I Don't Mean to Brag, but...

I have this really amazing friend who throws the best parties ever! Her daughter turned 10 and my twins got to celebrate in style...
Here's the invite...

They got custom t-shirts...

Awesome take-home goodies...

A beautiful cake...

All designed by my friend Britt.
AND, get ready for it...
They got to go to San Francisco on a photo scavenger hunt!!

Um, crazy...cool...and completely "off the hook"! (Notice the birthday girl right up front! D'ya think she's enjoying herself?! I love our cousin Mason's face on the right too. Awesome!)
First, they got to ride the BART train in!
Apparently my Jake (with the red sleeves) could not stop talking about the views from his window pointing out every fast food place along the way. Hannah (in the back with the pink puff vest and glasses) was along for the ride.

Then they walked around the city collecting photos of things on the list... (I was told they found everything except Hello Kitty paraphernalia, which they later spotted on the train home.)

Making words with their bodies..."Hi !"

And "Funny"

Photographing landmarks...

Dancing with their shadows...


Stopping at Blondie's Pizza for lunch...

Hitting the slides...

Hanging out...

The ride home... (I love Clay's yawn! That's gotta sum it up!)

A-ma-a-zing! Did I mention she does photography too? Check her out here!
Thanks Britt for giving my kids an adventure they'll never forget. Thanks Maren for turning 10!

And So It Begins...

Forest Home Farms

Field Trip.
The twins are learning about the history and geography of the San Ramon Valley this year. They were able to tour an old farm and homestead and I got to drive them. We even got all dolled up in farm clothes for the occasion!

The best was the excitement and anticipation as they waited in line that morning at school. Everyone dressed up and chatting and ready to go. There was a buzz in the air!



We got to the farm and separated into small groups and this was our tour guide...

I couldn't help but notice his tag...

We visited the grand old house...

the farm, the meat house, the out house, the granary, the barn full of tractors and old trucks, the garden full of ripe vegetables that they got to eat, the chicken coop, the beehives, everything...




They grew attached to the chickens...




They got to squeeze fresh orange juice and darn socks...

They got to shell walnuts, grind wheat, and drill holes using an old drill...


They got to learn about gardening and smell different herbs and try different vegetables and eat sunflower seeds right off the sunflower. They got to shovel compost and dig for worms...

They got to pump water and learn about irrigation and recycling and saving water...

They also learned how to make jams and jellies and preserves and marmalade and design their own jars.

It was such a great day and I was so glad to be a part of it!


It was so great for the kids to learn about how people used to live and how hard they worked each day for their livelihood. They had to milk the cows for milk each day and churn the butter and bake their own bread and pluck their own chickens and skin their meats and grow their own vegetables and craziest of all...pee in a bowl in the middle of the night..that they then had to clean out each morning! The kids were fascinated and dumbfounded and most of all...thankful!

End of the Year Soccer Parties

I didn't take very many pictures of them playing this year. Isn't that terrible? With 3 kids playing on 3 different teams, John and I had to divide and conquer a lot! I didn't always have my camera with me. I did take pics of the parties and awards though!
Hannah was an Earthquake this year and her team was awesome and nearly undefeated! We had the #1 scorer for the whole age group on our team. Hannah never actually scored (bummer. so close!) but she assisted several exciting shots to Miss #1 who then kicked it in and was a great little midfielder getting the ball down the field! We love her coaches and she has been on this team for a couple of years and improves so much each year.






Love this shot below. Another mom took it and totally chopped John's head off, but it's the only family pic we got!

Jake's party was a quick one. We couldn't stay as long because we had some other commitments so I didn't get a team pic. He was a Leopard and also had a great team and some great coaches and has improved so much this year. The funniest moment for him this season was when I was yelling from the sidelines (I guess I tend to get a little excited) and said ,"Jake that's your ball, Get the ball!!" as he was running towards it. I must not have been to one of his games in a while (again, divide and conquer) because he stopped mid run, put his hands up in frustration and yelled back at me, "I AM!!" Towards the end of the season they realized that mom wasn't yelling at them, she was yelling for them! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE watching soccer.





Gotta love soccer! (Alex's last game and party is this Saturday)
P.S. Did you see the sketchy (downright evil) moves against BYU women's soccer by a certain New Mexico player? Cra-zy!

Now That's Determination...

(The Halloween candy is stored in that cupboard.)
I heard some bustling and came to find this. The little chair on top came from upstairs! Did I mention we have very steep stairs and that chair is sturdy wood?
And then this...

(That is a not-so-sturdy non-cemented tether ball pole. Hmmm?)

Sometimes the sheer determination and resiliency of these little pipsqueaks leaves me dumbfounded and befuddled (and amused) and all I can do is grab my camera...regardless of the dire safety aberrations. What kind of a mother am I?

Ice Skating

Um, first time for my kids ever.
First time for me since childhood (okay maybe a date or two in college)...

Another perk of our new orthodontist is a lot of fun parties and Hannah did not want to miss her first annual Halloween Ice Skating party where she could invite her whole family plus 4 friends for free (with a donation to Chelsea's Hope...oh, get ready for tissues if you go to the link). I talked her into letting each brother pick one friend, (Owen stayed home safe and sound) which left her with two. The boys picked brothers and she picked sisters and it was all one big happy family!!

We spent a lot of time holding on to each other!
The girls were careful, slow and steady...


The boys, however...spent A LOT of time on the ice! Down...

Down...

Down...

They were loving it though, getting up and up again for more!


I forgot how fun it is. I even managed some 360's towards the end. I'll bust out my triple sow cow next time! (This time I left that to the awesome Power Ranger suited Ortho who did tricks for us throughout the night! Awesome!)

Post edit: Triple Sow Cow??? Where the heck did they come up with a name like that? Anyone know because it doesn't sound like the most flattering of moves? (I was going to make some reference to Tonya Harding and heifer-like references leading to her demise but it just made me feel old.)

Plastic and Pumpkins for Hannah

First, a new appliance for her mouth...

Her dentist referred me to an orthodontist over a year ago because of Hannah's severe overbite and several months ago we did the search. 2 out of the 3 orthos we visited (the 2 that didn't do x-rays) said to wait and thought that doing anything now would be purely aesthetic...so I decided to wait. Then we visited the dentist again for check-ups before school started and she disagreed! Apparently Hannah's overbite is severe enough that she's breaking tissue on the roof of her mouth and could cause infections and such. We went back to the first and favorite and started her on phase 1... The twin block! Kind of like a retainer that forces her lower bite forward and expands her arch. It is much more plastic in her mouth than I anticipated!! Wow! She can't even close her mouth all the way, but she thinks it's the coolest thing ever. Sparkly blue and all! She has to wear it all the time except to eat, brush her teeth, and play sports. (It's been over a week and she hasn't lost it yet. The novelty has worn off a bit, however!)

The other cool thing about her new orthodontist is that she absolutely loves his office. It is so much fun that even the brothers like to go to appointments! He has a video game station, a dvd station and drawings for fun things all the time with cool prizes. (Don't worry I compared prices of orthos and he wasn't any more than the non-perk offices). On her last visit she guessed the correct wait of a pumpkin and SHE WON...

A 110 POUND PUMPKIN! Yes, One Hundred and Ten Pounds!!

It was HUGE! She got a smaller pumpkin and a carving kit also. She was THRILLED!

They had to bring it to my car in a wheel chair!

(No, I didn't carve it. Pumpkin guts give me the creeps. Not that that stops me every year!)
Pretty memorable experience so far. Let's hope she still enjoys her chunk of sparkly blue plastic in a week or so!

Happy Halloween

Presenting...
Hannah a.k.a "Geisha Girl"

Jake a.k.a. "Jake Sparrow" (Jack's dead brother)

Alex a.k.a. "Red Fire Dragon"

Owen a.k.a. "The Not-So-Cowardly Lion"

Uncle James a.k.a. "White T"

We have some costumes that have gotten some great mileage over the years!! See if you see some repeats...

2008 (Alex in red dragon, Owen in dog)

2006 (Jake in red dragon, Alex in dog)

2003 (Twins as Hansel and Gretel)

2003 (Twins as lady bug and bumble bee)

2001 (Twins as lion and lamb)

Hope you all have a festive and happy Halloween!
(More of all the festivities to come!)

Uncle Jon's in the House!

My brother was in town on Monday for business and so he got to stay a night with us.

It's always a par-tay with Jon around...


He's quite big and the kids immediately want to climb him and jump on him and jump over him and punch him and hug him and basically become Uncle Jon Disciples for a day. (What is it about big uncles??)



(Jake had soccer practice)


(He loves this angle.)
Come back. Our late night couch-chatting and everything-analyzing was just what the doctor ordered. I like having you around.

Geisha Girl

Hannah got to get dressed up for her Brownie troop "Halloween Bingo Night" and so I had to take some pics. Cute girl...




Some of her troop and her awesome leader who looked hot in her go-g0 boots!...


She had so much fun but I guess they had a pretty abysmal table! In the last 10 minutes Hannah WON and she was so excited! She won a Target Gift card and a bag of goodies!