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I've come to realize, with my busy schedule, between preschool and the 29 piano students, I'll only get to blog once a month. But it's my scrapbook/journal, so this works, right? Sorry for the blasts of pictures. We've had a fun month. Don't forget to click on the pictures to get to the sets of them. Next month, Liam's first birthday!
Halloween!
I couldn't resist, but to blog this as my opening picture! He wears this almost every year. His students don't quite get it, which he loves even more. The best was one student asking, "are you Hannah Montana's dad?" Not, Billy Ray Cyrus. Very funny! The girls had the day off from school, so instead of carving pumpkins this year, we made a mess making cookies. The girls loved it! I took the girls around the neighborhood, while Stew passed out candy. The best was, he brought home a projector and we projected the movie Nightmare Before Christmas, on our curtains inside. Our curtains are sheer, so it showed up outside. It was a big hit! People stopped to watch all night. After I went one side of the block, then it was Stew's turn. Kirra and Julia chose the same costumes, but this time Malia decided to be Dorothy. An old costume I made for Kirra, in first grade. She was beautiful. Liam went as a dirty boy. But, then again, that wasn't a costume. :) It was a quiet Halloween and that was very nice!
Preschool Halloween Party
We were learning the letter P, and couldn't help but have a "Party." It was the day before Halloween, too. The kids dressed up, even Collin, who chose to take it off just before we took a picture. :) We had some fun activities, but the best were the pumpkins we made out of water bottles. Thanks, Kim, for the idea! I really love teaching these kids! We are having a blast! Aren't they cute! Julia decided, this time, to be just plain Minnie Mouse. Thank goodness for a good dress up box! This costume was actually, my sister Lisa's when she was about the same age. Cutie! The end pictures were on the same day, waiting to pick the other kids up from school. Liam thinks he's so big, when I put him in the front seat. His favorite part is the steering wheel! :) I just love having a boy!
Go, Bulldogs!
We went to Stew's homecoming game. Not his alma mater, but the school he teaches at. It's always fun to see the cheerleaders, floats and the new queen. That's why I go. The best was to see the difference with a son. Liam could care less during half time, but as soon as the football players came running back out, he was glued to the field, pointing. We also went back to Stew's class room to see the new art work up from his students. He's a great teacher! We didn't have any colors to match the school, maroon and gold, but Trisha let Liam borrow an old jersey of Greyson's. Liam and Greyson are best buds. I think they try to stick together, with all the female energy around. :)
School Harvest Festival
We went to the school harvest festival. Not so hot this year. It was fun to have the kids dress up again. We even got Liam dressed up for it. Our friends let us borrow this jersey. See, we can put something together. :) Kirra and Malia were the same, but Julia changed her mind, and wanted to be just a princess. Her haku-lei was from Michelle's wedding. She felt very fancy. The reason we go every year, is for our favorite part, Roary, the school's mascot. "He's" the BEST! We love you Roary!! Go Tigers! Rarrrrrrrr!
After the Picking
After we picked apples, we went to the nearby village and sat in a big grass area. The kids had so much fun running around and being "free." We ate caramel apples, apple crisp, and drank apple cider. The cider was good, but the bottle was the best part. Big lushes! Liam could not get enough. Some of these pictures, are of Stew getting silly and playing "engagement photo shoot." He always makes me laugh! We were sad to go home. It was a perfect day!
Apple Picking
We took the kids to go apple picking. It was so much fun. We're going to make it a tradition. They were the BEST apples! The girls had so much fun. Liam loves apples, skin and all, so he was in heaven. We brought the stroller, and he just cruised around chomping on his apple. Needless to say, our stroller was not meant for the rough terrain. :) We had gone with the Rodriguez family and the Wieder family. We got separated from each other, but it was still a great family day. Very relaxing and festive. You had your choice of 4 different fields and you picked until your bag was full. We even ate apples while we picked. It's the kids favorite fruit, so there was a LOT of eating! The weather was a bit warm for October, even for CA. But there was a nice breeze that kept us cool. I suggest this to everyone who comes to CA in the fall. Great time!
Preschool Pumpkin Patch
I took the preschoolers to a pumpkin patch. I was nervous, having such a large group, but thankful for the parent helpers. It was a great day. The kids were wonderful. They held hands every where and never left my sight. We had so much fun. My only regret, is I never took a picture with them. Darn. :)
Ward Halloween Party
Here are the pictures from our ward Halloween party. Kirra was an 80's gypsy. More like a mix of things we had in the dress up box, including some great jewelry from my high school days. She shook her hips as she walked. Malia, also sporting my high school days, was wearing my old cheer uniform. She used Kirra's pom-poms from her cheer class, but my skirt and shirt. Glad I saved that for years. :) Julia couldn't decide, so she went as princess Minnie. This was a great year of being creative, instead of selling out to the stores and paying too much. The girls had fun being creative! Stew was still working on his 'stache, more pictures to follow of that. :) I grabbed a wig and wrapped a ribbon in it, to keep it on, and jazzed it up with some more high school earrings. Liam, unfortunately, couldn't grab things from the dress up box. We're still working on the boy things around here. He will get dressed up soon. Great party!
My 2 cents is worth a lot, apparently.
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
OK, the other night I went to get some beverages (non-alcoholic but caffeinated, of course) for me and Kristine. I am a regular at our local 7-Eleven. Well not that regular, but let's just say that I recognized both of the cashier's working. Anyway, I get the drinks and go to check out and the total is $2.48. Ok, so I hand the cashier $2.50, he takes the money, puts it in the draw and just stands there. I wait a second thinking maybe he didn't realize that I had 2¢ coming back to me in change. I keep waiting and the guy doesn't want to make eye contact with me. He's messing around with some bag, and some other stuff on the counter. Finally I say, "are you going to give me my change?". He reacts with disdain and even a little bit of horror that I was actually asking for such a small amount of change to be returned. He says, "it's only two cents". Are you kidding me? Only two cents? at what point does he get to decide if I can get my change? Two cents, 10 cents, or 10 dollars, I don't care how much it is, it is my change. I mean it is only 2 cents and I was already planning on putting it in the tray for the next guy or gal that might find themselves a penny or two short. But that is for my fellow customer, not for the store owner who is already getting the better end of any transaction. It was for my fellow consumer who might come in, late at night, needing a caffeine fix or an Abba-Zabba, or some pork skins (which I would suggest against). It was for the common man, the everyday person needing a little boost. Not for some corporation like 7-Eleven that has already taken plenty of my money, and will probably get plenty more. I guess times are so hard that even Carl at 7-Eleven, needs to try and steal a few cents from anywhere he can. Who knew?
Anjelah Johnson
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
I came across this again today. I'm sorry but she's dang funny! If you've ever had your nails done, you'll appreciate this!
Happy Birthday, Stew!
Since I was so late on our Anniversary, I figured I'd post a Happy Birthday to Stew! He doesn't feel like it's a big deal, but in my family growing up, it's the only day dedicated to YOU! So enjoy it! Now, it was 2 days ago, so I am a little late, but I couldn't resist posting this picture. It's my favorite of him! I love you Stew! I hope you had a great birthday. You even got what you wished for! (And that doesn't always happen!)
Kirra's Haircut and all caught up!
Every year, about this time, I cut Kirra's hair. It's SO thick and the longer it gets, the frizzier her hair gets. So, for a fresh beginning of the school year thing, we cut her hair. She's wanting me to post this. She's become very aware of "blogging" and asks what I've posted about her. The other day, she made me breakfast in bed. And asked if I had posted about it. I've told her of other blogs I've read who's children have done the same thing. Apparently, she wanted me to "brag" about her the same way. I am proud of her and she does a great job being my helper. I just wish I didn't have to ask so much. The breakfast in bed, was a wonderful gesture and she's been trying ever since to be helpful without an attitude. ha ha Also, here a few other random pictures I wanted to post. I think I've finally got caught up. I had better make sure I make this blog into a book, so I can feel like this has all been worth it. :) (besides our non-CA family and friends being able to see our beautiful family)
Liam is 10 mo. old
I realized I haven't posted many pictures of Liam lately. (I guess I haven't kept up much blogging at all. ha ha) Liam is now 10 mo. Where does the time go? He, of course, is crawling everywhere! He LOVES food and has pretty much weaned himself from nursing. I guess it wasn't enough for him. :) Here is a picture of his little smirk he gives. It is Stew's twin smirk. Liam does this when he's trying to ignore me. When I'm tickling him, or trying to get a kiss from him, or just plain being a stinker! He loves to play with (or pull!) the girls hair. In one of the pictures, you can see him with his arms straight and tight. He does this caveman grunt, almost as if he has to prove he's tough. It's very funny. He is such a happy boy! (All my kids are. Thank goodness. How did we luck out on that?) Here are some pictures of him being 10 mo. old. There are over 30, (I know that's a lot) so pull up a chair and just enjoy his chubber little face! (I can't get enough pictures of him.)
First Day of School 2008
Here are the girls on their first day of school. Kirra is now in 4th grade, Malia is in 1st grade, and I started teaching preschool to Julia. (I have 8 other kids as well) They were so excited to go back to school. Now that September is almost over, I think the excitement has worn off a little, via homework, but we have some really good students. While I'm teaching piano lessons, they are pretty much on their own to do their homework, and they do a really good job. They love their new classes and teachers, and have already made some new "best friends." After school, and piano lessons, we let them play outside. Here are some pictures of that day.
Boys are from Mars
With a house full of Venuses, Stew has found his heir. Liam loves to skateboard with him. You can see how fast they are going with the wind in his hair. The things Liam finds around the house, it's nothing I've ever worried about. Now, I know, you Mothers of boys, are probably laughing and knowing exactly what I'm talking about. I know I grew up in a house with all girls, and I knew Liam would be different than our girls, but it's fun to experience it. He really is a joy! He loves when Stew busts out a new gadget. The air compressor, drills, he even found the spring to his crib. I recently got rid of all our outlit plugs, because we never used them in 9 years. Why were we saving those? Well, I should have waited 2 more months, when Liam became mobile. I never knew I had so much dust behind our VCR. We never use it, it's not even plugged in. But we keep it there for the 5 videos we have. (dumb I know) Now that Liam loves to be under there and "fix" things, I'm keeping it much cleaner. :) I guess he wasn't into the Barbie movie the girls were watching. HA We call him our "swiffer" boy, because he crawls around and cleans up the floors for us. Please know, that his onesies are dirty because of the oils in the floors. But, the last pictures, he was having a blast being outside. That is no oil. Just pure DIRT! How could I say NO to such a happy boy. I guess the days of clean hands is over. Julia helped prepare us for Liam. He loves to be dirty! They will be two peas in a pod, and probably spend most of their time in the bath. I had better stock up on the soap. (Tracey, I owe you ALL new onesies!:} )
Cookie Cutters?
I have come to realize that we have a "cookie cutter" look in our family. As you can see in this picture, they ALL inherited my BROWN eyes! Each child I'm hopeful, they can be passed on, but NO. Brown hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and skinny legs. When you click on this picture, you will see the next "cookie cutter" thing passed on. Stew's legs! Here's a post I've been dying to do. Recently, I was teaching piano in the AM and I asked the girls to go get dressed. Later I was looking at them and thought, "I don't remember them having capris like that." HA HA Kirra had "borrowed" Juila's jeans, which meant Julia needed some. Julia had "borrowed" LIAM'S jeans! It was so funny! AND they fit them perfectly! So, looking at the pictures, remember Kirra who is 9, is wearing size 4T, and Julia who is 4, is wearing 3-6 mo. jeans. I have skinny kids with incredible BLUE eyes, and I couldn't be more proud!
Kirra turns 9!
Kirra turned 9 in August. Wow, time flies! We have a tradition to have a bonfire at the beach. This year she brought 2 friends. It's a lot of fun! There are pictures of the shovel digging expedition, the bonfire, and the friends. This year Tara brought her bike. Lynn and I couldn't resist taking it for a ride. I had to capture a picture of Lynn. She looked like she had stepped back in time, soaring like a kid.
Kirra is very helpful, when it comes to her brother! She does the typical 9 year old things, but we are very blessed with a sweet and kind child! She always has been! She is filled with so many talents and gifts. She is very smart and loves school. She excels in math and reads about a chapter book a day. She's currently readying the Series of Unfortunate Events and can't put them down. She LOVES art the most! She must get that from her Daddy. She loves to go to art museums with him and just draw together. She's really excelling in piano, and I'm not even teaching her. She practices EVERY minute possible, when she can't read, and I yell from another room, "fix that mistake," and on her own, she does. She's really loving it. She's such a happy and positive child. She is my right arm! She will be the best prepared babysitter by the time she turns 12. We are so blessed to have her in our family too! She is really turning into a beautiful young lady and her beauty shines from within. We love you Kirra! Thank you for being our first born! You wear your title well!
Julia turns 4!
Julia turned 4 in July. (I know I'm behind) She is such a fun child! She is always making us laugh. She is very helpful, more than her sisters. But she's very stubborn and it usually needs to be her idea. So, we work it to seem like her idea. We dread the day when this won't work. :) To get a beautiful picture, like this one, is hard, because she's usually making a funny face. She's ALWAYS messy and dirty! And she loves it that way. She loves wearing dresses, being barefoot, having a square-top with a bow, and having dirty feet! If you look back at the post of Michelle's wedding pictures, there is a good picture of her dirty feet! We love her so much! I can't believe she's already 4! She's in my preschool class and she's learning so fast. She loves school, especially her teacher. :) She calls me "Ms. Kristine" like the other kids, because "you're my teacher too." She's very fun to teach and she's such a joy to our family! We love you Julita! Thank you for being a part of our family!
p.s. the last picture of the little girl, is my friends daughter. It was at Julia's party, and I couldn't resist taking her picture. She's so cute!
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