Cake Auction

On Friday we had Blake's pack meeting for Cub Scouts and it was the annual cake auction. This is now our third year doing the cakes and it has been a lot of fun. Our first cake was a really cool pizza, last year's was a fish and this years was a very large king snake. The theme for this year was creatures big and small, so we chose to make a snake cake. The whole thing was pretty easy to make, just a little time consuming and required A LOT of frosting, but in the end it was worth it and sold for $25.00. Blake won a prize for the best creatures cake and also won for the parents choice. We had a lot of messy fun making the cake and can't wait for next years.

Family Time

This weekend we went camping at O'Neill Park located in Trabuco Canyon. This is our second time camping here this year. We really like this place! It is close to home, very beautiful and kid friendly. The kids love riding their bikes around the campsites, playing with the dirt, sticks, rocks and leaves, hiking around the hills and park, playing with fire (Blake's favorite) and playing on the playground equipment. We arrived Friday afternoon and went home Sunday morning. We came home just in time because by Sunday afternoon, Blake got the stomach flu and Lauren had a cough that got worse, ran fever on Monday and was put on antibiotics on Tuesday. Now everyone is feeling better and we are praying no one else gets sick for a long time.

It was overcast this morning but the drive in and out of the park is beautiful with the way the trees grow over the road.

Doing some exploring on the bikes.

Laurens legs would get tired from pedaling her tricycle so I found a blanket, twisted it up and pulled her behind my bike. (She is asking for a "big" bike from Santa this Christmas, then it should be a little easier.)

Walking around the river bed.

Roasting our hot dogs over the fire. Can't go camping without having hot dogs for one of our dinners. :)

Amanda loves her daddy!!

Trick or Treat!

The kids had a wonderful Halloween this year. They all had class parties, we visited the local pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins and went trick or treating, of course.The day before Halloween all the kids went to school and walked in their school parades and had classroom parties. I tried to be the "good mom" and be at everyone's party. Luckily it worked out where Blake and Amanda's parties were at different times and Lauren's was right after the big kids parade. I am also room mom for Amanda's class so I had to plan her party. I was sure glad when that day was over. Whew!

Lauren was brave enough to hold the chicken for the picture only.

The chicken boy!

I think Blake could have played with the chickens all day.

Amanda on the other hand wasn't too fond of them!

Amanda in her parade at school.

Blake was Anakin Skywalker, from Star Wars. The paint on his face is supposed to be a scar.

Lauren in her parade at preschool.

Tasting pumpkin pie, yummy!

Lauren playing trains at her school.

Amanda's class having fun with the dry ice.

Making pasta skeleton's.

Blake class making pumpkins out of tissue paper.

The kids getting ready to go trick or treating.

Lauren loves to be "mom" and push Jack every year in the stroller.

Blake pretending he is dying in the fog at the "spooky" house that all the kids loved. How come our kids love scary things so much?

Tennessee Cousins

Last week Bryan's brother Mike, his wife Shelly and 3 kids, Hailey, Micah and Maddie came to visit. They use to live in Riverside but 3 years ago they moved to Tennessee. Our kids love all their cousins but they really miss seeing their "big" cousins. Blake and Micah are 11 months apart and Amanda and Maddie are 3 months apart in age. When these kids get together they can really play! The dress up and make believe begin and they all have a ball. I just wish Tennessee was a little closer to California and of course we both have three kids so affording plane tickets for our families is outrageous!

It was so nice to see all of them again. While they were here they stayed at Shelly's parents house and had many visits with family and friends. We did get to go to Disneyland with them which was very fun as well as very crowded. We also went out to dinner to one of Mike's favorite restaurants and their kids spent the night at our house. I am so happy they got to come out and we got to visit with them and the kids could reconnect again. We miss them very much and can't wait to see them again!

The cousins at Disneyland

Blake and Micah

Mike, Blake, Micah, Hailey, Shelly and Sheryl (Shelly's mom)

Maddie and Amanda

Another group shot.

The kids playing cards.

Cute girls all snuggled down, ready for bed.

We walked to the donut store and then ate donuts at the park.

Micah and Hailey

Lauren took this picture.

Lauren and our cat Princess. She loves to carry her around.

Fun at Knott's

On Friday, the kids were out of school so we took them to Knott's Berry Farm. We all had a lot of fun! The month of September is a great month to go here, especially during the week. You know an amusement park isn't crowded when you don't have to wait in any line and you see the same people at least 7-10 times while walking around the park. The older kids went on the roller coasters over and over again as well as the Camp Snoopy rides with Lauren. It was a very hot day so we stayed cool by going on the Log ride a couple times, Perilous Plunge, and Bigfoot Rapids numerous times. We started out the morning by going to Mrs. Knott's Chicken dinner restaurant for breakfast and ended the day by going to Portillo's for dinner. Yummy!! By the way if you haven't tried Portillo's, it's a must! It is in Buena Park, by Knotts and is one of our favorite restaurants to go to. It is famous for their hot dogs but our favorite is the Italian Beef (dipped)! Even our kids love it. Here's some pictures of our day at Knott's Berry Farm.

Amanda the daredevil will always put her hands up, Blake is a little more cautious. :)

The girls driving the big rig.

Fun on the bus. Whee!

Crazy cars

Lauren thought this mini "tower of terror" was a crazy ride.

Bryan and the kids are in the last row of the Perilous Plunge.

Blake and Bryan

The girls riding in the Red Baron.

It's too bad Lauren didn't have any fun on this ride.

The hat dance (like the tea cups, but faster).

The past few weeks...

So much has happened since the last time I blogged. Where do I start? I will go back to the end of August. My kids started school on August 31st so we wanted to go one last place before school started. So the kids, my mom and I went up to Ventura to visit my aunt, uncle and cousins for a few days. We all had a great time! We went to the beach (which is very close to their house), to the club (where my aunt works) to go swimming and play racquetball, hung out around their house, went to the mall and just relaxed. The kids always love going to their house. They also have a built in fire area outside where we made smores at night. A fun time was had by all!

Aunt Sue-Sue and Amanda looking for sand crabs.

Blake having fun on the zip line.

Lauren and I swimming

Lauren loved to carry their dog Rambo around the house.

Amanda and cousin Kacy.

Uncle Scot flipping Blake in the pool.

The kids started school the end of August and they are happy with their teachers and glad to be back with all their friends. I'm glad they are back to a regular schedule everyday. Lauren has been going to the preschool with me and loves her teacher and always has a great time. In a couple weeks she will be also attending an ROP Preschool which is at Valencia High School, where both Blake and Amanda went for a year. This is a developmental school where working with the preschool kids is a class for the high school students. When I was in high school I took this class for 2 years and Bryan also took the class in summer school. I always wanted my kids to go there, even though I work at a preschool (which is free), I still wanted my kids to have the experience at this school. It is all hands on, messy, fun play that my kids have never forgotten and to this day it is still their favorite school.

The kids first day of school.

I found this great deal for the LA County Fair for Labor Day weekend. We took up the deal and decided to go on Labor Day. Deal #1- It was a $1 admission for all of us (Lauren was free). Regular price to get in for adults is $17 and kids are $12. Deal #2- From 1:00-6:00 all drinks were $1.00. Deal #3- From 4:00-6:00 all carnival rides were $1.00 Deal #4- From 4:00-6:00 some food items were $1.00. We brought our lunch so saved money there. We went to some cute shows, spent a lot of time in the farm area, walked around and explored the grounds. Let me tell you that this fair is HUGE! You can't just walk from one side to the next quickly. It takes a while, so planning where you want to go ahead of time is a must. The kids had a great time and Bryan and I were happy with all the money we saved at the end of the day. I hope they have this again next year because we are definitely going again!

Having fun on the rides

Blake had his birthday on Sept. 13th. He is now 9 years old! We had a little family party at my parents house. We usually take him somewhere "fun" for his birthday, so next Friday (which is a day off of school) we are taking him to Knotts Berry Farm.

Soccer and Baseball (Winter ball) has started for Blake. Last Saturday Blake had his first soccer game and he scored two goals! On Sunday afternoons he has his baseball games which isn't too competitive since it's not in the regular season. He still loves to play catcher and does so at every game so for Blake's birthday, my parents got him his own set of catcher's gear. Amanda didn't want to play sports and wanted to try piano lessons since a couple of her friends do it. We signed her up last week and she loves it so far.

A new soccer season...Go Hornets!

Blake and his new catcher gear.

This has been the excitement of the past few weeks plus a couple illnesses, one of which I still have (sore throat/cough) but other than that life goes on and hopefully I will get around to posting sooner next time.