Halloween Trunk or Treat

Getting closer to present day! Here are some pictures of our trunk or treat we were so glad to have this year. They were postponed because of the smoke.





I love this action scene! There were so many Jedi's! Notice Darth Vader and Yoda

Student of the Month

Rory received student of the month for her class last month. We have been very impressed with her excellent behavior at school. Wish it would move over to home but hey, no one can be perfect everywhere. Unfortunately like last year for Josh I was nearby but had completely forgotten about the award ceremony. At least I am consistent. Here is the award back. The front has to much info about our family.
You are amazing Rory!!!
Consider yourself school pictured!

Magic Show

Party #2 that I put on in October as Family Night Chair was the Brock Edwards Magic Extravaganza! We sold around 600 tickets and were planning to have it outside when rain came into the forecast. We instead had it inside split between 2 shows, cancelled the pre ordered pizza dinners and only had concessions outside. This is really him!
Despite the changes the night went great and I think everyone had a lot of fun. I don't think that most people who came had expected such a professional show but this guy was really good.

P.S Leave a comment

Anyone who publishes a blog loves comments. So you know I changed my comment settings so that hopefully people that do not have a google acount can leaves messages too. I won't beg though.

Kindergarten Game Night!

I need to catch up on the month of parties starting with the first one on Oct 4th. As PTA's family night chair I planned a Kindergarten Dinner and Game night to get the new families together to have fun. We had a fantastic time and probably had around 120-150 people come.

First we split in to game rotations. The first one and my personal favorite was Sticker Tag. Everyone gets a page of stickers and the person in charge blows their Whistle and everyone runs around putting stickers on each other. Totally easy but there was something extraordinary where everyone automatically started laughing as soon as the whistle blows.


Another rotation was Shoe Pile Scramble. Working as families everyone takes their shoes of in one big pile, goes behind a starting line and when the whistle blow everyone scrambles to get their shoes on but only the family who crosses the starting line again together wins.


The last rotation was Mom and Dad Calling. Moms were blindfolded and kids had to move away from their mom but still in the designated area and attached to siblings. When the whistle blows the kids would start yelling MOM! at the same time and the mom would have to look for their kids blindfolded. Fun! Then it was the Dad's turn.


Next as a group was a few rounds of relays around cones. Heal toe, hopping, then pushing a lemon around a ruler.


Then we headed over to the tables for pizza, veggies, fruit, drinks, and cookies. I had tried to get a deal with local pizza parlors but in the end used Costco pizzas cut into 16 slices. Fantastically enough our PTA made the night free to the families.


Before we left the Kindergarten teachers pulled out two parachutes and led us in some parachute games which was fun and fantastic for teaching the kids some games the teachers were having a hard time teaching with out more help.


If anyone wants to do this type of thing, feel free to ask questions!

Fire all around

Well, there is fire all around. According to the map I just looked at there are 16 fires right now in Southern California. Are there usually this many fires at a given time but these just became exasperated because of the wind, low humidity, and dryness? I grew up in Houston where we had hurricane season. Now I live here where there is fire season. Oh how Mother Nature releases her fury!

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I am struck by the inequality of it all. A tornado hits one house but not the one next door, lightening strikes one person, a fire skips around too. This fire was only a couple miles away yet we are snug in our homes with only a slight worry of evacuation and the annoyance of smoky air. There are hundred thousand's of people out of their home right now and most of us can only imagine how uncomfortable and frightening that must be. Yet I only imagine and do not have to know at this point. There are firefighters that have been working for 40 hours straight while I get only 7 hours of sleep because I watched a show on TV in my comfort. I know if were a firefighter I would be right there with them not wanting to stop because of the mass destruction unfolding before their helpless eyes. But I am not. I only fight the battles of independence in my home. Inequal.

I have had my share of sorrow in my life but then again I have has a cushioned life. I thank my Father in Heaven for my blessings and know that were I the one evacuated I would also be grateful for his comfort in hard times.

My Children are Humans!?!

I know my kids are imperfect but when talking about them usually only the good things come out and then I border on bragging. I am here to tell you they are not perfect.

After losing the battle of independence with a 2 year old and being physically drained I heard some interesting things at school.

Rory:"Mom, Beck is in love with me and we kissed."






Josh:"The principal wants to talk to you."

Principal:"A kid's mom came in my office upset that Josh punched him on purpose and made his loose tooth come out. I said 'Not Josh'. The mom said 'yes, Josh'. Can you find out what happened?" Josh was playing basketball and his uninformed arms swung around a little too hard and knocked the kids tooth out. Josh apologized and tried to make sure the kid was ok.


Mom at soccer practice playground when I was telling Roger what happened at school: "Your child is the extremely blond one right? He is throwing wood chips on all the kids and the adults"


Me:"Thank you so much for telling me I will take care of it" I start going to get him

The mom;"He is throwing wood chips on all the kids and the adults"

Me:"Yes I will take care of it, Thank you"

The mom:"Your child threw it on adults"

me:"Sorry"

Such is life.

September!

What a month! I have felt like there is nothing too exciting to report but a lot going on. Then there is the annoying fact that I do not have a real camera so all my pictures are camera phone pictures and not good quality. Waa, waa, waa.

The month started with me getting horribly sick. I think it was swimming at the local lagoon. I was sick enough to require 2 doctor visits to receive fluids and meals and babysitting from my fantabulous friends. My girls took good care of me! I was sick for 2 weeks during which Rory started kindergarten and Josh started the 1st grade. I happened to momentarily feel fine that morning and I knew I was not contagious by then but I was far from feeling fine.

















Do not let the pictures fool you. She was enormously excited and jumped out of bed when I opened her door to wake her up.


















I decided to try out some new foam curlers in her hair. You remember the kind you fitfully sleep in and magically have curls when you wake? I did not realize how tight the curls would be. She was mortified!


















Simeon was devastated to not go to school like Rory was. He walked in the Kindergarten class room like he owned it with his backpack and all. Playgroup started never to soon. There are 2 other boys in the group with these 3. Aren't they cute!

















Rory received a trophy for being at gymnastics for a year. Good job Rory!













JT received his hard earned orange belt. He is not a natural but he works hard and concentrates well. His Sensei invited him to be in a small group doing a demonstration at a local festival and he did very well!

















I thought this was so darling. The Sr Nursery at church came into primary to sing "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus" with them. He is so little and will be starting sunbeams in a couple months!! Crazy!!


Most of the busyness has been due to me being sick, catching up on all the things I missed being sick and volunteering for school things (which I love). I am Rory's room mom, Joshy's soccer team mom(Rory is playing too), and the PTA's family night chair. I have too big events coming up in the next week and a half for that. I was helping be in charge of a music class with friends(30+ moms and their kids!) but it was too much. Something had to go! Are you proud of me? I have a limit!

Life is great and we feel very blessed to be where we are, know who we know, and do what we do.

My Dearest Roger

Roger and I 's 8th aniversary was on the 24th of this month. We are actually very boring. We called our visit to Houston our date as we were without child and the actual day of our aniversary we babysat our friend's kids as it was past our turn. I never told my friend and she never checks my blog so I feel safe in sharing that here.
















Truth be told I think the world of my husband. He is lovable in everyway. He is a fantastic provider and protector of our family. He has more patience than I do with the kids and is changing a poopy diaper as we speak. He is my bestfriend and my main confidant (gotta have my girlfriends too though!) He only has eyes for me and really does want to spend as much time with me as possible (sorry girlfriends). He is a blast to be around and lets just face it he puts up with me and my drama very very well. The only time I find he has annoying tendancies is when I am, you know, having that womanly time.

I love you Roger!

Fantastic Baptism!

Roger and I dropped everything 2 weeks ago when we found 2 of our fantastic nephews have been taking the missionary discussions and chose to be baptised. With the incredible help of my little brother Aaron and friends we were able to leave the kids for a 48hr adventure to Houston Tx. We had a great time visiting with my mom and her husband Matthew, my dad who flew in also, my sister Michelle and her fun family, my sister Cheryl and her fabulous family in which the 2 said boys belong, and my step sister Molly and her darling fam. It was a whirlwind with almost more time traveling than actually being there.
There's Roger on the piano.
The seats were all full by the time we started. A lot of the boys from their new church class came to support them.



According to my brother he had fun with my kids but I almost doubt that. He got my kids so dizzy on a tire swing Simeon threw up in the car and Rory is still nauseous. He also had to deal with potty training Simeon pooping in his underwear as he was falling asleep. Where is the mercy?

Joshy's Obsession

Dear sweet Joshy has a new obsession. He loves anything that has to do with dental hygiene. I thought it was fairly normal that the kids steal toothbrushes out of the bag and thus have 5 toothbrushes each. Toothbrushes are colorful and host favorite TV stars (you know, Sponge bob). Flossing with dinosaur flossers did not sound that crazy either. But his new thing about toothpaste has me confused and laughing.
I have had to put toothpaste high in my closet to avoid having 10 open on the counter at a time. My telling him that we have to finish a tube before opening another was excruciating. Tubes last FOREVER! He has snubbed advanced clean toothpaste for extreme clean toothpaste because it apparently cleans your mouth that much better. Before the toothpaste was high I caught him in the bathroom with the door shut brushing his teeth. When I came in I asked if he opened a new toothpaste. With a frothy mouth he shook his head a little. I went under the sink, opened the box, opened the tube and could not tell that he had opened it but I gave him the motherly all knowing look and he caved. He is not even my lying kid he was just that determined! "MOM, I really wanted to try it! It makes my mouth so clean!!"
The day we got back from camping and had not unpacked the toothpaste I came home from an errand and he jumped into my seat in the van. Him jumping up and down on my lap: "Mom, there was no toothpaste and I could not reach the toothpaste so I pulled a table into your closet and got a new toothpaste. It was such an amazing toothpaste." Me: "You realize you are telling me about something you were not supposed to do?" Him:"Yes but it was sooooo exciting" Exciting. What ever cleans your teeth.

Swim Team Awards

Joshy had his swim team awards recently. He received the normal trophy but then received a coach's award trophy. He did fantastic this season and although he was not fast he was very diligent. He worked hard at practices and when they corrected him he tried really hard to fix the problem. I am so glad he was acknowledged for his efforts.

Swimming at the "big diving board"pool. My kids have been dying to come here all summer. This was their first time jumping off and I was surprised to not hear at least a little scream. What a thrill!

Camping

We had a blast camping with friends a week ago at Leo Carillo camp grounds. There are spots near the beach but ours was the furthest which ended up making a great spot. The 50 of us had a fairly secluded area which let the kids have more freedom and it meant when our kids woke up at 5am, the rest of the camp ground could still sleep. We stayed for 2 nights and could have stayed longer.

As soon as we got there the kids found some mountain to climb. It was pretty steep and led to a road.

The last day I found the kids to take a picture and this is what they were doing. Joshy was breaking down his tent
Simeon was kissing our friend's cute dog
and Rory. I expected her to be with her girlfriends where she was most of the time but oh no. "I am a boyish girl" was with the boys
and lastly most of the kids had a frog or two as Roger hiked with the kids to a frog pond

Good times

Found!

No, nothing exciting like my camera but I did find Rory's birthday pictures already downloaded on my computer. So here is to my beautiful, loud, adventursome, spunky, "I'm kind of a boyish girl", social, expressive, freckly, "I don't have enough jewlery!", smart, not shy, been five for alomost a year already girl. She made a cake with Roger and opened a present from Grandma Haws(the dress) and us.

We went to Build a bear and she picked out a Princess Kitty. Then we went to the Beach. At the beach she was done playing early because she was anxious to get back to the car to play with Princess Kitty. I told her to go tell Papa it was time to leave because he was boogie boarding. She didn't but decided to play in the sand behind me. I heard her and then 30 secs later I noticed I had not heard her and I turned around and she was gone. We looked for her fully expecting her to be playing in a hole or behind a rock. After 5-10 min we had strangers looking for her. Roger, carrying Simeon, went one way and I, holding Joshy's hand, went the other. Roger found her coming back from the car. She thought she cold get in!! The car was down the beach, up a winding ramp and down the street. I thought I lost my girl on her birthday! We left for home promptly.

That night she fortunately slept with her Kitty in the box against her back. She threw up in the middle of the night making "a lake" but Kitty was saved.

We love you Rory!!!

Obsession

I wanted everyone out there to hear my confessions. Not only do I love Blake Lewis, I LOVE these books by Stephanie Meyer





Rivals with Harry Potter?? Check this site out http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695199836,00.html
and here is a review of the book:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/12/books/review/Schillinger7-t.html?em&ex=1187064000&en=c25385e417c99155&ei=5087%0A

It all started for me over a year ago when a friend chose a book for book club and said if you want to read another book my husband's cousin wrote this good book. I read it, LOVED IT (ask any of my Irvine girlfriends, they won't hesitate to tell you how loony I am in general though but then again, neither would you) and have told everyone about it. Mind you, I get a little embarrassed as it is a young adult book and I am clearly an adult. Nor would I suggest a male to read it. This fantastic Mormon author wrote a really good story really well and I get to meet her in 2 weeks. La la la la.

Since I am writing about obsessions, I never felt like I gave adequate closer to my last one. Goodbye Gilmore Girls. I will never forget. . .