October

Austin turned 9 October 1.


That night Julia had an awards ceremony with 4-H. It was for all the awards recipients in the county, for their record books. She earned an award for the photography portion of her record book. The record book is super important (and was intimidating to us!). You have to complete a record book to get credit for the past 4-H year. You have to tell a story for each project you're in, write details for time and money spent (and earned, for animals). Write details for community service, activities involved in outside of 4-H, lots of things.


Austin opened his gifts and had his cake the next day. He created a small battle scene with Legos on top.


Austin's still in Karate and liking it a lot! He now has a striped yellow belt with stripes (2? 3?).


Caroline played baby dolls a lot! And still does... ;)


Julia sold baked potatoes for a 4-H fundraiser, at our town's Octoberfest in the park. She really enjoys participating in these types of events.


Brian made more fires, all throughout the fall.


Brian had off work for Columbus Day, but the big kids had school. He did work around the house, and also played with Caroline. She thought that was great having him home all to herself!!! She always wants to work puzzles with us when we have extra time to play with her.


One day Caroline played outside, and put her Cubbies brochure (beginning work "book") in her Little Tyke's car trunk, which was full of water. She kept putting it in over and over again, till the book was destroyed! It completely desintegrated--there were little bits of Cubbies paper on the patio for quite awhile. She didn't care at all, which I was surprised about, since she loves Cubbies so much! Oh well! She didn't need the book anymore, as she'd earned the main workbook.


The kids continued to enjoy riding and playing on the patio. This was a hot day, which we often get in October. So they also enjoyed popsicles after school. :)


We visited the pumpkin patches.


Caroline helped me make pumpkin cookies--if you can say that--she just took them out of the package and put them on the pan. ;)


When the whole family went to the pumpkin patches, I noticed signs up for U-pick apples. I took Caroline one day to SLO Creek Farms to pick Braeburn apples. She had sooooo much fun. She loved it! The apples were right at her level. There were lots of spiders, and webs across the rows, which I did *not* like! We bought fresh apple cider. Yum!


I decided to take the kids' school pictures myself this year. This worked out great. Except they still haven't been printed! I order my regular pictures from Costco now, but still want to get these at MPix (I like the photo paper they use), and just don't think to upload and order. Better get on that before the next school year comes!

The kids had "Favorite Characters Day" at school, where they could dress up as a character in a book. Of course they could all wear their Halloween costumes, b/c seriously, which costume (character) isn't in a book?! But it gives everyone a fun day to dress up, if they don't want to celebrate Halloween. I guess that's the reason? Caroline had two costumes this year: Sleeping Beauty from the dress-up trunk, and a ballet outfit she wore trick-or-treating (my friend gave us). Austin was Anakin Skywalker again.

Julia wanted to be a cat, so I just bought her a mask and tail set, which she wore w/ a plain black shirt and leggings. Easy! Lauren was this cat again. Both she and Julia have worn this costume. The kids had a costume parade around the school black top. Fun!

Julia's 4-H club had a Halloween party. It was fun too. There was sooo much food. The kids played a balloon pop relay, did the limbo and had a costume contest. Caroline ended up winning for her age group, tying w/ another little girl. Julia told Caroline to walk in front of the judges and smile real big...and she did! Ha ha. She won a bunch of candy.

Brian's mom, Joy, and Kaitlyn visited us the last weekend of October. We went to the Avila Barn after church Sunday to have a picnic. The kids fed the animals and we all went on a hay ride. We carved pumpkins with them that night, and they came trick-or-treating with us the next night. This picture was from our picnic.

September

It's been almost 6 mos. since my last post. I've decided to just do month-in-review posts for the months I've missed. It is always busy here, and then adding the holidays--I'm talking Thanksgiving and Christmas 2011, not this past Easter--, painting, company, house projects, catching up on my photos, blogging fell by the wayside! I want to keep recording our stories, so back to blogging it is hopefully more regularly now that we've settled in our new home.

This was Caroline the very, very beginning of Sept. 2011...I painted her nails that morning. She misses her sibling so much while they're at school! I try to play with her and do fun things like painting nails, often. :)

I also painted our toes. That weekend was Labor Day, and we went down to Brian's mom's. The kids loved her pool! Austin jumped in over and over and over again, and Caroline did too, right to Brian.

I didn't go in that Sat. b/c the water was too cold for my liking. Sunday afternoon I went in the water when the pool heater was on. Caroline and Lauren liked "swimming" in the hot tub, as it is just the right height for them to feel comfortable.

We went to Disneyland on Labor Day. I thought it would be sooooo busy, but it wasn't bad at all! It was hot, which I hate, hate, hate at Disney, but thankfully the fog kept the heat away till the afternoon.

I thought Lauren and Caroline's outfits were perfect for Disneyland! I forgot to pack Caroline's sneakers, but she did just fine walking around in sandals. Plus she was in the stroller a lot of the time.

The girls all wanted to try on hats at one of the little stands.

Austin waiting for the parade to begin. Brian and Julia had gone to get Dole Whips for all of us, but the line was so long they ended up coming back to watch the parade. It was soooo hot sitting there w/ the sun beating on our backs. We were all sweating!! Lovely... ;) Caroline kept finding leaves on the ground--kept her amused while we waited in lines.

Matching outfits...they still like to match. :) This plaid shirt was one of Lauren's favorites from last summer. And now, 7 mos. later, it's too small!

Little fairies in our back yard. The sticks are remnants of the teepee Julia and her friend built. I noticed all the tall weeds in this picture. They are gone now; Brian has done *so* much work weed eating and keeping them down! It looks much more kept up out there! I did some pruning last fall, but probably should cut back a few more trees.

We now have several trees with leaves that change color in the fall. So fun to look at out my breakfast nook windows!

The giant Mexican Sage bush (w/ purple flowers) has been cut way back. I'm amazed looking at these pictures now, how different things look back there!

Silly Caroline!! She is completely potty-trained now, for sure during the day! She wears a Pull-Up to bed at night, and sometimes is wet, sometimes is dry.

Awana started back up the middle of September. Austin and Lauren had soccer practice, so Brian came a little late with them, and I took Julia and Caroline. Caroline was beyond excited to go to Cubbies!!! She loves it, still. I took the 2nd picture after church one Sunday.

A close-up

This sweet little cat, Maxy, would come visit us last fall. I called her Macy, after misreading her tag, then read it correctly and didn't like "Maxy", so continued calling her Macy. LOL The kids would correct me, but I told them if she was going to be in our yard, I could call her what I wanted. Ha ha ha!!! We haven't seen her in several months. I hope nothing happened to her, as she was very friendly, and Bailey didn't seem to mind her.

We had lots of soccer games. Both Austin and Lauren played. Austin did great! He tries his hardest and *runs*!

Lauren was not nearly as into soccer last year. She had several agressive (in a good way, for soccer) players on her team, and was content to let them do the work. They had an awesome team and won almost all their games. Lauren was happy just to get the after-game snacks and end-of-season trophy!

Caroline loves playing Play Doh. This hasn't changed; she still makes Play Doh pizza, cookies, smoothies, ice cream, etc.

Barbie shoes fit perfectly on her little fingers! :)

Anniversary roses! 14 years for Brian and me last Sept. 20.

Brian burned lots of pine branches and brush last fall. SO much is gone.

One weekend Brian camped out in the back yard with the kids. I stayed in the house and slept in my warm, cozy bed. I got more sleep than him. ;) But the kids loved it!! Best Dad in the world!!

All those branches in this picture are gone, even the ones on the slope. Yay! Sometimes the kids would roast marshmallows or hot dogs or make biscuits on a stick. Sometimes Brian would just have a little fire going w/ no cooking over it.

Austin played baseball with his little sisters. We have really enjoyed having a bigger yard, both front and back!