November Flew By

We had another good Thanksgiving this year. The kids had their parties in their classes at school. Amanda's was a big feast where the food was made by the kids. They had vegetable stew, cornbread, pumpkin pudding, fruit and cheese. The kids were dressed as either pilgrims or Wampanoags (Indians). Amanda was a pilgrim. The whole thing was really cute. We went to my parents on Thanksgiving day where we ate a lot of yummy food with aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. We had a great time. November flew by really quickly and now it's time for the Christmas excitement to begin around our house. The kids are super excited and love all the family times and traditions we celebrate during this time of year.

Amanda at her "feast" in school.

Amanda and her best friend at school Amanda.

The two Amanda's are very close and they have total opposite personalities which I think is why they get along so well.

First marshmallow roasting and smores of the winter season.

This kids getting warm by the fire.

Today she's a cowboy.

Intense Game

Last Friday Blake had a cake auction for his cub scouts. We had to make a cake. Last year we made a really cool pizza cake in a pizza box and everything. This year I ran short of time and had to make something easy and quick, so we made a fish cake. It was a little on the "cute" side, but oh well, the boys didn't say anything and it was pretty popular. It sold for $40 which was the max to spend. We went home with a star wars cake for $25. The point of the cake auction is to raise money for the pack. These cakes were definitely not worth $40 but the boys had fun making them and decorating them.

Saturday and Sunday were city cup finals for soccer. Blake's team won the regular season and for city cup they came in second. The game on Sunday was very intense and we went into overtime. Those boys ran their butts off and they played an awesome game. The ref on the other hand was a piece of work. We think he was getting paid by the other team. :) For instance, we scored a goal, but then one of the coaches on the other team said that it was already halftime and the ref forgot to blow the whistle. How convenient! Another time was when the ball was by their goal and one boy on the other team kicked it to their own goalie. Against the rules! Does the ref call it, no. We would have gotten a goal kick 3 feet in front of the goal! Anyways, the game was fun, Blake was probably one of the few kids who wasn't crying when it was over. In January we play in the Commissioners Cup where we play other cities. There is also All Stars, maybe, and then baseball starts in February and the sports go on.

Blake and his fish cake

My little soccer stud

Amanda was chosen by her teacher to read a piece of writing she did for the Author's Tea. She was very nervous about doing it, but did a great job.

The kids love to dress up Lauren and today she was a fireman princess. She loves her big brother Blake!

Halloween Fun

These past couple days have been quite fun for the kids. On Thursday we went to the Orange Circle for Trick or Treating. There was a group of us from church who went. The kids had a lot of fun walking around the stores and getting candy. There were also other things there too. First, quite a lot of people and I mean a lot. They also had a stage where they were doing costume contests and a reenactment show of star wars. There were characters around in costume, games for the kids and lots of food and goodies being sold The kids enjoy all that stuff but what they look forward to is playing and running around in the middle of the circle on the grass with the Speer kids (playing Star Wars and Indiana Jones). My two girls were in there with the boys having a great time.

Friday consisted of school parties and trick or treating. Blake and Amanda both had a parade at school and then I helped in Amanda's class the rest of the time at her party. Bryan went with Blake and his class on a walking field trip down to a senior home to sing for the old folks. After, they went to Carl's Jr. for lunch and then walked back. Bryan got his warm up exercise for his hiking trip today. That evening we went to my parents for our annual pizza and trick or treating. Blake was Indiana Jones, Amanda and Lauren were both Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, Emily was a rock star and Jack was Mickey Mouse. The kids had a lot of fun and got too much candy.

We are now on a new day and Bryan is gone with Matt, Kody Marrs and Travis Walker for a hiking adventure. They won't be back until Sunday night. Hopefully they all make it up the mountain and back in one piece. That leaves me with another weekend of soccer and baseball games, computer work and supply shopping for the preschool and our eveyday routines with the kids.

Carson, Lauren and Logan at the Orange Circle

Some of the church kids.

Amanda and Bryan playing candy corn BINGO at school.

Lauren carving her pumpkin.

The finished products designed by themselves.

Getting ready to go trick or treating.

Lauren enjoyed pushing the stroller around the entire time.

Tanaka Farms

This weekend we went to Tanaka Farms in Irvine. We all had a blast! The kids got to pick vegetables (carrots, onion, radish and green beans), which was a first for all of them. They also played in the mazes, the wheelbarrows, huge pumpkin patch and the petting zoo. We also saw a cool pumpkin launcher, which we all enjoyed watching! Lauren has overcome another one of her fears... petting zoo animals. She is no longer afraid of sheep, goats and pigs. She pet them and followed them all around. We have two more fears to overcome- pony rides and Santa Claus. Anyways, Tanaka Farms is a fun place to take the kids. Different times during the year they also have strawberry and watermelon picking. We will definitely be back for the strawberry's. I am also missing Riley's Farm and want to go back and see some more. I am craving an apple dumpling with carmel on top. They looked so good there and the line was way to long to get it when we left. We just might have to make another trip back there soon.

This week is going to be another busy week. Today the kids were off of school and so we went to Disneyland. Despite the winds, junk in our eyes, and being crowded, we had a good time. We had to go take some more pictures with the characters for Lauren. We went on a couple rides ,then decided to head over to California Adventure (less crowds). We went on some rides there, ate tortillas and sourdough bread (only thing free at Disneyland), and saw a couple shows. One of the shows was the Bugs Life show. Lauren actually sat all by herself with her 3-D glasses on and watched the show without moving at all. That show is kind of scary. She didn't move when the stinger went in her back (which actually hurts), the water sprayed in her face or the bugs crawled under her bottom (it's really the seat moving in areas). When the show was over, Amanda said she started to cry when it got dark and the fog sprayed in her face, which I think she was kidding (I didn't see any signs of tears and she told me with a smile on her face) and Lauren said she liked it when the bugs crawled under her seat. Blake of course liked it too. I would not suggest that show for young children though. Most kids would cry, especially with the glasses on. The rest of the week consists of school conferences for both Blake and Amanda, a Cub Scout meeting, a Daisy Troop parent meeting (yea, finally), a research project study (yea, free money), a birthday party, work, practices and games. Yep, a busy week.

Blake's carrot. He's very proud of it!

We picked 3 little pumpkins.

Corn Maze

Petting the goats

Fun on the farm.

My Bible Class

I just got done teaching the 2 and 3 year old class at church. I have been teaching them for 6 months now. We have A LOT of kids in the class. This picture is most of them minus about 3. The class would range from 12- 16 kids on Sundays. All of the kids were so well behaved and a pleasure to teach. The first quarter I had about six new 2 year old's who had never been away from their parents before. So there were a few tears, but they got over it quickly and now come into class with a big smile on their face and are very confident. The kids are so well behaved, sit on the carpet nicely, treat each other nicely, say their memory verses, sing songs and are all around a good group of kids. I had a fun time teaching these guys. I will now have a break for a little bit and go into the adult class, but will be back in January for another round.

Trying to get 14 kids to all look at the camera and smile was a difficult task, but this was the best picture I could get. It's hard enough trying to get my three to all smile at the same time.

Big Girl Lauren!

Lauren finally decided she was ready to go and hug one of the Disneyland characters. Blake and Amanda were never scared the of characters and I could always get their pictures taken with them with no problem. They would even go off with them if I would let them, but Lauren, no way! She has had nothing to do with them until now. She convinced herself at home that she was going to go and give Minnie Mouse a big hug. So we went to Disneyland last night and when we came in guess who we saw right away...Minnie Mouse (dressed in her Halloween costume). Lauren was excited to see her, but I don't think she cared for her costume. I asked her if she wanted to go give her a hug and she said yes. I could see the nervousness in her face but she didn't back out, which is what she has always done in the past. When it was her turn she went up and gave Minnie a hug and she stood by her so I could get a picture. That was a big accomplishment for her. Of course we all made a big deal and she said she wanted to see Goofy next, but he was no where around. We went over to Woody's Roundup where there was a little singing show going on and Woody and Jessie were there. Lauren had no interest in seeing Woody, but decided after about 10 minutes and with Amanda's help that Jessie would be o.k. to see. She gave her an even bigger hug and sat for another picture. Hopefully our scare of characters is over and she can enjoy seeing them when we go to Disneyland.

Lauren is also fully potty trained! It has been about 2 weeks now and it was so easy to do. She was beyond ready. I just wasn't ready this summer to do it. But she got it in about 2 days and now she's a big 2 year old! Yea Lauren!

Riley's Farm

Well, we've been up to the same ol' stuff. School, practices, games, school, practices, games...you know that's all our life consists of at the time. We try to squeeze in some fun like having school friends over, going to Disneyland, going to Angel games and this Saturday we went to Riley's Farm in Oak Glen. That was a lot of fun. We went with my sister, Matt and the kids. The kids all had a great time! I have been hearing about this place a lot recently and decided to try it out. It's located in Yucaipa and you can pick apples, pears, raspberries, and pumpkins. We decided to stick with the apples this time. There are tons of apple trees with different types of apples and you pay for a bag and fill it up. There are also tours you can go on and other different things you can do, but we just walked around and picked apples. We went on a long hike through the hills looking for the green apples that Bryan wanted, but didn't have much luck in finding them. By that time it was starting to drizzle, Jack was shivering and everyone was starving. We will have to do it again next year, my kids liked it a lot! Other than that there has been nothing really exciting going on.

Blake is doing really well at soccer and baseball. He usually always scores at least one goal a game at soccer and I'm pretty sure they will be going to city cup finals. They haven't lost a game yet. In baseball he likes to play catcher and pitcher and does great at both. Today he played catcher and struck two kids out who were running home. The play looked just like the professionals. He's really enjoying his sports and they are lots of fun to watch. So, here are a few pictures of the last week or so.

Lauren has a lot of apples!

Blake and Amanda having fun!

All the kiddos under the apple tree.

Angel Game

The kids with friends from school (Amanda & Aaron).

LA Fair

Yesterday Blake's 2nd grade class went on a field trip to the LA County Fair and I got to go too. It was a lot of fun! We got to see a cow milking demonstration, pig races, lots of farm animals and a lot of other cool things. Luckily the area we were in didn't have any rides near it, since that's what he wanted to do the most. I told him maybe we'd go back next week before it's over. There is a lot to do and see there. So that was our fun adventure for the week. Last week was Blake's birthday and we had a little party for him with my family. The kids played games and had a good time! Lauren also decided last week that she was going to put lip stick under her eyes. She was awfully quiet and I asked her what she was doing and she said, "I'm making my eyes pretty." I knew she was into something. When I saw her I thought her eyes were bleeding at first then she showed me what she used. It was a lip stick/gloss from my purse. She actually did pretty well and didn't get any in her eyes. Oh well, it could have been a lot worse, like Becky's couch and carpet. :)

This cow loved him and kept licking his shirt .

Here's Blake practicing his roping skills.

Blake's 8th Birthday!



He still loves Star Wars!

Lauren was making her eyes pretty!

I found this picture of Rebecca Clark (from church)
with my girls in Lauren's bed. I told her I was

going to send this to her friends. She didn't think

that was so funny!

Legoland

Every year now we have been going somewhere "fun" for Blake's birthday. We used to have parties with friends when he was younger, but now that he is older he would much rather go to an amusement park or other exciting place for his birthday. This year we went to Legoland. He wanted it to be a surprise, but he let us know in advance that he really liked both Knotts and Legoland a lot. So the morning that we left, he had no idea where we were going and he was very surprised and happy when we got there. We spent all day there and the kids had a blast, especially in the water area.
The kids also started school last week. Blake is now in second grade and Amanda is in Kindergarten. They both really like there teachers and enjoy going to school (minus the homework for Blake). There is now only Lauren and I at home for a few hours, enjoying the peace and quiet. Yea!
Baseball and soccer have started up and our schedules are busy again. Blake practices on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and has soccer games on Saturday and baseball games on Sunday afternoons. We enjoy our busy schedule and we all love the sports. They are a lot of fun to watch! Hopefully someone will be starting a Daisy Troop in Amanda's Kindergarten class soon (not me). She would like to be in Girl Scouts and I think that she would have a lot of fun in it. Oh well, we shall see.

These were like big teacups.

Lauren had fun in the little kid area.

Crazy Amanda!

What a good driver.

Blake's favorite ride. It flipped you all around and upside down.

First Day of School.