I'm a cowboy!

Today was Jack's last day on the farm. Oh my goodness, we had so much fun. I'm so glad that we decided to do this because he has loved every minute of it. It was a little expensive but I felt it was worth it because he really participated and looked forward to doing this every Friday. Maybe we'll even sign him up again in a few months.
He got to interact/ feed/ brush a ton of different animals, do crafts, sing and dance, and go on a horse ride at the end of every class (which was totally his highlight of the day).
I just really loved doing this with him every week (and Matt got to take him by himself last week). It was a really good one on one thing to do with him and give him all of our attention.

Cisco the horse

The goat says "nah"

Brushing Ben the Goat

Jack tormented SO many chickens, roosters and ducks that wondered around the farm


I love my little guy!

Ice Skating

I haven't really signed Emily up for anything except ballet/ dance class at her school. I'm not quite sure that was really her thing so I decided to go for something else. I signed her up for ice skating classes at the Disney Ice Rink. It's really funny to all of my family that I picked this because Emily has the worst balance of any kid we know. She just does not know how to stand up straight. When she was really little we would complain how she falls on everything and wonder how you teach a kid to stand up straight and not fall. 3 years later we still complain about the same things! The girl trips on everything and falls in to everyone. I actually thought that ice skating might help her with her balance since you HAVE to balance well or you WILL fall and it WILL hurt.
So last week was her first lesson and she did surprisingly well. They learned how to scoot across on their little green chairs, fall gracefully, and skate across holding the back of the chair. It is a Parent and Child class so I'm out there with her, looking like a fool. She fell a bunch of times and laughed it off until that last fall. I think she hit her tailbone because that one hurt. But, she liked it a lot and is ready for her next lesson tomorrow. Poor girl woke up sick this morning. I'm hoping it's just a 24 hour bug and maybe she'll be okay to go (but probably not).




Falling gracefully

Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat, if you don't, I don't care, stinky feet let's go somewhere? huh?

I was saying this under my breath the other day when I realized that Emily was paying close attention to what I was saying. I thought to myself that I probably would rather her not go around and say this to everyone that she comes in contact with, so I never finished it. Well she most certainly picked it up and finished the last sentence with her own rhyme and this is what it came out as. It sort of all got messed up though when she said it to her 6 year old cousin who quickly corrected her with "I'll pull down your underwear." Emily looked at Amanda like, 'now that's not very nice.' I just love the innocence of a 4 year old.

Anyways, we had another great Halloween. I just love it now that the kids are getting older and really starting to get in to all of the holidays. Emily has been looking forward to it for over a month and asked me everyday.
So the day finally came and it was better than she had expected. We carved pumpkins together, had a big family dinner with everyone at my parents house, went trick or treating, and of course watched that absolutely terrible USC game.

Emily drew her own face and Matt and her cut it out. She did a very good job!

The final product

Jack and I playing with the pumpkin potato head pieces. Perfect idea for a 2 year old.


Angry Ariel

Of course, Jack was stuck to Papa's hip the whole night

The boys entertaining themselves


This was not his halloween costume but I thought I would throw it in here because he's such a cute cowboy. He really loves playing dress up (even sometimes with Emi's clothes. We'll leave those pictures out. hehe)

Pumpkin Patches and Halloween Party

A face only a mother could love....


I think that Halloween is officially Emily's favorite time of the year. She loves dressing up, going trick-or-treating, and all the fun halloween festivities. We went to a couple of fun pumpkin patches this year.
Here are some pics from the pumpkin patch by our house that we go to every year.






We also went to Tanaka Farms this year again. That pumpkin patch is so much fun. We went through the corn maze, picked lots of vegetables, did the petting zoo, etc. They have a ton of free things to do there so it's a fun, inexpensive place to go.

Wheelbarrow ride from dad

The ugliest pumpkin award goes to this one..

Jack found a shortcut out of the corn maze.

Green bean mustaches

Picking carrots

Green onions, yum!


Here are a couple of pictures from Emily's Halloween party at preschool this year. They start off with a parade around the playground and all the parents get to watch and then they have 2 full hours of games, projects, activities, and pure fun! Then they finish the day off with some yummy food and lots of junk. It makes me want to be a kid again.

FIGHT ON TROJANS!

I grew up with USC in my life. My grandpa and mom are very devoted fans. I mean they love USC football and they don't miss a game, like ever! USC is Matt's Alma mater and he loves football too. So it's kind of strange that I haven't been to a football game in 5 years. But my streak is over. We finally made a game 2 weeks ago and had the best time and they WON :-). My good friend Karyn has 6 season tickets so Matt and I and Stephanie and Casey all went. It was an all day affair. We left at noon and didn't get home until 10pm. Thank you to my dad and Stan and Ivy for taking the kids for a day so Matt and I could have a day to ourselves. It was great!!

Casey, Steph, me, Matt, Karyn, and Tim

My girlies!

Stephanie's friend Janine and her family have a big tailgate party in front of USC. Here are most of the gals.

Casey with his Victory sign upside down. Not a big USC Fan. Booo...

Can you see this guys hair? So cool.... at trojan head.

The very impressive Trojan marching band.

Had to go over and visit my mom and grandpa.

Aren't they so cute! I hope that my dad and I will be this close when we're their age.

VBS Party

Our VBS program at church was a success.The kids had a great time learning about the Fruits of the Spirit and did some pretty awesome projects and activities. A BIG, HUGE thank you to all of the teachers who took over the class so that us young moms could be a part of the much needed relationships class. I was so happy how everything turned out and we had a great turn out at the VBS program as well as the relationship class.
I had an end-of-VBS party at my house for the kids and teachers who participated in it. Some families couldn't make it for one reason or another but the rest of us had a great time hanging out together. Here are some pics.

10 Year reunion

I actually can't believe it's only been 10 years since I was in high school. It feels like it was a lifetime ago. Since going to my 10 year reunion, it has really made me stop and think about how much I've accomplished and been through in the last 10 years. I'm really happy with where I'm at in my own life and if anything, my reunion only made me realize even more, how happy I am and how blessed I have been.

Well, we had a great time at my 10 year. It really just felt like a date night out with some VERY old friends. Some have changed a lot, some NOT at all, I mean seriously NOT AT ALL. Our reunion was at 300, which is an upscale bowling alley in Anaheim Gardenwalk. It was a great place for a reunion. It was fun and gave us something to do other than chat. It was really nice to catch up with everyone and see what was going on in their lives today. We had only a small turnout (maybe around 60) but that was sort of okay because we got to catch up a little more.

Here are some pictures from the evening.
Stephanie and Annie

Two of my best girlfriends from HS and there dudes