Halloween

Halloween in review. So, apparently Halloween is the best holiday ever invented. It actually took her a little while to decide that she wanted to go out trick-or-treating because it was just too much fun having all these kids show up to the door in costume. Handing out candy was a highlight for this kid. We eventually talked her into going around to see the neighbors, and once we were ready to go I noticed it was a little too quiet and Maddie was out of sight. I hunted down Maddie in the bathroom in my makeup bag. She was dressed in her Cinderella outfit ready to go, but dumped my brown loose blush powder all down the front of her costume. Cinderella magically turned into Tinker Bell in a matter of seconds.


She loved this job of passing out the goods. When it was time to go, I filled a small bowl with candy and left it on the porch. What do you think happened to the small bowl of candy when we returned???


I didn't get one shot of the Cinderella costume. It was so cute! But now it's off to the cleaners. Time for a reenactment.


It was just our little family out by ourselves this year. I think Annaliese would have enjoyed going with some other kids, we didn't even think to make plans for that this year. Definitely next year.
Which is why she probably got more spooked at houses, she was going up by herself. One house she flat refused to go up to (which isn't like her because she LOVES the Spirit superstore and all the scary Halloween decorations in the stores.) Finally the lady on the porch of the scary house walked all the way out to the curb where Annaliese wouldn't budge from. Annaliese got curbside service. Only when you're 4 and cute. I finally asked her why she wouldn't go up to that house when she loved the Spirit store. She pointed to she scary Halloween figures out front and said, "They don't sell those at Spirit."
We only did four courts and headed back home so we could drive to John Madden's house and get a couple giant Hershey bars. I was also curious about the candy on our front porch. Any guesses? Well the candy was STILL there. Still candy left in the small bowl. Such honest and polite children.
So then we loaded up the kids into the car and headed to the Madden's. Cliff and Joan, (Madden employee's who work with Jonathan) and their grown up kids pass out the Hershey bars every year. They did the Mad Hatter theme this year and it was really fantastic. Annaliese even talked about it the next day. It was fun!


Going back in time now to Saturday.... This was Annaliese getting ready to head to the trunk-r-treat at the church. This is costume number 3 for Annaliese this Halloween. The snow princess. I did a last minute Alice costume because my Witch costume was not very flattering. But then again...neither was the Alice costume. I'll put more thought into a costume next year. Making lots of plans for next year. (I'm going to forget all this by tomorrow.)


Ben and Siri came out with the boys. Annaliese loves them and had so much fun going from car to car trick-r-treating with them. There were at least 50 or 60 cars that participated. Four rows in the parking lot. We didn't even get to them all. Some people got really elaborate with their decor. One person decorated a horse trailer and made it spooky as you went in to get candy. Annaliese went in a couple times.
Great holiday! Lots of fun. I only wish I bought candy that I don't like. We have a huge bowl leftover, and it's of the good stuff. Mental note: Next year buy nasty candy.

The Pumpkin Patch

Those pumpkins in the background totally look cloned, but they're not. There were a gazillion little tiny kid sized pumpkins at this pumpkin farm. I think they're specifically for all the field trip kids. Annaliese was not really into looking at the pumpkins, but more into checking out the farm in general. She was interested long enough for me to get a photo that looks like she's interested. She really couldn't care less about picking one out. She basically walked a few feet picked up a pumpkin, then put it down, to walk a few more feet and pick up a different pumpkin.. only to repeat the process about 10 more times. The she realized, "Who cares! Let's get shaved ice."


Not really making any kind of decision.


And this one cared even less than the other one.


This would be the highlight for me, and I'm dragging the kids back again next week, just so I can get me another shaved ice.


They could have hung out with the goats all day. You can pay money to feed the sheep OR when you run out of quarters you can do as Annaliese and pick up all the spilled food under the "goat feed" machines and at the base of the fences and feed them with that. Liked the goats, the sheep were too pushy.


Never let the happy pictures fool you. This is generally how our family activities go. Annaliese set this one up. She forced Maddie to be a member of the Sunny Bunch and Maddie felt this was beneath her.


None of us had ever done a corn maze before so we thought we'd give it a whirl. My friend has done these and you can spend hours in there.....


We let Annaliese lead...


...and somehow made it out in 9 minutes. (I'm not questioning her methods.)


Annaliese is team Jacob. Who knew? I would have said Edward all the way.


And this.... This is the great shot of the girls Jonathan gets to load into his iphone....


And this is the lovely shot of me and the girls I get to complain about on the internet.

Am I the only one that plans out the outfits in my head before we go on a family outing where photos will be taken? The thought process for this trip was, "The pumpkins are orange, I need a color to pop them out...hmm..blue. But then I need a color to pop against a dark background color if they're by a barn...pink skirts? And what can I wear to blend with them in case I get a cute shot with them that I'll want to frame." (hahaha fat chance of that. Always dreaming.)

Monkey Business

The girls spent the night and sleeping arrangements became a lot like that brain teaser where you have to get a wolf and a goat and a cabbage across the river, but you can only take one at a time. If you leave the wolf with the goat, it will eat the goat. If you leave the goat with the cabbage, it will eat the cabbage. So how do you get them all across the river on this wolf, goat, cabbage journey that you're on?

That was exactly like bedtime. This was my brain teaser tonight.
You have a set of bunk beds, three cousins and a stuffed monkey, no more than two kids (and one monkey) can sleep in each bed.
Elyse will only sleep with her monkey and Faith.
Faith would like to sleep alone, but will sleep with Elyse.
Annaliese wants to sleep with Elyse's Monkey and Faith.

It was a little nutty. Tears over the monkey. LOT'S of tears over Elyse's Monkey. But I had to tell Annaliese, that everybody knows that a smart monkey doesn't monkey with another monkey's monkey. So she gave it back, climbed out of bed, opened a toy box and low and behold pulled out her own monkey. So young and learning valuable life lessons.

(By the way Elyse was REALLY impressed with how well Annaliese could read. She could hear her from the top bunk.)

August in a nutshell

My computer is toast. Total bummer, but I have been more productive at home. I do have a phone that gets me online enough, so I can't complain. Today I'm using Jonathan's work computer to do a little update, but time is limited so I have to hustle here. Let's see if this post will even happen.
In a nutshell: Surviving summer.

Nommy is retired! She will now be featured in park photos on a regular basis!!


Never had a baby so into her Papa. When she see's Papa coming she RUNS to him saying, "Papa, Papa, Papa, Papa!!!" Cutest thing ever!!


Princess at the Street fair. The skirt was a little big. She coin slotted the crowd, until a nice lady helped her out.


I have to hand the camera to Jonathan to ensure that there are photos of me for posterity. In fact I informed him that his new year's resolution for 2010 was to take more photos of his wife and children. In the future I will do the settings for him. When I hand him the camera, he doesn't check he just pushes the button. It worked out this time though. I like the Motion Blur. It works.


We're dancing in the middle of main street to a latin band. Fun night.


Happened to get this sweet shot of Jonathan and Maddie so.....


...where there is a cute shot of one kid, I gotta try to get one of the other.


Begonia. Just had to prove that she exists. (My Spanish-English friend. From Spain and England. So my Spainglish friend.) She is very sweet. Our kids do play dates often.


We didn't do a lot of splash park days this summer because of Annaliese's hurt foot, but we tried to do some. Maddie is just warming up here, taking it all in.


Annaliese was actually teaching this little girl how to read! She is amazing!!! Especially not knowing how to read herself. But the little girl repeated every word that came out of Annaliese's mouth. Scammer.


Maddie's favorite little spot is in the fridge of her tiny kitchen.


We visited San Juan Bastista Mission avoiding traffic on the way home from Monterey. More of those later.


Maddie loading up. That's not meant to have a double meaning there.

a lot of nothingness and behindness

For today:
Three things I know for certain.
1. I'm a little too enthusiastic about garage sales, but you knew that already.
2. My computer is dying a slow death. (Just crash already and get it over with! Enough of this sputtering and wheezing and freezing and unexpectedly quitting. I get it!)
3. Since my computer has taken some time off, my parenting skills and involvement have grown exponentially. My computer is trying to tell me something and I hate it when my computer is right.

Tradition

Every year since Jonathan was in high school, he has gone to Hana Japan with his family on his Birthday. So in keeping up this tradition, here we are. This is the highlight of course, the flaming onion valcano. Always a crowd pleaser.



Where there is smoke...there WAS fire. I don't know about you, but I love me those Hana Japan shrimp. It's all about the slathered butter baby.
Check out Maddie behind the smoke. My one year old is using chopsticks. Yes, very advanced for her age. Actually she was using them as a spear. Whatever method is the most efficient to get those shrimp in your mouth.


Annaliese protecting her right eye from a tiny rainstorm that's blowin' in from the north.


Where there is a cute shot of one kid, the photo of the other kid isn't far behind. Here is Maddie on the porch blowing bubbles with Thomas.


WHITE FAMILY REUINION! Table for 6 please! Here it is the whole family!! Mr. Only child. I love giving Jonathan a hard time about that. When we were dating I was asking him about his family and the holidays.
He said to me, "I really love Christmas."
I said, "Of course you do, you're an only child. On Christmas morning, you come down the stairs, look at all the gifts and say, 'Which one's are for me? Oh wait, They're ALL for me!!'"
So anyway...back to this picture.. We got together for 4th of July at Nommy and Papa's in Castro Valley. Gotta say, I love the weather there. It's nice and cool ALL THE TIME! I love when the fog rolls in at night. It's my kind of weather. So after a little 4th of July BBQ we headed over to meet the rest of the fam for some fireworks.


I didn't get one shot of all the cousins. They were all together plus a few extra. But hey, it's a shot of me and Elyse! Love my Jack Skellington themed clothing. Very Patriotic.


While we waited for it to get dark, we munched on treats and got our Twilight fix.
Still need to go see Eclipse again. Putting it on the calendar.
Yay me..1st week in July...semi caught up.

Style

We have ventured into the stage where she wants to pick out her own clothes and dress herself. She did just that, she picked it all out and put it all on herself.


Annaliese has her own little style. She knows what she wants to wear, and it doesn't matter if it goes or not, she will tie it all in with accessories.


Totally wouldn't have worked without the glasses and Minnie ears. These were her poses by the way. The kid only poses when she thinks she looks adorable.

Father's Day in photos

This is Jonathan and Annaliese on Sunday morning. It was Father's Day and Jonathan was playing the cello that morning in Castro Valley at his parent's church. I stayed home with Madleyn so she could get her morning nap. When they got home I went to the first part of our church solo. And oh my goodness, church is a completely different experience without a 1 and 3 year old. I love them, but it's nice to have a day off from wrangling. They came later for Sunday School. Again, Annaliese cried for scriptures. I just happend to see Jonathan booking it down the hall towards the library for the mini. Luckily it was there, and she was a happy girl.


Annaliese working on her Father's Day card.


So proud of her artwork.


Her pictures kill me. They have so much personality. Although she's evolved again where she did about 8 pictures in a row and every single one was exactly the same picture. I'm kind of bummed. I liked the Tim Burton crazy drawings so much. But these twin drawings are still fun.


Daddy and his girls.


Started to stop Papa from doing this because I didn't think Madelyn liked this kind of thing, but I was wrong. Just mama that doesn't like it.

Brain misfunction

Yesterday we went to a good-bye party for Joshua at the Val Vista Park. Since our buddies are down to their last 5 days or so, unfortunately. But the kids had a great time playing together, that is, until the incident. Yes, we had an incident, and when I say we, I mean Annaliese. I didn't see exactly what happened before said incident. But what I did see was a gleeful Annaliese coming off the slide and intently pushing the little girl in front of her. The little girl ran to her mom crying, so I had to march Annaliese over to the mom and tell her what I saw and then force the ever so unfelt apology out of Annaliese's mouth. Since she wasn't acting very remorseful, I wasn't going to let her stay at the park. So I had her loaded in the car and I was so frustrated I just asked, "What made you decide to push that little girl?" She pondered for a second and then replied, "my brain...got bad." Between that incident and this morning something must have clicked because in her morning prayer she said, "Help that my brain will get nice and better."


This was the coolest. Annaliese came across this little squirrel and decided she wanted to see it up close. I thought he was going to immediately dart up a tree and be gone, but I swear this little guy was playing with her. At first it ran around the playground equipment. It even stopped and waited for what looked like, her to notice him again. Once she spotted him, he ran around again, then onto the sidewalk. Then over by the trees where he jumped on the tree and ran 4 or 5 circles on the trunk while she was running circles around the trunk. I have about 8 pictures of what I swear was them playing. I do remember when I visited Vancouver, there were black squirrels that would come right up to you, so maybe they can get used to people. Who knows? He probably was entertaining for her goldfish.


I've really got to keep a close eye on this one. She knows where she wants to go and she's fast. I'm going to lose my mind chasing these two. Speaking of losing my mind, I think I did last night. (Jonathan didn't get home until late, so it was just me wrangling the kids and it was a little chaotic.) I put her to bed last night and she woke up in the middle of the night, so I went in to check it out. When I reached to pick her up, I noticed her pajama bottoms were wet, then I noticed her shirt was wet. I thought, "oh her diaper must have slipped to the side." I felt around for it and felt no diaper. REALLY?? Then it hit me. I totally forgot to put a diaper on the baby last night! How do you forget to put a diaper on your baby?? But I did. And she peed everywhere. Maybe it's time to pray for my brain to get better.


Last playdate with Joshua until Disneyland in September!! We will miss them! But now the countdown for Disney is on!