Visitors

I can't believe that it has already been 2 1/2 weeks, but that is when Grandma, Grandpa and Grandma Pam arrived!  They got to run around with us and attend all the kids activities and go to the market.  It was a packed couple of weeks!  We had a fun outing to the Cal Bears/UW Husky football game without the kids.  We had awesome seats and the Huskies crushed the Bears, so it was awesome :o).

We did a little thrift store shopping and Reggie got an early birthday present from Grandma Pam that he was very excited about.

The following weekend we headed to our annual Halloween KOA camping trip.  It was REALLY fun and our group costumes were met with mixed emotions, but surprisingly there were a lot of closet Seahawk fans.  Ryan did get shot with a cannon for wearing his jersey (I wish I had taken a picture....they created a pirate ship with a working cannon!).  The kids ran around with their friends and Ainsley was so happy to see her friend Morgan from last year :o).  They jumped on the jumpy, swam and Reggie banana biked with Noah.  The adults relaxed, hung around the campfire and did lots of Jello shots on trick-or-treat night!

 Wild Style was running around somewhere too!

 We made it to the beach for a bit.  We saw a few whales blowing out water :o).

Of all of our friends, we had the only cabin with a bathroom and refrigerator and the only reason we ended up with that is because mom and dad REALLY wanted a bathroom.  I put our name on the wait-list and they just finished building the cabin, so it was brand new!  It wasn't the layout we were used to, but we made it work and everyone was VERY thankful to have a bathroom.  The kids enjoyed hanging out in our cabin too and watching movies (isn't that what camping is all about??!!):

 This is what Halloween is all about!

We went straight from KOA to Ainsley's gymnastics meet and I'm glad everyone got to watch her in action.  Then we shared one of our favorite places to eat, Sweet Tomatoes.  Aunt Pam left the next day and mom and dad left this morning.  I am very glad they were here this week since Ryan was traveling and I had to be in 3 places at once due to the kids activities.  They were a great help :o).  I am trying to figure out a way to simplify, but so far no good answers.
Dad did a lot of work around the house, cleaning gutters and filling cracks in the driveway and mom fixed up the plants and pruned rose bushes, so they kept busy while the kids were at school.  Oh and I almost forgot that dad bought a car on Ebay and had it shipped here, so they were working out all those details!  Let's hope it is a reliable car since he is driving it 900 miles today (in the rain-fitting it rains on the day they leave)!
We were sad to have them go, but we will see them before we know it!

Where does the time go??

Sometimes, it is hard to keep up and now there's so much to update!

Ainsley....she has had a couple more meets and got 2nd all-around at one of them and was really excited.  Her beam score was a 9.675 and she was 1st on that event!  It happened to be the meet where her old team was and the parents were surprised at how much she had improved.  She continues to feel more comfortable and enjoys the gym more and more.  Her parent/teacher conference was great!  She is exactly where she should be and doing great.  I am so thankful that they are all good students.  

Reggie....he is working to get his Arrow of Light for Scouts and has missed quite a few things, so we are trying to play catch-up.  This will be his final year and he wants to finish with his den.  His teacher also had great things to say at his conference.  He is working on participating more, but besides him being a Seahawk fan, she is very happy to have him in class.  We did talk about Middle School at his conferenced, since we have a couple options where we live.  There's a K-8 we can walk to or the most sought out middle school in our area.  I am thinking we are going to simplify and transfer all the kids to the same school and Reggie can enjoy a smaller middle school experience and they all can be part of an International Baccalaureate program (which I guess is a big deal).  He wants to go to the bigger school where he might have a chance at being with his friends, but for simplicity, I am not thinking that is going to happen.

K.....he has been doing great!  School has been such a good thing for him and his teacher has been impressed with how well he is doing and how smart he is.  We had a field trip to the pumpkin patch this week and he had a lot of fun.  You know you're with a kindergarten class when one of the kids throws up and another pees his pants!  Thankfully, that wasn't K!  He is really enjoying that I volunteer in his class :o).  We had court last week and it was starting the same as usual....his dad tried to fire another attorney (#5) and it was a circus.  Now that the judge is leaving he had a very different approach and moved forward, so Ryan finally finished his testimony and he doesn't have to go back!  The social worker and K's attorney said Ryan did a really good job and because of that the judge reduced visitation to 2 hours per month, supervised!!!  This is such an answer to prayer as many things have happened during visits that have made K nervous/scared.  The next court date is in Jan. and we are really hopeful that parental rights will be terminated and we can finally move forward :o).

Cats....I thinked I blogged awhile back about two feral cats that we were trying to get fixed up.  Well, we trapped them and got them shots and neutered!  I put a collar on the nice one to see if he would keep it on (our cat door needs a magnet to open) and he came back with a note!  Turns out he has a family, but they are happy to share...YIKES.  I guess they didn't notice their cats have no balls and their ears have been clipped, signifying they are feral but fixed.  We created a place for them to come and eat and get out of the elements, but a couple days ago the raccoons found it, so now I don't know what we are going to do.  I think they aren't getting much food at their home and they are strictly outdoor, so I feel bad.  What a mess!!!