Alli's Preschool

I love Allison's preschool. It's Mommy-n-Me, so I stay with her while we're there. It gives us a great opportunity to play together, with no other distractions. All my boys have been in this same class with Miss Chris when they were 3. I'm so glad to share this experience with Alli as well. Here are some recent activities:


Alli was "helper" for the day. This means helping at snack time, circle time, etc. She loved being center of attention! Big surprise, I know.




Thanksgiving Feast:
The kids made their placemats, vests and turkey hats the week prior.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween can't begin until you've done the traditional pumpkin carving, yes? Here is ours, done the day before Halloween.



On Halloween, the kids were excited to don their costumes and get ready for their fun night! I love the anticipation all day. It's so fun to watch the kids!
Darren chose to be a gangster, Blake an Anaheim Angels fan, Ryan a rock star, and Alli was a geisha girl. The dress is gorgeous, but the wig didn't quite work out. Later we put face makeup on her which looked funny. It didn't end up being the best costume ever, but she sure had fun so nothing else really matters!


Once dressed up, we went to Chipotle where we met up with many of our friends for free dinners, and then headed off to the Hanshaw's for trick-or-treating and then homemade apple fritters. They were as good as last year and I'm excited for Rachelle's new tradition. It was fun to gather with good friends after the candy gathering was done, and visit and enjoy the evening. The bigger kids all gathered together upstairs for a massive trade and swap of candies. Everyone made out!

Halloween Party

Well, it's that time of year again... time to think of a costume to wear to the Pinneo's annual party. Actually, I thought of this idea last year while coming home from the Pinneo's party. It was easy to do, with the good people of my local In-n-Out donating the hats, safety pins and name tags. I put together the rest by sewing aprons and putting our names on the tags. We stopped at In-n-Out on our way and picked up some burgers & fries to share. It was such a fun night as always! Thanks again Pinneos!!!!


Here are the great costume ideas from the others:


The Sloans and Overholts joined up together for an award winning rendition of ROLLER DERBY gals & their referees. It was simply hysterical! They rolled into the middle of the party, blowing whistles, raising a ruckus! It was just great!



The Gredings were in a ballet, Weymouths were H1N1 and her doctor, Middlebrooks were Burger KING and Dairy QUEEN, Garretts, the other Gredings were Crocodile Hunter & crocodile, and our Elders were Men in Black.



The Liddells were Dora & Diego, Adams were "Paper or Plastic?", Pinneos were a wicked queen & her medeival knight, Wrights were Marilyn & Elvis, Altoms were in the Air Force, and Omers as Peanuts characters.


Zeediks were Desi Arnaz & Lucille Ball, Wildes were Sherlock Holmes & Watson, Fenns were Cleopatra & ninja, Egglestons were Medusa and her hubby she turned to stone, Fenskes were a sheik & Indian princess, and the Murrays were Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head, complete with changeable pieces. So clever!



McKees were a witch & politician, Meyers a devil & not sure, Mandy's sister posed with Kevin Guthrie a.k.a. Indiana Jones, more Gredings as Peanuts characters and Mandy's brother (I think) was Bob's Big Boy with his waitress wife.

Pack Night

For Pack Night this month, the den had the Reptile Family. Ryan was brave enough to hold these two snakes.... ick!

Happy Birthday Darren!

Darren turned 12, which means one more year til my baby is officially a teenager! YIKES!!
Poor Darren didn't get to open any presents this year until the day AFTER his birthday when Dad could be home from work. What torture! It was worth the wait though. He was so excited to get the additional gear he needed to be ready for an airsoft war at Jericho. Here he is decked out in his new camos, tactical vest, helmet, face mask,etc.

And here was his I-pod cake.




The following week, he and his friend Adam went to Jericho, an airsoft place where they get put on teams and play games or rounds for as long as you want to be there. This kid was in HEAVEN! It was like a dream come true for him. For mom, not so much!





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Nana & Papa, Grammy & Bob came over the next weekend to celebrate with Darren and be there for the most important part of turning 12, receiving the Aaronic Priesthood! He now is in Young Mens and passes the sacrament. I am so proud of Darren and the young man he has become!

Pumpkin Patch

Alli went on her annual preschool trip to the Pumpkin Patch. This year her teacher is Miss Chris. She loved the tractor ride, feeding all the animals, playing on the playground, and especially picking her own pumpkin! She played with her friend Gracie and had a great time.



What a silly girl!

FIRE!

Jason has had an exciting few days, being involved with the fire here in Moorpark. He had already been gone for 5 days when the fire broke out. They kept him another day. He came home for a mandatory 24 rest period this morning. Thankfully he lives close enough to come home, otherwise he would have to sleep on the fire truck or on a cot at the command center. Here is a pic the LA Times took of Jason and his crew in action. Jason is hard to see... he's behind the front guy in the red helmet. Jason is working the controls of the water pumps.

SkateLab

The boys have been begging me for months to take them to SkateLab. It's a large indoor skateboard park. We finally caved and Jason took them one day. They had a blast and now beg to go back! I just wish Jason had taken more pictures! What fun!

The three boys are in the far background of this shot... Ryan the one standing on the board coming down the ramp.



Ryan & Darren are in front... Ry in red helmet, Darren in green shirt



Here Blake is on the left and Ryan is on the right

Cousins @ Farrell's

Growing up, Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour was a favorite place to go! Birthday parties were always the best at Farrell's! Unfortunately, Farrell's isn't around much anymore.
We were invited to attend my nephew's travelling hockey game in Valencia, and decided we wanted to spend time together afterward. Since neither of our families lived there, we couldn't go back to somebody's house. Then we remembered there was a Farrell's near by. It was fun to take our kids, and my older brother and I reminisced about fun times we had at Farrell's. Here are our kids enjoying the day!



Alli & Gavin


Enjoying the traditions of Farrell's by sharing a large sundae. Yum!


Silly cousins!


Jayden actually blew this balloon til it popped! Everyone in the restaurant jumped! It was soooo funny!


The boys played a round of lazer tag.... they didn't have that back when I went to Farrell's!

First Day of School - 2009

Here are my handsome boys - on their way to start the new school year. Blake & Ryan started 3rd grade and Darren in 7th. Wow!! Alli started a mommy&me preschool that same morning, but my camera was full after this shot and I didn't get one of her. Oops! Bad mommy!
Once I got Blake & Ryan dropped off, then Darren, then got to Allison's school, I called Jason at work to notify him that we all got to our destinations safely! I was grateful to have no drama like last year! Whew!

Pismo Beach

Ok, I promise this is our final trip for a while!
With only one week before school started up, we had the opportunity to join Jason's parents at Pismo Beach, where they were having a little R&R! They were at a resort, while we were just next door at a beautiful RV campground.

We loved the beach, the atmosphere, the scenery, the shops, the life of leisure, the campfires w/ s'mores, bike riding, swimming, etc. We thought it was amazing and can't wait to camp there again!



While there we celebrated my 29th birthday! (yes, again! -how long can I keep trying that?) My special day started with a bike ride to a restaurant called Penny's All-American Cafe for a delicious breakfast! Yum! We spent the morning riding around town and checking out shops. We lazed on the beach in the afternoon and at 4pm my in-laws surprised me with an hour massage at their hotel spa! Wow! Happy Birthday to me! Jason made us all dinner with BBQ steaks and a cake made in our motorhome convection oven. We weren't sure if that would turn out or not, but it did! Yum!



Beach Fun!




Right in our campsite there was this mommy duck with her babies. They just hung out there, undeterred by all the people. So cute!


One of the afternoons there we decided to rent a surrey, equipped with electric motor, yet not a very powerful one. This was just hysterical! We had that thing packed to overflow capacity. It made for some scary sharp turns but I tell you... we laughed the entire time!



One evening Nana & Papa treated us to dinner by bringing pizza to our campsite. Do you SEE the size of that thing??!! I have never seen such a gigantic pizza! It was a big hit with the kids!


And call me disturbed, but I couldn't help myself when my husband pointed out our lovely daughter's "exposure" while playing in the dirt. We laughed and laughed and she had no clue! She'll surely hate me for this one day, but don't all girls go through that drama with their mom at some point? At least my daughter will have valid reasoning!

Beach Camping!

Who doesn't want more vacation? After our 2 week road trip, we figured why stop now? We got home and spent one day doing laundry, shopping and cleaning, and then headed out for a week at the beach! What a great way to unwind after all that fun on-the-go travel! We went to Rincon, stayed for the week, and had a blast! This trip we brought the dog along and that created another element of fun!



How cute is my little family? S'mores by campfire at the beach? Priceless!




We all love the beach! It was so great to be right there with access to sand and water all day long!


If you click on the picture for a close-up, you can see our crazy dog, Holly, having as much fun as the kids! We loved letting her off her leash on the beach. She followed the kids out in the surf and body-surfed along side them. Have you ever read the book Marley & Me? That's our Holly... especially the part of her running out to do her business in the water, if you know what I mean. Many times we had to chase her off!
Another hi-light here was Ryan buying a skim board during our evening in Santa Barbara. We tried to talk him out of it as he had never even tried one, but he quickly proved his abilities! Talented boy!




Where's Blake? I guess he wasn't camera friendly that day.