Payton's Pow Wow

Payton's class has been doing a section on native American's.  Today they had a Pow Wow.  The kids were so cute!

Over the course of the section they made all the neat things they are wearing.  They sang songs, drummed on their drums, then hunted for a buffalo.  Payton was so funny.  I think she thought there was a real buffalo out in the field because she would not let go of her teacher's hand.

I am so glad I was able to go.

Uncle Anthony's Birthday

We invited Uncle Anthony over for his birthday and had a great time.  Chocolate cake and everything.  Yummy!  I love how Payton is looking up at her uncle in the first picture.  So cute!

 The fun really began when we pulled out the Settlers of Catan.  I forgot how much I love this game...especially when I win.  Haha!

Happy Birthday Anthony!

Apple Pie

At our last cooking group we learned how to make pie crusts and I made my first pie.  A Caramel Apple Pie.  So exciting!  Well, I got rave reviews from everyone at cooking group so I decided to make it again for the family.  Only this time I had help.  :o)

Lincoln and Payton both LOVE helping in the kitchen.  But for some reason Lincoln was all about helping today and was involved from start to finish.

The pie turned out delicious once again.  I just wish Lincoln would have had the courage to try it.  He doesn't know what he is missing.

 

 

Cowboy

Little Austin stole daddy's hat.  I couldn't help but take a picture of him running around.  He is so adorable.

Smoothies

We have been spoiled while here in Utah.  Preston makes the best smoothies ever.  So much better than Jamba Juice.  And I am not the only fan.  Haha!  I caught this little man taking smoothie cups out of the garbage looking for just a little bit more.

Payton and Baby William

Payton just loves babies and was so excited to meet her new cousin William.  So cute!

Halloween

Dave and I decided it would be fun to surprise Payton and fly her and Dave out to Utah so that she could spend Halloween with her cousins.

She wasn't as excited as we thought she would be.  When Dave showed up at the school to take her she started crying.  Initially I thought it was because she was going to be missing her class Halloween Party.  I felt so bad.  But after talking to her a little bit we discovered that she was only crying because she wanted to drive, not fly.  She was afraid of how fast the plane was going to go.  Haha!  Silly girl.

So here are kiddos at the beginning of trick or treating.  After hitting up Jen and Preston's neighborhood we headed off to our friends Debbie and Eric Aston's neighborhood.  We had lots of fun but ended up being out too late.  :o)

Guitar Lessons

The boys are so cute with little William.  Lincoln and Austin are so gentle with him, it is so sweet.

Lincoln has taken a liking to Preston's guitar.  And Preston was nice enough to let him hold it and try to play it.

Baby William

Finally got to meet Baby Will.  He is so cute and such a sweet little baby.  I am having so fun helping to take care of him and Jen and the boys are having so much fun playing with their cousins.

Flying to Utah

Heading out to Utah to meet Baby William and help out Auntie Jenny.

This was Lincoln's first ride on a plane.  I am so grateful it went well because I am a VERY nervous flier and I would have been panicking right along side him.  Haha!

Austin and Lincoln were so cute looking out the window at the plane.  Lincoln was so excited.

Bracelets and Cupcakes

Still soaking up Grandma time before she and Great Grandma fly to Colorado.

We decided today to make beaded bracelets for the cousins today.  Grandma Amma is going to see Caeden, Maddix, and Austin and then I will be heading out to Utah to see Ethan, Grace, and Baby William.  Thought we could send them a little something to let them know we are thinking about them.

The kids did a great job of finding all the letters for everyone's names and then were very thoughtful in picking out the colors for everyone's bracelets.  They turned out great!  We even got some help from Rumba.  Haha!

After making the bracelets, we decided to make Halloween Cupcakes.  Yummy!  Yes, they were from a box mix.  Yes, the frosting was from a can.  And yes, we did share with our friends.  :o)  I think they turned out super cute.  Love the little Frankenstein toppers.
 

Happy Hollow

My mother and grandmother are going out of town to babysit my sister's kiddos while she and her husband, Andy, go to Italy on vacation.  My mother is going to be gone for close to a month it seems so we are trying to get in as much grandma time as we can before she leaves.

Today we went to Happy Hollow.  This is such a great place to go.  I know we went here as kids but for the life of me I just can't remember coming.  I hope all of the kids remember all the fun times they had here. 

It seems every time we come we gravitate toward different areas, this time we spent quite a bit of time in the petting zoo area.  I love watched Austin with animals, he just loves them so much.  Today he almost had a goat poop and pee on him and then he almost stuck his whole hand up a cow's nose.  haha!

We also tried out the wall climbing area which is pretty cool.  I forgot how much strength it takes to hold yourself up onto a wall.  Yesh! 

And the Crooked House was also a point of interest for a while.

What an enjoyable day.

Pumpkin Carving

Today was the day we carved our pumpkins.  Payton and Lincoln definitely know how to work the system and have never ended up gutting the pumpkins themselves.  This year Papa Ralph and Uncle Steven got the honors.

They were really creative with their pumpkins, Payton created a princess pumpkin and Lincoln created an Incredible Hulk pumpkin.  So cute and so grateful for kid safe knives.  :o)

Family Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

I love going to the pumpkin patch with the kids.  They have so much fun.  This year we decided to go to one pretty close to our house that had a whole bunch of bouncy houses, at Lincoln's request.  It took them a little bit to warm up and actually try out one of the bouncy houses but once they did they were in and out of pretty much all of them.  There were lots of smiles and only one instant of tears.  They got stuck in the inflatable maze so Mommy had to come to the rescue.  Yes, I crawled in after my babies and helped them get out and then went in again for someone else's kiddos.  Haha!  I love it when I save the day.  :o)

When I first was looking through these pictures of the kids I was sad that I didn't get the perfect picture of them in the patch.  They aren't looking at the camera.  They are moving around.  Ahhh.  But now that I am looking at them again, I LOVE THEM.  Haha!  They are full of their personality and that is way better than the best posed picture, right?

Monster Shooters

Lincoln and I made monster shooters today.  So fun to watch him put together his monsters and then shoot them.

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip for Lincoln

Lincoln's preschool field trip to one of the local pumpkin patches was today.  I just love watching the kids run through pumpkin patches, trying to pick up pumpkins, running through mazes.  So cute!

It is so fun to watch Lincoln interacting with his classmates.  He is like an energizer bunny, so much energy.  I love his sweet smile.

Pipe Cleaner Spiders

Another Halloween craft.  :o)  This time making spiders out of pipe cleaners.  We did this activity last year and it was such a hit that we decided to do it again, this time with beads.

Spiderman Bed

I tried to surprise Lincoln with decorating his bed with spider webs.  He was really excited.  Here is the video of him seeing it for the first time.

Lunch with Daddy

We went to have lunch with Daddy and see where he works.

The kids had so much fun exploring.  They loved the water features in front of the building and measured how deep each on was on the way up to daddy's office.

The kids were able to meet several of the people that Dave works with and even got to see Uncle Rob. 

When we got to his office Dave let the kids use his dry erase markers to draw on the glass wall of his office.  They LOVED it and so did everyone that walked by.

Halloween Cookies

Ever since my friend Jessica taught me how to decorate sugar cookies this way I LOVE doing it.  It is super easy and they turn out super cute.

Recently I discovered that with just a little bit of supervision the kids can do it too and they love it.  Once they figured out how much frosting to put on without it spilling over it was great!  They are super creative too.  They especially liked using the sprinkles and even more the ones with spiders in the mix.

I love the colors they picked out too.

Santa Teresa Hike

After talking with a friend of mine at a play group about how she takes her son on short hikes I decide to give it a try.  Am I crazy?  Yes.  ;O)

Actually, it went really well.  Lincoln hiked about 2 miles with no complaining other than, "Mom, can you just pick Austin up?"  Evidently, Austin wasn't walking fast enough.  Austin, on the other hand, only complained when he was in the hiking backpack.  Haha! What are you going to do.

Lincoln is quite the rock collector.  All his pockets were full by the time we got back to the car. 

I would love to do this again and Lincoln even agreed that he thought it would be fun.  But next time I think it would be fun to go with someone else.  We had fun but I think the kids would have more fun with more kids to interact with.  Good times!

Sidewalk Chalk

Our front courtyard has become very colorful!  :o) 

The kids have again taken an interest in sidewalk chalk.  Granted everyone but Payton made me draw their ideas for them.  Haha!  It definitely put my artistic abilities to the test.  Draw Captain America?  OK?

Payton drew a My Little Pony and Ariel.  Lincoln was only interested in super heroes.  Austin just wanted me to draw something so he could scribble it in.  So fun!

Spider Art

Trying our hand at some Halloween crafts.  Painting a spider web on a piece of paper and then making a spider out of our hand prints.  It was a hit and I am happy to say that we didn't get paint on anything besides out hands and the paper.  Yesss!

Fund Run

Today was the fund run at Almaden Country School.  Amma, Papa Don, and Grandma Vella all came up to watch Payton participate.  What a cheering section!

Payton did such a great job.  She ran/walked for 30 minutes with her Big Buddy, Cameron, cheering her on.  Last year she ran 19 laps and this year she ran 27!  Great job Payton we love you and are so proud of you.

Crazy Sock Day

Crazy socks indeed.  Haha!

 

Crazy Hair Day

Today was Crazy Hair Day at Almaden Country School and Payton rocked the fauxhawk.  I think the only thing that would have made it better would have been adding a little color.  ;O)

Adorable!

Birthday Shooting

This year Steven and I did a little joint birthday celebrating and went to Sporting Clays. 

I haven't shot my gun since I was pregnant with Payton.  Needless to say I was a little rusty. ;O)

Good times!  Happy Birthday to Steven and to me!

Pipe Cleaners Animals

Another Pinterest find and attempt at an activity with the kids.  Pipe cleaner animals!

Sounds like fun, right?  Haha!  I couldn't find decent instructions anywhere so I was kind of making it up as I went along.  Those poor lions had the hardest time standing up.  Oh well, it gave them personality.  Just like Lincoln.  :O)  Love his face in these pictures.

Bows and arrows and a mohawk.

I get a lot of comments on Payton's hair and all the different things that we do with it.  I think Lincoln was feeling a little left out.  He asked for a Mohawk today.  Haha!  So cute!

 

 



 

I saw an idea on Pinterest to make bows and arrows out of popsicle sticks and Q-tips.  It was a success the kids had so much fun decorating their bows.  AND the bows shot the Q-tip arrows across the room!  Yikes!

 

Daddy came home early!

Dave was scheduled to be home from China on Friday.

So imagine what goes through my mind when I pull up to the house from picking up Payton from school to find the garage door wide open.  I think to myself, "What?  I know I closed the door AND alarmed the house."  Then I hear the kids start screaming, "Daddy, Daddy is home!"

To be honest I almost started bawling right there in the car.  We were doing fine while he was in China but oh, what a relief to have him back home.  I felt like I could breathe again.

He did not come home empty handed.  He brought each of the kids an outfit, a puzzle, and all sorts of treats.

Welcome home Daddy!

A New Toy

We had a little incident the other day where I found Austin squatting on the kids table.  Yes, I did pause to take a picture before getting him down.  Haha!  This little adventurous boy is really into climbing, it drives me crazy.  When Lincoln was little and started the climbing phase we borrowed a little climbing slide thing from my friend Aimee.  So I gave Aimee a call to see if we could borrow it again.  She said yes.  Yay!

He loves it!  And so does Lincoln.  And so does Payton.  I hope they don't break it or break themselves on it.

A new session started today at the dance studio.  Payton and her friend Sadie decided they wanted to give Hip Hop a try.  It was SO cute watching them.  Watching them try and do what the teacher was doing was hilarious.  Click here to watch a video of her doing a hip hop walk.

Sleep Over

Dave went to China for work and while he was away the kids kept asking if they could sleep in the bed with me.  I remember when my sister and I were younger we always wanted to sleep in our parent's bed when my dad was out of town.

I promised them that we could do a sleepover on Friday and they looked forward to it all week.  We even watched a movie in bed.  It was fun but I don't think I would have them both sleep in the bed at the same time again.  They are the craziest sleepers ever.  At one point Lincoln's head and torso were on Dave's nightstand and only his legs were on the bed.  How does one sleep like that?  Then there was Payton,  that child was sleeping sideways in the bed.  I am so tired.  ;O)

Payton's First Day of Kindergarten

Ahhh!!!  My baby is in kindergarten.  Isn't she adorable?

We got to stay for the first couple minutes of class.  She was so excited and I am so happy about that.  She showed Lincoln around her classroom, we got to watch them go to opening circle, and then they did a small activity so the kindergarteners could say goodbye to their parents.

She had a great day and LOVES her teacher.

Lincoln's 1st Day of Busy Bee's and Payton's Lemonade Party

I can't believe Lincoln is starting Pre-School.  When did he get so big?  Payton was so excited to take Lincoln in and introduce him to his teachers and take pictures of the whole thing.  He did great!

 

 

After we dropped Lincoln off, we headed over for Payton's Lemonade Party at her school.  It was her opportunity to meet her teacher, explore her classroom, and possibly meet some of her classmates.

 

She was so excited and nervous at the same time.  It was so cute!  Her Teacher, Mrs. DeRienzo, had all the kids complete a worksheet that instructed them to go to different areas of the room and answer questions.  She seems really great.

 

Can't wait for her first day tomorrow!

Robots

Dave bought a little solar kit that you could use to build a whole bunch of different things like a dog, boat, and robot.  I think they built everything the kit would make in the first day.  They even filled one of the kiddie swimming pools to try out the boat.  So fun!

Matress falls on Austin

Yep, it was just as horrible as it sounds.  Dave and I bought a new mattress this morning which was delivered tonight.  Dave was trying to be helpful and brought our old mattress out to the kitchen and leaned it against the wall so that it would be right there when the delivery guys came.  Well, Lincoln and Austin were playing and Lincoln accidentally knocked the mattress over and unfortunately it landed on poor little Austin.  I was at the sink when it happened.  I heard the mattress fall and turned around to see two little feet sticking out from under the mattress.

So grateful he was not seriously hurt, just a bloody nose and a fat lip.

Gilroy Gardens

The kids were invited to a birthday party this evening in Gilroy.  We decided to head over to Gilroy Gardens for a little while before heading offer to the party.  This park is so awesome, it has something for each of the kids.  Plus there is lots of shade on those hot days plus these splash pads make being outside bearable.

Love the picture of little Austin in the splash pad.  He is so cute!

Somehow I didn't get any good pictures of Lincoln.  He spilt off to go with Daddy while I watched Austin at the splash pad and then spilt again when they got to pick their last ride.  But if you look carefully he is in the background of the bottom picture in the above collage.  He is wearing a blue rash guard.  :o)