Halloween 2009

Yes... it's been a busy fall. Filled with LOTS of fun Halloween stuff, so let's get started! :o)

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First, the kids had a little party at daycare... (see previous post for a pic of Jake) here is Logan with her daycare best friend since the 2's classroom a few years ago! This was also Emma's last day as she moved to up-state NY. So sad the two of them are now separated, but they are cuties nonetheless. :o) (Emma was a bumble bee... her headband was off.)

Aunt Patti invited Logan, Lily & Makayla over to decorate Halloween Houses... I didn't drop off or pick up Logan for the event, so I don't have pics of the girls all together, but here is Logan's quirky little house... the front:

the back:

Luckily I grabbed these pics while she was taking her nap right after she got home... immediately upon waking from said nap, she began the deterioration of the newly decorated house. So unlike me... I would have kept it pristine and barely touched the candy!

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Here are the kids at the pumpkin patch... we got two pumpkins this year - fancy, I know.

Jake was very busy eating an apple and checking out the pumpkins... they would not sit still anywhere near any pumpkins, hence random pics. :o)

Logan also had a party at preschool... here she is after the ring toss game with her glow-bracelet "glasses".

And just about pinning the nose on the jack-o-lantern. Oh, and the kids all painted their shirts they wore earlier in the week.

The carved pumpkins... Stuey and Loretta (no, I'm not quite sure why we name our pumpkins... we've always had one named Stuey). And yes, this is the first year we've gotten a pumpkin carving kit. I really don't know how I survived carving a pumpkin without the scraper thingy... it makes the $3.99 price for the whole kit worth every penny!

And... voila... here are the kids in their costumes!! Logan's a hot pink crayon, and Jake's a jake-o-lantern. Oops! I mean jack-o-lantern. ;o)

Another view...

Did I mention this crayon costume was mine when I was little? Oh, well, now you know! My mom made it and found it in late September in her attic. I was thrilled, because I knew Jake was already going to be the pumpkin I made Logan 3 years ago... so I didn't have to go through the pain of figuring out the kids' costumes this year - thank goodness! Here is a pic of me wearing it: (oh, and don't Sarah & Aaron look cute, too?)

Oh, and here's Logan 3 years ago, when she was 1 3/4:

ok, back to the kids THIS year... jumping in their costumes:

Jake is so stinkin' cute.

right?

And now for posey-mcposerson Logan... prepare yourself, she's a ham!

OK, I had to stop posting... there are too many, they will clog up too much space!!

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A family picture!!

Grandma came over to join in the festivities...

and so did Kelley & Patrick

After our photo session, we all enjoyed some yummy spicy turkey chili and cornbread... then headed out for trick-or-treating.

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The guys required some backup for the evening. Maybe Ryan shouldn't be pushing the stroller. :o)

Jake had it all figured out after the first few houses... "Sis - button!"

And one more while we were out - is this guy a great Scarecrow or what? And check out Dorothy behind him... with a beer... in a koozie. Haha!

Anyway, we had a great Halloween! The kids got WAY too much candy, which is still a big bowl on our counter... I really need to take that to work this week to get rid of it.

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And I left their costumes out for a few days... they proceeded to dress themselves in them every day. They'd switch hats and really mix it up a bit - they thought that was hysterical!

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Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!!

a fab family of 3...

I was lucky enough to photograph our friends at DC Ranch Marketplace... what a cute little family of three!!

For more, go here.

-jkw

Baby Avery

My good friend Michelle had her 3rd baby!! Here she is, Miss Avery... is she sweet or what?!

For more sweet baby photos, go here.

Yea for my new blog being up! (Oh, feel free to leave a little love!)

Melt my heart

and call me Mommy... Jake just said "I wovv ooh" back when I said I love you!

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Um, yeah, there was a family hug after that. We were just getting ready for bed. He's so stinking cute. And his little voice... melts my heart. Even when he doesn't say I wovv ooh.

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Here's a quickie of him at his daycare Halloween party.

More Halloween to come!

Swim. Bike. Run. Half-Ironwoman!

No, NO... not ME, sillies! Ryan's sister, Meg! She's the triathlete of the family.

Doesn't she look cute in her swim gear?! Here she is this morning at 6:40ish just before the race with her supportive parents (and another support person who is in no pictures because she was the official photographer for the day... ahem! hehe).

So if you're not exactly sure what a Half Ironman is... it's a (in my personal opinion) very grueling triathlon!! :o) Swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles, and run a half-marathon, 13.1 miles. Just over 70 miles of pure joy. Ha!

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Preparing for her big day...

Meg was in Wave 7... with the purple swim caps

Here she is in Tempe Town Lake... heading over to the starting area

All the purple swim caps, set to go for their 1.2 mile swim

It was WAY too hard to find her during the swim, hence the only photos are of her swimming toward the start area (note: labeled, so I can figure out which one she is at some point in the future!), because I looked down for a second and lost her!

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Swim 1.2 miles... check! (Look how cute her Mom is... she was standing over there watching for her)

Swim-to-bike transition... Coach Frank had some advice to calm her down before she started the bike portion of the race. Mom & Dad were there to cheer her on!

Her first time past us...

And coming into the turn... (one of my favorite photos of the day!)

Bike 56 miles, check!

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Coming into the final turn of the run with Jamie... so nice of him to run with her for a bit today!

Logan hopped the fence (with some serious help) and ran to the finish line with Aunt Meggie

Run 13.1 miles... check! Meg finished in just under 7.5 hours (her wave started 22 minutes after official start time). She DID IT!!!

Awesome job, Meg!!! We're so proud of you!

PS - You may have noticed a lack of blog posts lately... my camera has been in some major use. Figured I would post starting backwards... lots of things to catch you up on! :o)

News, Part II

Here's my new website:

www.jkwphoto.com

E-mail me here (julie@jkwphoto.com) if you're interested in a photo shoot! Or just click on the Contact page while you're there, fill in your info, and send me a message... handy dandy!

And because I must include a photo... here's Jake in Cali at his mini shoot.

Thanks for looking!

News... can you guess?

more info soon.... xoxo

Jake's latest...

...is jumping and talking up a storm! Here's Jumping Jake:

And some animal noises...

And off to the bath!

Another vacation day...

... complete with fun time at the pool (had early dinner reservations so no time to deal with sand clean-up!), a delicious dinner, and a scrumptious dessert.

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First, here's our bathing beauty

in her coordinating ensemble... :o)
We went to dinner at this amazing restaurant in La Jolla
Ryan had The.Best.Burger.EVER.

It was a grass-fed hamburger with a balsamic sauce, artisan cheeses (we're still unsure of what cheese that is exactly!), grilled onions, field greens, really good bacon, and a fried egg on it... all on a brioche bun. To die for. And most people know I usually only say that about desserts!

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Jake wanted to know what I was doing taking a picture of Daddy's food... keep dipping your wonderful fries in ketchup, buddy!

Everyone happy after a great meal... everyone's food was great, not just Ryan's! (His was so pretty cut in half... it begged to be photographed. hehe.)

We left La Jolla Cove just before sunset... so we were driving and I asked them all if they wanted to see a really pretty view. So we headed up the hill to Soledad Park (Ryan & I went last year - see here.) There is a war memorial up there, hence the cross.

...and this is the view looking toward the ocean. Not too shabby, huh?!

We got back down to Coronado, and we went to Nado Gelato for dessert. I had chocolate and carmel combined. So good!

Logan loved it, too! She got strawberry.

So if you couldn't tell already, food is a very important part of our lives!

PS - Sorry it's been a week since I posted... I've been busy with a project. More on that to come soon!

hopscotch

Logan learned hopscotch recently, and it's actually not horrendously hot out this week, so she and I went out and made some hopscotch squares in the driveway a couple nights ago. Logan showed me her stuff. Take 1:

And here she is in Take 2. Note how dreaded it would be to turn off the video camera. :o)

Balboa Park 2009

It was pretty warm, because it was a bit later than I like to take pictures due to our late/long breakfast (see last post)... glad I got at least one good one of the kids!

And I was happy to use my tripod and remote... it worked!

Um, this is when Jake started getting unhappy... pretty sure he hurt his arm sometime between now and the last set of photos. Poor guy. I'm glad I caught this, too, since I usually don't get "crying" pics. I find it so sad when he cries, but I do love how his little mouth turns rectangular and his eyebrows get red.

Jake has calmed down a little... phew!

Ryan's parents... they're so funny!

Grammy trying to comfort Jake. Logan hanging with Dolly the Dolphin (from last year's Sea World excursion)

And one more of our little Logan...

Another rough day...

on the coast. I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep. I figured it might be a good chance to sneak out and capture some quiet morning photos. Here is the moon over Point Loma, and yes, it was still this dark. Told you it was early! I liked the lines & reflections of these boats in the harbor across the street from the condo, with the colorful sky just before sunrise.

The condos in the background

This was actually a different day, but it's of the bikes for rent at the Hotel Del Coronado, all lined up in the morning sunshine.

For breakfast, we headed to this place I saw on the Food Network... on the Best Thing I Ever Ate (breakfast edition). Bobby Flay's favorite breakfast is the Peanut Butter & Banana Stuffed French Toast at Cafe 222 in downtown San Diego. I had the dish. Yum! Sorry, no pic because I was too hungry!

I like the line under "Breakfast" :o)

Also like the No Crybabies here:

And the chandeliers are too cute. Yes, they are for sale!

After breakfast, we headed to Balboa Park to walk around and look at the sights and get some photos. More of those to come.

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When we got back, we headed to the beach for some more fun in the sand.

Jake - his beach hat doesn't quite velcro around his chin... hehe!

Logan and Daddy getting tiny little shells.

Here they are!

Jake heading out to sea

Mommy jumps in to help him walk as he nears the water.

What can I say... he got tired of the hat!

Logan dancing along to the music in her head... our funny girl! So glad I caught her in this one!

She was busy all day collecting these shells - 73 was the final count.

Poor Jake was in such a state this day... we couldn't quite figure him out.

till dinner when he couldn't grab his sippy cup with only his right hand. Figured out he wasn't using his left arm at all, and when anyone touched it was when the wailing would begin. Poor guy! So Ryan and I took him to the ER at the hospital in Coronado. Turned out he had nursemaid's elbow, which apparently happens a lot in little kiddos. The doctor reset it and kept checking back. They thought he would be fine again within 30 minutes or so, but he was still in discomfort so they sent him for an x-ray to make sure all was good.

It was... everything was aligned correctly. It was probably because it was out of place for a good 8-9 hours that it was still sore. We felt so bad that we couldn't figure out why he was in such a bad mood all day... but glad he was fixed!

His arm was still tender the next day... or he was used to not using it. But 2 days later, Sunday, he was behaving normally again - phew! Disaster averted.

This combined with the leaving of Logan's blanket at home and her carsickness all over McDonald's in Gila Bend on the way over put this road trip down in the history books as one of our most eventful yet! Hope it stays the most eventful... can't take much more when we're supposed to be on vacation!