Another Month Goes By......

I can't believe that it's been almost a month since my last post.

I'm losing track of time.  It feels like it's only been a week.

But, I guess, as I put all the pictures in here, a lot has happened.

Let's get on with it, shall we?

First up.

Batman.

At the park.

So, my first excuse for not updating the blog is the weather.

We had a stretch of totally awesome weather.

Yes.  Seattle has a reputation to be a bit soggy.  Yeah.  Yeah.  Yeah.

But not so this summer/early fall.

We had a record 76 day dry stretch!!!!  Sun and fun, baybeeeee!

And to keep you up to date, that dry stretch ended last week.

Ho hum.

On to excuse number two.

Last month, Huzbend took a trip to Finland for a conference.

He spent a lot of time in Helsinki airport.

Now you've seen (part of) Finland!

Here's where he stayed.

And some pictures from around town.

The "Northern Games Summit" was held at a local college.

He presented twice during his stay and yet still had time to hop in driving simulators for photo ops,

enjoy a sauna party, and even get out for a mountain bike ride!!!!

I tell you, that man could be on Mt. Everest and still find a bike to ride.

I guess I shouldn't give him any ideas.

Here he is being all responsible-like.

Huzbend came back from Finland with quite the case of jet lag and two stow aways.

Meet Stinky (brown) and Snork Maiden (white).

We had to look these two up to find out who they were.

Turns out they are part of a super-popular set of characters called

"Moomins"and these two are friends of the main character, Moomintroll.

Moomin is super cute.  Check him out if you get the chance.

Reason number three:  School Stuff.

Preschool is in full swing and so are the meetings (two last week!).

And if Katie's school is going strong, that means PTA stuff isn't far behind.

I volunteered to handle Membership this year for our PTA.  The job ain't hard, just time consuming.

Which leads me to an example of "school stuff".....

Katie's PTA sponsored Shark-a-thon fundraiser.

It was a big success.  The school pulled in mad cash.

The kids (K thru 6) collected donations and then played field-day type games and listened to dance music on their lunch recesses.

I was working the lacrosse station.

Here's Katie with one of her new first grade pals (the dude in yellow).

Hiiiiiiiiiii-yaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Even Mikey got in on the action.

So, those are my excuses for not writing.

And, really, people.  A girl needs sleep every now and then.

By the way, did you know that Robin, The Boy Wonder, likes to eat scones?

He does.  Blueberry ones.

Where's Batman, you ask?

Right here.

A couple of weeks ago it was Star Wars Reads Day.

We headed to the local library for their celebration/event.

We met some friends there (to the left in the pic) and made some Yoda puppets.

Here's Mikeys......

And Katie made one too......

There were different activities besides the Make-Your-Own-Yodas.

You could color, read Star Wars books, watch some videos,

join in a sing-along, do Star Wars origami and of course dress-up.

Have you ever seen a pouty jedi?

Well, now you have.

Little Red Riding.....oh wait......

Jedi Katie.

This is the best photo E V E R.

There's a new favorite video game in the house at the moment.

Castle Crashers.  It gets played.  A lot.

And not just by Huzbend.

By Huzbend, Katie AND Mikey.

Huzbend's internal monologue:

"I see you have mastered the Xbox controller.  Your skills are complete.  Indeed you are powerful, as I have foreseen."

Mikey misses Katie every time she's at school.

Okay.  So, sometimes you wouldn't be able to tell by the way they constantly fight when she gets home.  But, it's true!  He misses her. 

He asks me about every ten minutes when we are going to pick her up at the bus stop.

But, sometimes, there is a benefit to having your older sibling gone all day.

You get attention.  You get to play your own games the way YOU want to play them.  You don't get interrupted or over shadowed.

And you get to talk.

A LOT.

(WARNING:  LONG VIDEO OF A 3YR. OLD'S DISCOURSE ON VARIOUS TOPICS)

This video is long.  I know.

But, you have to realize that everyday we have lunch together for about 20 minutes.

And he uses that ENTIRE 20 minutes to talk.

Really.

It's awesome.

I had to record it for posterity.