.
The dogs love watching her. Today she feasted on chex cereal and nuts.

Her signature pose....that's how I know it is her. The other squirrels run in fear, and she always stops and holds her little paws.

Victoria likes to climb all over our outdoor furniture, as well as our BBQ and watches me every once in a while at the kitchen window.





She hung around for most of the day today.....I wasted a little to much time squirrel watching today.....I probably should have been doing laundry or something....I did get the dishes done though.
We all need a quiet day every once in a while.....this was the view out of our family room today.....the leaves are so pretty everywhere this fall.

The squirrels hang upside down from this tree, picking seeds....they make quite a mess of the deck.

A McKean Weekend

Up here in the Great Northwest we are headed into 9 months of rain, rain and more rain. Every fall I like to get out any recipe that has anything to do with pumpkins.

So yesterday, I made an old recipe that I got out of a Parade Magazine probably 9+ years ago. (It was President Clinton's favorite recipe/ holiday treat.....Pumpkin Bread.)

The sound of the blender seemed to becken the children to the kitchen....to clean the bowl for me.

This......is what the kids have been having a little of with every meal since last night!!!

Some highlights from our weekend include:

- The rain that we have been having since Friday stopped just as we were arriving for Jacob's game.....and didn't start again until the second the ref. blew his whistle that the game was over.

- The kids behaved ALL day yesterday.

- This morning I got to sleep in until 9:45...(that was a small miracle). I got to cuddle with Mike, Jacob, and Zack (the dog). It was nice.

- All was calm until Jacob decided to use his boy claws to make a nice scratch on Emily's forhead. (Ok, so that moment WASN'T a highlight!)

- Jacob finally finished ALL of his homework.

- We got to stay home all weekend (except for Jacob's soccer game).

- Mike did ALL of the dishes for me.....all weekend!

A Dog's Life....

A dog is.....

Love.....

a friend.....

a comfy pillow...

willing to clean in between the cushions.....

always happy to see you....

comfort.

Whoo Hoo!!!

Jacob SCORED his first GOAL today!!!! This little man just took off on the soccer field today.......Jacob was all over the field playing very aggressively. He was on top of the ball for most of the game. The Dragons won 2 to 1. Before the games start each week, the refs. always check to make sure everyone is wearing the proper gear. The coach told the boys....."Okay, you shouldn't be wearing any bracelets or earrings." Half the boys suddenly put their hands to their EARS as if they were checking to make sure they weren't wearing any earrings! Too cute. Todays game was a blast.........WAY TO GO JACOB!!!

A Forgetful Tooth Fairy

Miss Em lost her first molar last night in a piece of laffy taffy that I gave her. That darn Tooth Fairy must have been busy or something last night. This is the note that Mike and I found on the counter tonight.

Dear "Tooth Fairy," aka Mom and Dad,

I lost my first molar and you didn't come. So if you come, will you give me a few bucks or maybe a necklace (if you can)?

Sincerely,
Emily McKean

Oh yeah, my tooth is under my pillow in a bag. Is it okay if I keep it?

Love, Emily

(Okay....Okay.....the Tooth Fairy DID come tonight!)

Dragons vs the Eagles

This morning we attended Jacob's second soccer game of the season. This is his first year playing. We had to get up at 6:45 this morning to be there by 8:30. There was a lot of fog this morning, thankfully it burned off by the time the game started at 9:00.

The Dragon's, taking a look at the other team.....the Eagle's. (They look so serious!)

Mr. Jacob out in the front.....in the blue. These young men are all in either 1st or 2nd grade.

This is such a great action shot.....Mike did a great job taking these photo's with the zoom lense.

I love the fear over the ball here.......this was the Dragon's way of blocking a penalty kick!

Hey out there.....there's no sitting in soccer!

Today was a really fun game to watch. We won....2 to 1....Yeah!! (Last week we lost....5 to 0!) Sometimes these little guys forget what sport they are playing. This is our little neighbor friend, Kai. Today I saw Kai dribble the ball when he was playing goalie, and tackle the ball while in play like a football. It gave us all a good laugh. Last week Kai started a tackle that ended up with about 5 boys on top of each other! I think it is going to be a fun season.

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

I think that one of my favorite commercials on T.V. is a Staples back to school add. There is a dad dancing down the aisles with a big grin because he is buying the kids school supplies. The kids are somberly walking behind the dad like they are on their way to prison. The Christmas song 'It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year' is blaring along with the dad happily skipping down the aisle. (Ok, so it really isn't my most favorite time of the year. I think that I like the beginning of summer the best, when life seems to wind down a little. But, I will admit, there is a sigh of relief when the children make their climb up on to the school bus.)

The day started off pretty well. The kids were all pretty excited for their first day. We were so early for Kelsey's bus, that she was sure it wasn't coming to get her because we had to wait so long for it to come. After waiting forever for Kelsey's bus, we almost missed Jacob and Emily's bus. The bus was already there when we got there, and the kids had to make a run for it. How we managed that, I don't know! So off the kids went to 7th, 5th and 2nd grade........I'm not sure I like them being this old.....what happened to preschool?

Out Of The Mouth Of A Child.....

The other day Jacob and I were shopping at Marshalls and it was pretty busy. Out of the blue Jacob blurts out loud enough for all to hear......"Wow, there sure has been a lot of chinese people out since the olympics." I took a quick look around and there was a number of asian women shopping near us. I wanted to hide in the clothes racks.

We Have A Swimmer!

So after swim lessons for 3 months, twice a week, Emily can make it across the pool on her own! Yeah for Miss Em!! This past month she has made a lot of progress.

She does a really good job on her back.

Emily started out the month with only being able to hold her breath to the count of 5, and ended the month being able to stay under until the count of 26!!

We are very proud of her for working so hard!

Mr. Jacob bailed out on swim lessons last month. After many tummy aches over the thought of getting into the pool......and a few tears, mom threw in the towel and let Jacob quit. After two months, that boy never once got his hair wet! I read this week that Michael Phelps had a fear of sticking his face in the water when he was first taking swim lessons.....so maybe there is still hope for Jacob! We'll try again next year.