Seth and Hattie share a birthday! So we had a birthday for both of them this year! We had a great time eating hot dogs, playing Disney Scene It!, opening presents, singing Happy Birthday! and eating cream cheese brownies and ice cream!
Well…I am not crazy about the gallery set up but I didn’t feel like adding 22 individual pics…I really miss Live Writer! 
Mostly because I wish I still had “Live Writer”…I have a serious dislike with coming to wordpress and writing my blogs directly at the site. wah wah wah…ok done whining…
So…since my last update and before it…
Corbin turned 11! Yikes! I can’t believe how old my kids are getting! Time is flying by! We had a small party for him on the 23rd. We had his party a couple days late because we had pack meeting and all his and Seth’s awards and Corbin’s crossing over on his actual birthday. Keli’s family came over and we had brownies. (Corbin’s choice) Played Wii and PS2 and had a great time! I was a major slacker photographer that night also… :/ And only took one picture.
Corbin digging into his present…he opened all his presents from us on his bday the 21st. He got a cool Bionicle from the cousins.
Halloween Eve, Sage and I went to all the kids parties at school. Corbin’s class had a Make a Mummy contest. So they wrapped each other in toilet paper to see who could make the best mummy. I thought Elmo Mummy was the best! They also watched movies and ate pizza and treats.
Seth’s classroom mom went all out for their party. She made yummy treats and decorated the room!
His class made a couple crafts and played games and took pictures together. And of course had yummy treats too!
Ashlyn’s class had games and ate cupcakes, played with playdough and made a cute Halloween Bear/Pumpkin craft. They had lots of fun! Ashlyn and Sage love getting pictures with all of Ashlyn’s friends! As you can see…at the party, Sge refused to wear the itchy Princess dress…She made a very cute little ballerina too though!
We had lots of fun on Halloween! We crashed Keli’s Ward’s Halloween Carnival, Chili Cook Off and Trunk or Treat. The kids had good fun, we had yummy food and then they went out to the parking lot to trick or treat. They also went around Keli’s apartments and a few of ours afterward.
All dressed up and ready to go. The boys had matching costumes so Corbin added a little to his so they wouldn’t be exactly the same. The girls have been waiting so patiently(or not) to wear their costumes since last Halloween. Clearance costumes are the best! Sage didn’t really like hers by the time she got to wear it. “It’s too itchy!” she said. So she wore a leotard under it and that seemed to make it alright. But the crown was not actually made for wearing. So she wore it for the pic and then it was off! Ashlyn insisted on wearing her rain boots. Silly girl. And as you can see she was making her best ARRRGGG! face…
This week we had Pack Meeting! Corbin and Seth received lots of awards! And Corbin is now moving on to 11 year old scouts!
Here is Corbin with Maverick…They told jokes to start off the meeting!
Seth earned his Wolf Badge, a gold arrow point and two silver arrow points! He also earned a few belt loops! When we went up for his Wolf badge the whole family decided to join in! 
When Corbin was getting his numerous Activity Badges and Belt Loops the girls decided he needed help holding them all!
Corbin earned his Webelos Badge his Arrow of Light and he had his Crossing Over Ceremony all in one night! He worked hard over the last couple months!
Corbin’s Crossing Over.
The Cubmaster almost forgot to give him his “Arrow of Light”. Chaz and I put it together the night before. Since Corbin is our first Scout…we didn’t really know about the arrow until Corbin started talking about the cool arrows his cousins had on their walls. So I got advice from Keli and she went shopping with me to get all the stuff. Thanks Keli!
Yumm! Cupcakes!!
not sure what they have in common. And I had a hard time paying attention to the words because it was too funny watchin’ these kids look like tough “gangsta’s”! But the theme this month in Cub Scouts was “Pockets”. And the kids all did a rap and they looked rather cute up there!
So this is our new Cub Scout Pack…well most of them! We came from a rather large group…to a very small group. Corbin is in a den of 2 Webelos…and Seth is in a den of about 5-7 boys, Wolves and Bears combined. But they have jumped right in and are having a lot of fun!
Seth earned a bunch of Belt Loops and a few beads over the summer!
Corbin earned a few Badges and several Belt Loops also! He is less than a month away from turning 11 and has a lot of work to do still to earn his Arrow of Light! He will be getting a lot of badges and Belt Loops along with his Webelos Badge and Arrow of Light at the same time he crosses over and starts 11 year old scouts! Yes, we slacked off… :/
The refreshments after the Pack MEeting were lots of fun! They made hamgburgers! With Mini Nilla Wafer buns…Milk Dud patties…icing ketchup…green coconut lettuce…icing mustard and honey pretzel sticks for fries! They were a big hit!
and all my pics sucked…THE END! heh…just kidding. Well…about the end.
Corbin’s 11th Birthday is fast approaching and he still hasn’t finished his Webelos or Arrow of Light. :/ We will get him done he only needs a couple more things. I just wish we didn’t wait til the very last every year to kick it in to gear with him!
So today we went on his 3-mile hike…Chaz, Corbin, Seth, Ethan and I went to Redmond Watershed Preserve. It was a nice hike until we had to turn around and come back! I am so out of shape! The boys had a great time! They found all kind of “nature” as Corbin put it. We saw slugs everywhere! And mushrooms and huge leaves and spiders and fallen trees and moss EVERYWHERE! 
But the best part of the hike was when the boys found a little reddish-brown lizard! They carried it with us for most of the hike and it just let them hold it! They thought that was great! When we turned around and headed back to the start the boys put the lizard down and proceeded to run like mad men through the forest trails yelling “FORGNOMEGUN!” Anyone care to translate that one for me!? LOL! They were having WOW battles…
So the hike took us about an hour and 45 minutes and it was a lot of fun! Even with bad pics…
Apparently I am not as smart as I thought I was! I never even knew there was such a language!
Ashlyn came in to talk to me and I looked down at her shirt and saw it said Angel on it. So I said “You’re an Angel” And she said Oh that’s what it says, well none of my friends could tell what it said! Not even this one girl! And she speaks in cursive!
You learn something new every day!
I guess I got this pic up on facebook and forgot all about the blogging. Oops…
First day of school! Was on Tuesday the 1st…The kids were so excited! I decided to take them and pick them up on their first day so I could get 1st day pics and what not. And to make sure they knew where to go and what bus to ride the next day. Ashlyn thought she was supposed to ride a different bus than she was supposed to so I am glad I went and let her teacher know for sure!
By the time I got to Corbin’s class they were already getting down to business. So I didn’t get any pics of Corbin. And only took one each of Ashlyn and Seth…things are so different here. I didn’t feel welcome to stay and hang out like I did at Franklin…so I left pretty quick.
Our kids have never had a bus to ride to school. In AZ they went to a charter school and they didn’t have buses. So this year they were so excited to get to ride to school on a bus! Now they want to go to their bus stop alone and be all independent! I am not ready for that step yet!
Here is Ashlyn waiting with her friend…looking a little nervous. She’s my little worry wart!
Corbin and Seth walking to the bus with their friend and his little sister.
I think half the school gets on at our bus stop! No kidding! Half of them are already on the bus!
It’s hard to see them but Seth is in the 2nd window…you can’t see Ashlyn but she is in the 3rd window and Corbin is in the 4th.
to start school and have a NEW school! Ashlyn has been the only one that talks about really missing her friends back in Arizona. But she has already made several friends here at our apartment and at Keli’s too.
Corbin will be starting 5th grade, Seth is starting 3rd and Ashlyn is in 1st. Sage gets to stay home one more year…she is not too thrilled about that! She wants to go to school too!
They will all be going to Dickinson Elementary. We went to a meet and greet this week and the kids were amazed at the size of the school! Franklin Elementary was a really small school! We walked past the library and Seth said “That is the biggest library I have ever seen!” LOL! 
In Ashlyn’s class Chaz directed me to the volunteer table with sign up sheets and pointed out the “Photography” volunteer sheet. Well of course I will do that! lol…that’s the reason I always went to the kids activities anyway!
This is Ashlyn’s class…it was so nice to see classrooms with SPACE! And her class is small too, that is also a good thing!
Corbin is in a 5th/6th grade mixed class. I am not sure how that works and forgot to ask. He was very excited because one of his friends from our apartments is in his class! Corbin’s and Ashlyn’s classes are right next to each other…so Corbin gets the job of making sure she gets where she needs to be in the mornings!
In Redmond, WA!! Over the last couple years I seriously thought this day would never come! But we made it! Well…almost.
We are still waiting on our moving truck. I was told the 3rd. Chaz was sure it wouldn’t be until the contract date of the 12th. So we wait…it didn’t come the 3rd…and nowhere in between then and the 12th. So Chaz is calling and probably driving the driver nuts to find out when we should expect them. Somewhere in that wait time they broke down in Vegas and were there over the weekend of the 8th and 9th. Chaz talked to the driver on the 12th and he said to expect them on the 13th around 10 AM but he would call at 8 AM to give us a time. So we get up and get the house ready for them to come. It’s almost 10 and no call. So Chaz called the driver to check what was going on.
Wednesday night the truck was traveling through Oregon and the driver suffered a massive heart attack and died at the wheel! His driving partner was asleep in the back and woke up to swerving and honking horns and found the driver slumped over the steering wheel! I can’t imagine how scary that must have been for the other man! They had been partnered for 20+ years…I’m sure it was like losing a brother…so the inconvenience of not having our stuff isn’t bad in comparison.
As my brother-in-law Aaron put it…”This is the kind of stuff your HEAR about, not actually EXPERIENCE yourself!” And I whole heartedly agree.
I have a lot more to blog about and pictures to share but that will have to wait til the moving truck comes…barring anymore problems that will be tomorrow.
