Catch Up

I have been so busy that I have not even taken picture of all the fun things we have been doing which on one hand makes me sad but on the other, I got to enjoy my family and worry about catching every moment on a still frame. 

J is such an artist and won the t-shirt contest at her school last year. This year they had a contest for the cover of the yearbook. We have not heard the results yet but I was so proud of her efforts and thought she put into her drawing.

I know my days are being counted of seeing cute Barbie and doll set ups like this. She is outgrowing the innocence of dolls and would prefer to play on her ipad. I need to capture more momments of her set ups becuase they are so detailed from the towel haning in the brathroom to the pots on the stove behind the doll. Looks like a Thanksgiving Feast to me….

I have a rule of not setting up Christmas until Thanksgiving day. It was hard this year because I finally had all of my belongings out of storage and so badly wanted to decorate but I held out. I also have been begging for matching stockings for years. Not really knowing what I want or theme. A couple of years ago I saw the most adorable elf stockings form Ballard design but when my husband refused to pay an abseen amount for stockings I figured I would make my own. I picked out all the fabric and trimming and sewed these little stockings up and was so thrilled. 

We made our annual gingerbread houses the other night. I expermented with melted sugar to glue the pieces together and decided I will stick to the hot glue gun next year. We listened to Christmas music while we frosted, sang, and decorated together. B's house in on the left and J.'s house on the right.

Halloween

This is not from Halloween but I had to post because it was such a funny picture of T. I never put my kids hair in pig tails or pony tails as babies. They have always had a plethora to do so but I feel so bad pulling there fine hair tight on their heads and then to break and damage it when I pull it out. We did it this 1 time only and laughed as it changed T's look so much.

HALLOWEEN

  We started our festivities with our annual trip to the LaVerne pumpkin patch. Its a small little pumpkin patch with animals, a hay ride and a very home town feel. T. kept wanting to suck the pumpkin and couldn't get enough of holding it.

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS...

I know I may not get another year of themeing my kids Halloween costumes and finally caving in to let them be what they want since J is tired of the themes.

I was lucky when I got her to go along with it this year and when B decided he wanted to be Jack Skellington she quickly jumped at the chance to be Sally and have T be Zero the ghost.

For her costume I took a mens white tshirt and hot glued on felt I had pre-colored with a fabric marker. I then puffy painted on stitches so the patch work dress looked sewn. I had died her shirt and tights light blue and puffy painted the stitches on them as well. Red hair, red lipstick and stitches and fake eyelashes (which really made the costume but she refused to wear that night) 

For T's I took an old pillow case and put a read collar and leash. I then took a white beanie and sewed on a stuffed cone nose, black felt eyes and white ears with wire in them to look like the real dog zero's ears.

What I thought would be fairly easy costumes ended up being more detailed. I bought his suit coat from a children's consignment store in early September. I then purchased black leggings and a white t-shirt. I should have thought about the time spent painting on the lines….forever! I added coat tails to the back of his coat. I sewed the bat with wire so the wings could bend and stuffed and sewed his white shirt to make his chest look larger.

With school parties we didn't paint on the stitches on too dark or his black eyes so he would not scare the others (girls) as he had already done at our church trunk or treat.

The night finally arrived for the make-up and all. T. slept at Grandmas while we went trick or treating. The kids had the best night and I was sure glad when it ended.

 The kids all thanked me lots and told me they would rather have me make costumes than buy them which made all the time worth it.

After a trunk or treat, school party, downtown Glendora trick or treating and Halloween night trick or treating we have plenty of candy to last for months! 3 gallon ziplock bags.  Below is only J. portion.

10 year Anniversary

 September has always been a very busy month for us. This September was extra special celebrating our 10 year anniversary. It seems so unreal that we have been married that long yet it seems like yesterday and we are still youngsters with 3 rug rats in tow.

                                                                         10 years

Engaged

Wedding day

We also celebrated another year older for me, 31! 

IPAD MINI

#1 had begged for an Ipad and saved enough money to pay for half so we surprised her for her birthday and gave her the choice to buy an older generation or wait until the new ipad mini's came out. She dabbled back and forth but new she would be happier with the new mini. As she patiently waited for a couple months until the release date it finally arrived in the mail. She got it the day after Thanksgiving and opened it with her cousins her were at our house. She was so excited and had to take it everywhere. She would even talk extra loud trying to be a typical 7 year old showing off in places like Best buy or Target and say "Look those people are all looking at Ipad Mini's. I already have an Ipad Mini!"

CAUTION… Her most favorite thing to do is text 

 She has been great at sharing with her brother and even got a cover for Christmas to protect it. She is a lucky girl ans saved her money for a pretty cool reward. Mom and Dad don't even own an Ipad. 

Labor day and other stuff

Jared decided to surprise us and head to Utah for a mini vaca. It was so nice to getaway and enjoy a quite week with our family. We loved having quality time to just hang out.

J. was drooling over this life size Justin Beiber. She was too shy and embarrassed to actually take a picture so B. showed her the way to do it…In case you are wondering why B. is wearing a suit coat??? We just purchased it for his Halloween costume and all he wanted to do was wear it.

 We were driving back to the Sandy house one night and saw Wendy inside of  WENDY'S. We had to stop for such a rare opportunity with Wendy.
B. Loved it and J. was trying to figure her out.

 We enjoyed a nice afternoon with the kids in Park City. We ate lunch in Heber and headed up for the alpine slides. The kids had a blast. We dragged them to the shopping outlets and ended the long day at  home making chocolate chip cookies.

We got back from from Utah and soccer season had begun. B. is playing pee wee soccer on a local church league and they start out every game with a word of prayer…who says CA peeps aren't spiritual??? Unfortunately all the lord praises didn't work and they lost the game.

It was about 100 degrees on their game day.

 T. Is growing up faster than any of my other kids. She is always smiling. She started eating solids. She did not like any of the sweet foods like bananas, applesauce, & pears. She only wanted to eat vegetables. Her favorite are peas. She also loves green beans and winter squashes.

 She has been moving everywhere. I always happen to find her under our ottoman and frustrated that she can't get out. She has started getting up on all fours and trying to crawl.

One day I looked for B. and found him under the table reading a book about Disneyland. I love these little simple moments of kids.

B's first day of Pre-K

B didn't start school until a couple weeks after J. He was so excited to see his friends from last year and enjoy his last of pre-K year with Mrs. Ganino & Mrs. Wiedman.

                                                  His two buddies, Maxwell and Charlie

Birthday Continues

Since her birthday was a "school day" I pulled her out early and we went to go see Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I figured I would be bored but to my surprise it was a pretty cute movie. I had a blast going with my little (big) girly and leaving the other 2 kids at home.

 She took her new Monster High dolls everywhere we went.

 She also had gymnastics and we couldn't miss so after gymnastics we told her would would go anywhere she chose for dinner. (our tradition) She quickly chose on Panda Express like she did last year. It cracked me up because I think the last time we ate there was last year for her birthday.

                                        2012  7 years old                                         2011  6 years old