Simon Family Says

Jane LOVES the Fresh Beat Band (a band/tv show geared towards preschoolers). When I heard they were coming to the Seattle area, I saw a great opportunity for some Mommy/Daughter bonding time. Since I watch the show with her a lot (we have 22 episodes saved on our DVR currently), I know all of the songs and had fun dancing and singing along with her. It was a blast :-)

Both Dirk and Nedra turned/turn 60 this year, and we decided to celebrate by having a little dinner party for some of their friends and family. It was fun hearing their friends share stories about them. We are blessed to have them as parents! In the midst of preparing/serving the meal, we neglected to take many pictures, but I did snap a few on my phone. Laurel also got this cute one of the kids upstairs watching "Narnia" together during the party :-)

It's not even Halloween yet, and the kids have already dressed up several times (in several different costumes). Jane had a blast today wearing her mermaid costume to ballet and performing a little dance number for me.

I signed us up for a mini (20 minute) photo session with the hopes of getting some good family shots. Then, after paying for the session I realized, oops, John will be on a business trip. We made the most of it and got a few sweet pictures of the kids and I. Here are a couple, and you will probably see more on our Christmas card!

Jane is our girl who loves activities. Each day starts out with: "Mom, what are we doing today? Then what? Then what?" She is quieter in large groups, but definitely extroverted in that she loves being around people and trying new things. She has no problem going up to other kids and asking them to play, or just joining in on the fun. She had fun taking swim lessons this summer at the Klahanie Pool. She mastered jumping in unassisted, floating on her tummy, floating on her back, and retrieving things from the bottom of the pool. Hopefully next summer she will learn to swim.

We headed to my parent's cabin in Hansville last weekend for wild n' crazy fun with some other families and their kids. Despite there being 7 adults and 8 kids sharing the house, the kids had so much fun together and slept fairly well. Us adults enjoyed hanging out together for a lot of laughter and fun after the kids went to bed. We love our friends and feel blessed that my parents are so generous with their house that they don't mind sharing it.

We just returned from our annual summer trip to Suncadia. We had a great time hanging out, eating, going in the hot tub, and swimming. A highlight from this year's trip for me was watching Will learn how to swim. It's still mostly a frantic doggie paddle, but he made huge improvements and it was so fun to watch him and all the kids have such a blast in the pool. The kids got so tired from all the fun that Jane fell asleep one afternoon around 4:30pm and stayed asleep until the next morning! Here are some pictures: