girl scouts at their annual Halloween party.

Gracie is in her 4th year of girl scouts. She is 2nd year Brownie and next year she will become a Junior, where she will switch from brown color uniform to green. I remember this when I was her age, although some things have changed: i.e: smaller amount of years per each group. Daisies are now Kinder and 1st, Brownies are 2nd and 3rd grade, Juniors are 4th and 5th- It is going too fast.

Gracie and her buddy, Payton.

cole and school.

Cole likes school, although he acts shy when asked about it and/or going to and from school. I haven't figured out why though. He feels proud of himself when he does speak about it. He smiles and beams and boasts. AND DOESN'T SAY MUCH...hmmmm. No details, no stories, no nothing. "Come on Cole. I'm your mom, I want to know what you did today, what you learned, who you played with, what your teacher said." He just stares at me and shrugs his shoulders. I guess that's the boy in him. I am so not used to this- I am used to Gracie jabbering away when I pick her up and at the dinner table about what went on at school. And then I get Cole's answer, "Hmm, I don't remember."

Too funny and too typical. I love my boy!

Annual trip to Bates Nut Farm.

We love going to Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center. We go here every year, in fact I remember taking Gracie when she was 2 months old. The kids look forward to wandering through the patch and finding "just the right" pumpkin. They love going through the corn maze and riding on the tractor ride. It's pure delight for them. There is only one thing I wish I could change- THE WEATHER. It doesn't "feel" right to this Northern California girl to be wandering through patches and taking in all the fall colors with 90+ degree weather! That is just UN-normal! I should NOT be wearing a tank top and shorts and even a few weeks later on Halloween definitely SHOULD not be wearing a tank top. (YES, true story!) I will never adjust to this non-seasonal weather down here. You will never be able to get the Northern California roots OUT -of-the-Girl!!

I am so impressed.

Gracie has been an artist at heart since I gave her paper and crayons at age 2. She has always preferred to draw out her drawings instead of color in color books. In fact, if you gave her a color book it often would be found sitting in the corner of her room, with pages unfilled with color. It took awhile for us to realize this. But today, it is clear in all that she creates. She has some amazing drawings, sketches and story books completed. She really desires to be an artist. Robert has collected some of the books she has written so he can get them published. Every year since Kindergarten she is recognized in her class for her artistic ability. She clearly gets this from her father's side because it doesn't come from me. I was the child that loved to color- in fact I really was an expert color-er (if that's a word.) I loved filling up the pages with all of the lovely colors. But Gracie, she has been gifted with the ability to create, imagine, draw and bring her imagination to life right on paper. Lucky her.


For the fundraiser at her school, Robert played guitar at a restaurant and Gracie took it upon herself to make the poster to hang up in the entry as you came into the restaurant. She was so proud of her dad. It was amazing! Then after the event the school hung it up in their front office for weeks after. It was the first thing you saw as you entered. We are very proud of her.

Kickoff to Halloween!

Every October we begin our kickoff to Halloween, but really it officially begins the kickoff to all of the holidays, by going to Disneyland. We love how festive it gets and how excited the kids are for everything to come. We love to make it a family day and escape. This day we spent some time over at Disney's California Adventure. Here are some fun pics from our day.

Trina's playing soccer!!

Yes, I finally did it- I took up an activity for myself. It has been so fun. Here are some pics of my 1st and 2nd game. It is a co-ed team, we are trying to rally enough ladies so that we can have our own. I'm finding that a lot of women don't want to take the leap. They think they have to have experience and are afraid of the guys. I have learned, you just have to ignore the guys. They are filled with testosterone and the competitive nature in them just doesn't go away!












This is SO fun! I am so happy- I feel so great after my games. Energized and light! Love this and I am trying to recruit my friends to play! My family are great support- they love to come watch and root me on! So cute.
Below is what the kids like to do during the games- there is a pond right next to the field.

Disneyland

Ever since we have lived in Temecula (10 yrs. this year!), we have for most of the time, had annual passes to Disneyland. This has saved us so much money! So we usually go on spur of the moments and enjoy ourselves for a partial day. Here are some fun times that we had in September there.






Here are the bean bags the kids got for their birthdays. Robert is jealous now because theirs are so big compared to his. Cole also got a basket ball hoop. They were so happy!