My kids decided to wear their "fancy hats" to the open house.
I have a pic of B on here last year on Open House.
The leap of faith.
Brady and his self-portrait.
Brady reading to us from his "This is Brady" book.
Brady brought home a "Zoomchini" from a fun fall festival in Burlington...
Natalie sat on her grass-clippings nest.
I saw this smiling face...
as I ran by during the Bellingham Bay Half Marathon!
And that's my good friend Kate right behind me, we both smoked our previous times.
Well, Bellingham Bay. Larry picked up Brady today after school and took him sailing on a friends "new" sailboat. I was very nervous about the whole idea but knew Brady would have a blast as long as he stayed warm and afloat! Right about here is where I would post a picture of their adventure, but Larry forgot the camera in the truck so we will have just have to visualize their fun. Apparently Brady was a bit nervous, but quickly overcame his nerves and enjoyed himself quite a bit. So for bringing my son and husband home safe and dry, I made and super yummy Chicken stirfry for dinner for Ken who is inhaling it as I type!
Larry and I had a day of together and so we got to spend the day with just Natalie. It's nice to have an afternoon with just one child and I think they feel the same way about getting mom and dad to themselves. We ran all over town going to Yeagers for a life jacket, REI for random stuff, lunch at Diego's (it was our first time there and I have to scold myself for missing 13 years of deliciousness!), down to Boulevard park to have a coffee and maintain our Geocache, then home where Natalie and I snuggled and watched Madagascar 2. It was a very nice day.
Larry holding "It's Tin, Man!" The name of our cache is in reference to the large tin-sledge deposit (hidden by Larry) that looks like a giant rock sticking out of the bay.
Natalie wearing the vest my mom made for me when I was a little girl. I love the rickrack sun rays!
The wind soured Natalie's mood, so we revived her inside Woods coffee.
A before-school snuggle and wrestle match.
Since today was probably our last sunny Sunday as a family (Larry's days off are changing) we decided to head out and enjoy a fall favorite: apple picking!
Last year we picked a ton of apples and had a little incident involving an employee of the company who built our deck and his sticky fingers in our apple bin (long story, but lets just say I think he learned his lesson when the police came knocking on his door. And no, I didn't call the cops on him for stealing an apple... something else he was doing on our property prompted the call by our neighbor).
This year our first stop was Bellewood Acres where you can take golf carts out into the orchards and enjoy the farm. Larry let Brady drive once we got out of sight and in true Allred fashion he promptly drove the golf cart into the drainage ditch with the entire family in tow! If you haven't heard of the tales of Larry (and me, on occasion) and his history of golf carts... you're probably better off not knowing!
A cool shed at Bellewood. It had several coils of barbed wire, and I felt inspired. And could it get more poetic with the little bird nest perched on one of the coils?
The end of the ride. Look at what a beautiful day we had!
This goofy horse was hoping for an apple I think. I think she needs to wax her chin though.
Brady behind the wheel. Natalie says he's ready for his license. Uh, no.
Brady hitching a ride with the Gala's.
We topped off the evening watching Star Wars (the one with Jabba the Hut) and enjoyed a dessert of homemade apple crisp with hand-cranked vanilla ice cream. Our bellies are happy!
I had to run down to the store for more ice (to make the ice cream) and found these. I couldn't leave without them (the wax lips and 'stache, not the kids)!
With all the new things happening at the Allred house, I've found it hard to find time to blog, and then when I do find time I realize that we've been living the same routine for the past week and that's not much fun to blog about!
I was down most of this week due to a pesky cough that kept me up nights, but I finally found the time and energy yesterday to get out and get some real miles under my belt in preparation for the Bellingham Bay Half-Marathon next Sunday.
Here is a quick update for all of us:
*Larry got a "fixed gear" bike for his birthday and his having a blast riding it.
*I'm doing very well and enjoying my new job.
*Natalie loves going to school and has already gotten herself invited to a birthday party.
*Brady says he has a good day everyday after school. His teacher and I have made tentative plans to have a conference in the next couple of weeks to discuss ways to boost his self-confidence. I'm so thankful she is being so proactive right off the bat, I think it will be a good year for Brady with a teacher like her.
First of all, the fun stuff: Natalie had her first day of school yesterday and had a great time! She has a few familiar faces in her classroom and her teacher seems to be very nice.
Natalie in front of her very own cubby. She marched up to her teacher and said "good morning" and then promptly posed for Mrs. MacIssac to admire her back to school attire.
Apparently asking her to show off her lunch pail sparked the attitude. 
Then today I took Brady to school and at the last minute he asked me to walk him to his classroom. "Of course" I said, even though I've been up all night coughing and am wearing one-step-up-from-pajamas and have no makeup on. But I did brush my hair. And my teeth. So I quickly escort him in and he gives me the double wave: the first one "thanks for dropping me off, I'll see you later" and then the second "Leave, mom. Now!". So I walked off and halfway down the hall his teacher runs after me asking if we can talk real quick. Oh.
It appears that the struggles of having a child on the fringe are back. I am actually prepared for this, as I was told that 1st grade is infinitely harder than Kindergarten and that Brady's struggles might be magnified this year. We're a week into school and he's struggling. But maybe this means he'll get some extra help sooner. I just wish there was more I could do for him. I hate to hear that he's putting his head down when confronted with a challenge, or that he has no confidence in the skills he already possesses. It's like the teacher and I have to prove to Brady that he is capable, he doesn't believe it himself.
Somedays I wish I had a magic wand.
My schweet photography skillz: that's Brady leaping of the stairs.
And I have to say, working at a bank that is inside of a grocery store doesn't disappoint in the people-watching department. Someone makes me silently snicker everyday. God I love the general public.
Brady has gotten to the age (who am I kidding, he's always been at this age) where he isn't too interested in having his picture taken, especially if it might even come close to being embarrassing. But I refuse to relent, and snapped away.
It's midnight and I can't sleep over Brady's big day in the morning. His backpack is prepared, he has a special treat in his lunch sack, his awesome hot pink-skateboarding-flaming-t-rex shirt is laid out and he got to bed early.
Now if I could get some sleep!
We took the kids out to Lake Padden today. B and I rode around the lake on our bikes (he didn't have to walk up one hill this time! Neither did I!!) while Natalie and Lar practiced riding her bike without training wheels (not successful). Then I took off before anyone could stop me and half-ran around the lake again. I haven't been feeling top-notch, so the second time around was not so successful. And I wasn't wearing the proper ummm....supportive garment. Gravity is cruel enough on it's own, I don't need to exasperate the problem!
We had some dinner and took the kids to see "SHORTS", the movie about the rainbow wishing rock. Perfect for a almost 7 year old boy. Very cute. Then home to roast marshmallows on the BBQ, baths, and bed!
Stay tuned for photos of Brady's first day!
My gifts are at the bottom of this post, so you'll have some anticipation as you scroll to the end...
Tracy was a trooper today and hung out with me all day, the kids were all kinds of spaz as we tried to shop at the farmers market. They tamed a bit when we went to Cenex and they got to look at all the rodents and birds. We made the mistake of going to Costco (apparently the way Canadians celebrate Labor day is to mill around a Costco parking lot and also stand 6 inches behind you in the checkout line). We didn't find what we were looking for at Cenex, so we headed north to the Laurel Farm store. They had what we wanted, as well as 7 kittens for the kids to love on and a herd of Buffalo to taunt.
Mommy and Auntie needed Starbucks stat afterwards, so we continued north to Lynden and discovered that the corn maze opened yesterday. We decided that would be a fun way to burn some energy off but the moment we stepped out of the car, the rains started. Man, it rained. But we persevered, because we really didn't have the energy to entertain the children any other way. But Tracy and I have similar navigational skills: poor. We wandered around for about 45 minutes before retreated to the entrance we kept coming across. Except the only way we found the entrance was through a blocked path. That's when Natalie declared Tracy and me "NOT A GENIUS."
Brady is on cloud 9 because Josh got stuck sitting between him and Natalie on the way home. I wonder how Josh feels about it?
Playing hide and seek, since we obviously weren't finding our way through the maze.
Brady's new favorite pose. "I did a #2 on her head!"
Birthday present #2:
I was going to write a post tonight about my fun evening out for my birthday, but I think I need to wait until morning :)
Jack's grandpa made these cut-outs for his birthday. And can I point out that Natalie and Jack are only 6 months apart?
The ball pit just dumped about half of the balls on top of the kids, it's what they had been waiting for all evening!
Waiting for cake...
The birthday boy, Brady, and Brady's idol, Will. He lives down the street and is a 2nd grader. Brady thinks he's awesome.
Riley and Natalie "we really look like we're jumping down the falls!" (I hadn't figured out my shutter speed etc. yet for inside Jungle Playland so it's a bit blurry).
