"I see Husky Stadium!"

This is what I hear from both kids everytime we cross the 520 bridge from Bellevue to Seattle..."I see Husky Stadium" and then Maggie yells "Go Huskies!" We usually bring them to a game or two early on in the football season when we can plan on an afternoon game, nice weather, and usually a less-important opponent. They get super excited and talk about it for weeks.

On September 12th (I'm behind, I know!) we took them to the game vs. Idaho. We went to the game via the Eide's boat which was so much fun for all of us! Ragen & Maggie really didn't understand that you can arrive at the stadium on a boat so they were in heaven. After heading over on the boat, tailgating and all the cheering at the game, they were pooped! We went back out to the boat in the 3rd quarter to finish watching the game on TV. You really can't beat watching the game in 80 degree weather in a bikini on the boat just 100's of yards from where the action is taking place!

Little do the kids know how monumental the game was - it was the first win for the Dawgs since November 2007!

A rare pic of mom & dad!

A great family shot with the stadium in the background but of course, my kids & pictures don't really mix

Wicked!

Better late than never, right? Back in mid-September, my mom and I went to see Wicked at the Paramount Theater. I won't go into too much detail about the show other than to say that I LOVE this musical and highly recommend that you see it. Wicked is showing here in Seattle until October 4th and if you miss it here, well you might just have to jet on out to NYC to catch in on Broadway.

This was a Mother's Day celebration for my mom and I as we gave eachother the tickets for the holiday. We had a wonderful dinner at Morton's before catching the show. I am so fortunate that my mom is such a dear friend and we have such a great time together. I can only hope that I have as special of a relationship with Maggie in about 30 years.

Soccer mom!

Friday night I officially became a soccer mom, minus the minivan. Ragen started his 3-on-3 soccer last week and it's a great way for him to try out the sport to see if he wants to continue playing it. I must tell you - he better LOVE it if he plays next year because then the games move to Saturdays. In our house, Saturdays are for Husky football! We figured this would be a great way to see what he thinks since the practice & game are in the same evening.


Jeremy grew up thinking soccer was the only sport on earth since he grew up in England. I grew up playing soccer one year and hated the mud so much, I never played again. I also did cartwheels in the backfield the entire time. Let me just say the Woodridge Wildcats weren't sad to see me go. We decided to let Ragen try a bunch of different sports this year so that he could get a feel for what he really likes and might want to continue with. I must say, I'm hoping that soccer isn't his thing. But for now, I'll be there cheering loudly on the sidelines. Go Thunder!

Soccer stud

Good thing it's only 3-on-3. They've got enough for 1 sub!

Pretty good skills although he made the rookie mistake of heading towards the wrong goal once

What a supportive little teammate!

What soccer game is complete without orange wedges? I'm pretty impressed that my little fruit-hater dove right in.

Maggie's day!

Today was Maggie's big day - her first day at Pilgrim. Last year was a fabulous "school" experience and we adore Miss Wendy but it really was more of a daycare situation. So this was Maggie's first day in her new class. She happily walked up to give Mrs. McTaggert & Mrs. Byus their apple cookies. In typical fashion, I forgot to snap a picture of her cookies and didn't even manage to get a photo of Mags outside our front door. I'm going to figure out this 2nd child neglect sooner than later - I hope!

We walked into school and it really was 50/50. I wasn't sure if she'd be totally fine given that she's been to school before and she's also been coming to Pilgrim with Ragen for 2 years. I also worried she'd scream & cry because she's been going through a mommy phase and has been very clingly the past 4-5 months. Luckily she made it easy on me and was a champ as we walked through the door. She instantly found some playdough and then moved onto the princesses. When I picked her up, she told me all about the books they read and how they do "criss cross applesauce" which made her giggle. I'm so thankful she loved her 1st day and that Pilgrim has such a great group of teachers to help with the transition. Way to go Maggie girl!

Maggie with her buddy & classmate Ellie

Does anyone have tips for convincing her to look at the camera - she does this is 95% of pictures!

Time for fun!
Very ladylike, honey...

Kindergarten!

I can hardly believe it. We've anticipated this day for so long and now it's here. Ragen went off to Kindergarten today! I am so proud of him and how he handled it. He was so excited and acting so grown up that it really made the drop-off easier on me (although the eyes were full of tears as he walked away from me). Ragen was also thrilled that Jeremy stayed home from work this morning to help out and walk him to school.


We have been building up to this day trying to make it a huge exciting event so he would be happy and not sad. But we also wanted to make sure not to make it into too big of a deal so that he wouldn't freak out. Yesterday he picked out his outfit (from a very short list of choices!) and he helped me make a giant gingerbread cookie that I had volunteered to make for his classroom today. He asked me to read him extra stories last night thinking that he needed some practice for Kindergarten. I'm not sure if he was stalling or really wanted the practice. He must have been a bit anxious because he got out of bed about 15 times which is rare for him. I am nervous that he'll be exhausted today but I guess it's not my problem, right?! :)


This morning he awoke to a special breakfast of green eggs & ham with a side of donuts. We read Dr. Suess the other night and he thought it'd be fun to have that someday so I figured today was as good as ever. We had to alter our morning routine a bit because we have to head out for our walk around 8:10 which is early for us but we made it. Nana was nice enough to come over to watch Mags so we could walk Ragen to school by himself. He went right up to the appropriate line and stood there patiently. Then it was time to head into school and unfortunately the parents weren't invited. I totally understand why but I really had wanted that photo op.


Maggie and I went to Build-A-Bear as a special mommy & me project today. She had received a gift card for her birthday and was excited to use it. She picked out a pink unicorn which she named Jasmine (after Princess Jasmine, no less). She also chose a Disney Princesses t-shirt and a Husky t-shirt (atta girl!!).


I have such mixed feelings about this new chapter. I know that Ragen is ready for full day Kindergarten and is probably loving every minute. I am happy to have the break from screaming kids who run all over stores when shopping but I also miss my little man and can't wait to pick him up at 2:53!

Back to school breakfast
I'm a Kindergartener!

Love how the backpack is bigger than him

So proud of our little guy!

You better believe that at the first sign of rain, I'll be driving him to school!

One last hug!!

There he goes! Not even looking back. I love his confidence.

I figured it'd be nice to bring the teacher an apple on the first day of school. Especially when it's in cookie format! I wonder if Ragen remembered to give it to her?

The giant gingerbread cookie for his class. They'll realize that he "escaped" from the oven and will go on a gingerbread hunt throughout the school looking for him. In the process, they'll learn their way around the building. This cute little guy had some flaws but overall he turned out great.
Maggie gives Jasmine a scrubbing before choosing clothes

Thank you Auntie Roons & Uncle Nuk (and Bailey & Carter too)!

ABC's

I was so glad to capture this video on my Blackberry today for a bunch of reasons. First, I have so little video tape of Maggie (again, poor 2nd child!). Secondly, she starts preschool next week so it's quite fitting. And third, she's going in for a hearing and speech evaluation in a couple of weeks so I thought this would be a great baseline. Oh and fourth, I've never uploaded vids so this was good practice :)

Carrying on the tradition

Every summer growing up, we'd go to the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe as a family. We had a cabin on Lake Roesiger which was about 15 minutes from the fairgrounds so I have wonderful childhood memories there. We've taken our kids to the fair every year since Ragen was born to carry on the tradition and my kids love it just as much.

Yesterday we took the kids along with Mimi and Bumpa for an afternoon of rides, animals and junk food. The kids were so grimey by the time we got home that there was no way I was putting them to bed without a bath first.