Halloween Preview

Jack is practicing up for Halloween...

Homecoming Parade

 Homecoming at the high school is a big deal here in Los Alamos.  The elementary schools let out at 1:00, so everyone can get ready and go to the Homecoming Parade. 

Kate and her friend Nina (pictured to the left of her) got ready by wearing their gold and green to school and then sprayed gold glitter on their hair and arms.  Jack is showing his Topper Spirit by wearing his green "Varsity" t-shirt. 

Then we headed to the parade...and found a spot by our friends the Nye's and Nina's family...

The goal of the Homecoming Parade is to get enough candy, so we don't have to buy any for Halloween...

 Ty LOVED sitting on the curb.  It was his dream come true to by able to play in the gutter and road for an hour.

 A sucker appeared at Ty's feet near the curb, so being the great parents that we are, we let him have a little taste.  Just enough to dribble some pink slobber on his new shirt and get his hands and face sticky, then we took it away.

Dave took Jack to the football game that night, but they came back home before halftime because the game was so boring.  They were losing badly.  Jack was ready to come home since he'd eaten his bag of popcorn and was ready to play with his new football that they gave him. 

Jack wanted to write his name on his football.

Just like Jack

Last night Ty was pointing and yelling at Jack's basketball hoop that hangs on the coat closet door in the entryway.  He always wants me to lift him up and let him throw a ball in.  I thought of a better idea and put the hoop on the back of a chair, so Ty could do it himself.

First things this morning Ty wanted to play basketball.  And of course, Jack was right there to supervise and play along.

Ty's got the basketball steps down:

Step 1:  Make sure someone is watching.

Step 2:  Shoot!

Step 3:  Cheer!

Ty also wants to be JUST LIKE KATE, but wanting to play with perler beads.  That idea is a little messy and he tries to eat the perler beads.  Yum!



Love the Park!

Ty has discovered how fun parks are.  We walk past the Fireman Park near our house when we go on walks, and Ty always points and grunts at the park until we stop to play for a bit.  And if we leave before he's ready to go he cries the rest of the way home.  I took Ty to the park a few times last week while Jack was in Utah.  He loved it.

Ty LOVES to drive the firetrucks!

Jack and Ty dug together.  Luckily no one got hit in the head with the digging bucket. 

Story of the Polkadot Cat

At school Kate filled in the blanks of this "Tell a Silly Animal Tale" paper.  She loves to read it over and over to us:

There once was a tiny kittin from United States.  Nobody knew he was a kittin because he had polkadot fur and ate 1,000 potatoes each day.  He liked to jump and sing Star Spangeled Banner.  Whenever he was happy, he would start speaking Spanish.  Then he would feel sade!

Kate added this tonight:  He felt sad because he was speaking Spanish.

Jack is Back!

We left Jack in Colorado Springs last Sunday after the BYU game.  We'd been talking about Jack going to spend a few days with Grandpa and Grandma Judi for a while.  Jack was super excited and had his toy tools packed for a week before we left.

He got to stay at Geoff and Annelisa's house for a few extra days after we left to come home.  Then he drove with Grandpa and Grandma to Utah.

We talked to him on Skype all the time.  I think we missed him a TON more than he missed us.  His days were full of doing everything that Grandpa was doing.  We were SO excited to see Jack pull up in the driveway tonight!

Jack's own real hammer

Kate drew Jack a picture of Lightning McQueen and wrote him a note.

We made Jack a cake (Kate said that's his favorite and hers too).  Kate and Jack started working on their new Perler Bead kits (Jack's is Cars and Kate's is Sleeping Beauty).

Here are a few things that Jack did this week:

• went to the zoo in Colorado Springs with his cousin Katelyn
• drove from Colorado to Utah with Grandma and Grandpa
• got to ride in Grandpa's truck
• helped Grandpa with everything he had to do
• worked on the trailer tire so hard with his toy wrench that it broke, so Grandpa gave him a real wrench and a hammer too
• played hours of football with Grandpa (now he knows how to punt)
• went to Clear Creek and went fishing
• went to the high school football game (go Spartans!)
• watched BYU lose
• ate green beans
• read his Toy Story 3 book (Jack said they read it "all the time")
• slept on the floor by Grandma and Grandpa
• got to ride home from Utah with his favorite friend, Craig

Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma for letting Jack stay!  We are so glad he's home!  (I don't think I've ever been so excited to see anyone as much as I was excited to see Jack!  I missed my little buddy.)

BYU vs. Air Force

We drove up to Colorado Springs this weekend to go to the BYU/Air Force game.  We went to the game two years ago, but it wasn't quite the same, since we went by ourselves, stayed in a hotel, it was November, cold and windy. 

This year we got to stay with Geoff and Annelisa and their family.  Grandma and Grandpa Judi drove from Utah.  And Mike and Maggie and their family came too.  The weather was really nice too.

Too bad BYU lost though...

Here's the whole gang...

I wish I would have taken Ty's binkie to the game.  Luckily, he fell asleep at halftime and slept for a little while.

Towards the end of the game the kids were getting bored, so Kate and Haley decided to count the people walking by with BYU shirts on.

Cerro Grande Hike

Today we went on a hike to the top of the Cerro Grande Peak.  The elevation at the top is 10, 199 ft and we had to climb 1,200 feet to get to the top.  It was two miles to the top and then two miles back.

We went on this same hike three years ago when Jack was one and Kate was three and they both spent most of the hike being carried in baby backpacks.  Today, however, Kate and Jack walked the whole way.  They did so great!  And with very little complaining, which was impressive because the hike was very steep and there was a lot of uphill.  And then on the way back there was a lot of slipping and sliding going downhill, but at least it was faster. 

The weather was beautiful today.  The sky was beautiful and blue with no clouds.  There was a cool, fall breeze too. 

Here is Kate far ahead of us.  She amazed me and was far ahead of us quite a bit of the time, even on the really steep parts.

Looking down the steep trail at the boys.

At the top!

At the top of every steep mountain hike there should be a big pile of rocks to add a rock to.

Dad and Ty made it too.  Ty slept most of the way to the top.

We let Kate take some pictures with our camera.  Here is photography by Kate:

When we got to the top, we had a picnic lunch.  Then Jack, Dave and Ty got busy digging in the dirt.  Dave and Jack dug up lots of big rocks.  Then Ty had fun playing in the loose dirt.  Jack and Ty got a little dirty.

Ty loves to sit on steps.  This hole that Jack made was a perfect step for Ty's little legs.

We didn't take as many pictures of Kate, since she was the phography some of the time. 

While we were hiking back to the van, we were talking about how our legs had gotten a lot of exercise and were a little wobbly from hiking downhill so much.  Jack said, "My legs are freaking out."

Walking?

Ty has been thinking about walking more these days.  He has been standing a lot more.  And if prodded, he'll take a few steps and then lunge towards the closest person. He likes to walk with the baby stroller though. 

And, just for fun.  Here are a few pictures of the other kids with the same stroller around the same age.

Kate riding in her new stroller that she got for her first birthday. (around April 9, 2004)

October 22, 2005 -- Jack is five months old and Kate is 2 1/2.

Go Cougars!

Kate made this sign during the BYU game today.  GO BYU COWCKRS!  I love the guy wearing the BYU hat on the bottom and then encouraging love note to Dad.  I love it, Kate!  What a great way to start the football season!