Halloween at Newport Beach

This past weekend, we went to Newport Beach to meet up with Adam's parents. We had such a wonderful time...I'm still on a high from it! We started our weekend together at Disneyland and it was fabulous. Alexis was tall enought to ride "Indiana Jones" and laughed and screamed the whole way through and Aubrey was just barely tall enought for "Splash Mountain." I have never heard a little girl laugh so hard on a ride before! She absolutely loved it! (I was terrified the entire ride that she would somehow fly out of the log on the drop!) We got to see the parade and eat treats and ride "Peter Pan" and "Pirates" ...we all want to go back! After the majority of our crew tuckered out, we took them home to bed and Adam and I went back for some more late night fun. We rode "Space Mountain" and "The Haunted Mansion" and got to see both the firework show and "Fantasmics" while we were waiting in line for the rides. We also rode "Thunder Mountain" and "Pirates of the Carribean," where we got to have a boat all to ourselves. ;) Just after all the rides closed up, there were private parties just beginning. They added fog for effect and every Disney villain you could think of was out and about. I even saw the Step-mother and step-sisters from Cinderella; they were in such great character! The night wouldn't have been complete without a glimpse of Mickey and Minnie, whom we saw as well. It was a great night!











On to trick-or-treating the next day...
We found a wonderful neighborhood, filled with kids and friendly residents to trick-or-treat in. The girls had a good time and we were all exhausted by night's end. Allie got the most treats because she melted everyone's hearts when they heard her tiny voice say "trick treat!" She was a ladybug, Alexis was a witch, and Aubrey chose to be the tooth fairy. We are still enjoying our spoils!





We also enjoyed some time on the beach while we were there. One night, while out watching the sun set on Laguna Beach, we saw dolphins! They were SO close to the shore. It was absolutely awesome! The next day, we got to swim and splash and play in the sand. Adam and I even got to ride a few waves together (body surfing). I lost my sunglasses in the ocean and stopped looking for them after spying a couple sting ray. All in all, we had a great vacation! Thanks Munch and Pad! See you again soon!

catching up on October

We have had a very busy October! We have been playing hard and trying to keep up with the day to day stuff along the way. Adam got to take a trip to San Diego in conjunction for a case he has been working on; the next weekend we all took a visit to the coast with our good friends. We had a fantastic time! We headed out in the morning fog toward San Luis Obispo where we visited the Avila Valley Barn, Gopher Glen Apple Orchard, and Avila Beach. The best word to sum up the places we visited is "charming." The barn had a pumpkin patch, hay hide, petting zoo and fresh ice cream; the apples from the orchard were delicious and so fun to get them straight from the source (we have since used them to make dried apple chips and applesauce); and the beach was perfect. The girls love the water! We played ball, searched for seashells, chased and were chased by the waves, and loved the scenery and the company. We went out on the dock to see the sea lions and then headed off for Fish 'n Chips! It was a great day with great friends!







This past weekend Alexis had another soccer game (I failed to previously post that she scored three goals in an earlier game this month and as a deal with her dad, the whole family got to go out to dinner to celebrate - way to go Alexis!). Alexis also went to a Halloween party dressed as the prettiest little witch I've ever seen.

I love making the month of Ocotober fun for the kids with spooky meals. We have tried several fun new ideas over the past few weeks. Tonight we had mummies and spider legs. It was a hit! For dessert, I made ice cream witch hats. These were a traditional treat brought to my family by our next-door neighbor when I was growing up. We looked forward to them every year! I called my good neighbor to find out how to make them this year and look forward to making them for years to come. We enjoyed our special treat with friends following our traditional pumpkin carving party. (I'm making note so we don't forget, that we vowed to return to the traditional pumpkin faces using triangles for eyes and zig-zags for mouths next year...much less complicated with all the kids!) We had a great night together.

FINISHED!

Some time ago, I came across the book "John Adams" by David McCullough. I saw it in the library of my father-in-law while I was reading another of McCullough's books, "1776." After hearing good comments about this book from him, and after loving "1776," I became interested in reading "John Adams." At the beginning of the year I ordered my very own copy (I just knew I would love it and want it for my collection. Amber was here the day it arrived. She may recall my excitement! :)) It was my goal to read the book this year and at 651 pages of not "light" reading, it was quite an undertaking. I started the book this summer and finished last night. I loved every single page! (Adam kept telling me to quit marking up the book and bending pages; but really, that's why I bought my very own copy, thank you! I smiled to myself near the end of the book when I read that John Adams used to do that to his books too.) I was moved by this book, literally to tears! I was so touched at it's conclusion that I called my brother after 11pm (his time) to tell him I had finished and to read to him one of the concluding paragraphs. The most amazing part, is that it is not a work of fiction; it all really happened and I am in awe. This book was magnificent and told of a magnificent man to whom we owe so much. I am now also a huge fan of his "dearest friend" and wife, Abigail Adams who was his strength and foundation. I can only hope to be a measure of the woman she was. I have such a yearning to take a trip back east and see many of the historical places that remain entact there; to see pieces of history. I have come to appreciate and understand so much more about our country than ever before. I recommend this book to everyone! Simply put, this is one of the very best books I have ever read, if not the very best!






Another of the books that made it's way to my night stand this summer was the book "The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Schaffer (the title is a bit of a mouthful). I took a hiatus from reading "John Adams" at the request and recommendation of my friend Jenn, so that I could read this delightful book prior to her visit in August. This book was a charming book to read and I found myself wanting to meet these charaters too. These figures however, are fictional (not that I could easily meet John Adams right now either, but maybe someday; and I can at least visit his home, etc). I give my recommendation for this book as well as a definate "good read" and "feel good" book. It was a little slow getting started as I tried to place all the characters because the book is written as a series of letters between a variety of different people. Once I got all the people organized, I quickly fell in love with this book and you will too.

I mentioned reading "John Adams" as being one of my goals for the year. I am pleased to report I've accomplished another goal as well. Many of you moms may recognize the term "mom brain" where you feel like your mind has gone to mush and wonder if you are still capable of any of the things you used to do like write a research paper, do long division (let alone trigonometry), or learn to play and memorize a new piano piece. The latter was another of my goals for the year. I wondered if I was even capable of memorizing a piano piece any more and I'm delighted and a little surprised to tell you I have succeeded; and it wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it might be. I guess in some ways, my earlier skills have only been laying dormant and have not been all-together lost. I memorized a short piece called "Solfeggio" and love to play it for the delight it gives me as I've discovered that "I" am still inside me somewhere. :) I can hardly wait until the next time I see my dad and I can sit and play it for him. He's always pushed us kids to be just a bit more than we wanted for ourselves, ever saying "play it just one more time." For some reason, I still feel the need to impress him most of all and just want to show him, I still have it in me. :)

Fun on "Great Day Live"

My friend invited us to come along and be the "audience" for a kids performing group called "The Jammies," who were set to perform on the local morning news show, "Great Day." We headed down to the news station early this morning and spent three hours in the studio performing off and on for numerous "tv teasers" and "tv spots" during the news. We had a really good time and the kids enjoyed the music quite a bit. Aubrey was a little tired of dancing around by the end but otherwise, it was good fun. Alexis was thrilled to tell her friends she was on TV! The segment I'm posting is the only one I could find online, although there were several. Copy the link below into your browser and then click on the link for "the jammies." Kind of fun to see the "behind the scenes" view of things. (What would have been really entertaining would be to have had a camera on all the parents trying to "control" the kids without speaking from ten feet away. That I would really get a good laugh at! There were a few "brawls" throughout the morning on camera, but hey, that's life, and that's kids!)

http://www.kmph.com/global/story.asp?s=11241945

Jog-a-thon

Alexis participated in her school's fundraiser called the "jog-a-thon." The kids run around the track and earn money for each lap they complete. Alexis ran 14 laps around the kindergarten size track! The kids were absolutely adorable to watch! Aubrey and Allie were excellent cheerleaders and we even went around for a lap ourselves. :)

Blue Ribbon Award

In Alexis' school, three different awards are given every month to students in the class excelling in some area. Alexis was the recipient of the "Blue Ribbon Award" for being "the best of the best" as her teacher put it. We are very proud of her -way to go Alexis! She was rewarded with a certificate and a voucher for a mini pizza at Me-N-Ed's, which she enjoyed with her daddy a couple nights ago.

a visit to San Diego

We ended September with a bang! On the last day of the month, Adam and I became an uncle and an aunt, respectively. Adam's brother Danny and his wife Heather welcomed baby Brayden Mark to their family and we couldn't be happier for them. Congratulations! When I told Alexis I would be an aunt and she a cousin, Aubrey piped in to ask, "what will I be?" :) We can't wait for our next visit with them to let the spoiling begin!

Prior to that exciting news, Adam had a work conference in San Diego this past weekend and as long as he was headed southward, we figured we should tag along. We had marvelous time! We went to a streetside art fair where we enjoyed watching sidewalk chalk artists and sand castle creators and many other types of artists as well. We enjoyed he La Jolla coast at sunset, which was absolutely charming. We also visited our favorite beach on Coronado Island. As you can see from the pictures, a walk along the beach is rarely ever just a "walk" along the beach. (The girls went swimming in their clothes and we all got covered, literally, in sand! Poor Aubrey couldn't keep her wet skirt up and everyone on the beach at some point or another became aware that she was wearing elmo undies.) While Adam was in his meeting I took the girls on a morning walk to see the boats and the sea lions and then we spent the rest of the day at the pool. It was SO great to go swimming again. My girls really love the water!

Soccer Season

Yesterday, I was grinning to myself while I washed the counters and Alexis was vaccuming the family room. I was thinking how great it is to have a slave, I mean helper, in training to do chores. (How great will it be when I have three little Cinderellas that can help tidy up as least as much as they mess up!) Just as the fantasy of kicking back while my kids clean up for me was beginning...I was abruptly woken from my daydream by the sound of the vaccum eating its own cord (luckily, it's nothing a little electrical tape can't fix)! Guess my celebrations were a little premature. :)

Other exciting events around here include the beginning of soccer season! Alexis is on a team with fellow Kindergarteners from her school and having a great time running around on the field in cleats and shin guards chasing kids for a chance to kick at the ball. (The ball, by the way, is more often "out of play" than in bounds.) She has been enjoying it so far and is gearing up for her first game next weekend!

Alexis also recently got to attend "Donuts with Dads" at her school. That was a fun special morning for just the two of them to visit over donuts and juice and choc. milk. It's so fun for me to remember the way I looked up to my dad as a little girl (and I still do) and how special he made me feel, and how sureal it is now to see Lexi looking up to Adam in that very same way.

Taking me back in time

This weekend was a "blast from the past." If ever we'd wanted to try and plan to recreate a weekend from our years of "younger love," this would have been it. It was not our anniversary or anything, it just happened this way and what fun. Adam got us tickets to go to a Good Charlotte concert, which was SO awesome! We had such a great time rockin' the night away. We used to love listening to that band back when we first started dating so it was a memory jerker just for that reason and was a ton of fun besides. Here are a couple fab. cell phone pics from the event:






Following our rock concert, we headed off to 7-11 for a slurpee. Another time warp! Adam used to take me out for Slurpees after putting practice at Mulligan's. We did this many, many times as dates. I use to wish he'd bet me a kiss for a good putt instead of a Slurpee some time...and eventually he did!

Last, but not least, there was Nutella! This was the ultimate flashback! I don't know why we hadn't thought to do it before, but we saw a jar of Nutella at the store and brought it home to make crepes, much like the ones we ate on our honeymoon 7 1/2 years ago! After just one bite, I closed my eyes and I was back in Paris, on the streets near Montmarte eating my crepe! What fun memories and a fun weekend remembering them.


Je t'aime mon amour!

A Princess in Training

Today, Alexis and I were looking through her book order form for school and I offered to buy her one book and told her she could buy any others she wanted with her own money. She "hum-hawed" about that for awhile (she really doesn't like spending her money) and eventually picked one out that looked fun but didn't cost too much. We got the money out of her bank and filled out the order form and I noticed Lexi playing around with her bank again. Amazingly, although we had taken out the only five dollar bill she had, there was another five dollar bill in her bank just a few minutes later. I asked her about it and she came up with some story about how she'd been keeping another five dollar bill somewhere else and now that she used the one in her bank, she was replacing it with this secret stash. I didn't get upset (viusally, anyway) right off the bat but keep up the questioning so that I didn't accuse her if she were really telling the truth. The further she got into her rather elaborate "story" the more suspicious I became until I eventally cracked the case and figured out what had happened. I was broken -hearted to discover that Alexis had stolen money from Aubrey's bank and then lied about it! My sweet little girl! You want SO much for them to make good choices and hope you are teaching them good things and then when they do something like this...well, it hurts. I can teach her how to read but how do I teach her to have a good heart? I left her alone for a few minutes to think and when I came back, she was on laying on my bed with tear streaked cheeks and sobbed, "I feel like Katie! She stole the Widow shoemaker's pie and lied about it like I did to Aubrey!" Katie is the main character in the wonderful book, "Daughter of A King" by Rachel Ann Nunes. If you don't have it, you should! We have read this book to Alexis dozens of times and we talk about it and use the principles in the story (which are those of the gospel) often as we talk about our choices and actions and how we want to act like princesses so we can return to the "Crystal Palace" one day. Although we talk about it regularly, we haven't read the book in a little while so I was surprised she thought of that incident in the story. I was glad Lexi reminded me of the story to help me decide what to do next with Alexis. (I wanted to be really mad at her and call her daddy at work to think up some great punishment!) I thought for a moment, "what did Katie's parents do in the story?" We had a good talk and took care of the necessary apologizes and moved on and I will keep up my hope that next time she gets a crazy idea to do something like that, instead she will think about it and choose not to do it in the first place!

My littlest girly girl

Allie is growing up fast! She nearly 17 months old and is leaving baby-hood behind and quickly entering toddler-hood...and causing a great deal of trouble along her way. She is into everything and climbs like crazy. My barstools can no longer be near the counter or table and since she is learning how to push the stools around, I can't leave ANYTHING on the counter either. My cupboards are always emptied out (the child locks keep breaking) and she has learned the "N" word ...NO! She does still have a very cute side and is learning a lot of fun things too. She loves to "sing" and "jibber jabber" and is actually learning quite a few words. She recently cut through seven new teeth all at once! She is very much into girly things. She loves purses and lipstick and especially painting her toe nails. In spite of the terrible twos on the horizon, she is still my little sweetheart!

Box Tops

Alexis is loving Kindergarten (she's a little tired after a couple weeks without a nap but is otherwise great). She has met several new friends and it is true that Kindergarten is a place to learn the rules of life as the poem says. Every day she comes home with some new "catch phrase" to remember a rule about this or that. She is also learning all sorts of cute little songs about colors, numbers and letters. Fridays at school are "cooking day" and that is high on Lexi's interest list; she's been counting down until Friday all week. Another thing that Lexi has been busy doing is scavanging through my cupboards looking for "box tops." She is collecting them for her school and would love help getting more. She would like to invite her grandmas and aunts and uncles and friends to clip any box tops they come across and send them her way. They can be found on hundreds of products including General Mills cereals, Ziploc bag boxes, Kleenex products, and many more. A complete list of participating products can be found at www.boxtops4education.com
Thanks in advance for your help!