WE'RE NOT LOSING TOO BIG

Here's an update on how Bryce and Paige are doing with his family's 3 month Biggest Loser Challenge:

OCTOBER 

Bryce lost 1.1 lbs

Paige lost 3.1 lbs  

TOTAL

Bryce has lost 5.7 lbs overall, which is a 2.8 % total loss

Paige has lost 7.8 lbs overall, which is a 5.5% total loss

So far, Paige is the only one in the competition to have lost weight every week. She may have small numbers, but what's that saying? Slow and steady wins the race? :)

THE FUTURE DIRECTOR

CJ has been into cameras lately, and just in the last few days he has started saying, "camera" when he wants us to take a picture of something (him). He gets so excited as we get the camera, smiling and laughing, and then after we take the picture, he laughs so hard as he looks at the image and says, "cuuute!" The following are all pictures that we were directed to take by Mr. CJ himself:

Daddy didn't think it was very funny when Mommy put Mattie's flower in CJ's hair. CJ thought it was hilarious and thought we needed to take a picture!

Daddy took turns giving Abby and Audrey Adams (not pictured) and CJ rides in the toy basket. They all loved it, hence CJ insisting we take a picture.

Apparently CJ thought it was "cuuute" that he was eating lunch. Not something we would have taken a picture of, but we do what we're told :)

We were trying to pump CJ up about potty-training (no, we haven't started yet) and wearing his Sesame Street undies so we let him try some on after his bath. He was so excited about it that he thought we needed to document it.

Who knows, maybe CJ will be a genius behind the camera someday too :)

FRIDAY THE 13TH

It snowed for the first time on Friday

Not that bad, right? Well we're trying to prepare ourselves for what lies ahead:

Winter 2007

Winter 2008

These pictures don't even begin to show just how crazy the past two winters here in Spokane have been. We're talking the airport was shutdown, schools were shutdown, roads were closed, church was cancelled, cars were stuck, inches of ice were on the road, four foot drifts of snow were on the roadsides (for months!), shovels and snowblowers sold out, the city ran out of road salt, state records were broken, and Spokane even made the national news. It was ridiculous!

Let's hope that this season's first snow falling on Friday the 13th isn't an omen for what kind of winter we'll have this year...

SCRUNCHER

We HAD to get a pic of Mattie's face when she does her new nose-laughing-heavy-breathing thing. So cute! She is so much fun and we're so blessed to have her in our family!

We went to Wenatchee last weekend and officially began our house hunt. Nothing yet, but we've got our feet wet. First-time home buyer's tax credit, here we come!

CHAMPS AGAIN

Bryce and his friends ended their last year of Gonzaga intramural football as the champions...again! Two of their three years as champions - pretty good for being the "old" guys. And now they have intramural tee-shirts in all three colors: blue, gray, and red :) Way to go, boys!

EYE DON'T THINK SO

As if being 28...and starting to notice little laugh lines...and having two kids...and needing to work even harder to keep those extra pounds off doesn't make me feel old enough as it is, it turns out that I need glasses!

But don't worry, they're just for driving at night. And so unless you're coming on our next long road trip

YOU'LL NEVER SEE ME IN THEM!

Don't you love the cheapy pair of glasses that my insurance would cover? I'm ok with the semi-ugly things since I'll hardly ever be wearing them.

So for now, I'm just looking at them like a fun, new accessory...that I'll hardly ever wear :)

IT MAY BE WHITE...

...but it's there

She's got HAIR!!

HALLOWEEN 2009

Our little Matt Hasselbeck and Cutie Ladybug

Polly Anderson's Halloween Party at the Institute Building

Saturday October 24th

Moran Prairie and Lincoln Heights Ward Trunk-or-Treat

Friday October 30th

It may look like CJ's crying, but really, that's just his cheesy smile that he does for every picture these days. And then he follows up his pose by saying, "cuuuute!" and wants to look at the image :)

CJ has been going through a shy stage - mainly with strangers and crowds - and the costumes kinda freaked him out, so he wasn't as into Halloween as we were hoping. We think next year he'll get the concept a little bit more (i.e. candy). Mattie, on the other hand, manned the candy bowl - and stole some for herself - so she couldn't have been happier!

Dinner at the Nelson's

Saturday October 31st

Bryce's parents came into town for the weekend, and so we spent Halloween at the Nelson's, great family friends here in Spokane (pictured above: with Paige and Bryce, Rachel and Jason Nichols; Papa and Gamma Mackay with Mattie and CJ)

click on any of the grids above to enlarge the pics

JUST BECAUSE IT'S CUTE

Did we mention that CJ loves to sit in things? In fact, he dumps his toys out of his toy basket downstairs every day, multiple times, just so he can sit in it and play :)

LIKE BROTHER, LIKE SISTER