10-31-13

Another totally crazy work day, hopefully November will be calmer.  There's nothing like an impromptu business meeting in a clown costume.  151 kids collected rubber ducks tonight, it calmed down about 8:30pm.  There's nothing like the reactions to ducks instead of candy.  And three older kids were absolutely terrified of the clown costume.  Happy Halloween!

Q: Why don't cannibals eat clowns?
A: They taste funny.

And so concludes Bruce's birthday month.  Look back through the blog, this month has been a tribute to him.

10-30-13

Work is getting less and less fun for Bruce and I by the day.  

But Halloween is a nice distraction - Jerry re-engineered my big plastic clown shoes, the rubber ducks are by the door, and Bruce pulled his M&M costume out of the basement.  And a witch hat.

10-29-13

This evening we all trekked over to Three Rivers to watch a volleyball game.  Go Eagles!

Today we also got a haircut (Bruce), had a swollen allergy shot (Xander), made heart rings for all our friends (Stasia), enjoyed a smoothie at the Electric Bean (Jerry), and passed out flyers on the adopted block (Michele & Mom).

10-28-13

Normally we do family dessert night on Sunday evenings, but the kids were busy last night, so we moved it to today.  We took Mom & Jerry to Stuffy's to share one of their gigantic cinnamon rolls.  Sugar rush!

10-27-13

We spent part of our afternoon at the Electric Bean with Shoebox Ministries.  We learned a few things about what kids like, how the processing center volunteering works, that the kids could apply to go pass out the shoeboxes, and that our church is close to collecting 100 boxes.  Andrew challenged me to see if I could rally to collect more boxes from friends, family, and church members than he can…  let the shopping begin!

10-26-13

We spent a good chunk of today at Anastasia's last official swim meet.  Now it's on to sub districts and districts.  Anastasia won a ribbon by winning a heat, earning an event T-shirt from her Dad.  Enjoying Subway for lunch so we didn't lose our spots at the crowded pool.

10-25-13

Xander loves to play board games with the grandparents.  Bruce inserted himself into a round of Stratego.

TGIF!

10-24-13

Not sure how a trip to the cemetery to see the giant pumpkin turned into a trip to Sub-Zero for ice cream, but both were fun.  Mom and Jerry have arrived!  Jerry thinks Xander has grown a ton since summer.

10-23-13

It's Wednesday night, after Bible study, time to relax on the couch and watch Survivor!  We were giving Anastasia a hard time for talking to us during the show, so she started texting us notes instead.

10-22-13

When I got home today, the bathroom was all torn apart and Bruce was painting.  I hate the shade of white I picked out, but that is a different story.

I noticed our big mirror in the hallway and thought I might lend itself to an interesting blog photo…

10-21-13

Fall is here.  Gorgeous colors.  A nip in the air.  Holidays just around the corner.

Happy Monday!

10-20-13

Walked over to the neighborhood tennis courts in the afternoon sunshine to watch the guys playing a friendly game of tennis.  Xander has some work to do on his form, but not sure there is much hope for Bruce’s, ha ha! Everyone seems a little restless, but these quiet weekends at home are a nice change of pace!

10-19-13

I walked into to the Electric Bean tonight and assumed that something had happened and there wouldn't be baptisms after all.  Silly me, the baptismal was set up in the middle of the room instead of the corner where I was expecting it!

We had a nearby table, but a bad angle to get photos with Sadie in them.

“Baptism is an outward expression of an inward faith.” - Watchman Nee

10-18-13

Funny how I think I take a ton of photos and get several good ones, then I get home and it’s mostly junk.

I took off work early today to watch Xander’s second tennis match in sub districts.  He won, earning a trip to Izzy’s and a return trip to the courts tomorrow morning.  He seems to have the nickname Lobster because he lobs the ball so far.

This is Bruce recording plays to share, Xander and David playing, and the reflection of the TV behind us in the glass.  The only thing not captured is the moms in front of us as clueless about the game as I am.

10-17-13

This evening found us at a swim meet, and found Anastasia qualifying with district time for her fourth event!  It's really fun to see her swimming with such great speed and form.

10-16-13

Andrew... Electric Bean manager, small group co-leader, associate pastor, cross fit partner, fellow otter and jokester, latte foam artist.  Bruce & Andrew together is always an interesting (and fun!) combination...

10-15-13

Beloved Ninja.

Last night it made a great smoothie with frozen berries and Emergen-C.  A fun way to push the vitamins.

Normally it makes Xander’s breakfast, but this morning he overslept and had to skip breakfast.

Dinner wasn't as filling as it could have been (gotta read the quantities on the recipe!), so Bruce whipped up an almond milk peanut butter cherry drink.

Fun when a big purchase actually gets used.

10-14-13

No blog yesterday, oops.  Such a laid back day, no photos.

And here we are at another Monday.

Dinner burned.

A tenant didn't come through.  Texts & searches on eviction.

Sick.

Wondering how we got to the middle of October anyway…

10-12-13

Feels like my day was mostly made up of a long afternoon nap sandwiched between a Dutch Brothers Carmelizer and an Electric Bean Nutty Narrows Mocha.  What a great afternoon, why does it take being sick to indulge?

Bruce and I attended the Kelso Invite this morning to watch three of Anastasia’s swimming events.  She joined us in the stands for a few minutes after her relay.

10-11-13

Happy birthday Bruce!  No gift (it’s en route), no Facebook post, and no pumpkin crisp, but took some vacation time to head to Aberdeen to watch football.

It was a fun family outing.  Close game, driving around our old haunting grounds, and a stop at Lake Aberdeen.

10-10-13

This was a mustache sort of day.

At work, Bruce’s staff dressed up like him today in honor of his birthday.  They even had pink mustaches.  We went to rent a Halloween costume today, and there were a ton of fake mustaches there too.  Then  I went to Guse’s for coffee for the first time, and they had a mustache drawn on their menu.

10-09-13

Look at how funny the sky looks.

Nice afternoon to be outdoors.  Xander had an “away” tennis match, but only a few blocks away from his home courts.  I missed seeing him play, wish JV played before varsity.

Midweek running around…

10-08-13

We’ve been discussing dual monitors a bunch at work.  They are handy for comparing two spreadsheets, project management, and avoiding printing documents.  And at home, Bruce finds two computer monitors helpful to monitor Reddit forums and Team Fortress at the same time. I used one of my ergonomic breaks today to clean up my desk at the office.  At home, no such breaks or incentive.  :)

10-07-13

Pumpkin Latte and Nutty Narrows Nutella Mocha.  Starting the week with a walk to the Electric Bean, our “third place”.  Ran into friends along the way, walked up to the drive thru ATM, and continued the search or the perfect GPS app.

Just another Monday…

10-06-13

Today we did a mini day trip to Castle Rock - some geocaches, a few miles on foot, and a yummy bakery.

Our walk started with me admiring this boat bench from afar.  Mid way through we back tracked and Bruce photographed Anastasia posing.  And we ended the adventure with Xander finding a geocache hidden at the base of the bench.

10-05-13

What a great gift of sunshine today!

My guy helped trek the paddle board to the lake for an afternoon trip.

Enjoying the weekend and the warm weather…

10-04-13

TGIF!  Love my job, but not so much this week!

While I was introducing Bruce Sr. to the bento box, Bruce Jr. was at the football game selling raffle tickets and scooping up all the license plate swag.

Did I mention that it's Friday?!?

10-03-13

Nutella canollis!

Someone likes Bruce!  Is it his birthday month or something?!?  Last night was pumpkin crisp…

Spent the day dodging sweet temptations, wishing that our society wasn't so wrapped up in celebrating, soothing, and fellowshipping around fattening food.

10-02-13

Crazy days are all relative.  As are crazy shirts.  This one sparked a discussion about flannel (even though it is pink and plaid but not not flannel).  And then there are crazy shoes, like Bruce’s new cross fit shoes.   These are designed to heat with a hair dryer and wear so that they mold to your feet.  Crazy!

10-01-13

Bruce got a new phone case…  a Swiss Army knife phone case!

I knew this week would be brutal as we tackle closing the books and plan reviews in the same week, but it is worse than I expected… 

Happy October!