Fun Run and Build A Bear

Earlier this month, Erika had a Fun Run at her school.  The weather was beautifully sunny, but quite chilly.  However, it was perfect for the little runners!  The theme of the school's fun run was The Olympics, with Erika's kindergarten class representing Germany.  The kids were asked to wear Red, Yellow or Black to the run.  Grandma Hammar was able to come watch Erika and I brought Laurel and Levi to the event as well.  It was a lot of fun to watch them!

Water break.

Off she goes!

And back around.

Erika with two of her friends at the end of the run.

I love this picture of Erika running with her girl friends!

During my mom's retirement party weekend, Jacob, Lisa and Molly were able to visit us for a few days.  My kids love having their cousin here! 

On Friday night, we took the kids to the mall so Levi and Molly could pick out a bear from Build A Bear Workshop.  Aunt Sarah buys each of her nieces and nephew a bear for their second birthday.  Since Molly was here, and it is somewhat close to her and Levi's 2nd birthday, we took the opportunity to go!

A line of cuties heading to the mall.

Levi putting the heart into his bear.

Erika tried on some of the bear's glasses.

Levi loves his new bear.  And now, he won't go to sleep at night unless it is in his bed.

Washing the new bear.

Levi and Molly and their new bears.  Molly chose the bear with the most gigantic head ever!

And, of course, Aunt Sarah couldn't resist the pleas from her two older nieces.  They left the store with new outfits for their bears at home.

Retirement

Ever since Erika was born, my mom has been anticipating her retirement.  Well, the time has finally come!  October 31 is her last day of working and November 3 is her last day of being a Washingtonian before becoming an Oregonian!  My brother, Jacob, his wife, Lisa, and their beautiful little girl, Molly, flew to Portland from California to celebrate Mom's retirement.  Sarah and I enjoyed a few days of Jacob and his family visiting before the whole lot of us drove up to Seattle to visit with Mom and host her party!  It was really nice seeing some old friends that we grew up with as well as meeting some of Mom's coworkers at the party.  And, of course, having our family there to share in Mom's excitement that she will finally be done working.  We cannot wait for her to move here!  Because we love her, of course, but also because she is looking forward to watching my kids for me!

A few days before the party, I baked 6 different kinds of cake to serve at the party.  Sarah and I frosted them the day of the party.  It was a big hit to have so many cake choices.  Six full cakes might have been a bit overzealous, but we really enjoyed the leftovers!

Grandma and her 4 grandkids.

We ended the night at Red Robin for dinner.  Levi was not interested in sitting still so we took a lot of pictures of him to keep him quiet.  And, we is really cute!

Go Bees!

In September, Erika started soccer!  Matt and I have been waiting for her to be old enough to join a soccer team forever!  When she was 3, we signed her up for a little soccer clinic, but that did not go well.  She participated in 2 of the 6 Saturday mornings offered before she decided she wasn't going to play anymore.  But, this go-round she loves it!  She likes her coach and her teammates and actually learning how to play the game.  It is super cute watching 5 year olds running around playing soccer and I am really impressed with how much they have learned in a few short months of playing.  Her coach is really good too and makes it fun for them to play.  The season started in really hot weather, but now we are dealing with cold, drizzly practices and games and I think Erika is looking forward to the end of the season in two weeks.  But, we will enjoy the last two rainy games!

Erika, #3, with Coach Brenda.

She truly is smiling the entire time she is out playing.  I love that she loves it!

Zzzzzz

I love watching the kids sleep.  They have the same facial expressions as big kids as they did when they were sleeping babies!  When I was younger, my mom videotaped (with a video camera!) my brother, sister and I sleeping and I was utterly embarrassed by it.  So of course I would like to do the same to my kids!

Erika takes her sleeping seriously.

This was the first night in our new house.  The girls got to sleep on mattresses only in Laurel's room until we got their beds into the house.

Laurel has blankets on her no matter what the temperature is.  This was taken when it was a high of 90 during the day and low of 70s at night.  She insisted on her comforter, however.

Levi is a little wild man in his bed!  He usually is at the end of his bed and I have to move him back up to his pillow.

Dreaming about scoring the winning touchdown.

Makes me want to take a nap now!

My Little Goofballs

I take a lot of pictures of my kids.  A lot.  They just crack me up!  Or they are playing so nicely that I want to capture the moment forever.  For your viewing pleasure....

On the way out the door to take Erika to school.  We are so blessed to live close enough to walk to school every day.  It is my favorite activity that we do every day!

We have had a really great end of summer/beginning of fall in Oregon.  Levi decided to help rake some of the leaves that were falling one day.  In his Aqua Socks.

On the side of our house is a bunch of pea gravel that the kids like to play in.  Laurel thought operating heavy machinery was fun in a dress and cowboy boots!

Laurel and Levi play so well together when Erika is at school.  She really likes teaching him his colors, letters and numbers. 

One day I found them reading quietly in Erika's room.  Super cute!

We bought new furniture for the TV room and the kids broke it in by watching a movie.  Erika is to the age where it is fun to make silly faces for pictures.

Levi's look seems to say, "my big sisters can do no wrong".  Unless they have a toy that he wants.

Happy Fall!

Oregon State Fair

Our annual trip to the Oregon State Fair did not disappoint us!  Grandpa Hammar joined us as we saw the animals, rode the rides, ate the food, and had a blast!

The girls were much braver with the bigger animals this year.

Levi wasn't sure he liked the animals up close and held Grandpa's hand for the majority of the visit to the barns.

But the girls even wanted their picture taken right next to the cow!  This nice 4-H guy was kind enough to keep his cow calm while the girls stood right beside it.

And, Laurel was much more friendly with Smokey this year.  Last year, she told us he was "way too scary!"

She danced around and told us about wanting to ride the motorcycle the entire morning and was so excited when the time finally came!

Then, the girls played Lewis and Clark in this little boat ride.

I was pretty sure Levi was going to get dumped out of the boat so he stayed on Grandpa's lap.

Erika rode the swings, which made me super nervous.  But she loved it!

And Levi got to kick the soccer ball in the goal.  He did not win the game!

I love our family tradition of going to the fair and look forward to many more years of it!