I have a kindergartener!!

I can't believe I have a child in kindergarten! It's crazy to think about. She LOVES her school and LOVES her teacher so I think this year will be really fun for her. I'm so excited to see all the progress she makes this year, and could she be any more adorable?

Our New Bed!!!- November 2010

For our anniversary this year we decided to build ourselves a bed. We have a Cal. King and finding a bed frame that is A. Affordable and B. Budget friendly is next to impossible. I've been looking for ohhhh, 7 years now? Well I found out about this website Knock-off-Wood where this girl takes furniture and designs plans for them and tells you exactly how to do it. Her website is now, www.ana-white.com if you haven't checked her out, you should, it's awesome. I have so many projects in my head I want to do. We did the PB Farmhouse bed. Thanks Boorens for letting us borrow some power tools! We did all the building on Thanksgiving Day at Greg's Parent's garage. They have a bigger space and built in baby sitters. Then brought it home to sand and stain. We got the whole thing built in one day, I'm pretty impressed with us, if I don't say so myself! This is once we took it home before we sanded it.

This is the foot board after we sanded it and before we stained it. Notice the paint rubbed off the wall? This is why we needed a headboard!

The headboard sanded and the side rail stained.

Here's the footboard stained. It took longer to sand and stain then to actually build. We were done within one week though, if the weather would have been nicer it would have been a lot faster, but we had to do everything inside because it was raining.

Here's the finished product! I LOVE it, even today when I walk in my room I still love it.

Another view so I can brag more. We did a great job babe! Happy Anniversary!

Ok last picture I promise. I hope this is the beginning of many projects to come. In total we spent $200 on the bed, a LOT less than the $2500 Pottery Barn wanted.

October 2010

Brooklyn got to go the pumpkin patch with her class and parents and siblings were able to come along. She had a blast! We took a "hay ride" out to where we could choose our pumpkins. Here's Brooklyn and Boston on the ride there. She was so very excited....

Here we are at the pumpkin patch. Boston was still a little shaky on his feet and the ground was pretty muddy so it was a messy adventure for sure. He loved it though.

They had a big hay stack to climb on, and of course Brooklyn wanted to go all the way to the top.

Here she is at the top.

She loved to take pictures in these things! She insisted I snap the photo, she thinks it's so silly.

Here she is with her teacher Ms. Filippone. She LOVES her teacher. She was originally with Mrs. Marek in the afternoon, but a morning spot opened up and we took it. I was nervous to move her because she LOVED Mrs. Marek, but I think she equally loves Ms. F now. She is a great teacher.

Brooklyn and Boston on the huge pile of pumpkins, it probably would have been easier to just pick one up from here, but I think Brooklyn and Boston enjoyed roaming through the muddy field. We had a good time.

We also had to go to the pumpkin patch with Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa so this is our second trip. The weather in Oregon was awful for growing pumpkins, so there was not much of a selection to choose from and I think they may have shipped some pumpkins in and laid them out in the field as if they grew them. Nonetheless it was still fun for the kids...

Boston had to pick up every pumpkin he could get his hands on. He would yell "baaaallll" and then toss them on the ground. Luckily he wasn't too strong to do much damage and most of the pumpkins were too big to actually pick up.

Boston roaming to find more balls to throw around. He loved being able to just roam around.

Family picture at the pumpkin patch, we were looking right into the sun, so pardon the weird faces. This was the best of the bunch...

Carving our pumpkins. This is Boston's first "cheese" face.

And this is his "super cheese" face. Imagine his saying "Cheeeeeessssssseeeeeee" cause that's exactly what he is doing. He loves to smile for the camera.

Brooklyn and Greg getting a little crazy with the carving. Brooklyn did not know there was a seed stuck to her forehead, she was just making a silly face. Of course I had to zoom in and take a close-up of it...

At this point she still didn't know. We had a good laugh when I showed her the picture of herself. She's so silly.

These are our Worm Sandwiches for dinner. Brooklyn got a kick out of it. She was a little hesitant about it at first but once we all took a bite, she knew it was safe. Boston's didn't care at all, as far as he was concerned, it was food and he was going to eat it.

Here's Pebbles and Bam Bam before we went out Trick or Treating. We had the idea to make Boston Bam-Bam for Halloween a few months before Halloween because everything in his hands instantly became something to bang around. Boston and Brooklyn are SO different. Brooklyn lovingly held her baby dolls and Boston will swing them by their hair and throw them cross the room. Every toy is tool and something to bang around. Of course if we had a Pebbles and Bam-Bam, we naturally had to have a Fred and Wilma...

So here's the whole Flintstone's crew. Yaba-daba-doo!! I must say, Greg is not one to dress up for Halloween, especially when it's a family theme, but he was a trooper this year. Brooklyn loved it, but it may be a few year before I can convince him to do it again.

I love his picture.... The kids had such a great time trick or treating. Boston figure out Trick or Treating quickly and would giggle everytime he score a piece of candy. It was pretty cute. Brooklyn loved running around with all her friends from the neighborhood. My favorite moment was when we went the "Super Green Environmentalists" house and he handed out boxes of raisins (I mean SERIOUSLY???!!!) and Brooklyn said to his face, "That's not CANDY, Mom this isn't real candy is it." I just laughed and said, "No, it's not real candy". He seemed really annoyed that she wasn't thankful for the juicy delicious healthy raisins and I'm sure the guy thought I was the worst Mom ever, whatever, it's Halloween, kids don't want raisins.

September 2010

September was a BIG month for Brooklyn. First she started SCHOOL!!!! She was SOOOO beyond excited to start school. We brought her teacher a basket on back to school night, so Brooklyn could introduce herself, (is it wrong that I want to bribe the teacher to love my daughter? I guess a bribe isn't necessary because who wouldn't love this girl, but it helps!)

This is Brooklyn on the official first day of school. I love the look of excitement, yet nervousness. She was super ready for school. I expected Brooklyn to be a little nervous to have me leave, but in her mind, I couldn't have left sooner. She was just so excited to be there. Brooklyn could already write her name and she already knew all her letters and most of the sounds before preschool and I'm sure she's going to learn a lot more. She technically shouldn't start school until next year, because her birthday is 18 days past the cut-off date for school, but I couldn't keep her home, she was so ready to start school. I don't know what we'll do next year, but we'll figure it out next year, but for now she loves to be in school and is doing really well.

Brooklyn also had her BIRTHDAY this year! She is 4!!! Can you believe it?? She was so excited for her birthday. One of her presents was a quilt made by my Mom for her bed. This of course inspired a redecoration of her room. It was so fun, we repainted her wall decorations, got new bedding and rearranged the room. Luckily the wall color matched and we didn't need to change it. Brooklyn spent the night at Grandma & Grandpa Koberlein's house and came home to see the surprise. She LOVED it, if only it stayed as clean as this picture all the time......

Brooklyn had her birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. She was ecstatic to have her party there, but I will NEVER do a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese on a Saturday EVER AGAIN. It was CRAZY!!! There were so many kids there! The kids had a BLAST though and I guess that's all I can ask for. I think I counted kids heads to make sure everyone was there over 150 times. All the kids were super good and mostly stayed together in a group, but still, never ever again on a Saturday!

Of course a highlight for Brooklyn was opening the presents. She got lots of girly things, which was heaven for her. Barbies, princesses, jewelry kits, coloring books, you name it she got it. The highlight for her was her very own Pillow Pet!!! She loves it and sleeps with it every night.

The next day we went to Grandma & Grandpa Koberlein's to open MORE presents. We only let her open her pillow pet at the party so we did the rest with G&G. Pat and Sarah, and the doggies. Aunt Carleen, Uncle Mike and Matthew came too. It was fun and definitely a LOT quieter!!!She had a GREAT birthday and is growing up so fast. I just can't believe how big she is getting and how smart she is. She surprises me everyday and just the sweetest big sister to Boston.