Fall has landed!

First day of school today and we woke up to rain. Lovely. Way to ease us in gently, fall weather!

Thankfully it didn't dampen my children's spirits, only mine, what with the solid 5 minutes I spent straightening my hair gone to waste the second I stepped outdoors and all.

 

 

Kendall is now a proud 4th grader and Cooper a grown-up 2nd grader.

Blake at this point also believes he is a first-time school attender and is in for quite a disappointing morning. 

Traditional pic with Aunt Kelly in her school office.

He was cheered up by a trip to Nanna's however (one of his 4 great-grandmothers) and took a gloriously long nap there while Nanna and I played on her computer, loading pictures to facebook and confusing ourselves immensely with the mystery that is the external hard drive and the 1 million files it can contain (or so it would seem).

My lunch date turned into an all afternoon and early evening date, and a lovely time was had by all. Except my husband, who had to deal with the flat tire from our camping trip (see yesterday's post) when he got home from work. Apparently Les Schwab's roadside assistance couldn't budge the stuck lug nut either and had to temporarily plug the hole in our tire to get our vehicle to the tire center, just in time for it to close.

Yes, I am once again carless for another day.

But giggling over this one-liner from Kendall after school today, "Mom, I am soooooo excited to study the Oregon Trailer this year!"

Reminds me of the time I made an "all about me" book back in 4th grade... I drew a picture of my face and wrote the description "I have a molar beside my nose". 

Mole/molar, Oregon Trail/trailer, same dif right Kendall? :)

                    

Our last hurrah of summer

We arrived home from camping today, just in time for the first day of school tomorrow. We had to squeeze in one last hurrah out of summer! 

In true Halverson fashion our trip did not go without a hitch, although this time instead of something going awry on the way out, it happened on the way home. Two miles from home in fact. In the form of a flat tire. And a stuck lug nut that would not budge. And a closed Les Schwab tire center due to it being a holiday. Leaving me carless for the first day of school tomorrow. 

Perfect!

But back to camping, our trip was awesome! It was our church family camp which is one of our very favorite trips of the year. In a nutshell here's why: picture a secluded strip of nicely paved and grassed campsites, with close bathrooms, and a dead end so there's no thru traffic. Add a large covered eating gazebo, a big empty grassy field with a volleyball net, and a beautiful lake for swimming and boating. Take 40 + families and singles, with a gazillion children and their bicycles and let them loose. The kids are free to play in the safety of our group's great camping area, leaving the parents free to play whatever they want! Namely; volleyball, cards and board games, and long lazy chats around the fire. Also add s'mores, a giant Saturday night potluck and a fun as well as moving outdoor church service Sunday morning and you have the makings of a weekend that you never want to end!

Wow that was quite a long nutshell, sorry. 

Something quite momentous also happened this weekend. My 7 year old son Cooper, who has long declared that he has no need to ride a bicycle in his lifetime and therefore doesn't ever need to learn how, actually did! Thanks to the amazing and talented mother of 5 young bike-riders of her own, Aunt Cara. 

Cooper went from this...

training wheels attached

 To this...

Yeah Cooper! And yeah Aunt Cara!

Even though I didn't run multiple laps around our campground like Cara, I'm still totally wiped from all the fun of the trip combined with a crazy evening of unpacking, temporary vehicle hunting, and bathing and preparing children for school in the morning. So I'm going to go do this...

Zzzzzzzzzzzz...

The missing farewell card

When we went to give our last goodbyes and kisses to my grandparents and Aunt before they left the States on Wednesday Kendall and Cooper decided to make farewell cards for them. But somehow in the shuffle of loading everyone up in the car, one card was left behind at our house - Cooper's card to his Granny. He was quite sad and sorry about this so Grandma suggested he email it to her and that perked him up.

So without further ado... the final farewell!

Cooper is on top of the plane saying "Hehe now I can stay with them" and I think that's me yelling at him from the ground. I'm glad he captured my feelings so well.

"will miss you" "do you haft to lea-v?"

It's quite something that ALL FOUR of my children's great-grandmothers are still alive, something we definitely don't take for granted. And we're not really worried about losing any of them any time soon either, especially Granny from New Zealand...

Aug 2010

because as you can see she's the picture of health! And cuteness, and slimness, and great-leggedness, and why oh why didn't I get my 80 year old Grandmother's genes?! 

Sorry, got side-tracked. 

We love you Granny, and Granddad and Aunt Wenda too, come back to us soon!

How to set yourself up for weight loss (and financial) disaster

A Tutorial:

1. Grocery shop for a two week time period, forgetting that a 4 day camping trip will occur half way through the two weeks.
2. Panic when you realize that you did not specifically shop for said camping trip and now don't know what to bring for snacks.
3. Mentally lecture yourself for never leaving over any extra grocery money for emergencies - specifically, camping emergencies.
4. Decide to be frugal and creative and bake snacks.
5. Discover that your husband has used up all the eggs, leaving the empty shells in the carton in the fridge as a cruel, cruel ruse.
6. Run to the store to buy eggs.
7. Take 3 children with you (THIS IS AN IMPORTANT STEP)
8. Get wildly sidetracked by 3 children in a grocery store and mysteriously purchase $40 worth of groceries.
9. Mentally lecture yourself for your lack of self-control.
10. Procrastinate baking till well after dinner.
11. Put the kids in front of a movie before bedtime and begin making banana bread, adding the flour last.
12. Discover that you are down to your last dregs of flour and are 1/2 a cup short.
13. Mentally lecture yourself for being such an airhead not thoroughly checking your ingredients before shopping that afternoon.
14. Shrug shoulders and finish bread anyway, putting children (and tired husband) to bed while it bakes. 
15. Pull bread out of the oven as your family is dropping off to sleep, leaving you all alone with it's heavenly fresh-baked aroma tempting you while you sit at the computer.
16. Decide you better "check" bread to see if the lack of the proper amount of flour affected anything.
17. Congratulate yourself that it turned out AWESOME!
18. Eat 1/3 of a loaf. By yourself. 
19. Mentally lecture yourself for your lack of self-control. 
20. Take one last taste before heading off to bed, but not before hiding the 1/2 eaten loaf.

Difficulty level: expert. Expert at what exactly, I choose not to discuss.

What I Wore Wednesday

I think I've actually done this long enough now to not include what week I'm on anymore! However, I'm sorry to report that throughout the weeks my picture quality has definitely not improved so please excuse my sometimes ultra-weird lighting ;)

 Wednesday: mid-week church service

top: Maurices

cami: Diviine Modestee

capri's: Plato's closet

flip flops: Fred Meyers

bracelet: gift from Hawaii

necklace: Claire's

Thursday: grocery & back to school shopping

gray tank: Old Navy

white tank: Shade

skirt: Maurices

sandals: rummage sale

necklace: gift from Mexico

Friday: hangin' out at Jana's

top: I think Ross

jeans: Gap from Goodwill

flats: Old Navy

bracelet: Liz Claiborne outlet

Saturday: Nephew's bday party

tee: Shade

vest: Maurices

rolled up jeans: Old Navy

sandals: rummage sale

necklace: weird named store in mall. Sorry, that's all I've got.

Sunday:  church, girls night out!

tunic top: Kmart

belt: Goodwill

jeans: Old Navy from Goodwill

heels: Nine West from yard sale - they're leather and niiiice.

necklace: Forever 21

silver bracelets: Walmart

Wow, this is my favorite outfit and probably the cheapest - go figure!

Monday: birthday dinner with family

half sleeve turtleneck:Target

lace cami: Downeast Basics

jeans: Old Navy

flats: Ross

Necklace: Payless

earrings: gift

Tuesday: farewell visit to my Aunt and Grandparents visiting from New Zealand (tear!)

brown top: Shade

white tank: Shade

capri's: Fred Meyers

flats: Steve Madden from Goodwill

bracelet: Old Navy

earrings: Target

This last outfit is my least favorite and frankly looks a tad snug. But those are definitely my favorite shoes :)

Check out other What I Wore posts at The Pleated Poppy (my recent source of style inspiration).