Christmas Jams

Leila has her Christmas jammies. We are now officially ready for the holiday season! Chris and I have matching ones!! I love that my husband, without hesitation, said "Sure, we can match!"

Tooth Fairy Pillow

In October, Leila had her check-up at the dentist's office. The hygienist pointed out that Leila's bottom, right tooth was wiggly. I couldn't believe it! I thought she was joking at first...it just seemed too early. I mean she is barely 5! But nope, the hygienist wasn't jokin'. I decided to make Leila a tooth fairy pillow. We headed to JoAnn Fabric and I let her pick out two pieces of fabric. She chose these two:

 Here is the finished product. Front side, with a pocket!

Back side. 

Now the hard part of waiting for her wiggly, wiggly tooth to finally pop out!

November Birthdays

We celebrated Mike and Shawn's birthdays on Veterans' Day weekend. The four adults saw The Addams Family at the 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle. After the show, we picked Leila up and headed back to Gramma and Papa's house for dinner, dessert and presents. I didn't get a picture of Gramma and Leila though. Bummer.

Ice Skating

 Sunday Nights are Cheap Skate Nights at Sprinker.  Leila hadn't been skating since last spring. She did a lot better and Christopher's back wasn't as sore this time since she was supporting herself much more!

Build a Bear

Leila has a new buddy. Her name is Violet and she came from the Build a Bear Workshop. Gramma bought Leila a bear and a couple outfits. Leila has been wanting to do this for a while...so has Gramma I think! 

Watching Violet get stuffed. 

 Holding Violet's heart and making a wish for her newly stuffed bear.

Halloween Night 2012

 Like lots of folks, we spent Halloween trick-or-treating only we knocked on classroom doors at Emerald Ridge! Chris and the cast were set to open 1984 the next day, so there wasn't any way around having a rehearsal on Halloween. We made the most of it though and I brought Leila to the school. The  high school kids were so excited to make Halloween special for Leila. They hid throughout the school building in closets and classrooms with candy. Each time Leila would trick-or-treat, the student would give her candy and then follow behind us. By the end of the evening we had the entire cast following us, oohing and awing over our little Dorothy. The evening ended with some dancing on stage to some spookatastic music. It was a rather unique way to spend Halloween!

Looking for the first classroom:

L dancing with one of her favorites - Miss Taylor.

The wonderful big kids that made the night so special for Leila!!

After we left ERHS, we headed to Gramma's house. We trick-or-treated her neighbors and then settled in at Gramma's for dinner, Charlie Brown's Halloween, and painting time. 

Pack Rat

Two weeks ago, Leila and I turned the house upside down looking for a library book. We don't usually have much trouble keeping track of our borrowed books, but My First Recital was nowhere to be found! Leila has books in her bed all the time and sometimes they slip down the side of the bed. Hoping that this library book had done the same thing, I pulled out the drawer under her bed and wow what a surprise! All along the wall of her headboard were band-aid wrappers!! Not just one or two! Look at this! I just started laughing as it was the last thing I was expecting to see!! 

She had to crawl in and clean up her mess.

Look at how big the heap was!!

Don't worry, we did find the book...in Dad's car! Whew!

Carving the Pumpkins

 The Sunday before Halloween, we spent the morning carving our pumpkins and getting front porch decorated. We opted, yet again, for the potato head pumpkin pieces. So easy!

Leila working on her princess pumpkin.

Once the larger pumpkins were finished, we decided to carve the three little ones we had picked up from the patch. Leila designed and Daddy carved.

 Not the entire gang, but Leila's favorite princess pumpkin and the little carved ones.

Our spider web above the garage.

The front porch with the potato head pumpkin pieces.

Soccer Banquet

 The soccer team ended their season at Round Table Pizza for their banquet. The kids each received their team and individual pictures as well as a trophy! Coach Sarah said some nice things about each of the kiddos.

Leila and Kaylee

 Kaylee, Jordan, Blake, Leila and Xander (Cade and Colby weren't there).

Trunk or Treat!

 Papa Mike decided that he would participate in LeMay's Trunk or Treat this year for Halloween. When he told us about it, Leila and I started brainstorming and thought we should enter our own trunk! Papa did a mad scientist's laboratory themed trunk. It was quite elaborate and even won voter's choice for their favorite trunk! Leila and my trunk was much simpler, but we were pleased with how it turned out. Despite the buckets and buckets of rain that it poured throughout the entire shindig, we had a great time! Luckily there were lots of true Northwest-living families that braved the rain and turned out for the trunk or treating.

Our trunk...Disney themed of course! Mickey the mummy and Minnie the princess greeted trunk or treaters.

 Good thing we had an easy-up tent for the car and a huge umbrella for Leila when she walked the loop for candy.

It was a great day and after a few hours in the rain, we were ready to head home, via Starbucks for a warm drink, and change straight into our cozy sweats!  Leila and I are already talking about what our trunk will be next year! Thanks to Mike for letting us know about this super fun event!!

Wishin' and Hopin'

 Leila's wish finally came true! When soccer season started and we were driving her to the very first practice, she began telling us that her wish was to play a game in the rain. Well, living in the Northwest, Chris and I just chuckled and told her she would most definitely have her wish come true. Little did we know that we would have an absolutely gorgeous fall! Luckily, we managed to play all of the season's game without rain...except the last one. Leila was thrilled!!

 What a great season the Lightning Bolts had! Sarah was an amazing coach...patient, patient and even more patient! Leila was blessed to have such a caring coach as an introduction to soccer!! Leila is already talking about next year!