The Sweet Faces we Missed...

And here are the sweet faces that we missed while away in Denver.  They were happily spoiled by first, Linnea, and then G'ma Joan and Papa Greg.  We heard stories of picking fruit at Davy's, having their OWN ROOMS at the farm, Micah continuing his obsession of fans.  They made it a little sweeter to come home from vacation.  Thanks, Linnea and sweet grandparents, for loving our kids while we were away.

Houston, We Have a [Stuffed Animal] Problem!

Kid beds get washed on average every two months around here--whether they need it or not, ha!  The kids were so proud of their new, clean set-ups (this is what happens when they only get clean sheets every-other-month...it's like the "olden" days!) that we had to take pictures.  I am pretty sure we need to put some stuffed animals up for adoption...

The Average Day

Oden crawling toward his beloved laundry room, Joshy eating way too many raisins, and Gracie reminiscing the days when SHE was the baby.  I love this zoo!

Pretzels & Milk

...breakfast of Champions.

"Mommmm..."

"...we're busy playing, here.  No time for pictures."

These two have been cracking me up lately with their pretend play.  All of a sudden they're enjoying each other while playing College or House or Yard Sale.  This picture really makes me laugh.

November Snow SCHOOL Day

Our first snow happened the Friday before Veteran's Day this year...those November snows are MAGICAL!  I have to admit, I was glad that I wasn't teaching on the First Snow Day(!) of the year...though magical, the first snow ignites kids' "full-moon" behavior...  The irony, however, is that this turned out to be the day that Joshy and Gracie were invited to visit my classroom.

The story is, our students earn classroom points and pick the reward they'd like to work toward.  This group really is the sweetest bunch--they wanted to have a "GOSHY VISIT" when they earned 100 points!  They love hearing Gracie and Joshy stories, so I wasn't ENTIRELY surprised that they wanted to meet them, but this is the first time in my 10+ years of teaching that I'd seen a group of 10- and 11-year olds get excited about playing with little kids.  I was quite touched!

Melissa, my amazing teaching partner, had the 2-hour timeframe all arranged--some students were scheduled to read with Grace and Josh, some were assigned to play with them at recess, and the rest were given the privilege (?) of eating lunch in the classroom with us.

Gracie and Josh brought a few of their favorite books...

Look at little Harriet the Spy soaking in every detail...  :)

Love the silly pose...I think Josh was going to his happy place in his mind as the big kids got too close...

It was a fun afternoon for all of us!  I asked Gracie what her favorite part was...she thought and replied, "NOT recess!  It was way too cold!"  I guess the First-Snow magic eluded her!

"Movie Night?!?"

On one afternoon in late July, the kids woke from naps to find a package for them in the mail.

 The contents of the package: three DVD's and a note that read...

There was no return address,

but the postmark said Longview, WA,

and we know of two great yard-salers who live there...

Thanks, Slick and Twinkles!!!

Our Children: Dory and Nemo

Gracie and Josh have LOVED swimming lessons this year.  They are becoming little fish.   In fact, Josh keeps reminding me that he's Nemo and Gracie is Dory.

Gracie's revelation this year:  "Mommy, last year I wasn't listening about closing your eyes when you go under water, but this year I close my eyes and now I like it!"  She is quite excited that now when she asks in the car, "Raise your hand if you like to swim underwater," she raises HER hand, too.  :)

 Jeff went in the pool with Josh for the first few days, but in week two, Josh was just fine to be in there without him.  The kids' teacher told Jeff to kind of be rough with him in the pool to get him used to the water.  I may have looked the other way while watching...

Going to College

This is the new game Grace and Josh play--they put on the backpacks and tell me, "Mom, I'm heading off to college!"  I think they missed a few milestones...

The Circle of Life

We love Spotify music online.  Almost any CD you could ever want, all ready for you to listen to for free.   Because of this, every time Josh runs by the computer these days, he requests "Li-Kee!"  The result: The Lion King Soundtrack is constantly playing.  I cracked up one day as I come down the stairs to see both kids lifting up their "Simbas" as the music to "The Circle of Life" swelled...I could just see their little brains an bodies reenacting the movie.  Oh, they crack me up.

Buddy Kai

We got to see Kai and "Mimi" last week when Heidi was working.  They insisted on all being on the couch with blankets for this picture.  Gracie just rediscovered this Nemo blanket that Kalei made for her when she was born--and she took it for show-and-tell because it was "N" week!

We love the dry winter air in this house!  This girl gets static like it's her job!

Midsummer Day's Dream

During our stretch of being home for four days in a row, we went for a bike ride to the Fairwood Rocket and then to G-G's. The ride was a bit more arduous for Josh than we expected.

A "More Fuller" Day

Ten years ago when I was student teaching with Melissa Fuller, I never imagined that a mere decade later we'd be job-sharing and enjoying the SIX kids between the two of us!

We were lucky enough to have 3/4 of the Fuller girls spend the afternoon with us last week. Melissa and Amelia needed to run some errands and we jumped at the chance to have the girls play (and nap) with us!

I loved having the girls on their own--they say the funniest things when you're listening closely!

Gracie taking her turn with the Bubble Mower...

Lilly cracked us up! She is two and has her own special language--she uses all sorts of syllables and body language to get her point across. And she's rarely without some message that she wants to get across! :)

Snack time is always popular with Josh.

Notice the baby, sippy, AND pretzel in Lilly's hands...

We had such a fun day!!! We have to do this again soon!

Misplaced Toys

We have been working on "cleaning up" at the Lochhead house. Gracie is singing and counting while picking up, and she's earning stickers when she does it JOYFULLY and QUICKLY--a work in progress! :) Joshy is VERY good at throwing trash away--so much so that he often extends this skill with items that aren't meant to be tossed, so throughout the day you'll see Jeff and/or I glancing in the trash can. He also loves to take dirty diapers to the Diaper Genie--I need to get a picture of him crawling up the stairs with a wadded diaper under his arm...

G'ma Joan says that she always laughs when she sees toys out of place (when they're supposed to be put away) because she can almost imagine what her grandkids were thinking when they had to leave their play hastily. I have to admit, dollies found sleeping in my bed, magnets stuck to the washing machine, and dinosaurs found in the dishwasher have made me chuckle, long after kids have been put to bed for the night. I'm pretty sure Josh thought that this was the perfect cage for a Tyrannosaurus Rex--that, or perhaps he needed a bath.

It's SUMMER!!!

Today was the last day of work for the school year! Gracie's been asking for weeks if it's summer yet, so today when I picked her up from G'ma Dianne's house she squealed when I told her it was officially summer. She knows three things about summer: 1) Mom doesn't have to go to work (neither does Dad)... 2) she gets to go to swimming lessons, and...3) we get lots of days that look like this: