Hallo-week

Our Halloween festivities seemed to never end...

Pumpkin Patch 2010

Trick or Treating @ Preschool & Intel

Pumpkin Decorating on Halloween

Trunk or Treating with our cousins

More pictures to come: all 3 kids dressed up, passing out candy to our "customers." I don't know who started it but while we were passing out candy, Xander picked up calling everyone our 'customers' just like Sally does in CARS when people come to town. Despite my distaste for Halloween, we had a lovely week filled with sugar highs and dressing up. What could be better?

Disney on Ice

Ben won tickets to Disney on Ice. We didn't think that the kids would be too interested--boy, were we ever wrong! From the start of the show, until the end, our kids were smiling, captivated and excited. Everytime we asked Xander what he thought, he would smile from ear to ear and say, "Fun!" Even Violet was captivated by the lights, movement and music. Having never been to anything like this myself I was extremely surprised how much I enjoyed it. And yes, Xander wore his costume for part of the show because there were lots of girls in their princess dresses. So glad we'd thrown it in our bag for our trip to Grandma & Papa's afterwards-it seriously came in handy!

6 Flags!

Intel had extremely discounted tickets to Six Flags-so we took advantage of them! Despite the rain, we trekked over to Vallejo and had a BLAST! (OR taught us how to get along in the rain!) We caught a few shows and some rides and had so much fun together-it was a great day!



We started the day off with Xander's soccer game. Then, since the van wouldn't start, we got a new battery put in and finally we made it there. The kids were so well behaved and we only shed tears once--because we were thirsty. My favorite part of the day though was at the end. We got all buckled in the car and decided to say a prayer for a safe return home. After the prayer, we started to drive. Within seconds, Eliza hollers, "I'm not buckled!" We pulled over as soon as we were safe to buckle her and as I did so I asked her, "Eliza, do you know who helped you remember that you were not buckled?" And she said No. I reminded her about our family prayer to be safe and said, "I think it was the Holy Ghost (Spirit) talking to you and reminding you so that you would be safe as we drive home." Her eyes got SO Big and she felt so very loved. At that moment, it felt so good to be able to share with my daughter something that is so true-that our Lord looks out for us and that through his Holy Spirit, we can be guided. Even with as small and simple things as buckling our safety belts.

Eliza's ABC's

We officially started Eliza's ABC book a couple weeks ago. She is not as interested as Xander was BUT she enjoys doing projects and having one on one time with me. I don't know if I'll be able to top her D week activity though: a Daddy Daughter Date to the Donut store wearing Dinosaur pj's!
And Ben got this awesome shot for the book--way to go Babe!

Kid-isms

While walking to school with Mary Grace today, she turns to Xander and says, "Xander you look cute today." Xander turns to her and says, "I do not want to be cute. I want to be handsome." Mary Grace was really hurt so I tried to explain to Xander that boys can be cute. He does NOT agree. :)

At dinner tonight, Eliza was really trying my patience. So I said, "Eliza, if you do not stop that, I am going to lose my temper!" Eliza said, "Mommy, where did your temper go?"

Love my kids!