Build-up to All Hallows Eve ...

Happy Halloween!!!

We had weeks of scary fun leading all the way up to Halloween night this year! Here are some snapshots of all the super cool creepy fun ...

Superhero dress-up fun at Mathew's 5th birthday party

Spooky bedtime stories in the dark with flashlights

Avery's super fun school Halloween dress-up party

Watching scary movies like "Spooky Buddies"

Getting slimy pulling out pumpkin guts ....

... and then having a race to see who can design 

the scarier Halloween pumpkin ...

Which one is the scariest?!!?!!!?!

Dressing up in a unique one-of-a-kind 

Halloween costume ... I'm a Zom-Bee!!!

Stella did not like the Zom-Bee outfit ... 

she ran straight into the shower!

Finally, trick-or-treating with Glenda The Good Witch 

and The Wicked Witch of the West!!!

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ...

Emery will do a ton of tricks for a very special tasty treat, 

just watch the video below and see ...

Stellaluna, Our Beautiful New Addition ...

Surprisingly (even for me) life does move very fast and all that is known is that it constantly drifts forward. So who has the time to live in any exact specific moment? It's hard to remember what you were doing just the previous day, hour, minute, upon each morning sunrise.

 Emery sporting her usual everyday morning cuteness

 Emery and Avery playing around as they usually do, each and every morning

So either the time was just right or the stars were aligned just so or that slim grasp of a moment toward unique intervention occurred where our family fell into a common orbit of a dog named Monroe. Yes, I said Monroe ... did I mention yet that she was a 9 month old female dog???

 Monroe meeting our family for the first time ... 

it was love at first sight!!!

So what do you do exactly with a girl dog named Monroe??? Well, you change that silly name immediately of course, with no questions asked. Note that supposedly she was named after Marilyn Monroe, but that all still seems sort of odd when you look at her for awhile or even really get to know her ...

So we all tossed around countless names to help make her more of a permanent family fixture, but none of them really seemed to hit the nail on the head ... then we just happen to start joking around about how shockingly enormous those ears were ... about how they seemed more like the ears of a humongously odd bat ... and then just like that, naturally all thoughts drifted towards a favorite ...

 The perfect name (and story) for our lovely new puppy!

 Stellaluna (or Stella for short)

making herself comfy on Scout-No's bed

 Avery, Scout-No, and Stella relaxing nicely all together,

 as a real close family should

So how can you NOT use a canvas this big?!?!?

 Art naturally reveals itself in 

places you would least expect ...

 ... but sometimes there is a steep price to pay 

for releasing it ... I need to get away, quick!

Ho hum, just been hanging out way 

over here, Mommy and Daddy ...

End of Summer Pooltime ...

End of summer is here again, so we had a "last hurrah" in the pool this weekend. Since I've grown a ton, I was now able to wear real kiddie "float-ies". 

 Emery trying out Avery's old reliable"blue tire" floaty ...

  ... it just didn't feel that right on me!

 Emery trying next a slick fast maneuverable version ...

... this thing is incredible!!!

Try-what???

Emery after an 8 hour long car ride

This weekend Daddy took us all on a very long road trip for his latest quest, competing in an Olympic Triathlon. It all took place in a nice sounding town called Malibu with swimming in the ocean and running/biking on the beach, so we all got to spend a lot of fun time in the sun ... here are some pictures of all the fun!

Emery and Avery searching for seashells, 

while constantly hounded by their paparazzi

Emery digging for treasures in the sand

Playing in the HUGE waves with Daddy

Even Mommy braved the cool 60 degree waters

Avery loved the waves,

 really for the first time ever!

Cousin Travis even came out 
for our beach day!

Auntie Em was with us too (out there in the
distance with Avery) ... she was even competing

in the race with Daddy the next day

Avery testing out all of Daddy's race day equipment for safety ... 
too bad Emery doesn't look to be playing all that safely right behind her!

Emery putting on Daddy's helmet after
 falling off of the sofa one too many times

Race Day at Sunrise!!!

Daddy and Auntie Em in their wetsuits

 right before the ocean swim start

Daddy at the bike-to-run transition ... 
Go Daddy, Go!!!

Auntie Em running towards the finish line ... 

Go Auntie Em, Go!!!

Daddy finding out that he won a third place medal ... 

Way to go Daddy!!!

Such a super fun time with our Triathlete Daddy!!!

Truly a great weekend for all!!!

Solo Time ...

Avery and I are best of best friends, but we can't always be together. My big sister is just so busy lately and I have my own "into the wild" explorations that Avery has already conquered. Here are some photos of what we have been soo busy with lately ...

Avery spends a lot of her time in kindergarten now ...

... but at least her best friend Chiara is in the same class!

Emery is still "sleeping in" when

Avery heads out to school ...

... but quickly gets going on activities

after waking up, such as climbing ...

... playing dress-up ...

... searching for just that right-sized container ...

... playing fetch with the fishies ...

... playing board games ...

... driving cars ...

... exploring tunnels ...

... and then after about an hour of all of that, 

it's time to head outside to run wild!!!

Since Avery is older she even gets to go on vacations 

with her friends, like this camping trip 

with Mathew, Andrew, and Noah ...

... Andrew really looks-up to Avery ...

... he even kept sneaking into her "Girls-Only" tent!!!

Avery even went on a trip with Daddy to 

see animals doing weird and funny things ...

... I can't wait until it's my turn to go

see weird and funny animals with Daddy!!!