Halloween 2010

Here are my 3 little goblins:
Michaela is a skeleton, Madison is a vampire and thanks to Rick Riordan, Morgan is Athena.

I had to dress up for Tiny Tots. Last year I was a pirate and scared some of the kids. I figured this year I would tone it down a bit. I still managed to make some kids a bit uneasy. I think it was the black hair that freaked them out.

Egyptian Museum

We took a trip to San Jose and visited the Egyptian Museum.

Morgan checking out the Rosetta Stone.

King Tut's sarcophagus.

Michaela making friends with a mummy.

Michaela's First Fund Run

Michaela's first Fund Run was a bit chaotic at first. Some of the kindergarteners did not know what to do. When the start whistle blew they just stood there. They eventually got going and seemed to have a lot of fun.

Kindergarten 2010

My baby started Kindergarten today. She is very excited. She has been wanting to go to the "big school" like her sisters for a long time now. And after being in my preschool class for the past two years I was more than excited to send her. She loved her first day.

I was glad to have school start. My kids were all at their breaking point. They might have killed each other if they had one more week of summer vacation. Now if I could just remember all of the pick up times. Two schools and 3 different pick up times: 11:24, 1:53 and 3:00. Today was the first day and I feel like a yo-yo.

Independence Day 2010

This year we decided to go to Cal Expo to see the fireworks. It was very crowded, but it was a great show. Trying to get out of the parking lot and getting home was quite the experience.

Here we are at about 6:30 pm. Only 3 hours until they start the fireworks.

This is why you have an Uncle. Madison is busy playing with his iphone, Morgan is using him as a pillow and Michaela is poking him with various objects. I guess this is why we never get invited to "family" outings.

Finally, the fireworks show! The girls thought it was much better than the ones we do at home.

Disneyland 2010

I did not take many pictures at Disneyland. Too busy going on rides! Michaela was tall enough to go on all of the rides. Including Indiana Jones.

Here is everyone in the submarine in Finding Nemo. Madison does not look too impressed.

Everyone on Space Mountain, my least favorite ride. Michaela is hiding behind Morgan. Michaela likes Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain best. Indiana Jones and the Matterhorn were her least favorite.

And now we are on Splash Mountain. Michaela does not like this part. You can barely see her sitting next to Dale. The girls made me go first. I got pretty wet, but it felt good.

Disney Wedding

Morgan, Michaela and Madison.

Mr. and Mrs. Disney

The Disney women.

It looks like Morgan had a little too much sparkling cider.

The newlyweds.

Horse Camp

Morgan has wanted to go to horse camp for 3 years now. The spots are limited and they fill up quickly. This year both Morgan and Madison got to go, I finally called early enough.

They had to learn the correct horse terminology and had to take care of their own horse for a week.

They also got to go on a trail ride.

Morgan's horse is Collin and Madison's horse is Trigger.

On the last day they put on a horse show for the parents. They had a great time!

Michaela turns 5

I can't believe my baby is 5 years old! She specifically asked me to make this cake.

More clothes.

Preschool Graduation

My baby has "graduated" from Preschool. She is very excited to go to the big school like her big sisters. I can't imagine that preschool is very fun when your mom is one of the teachers. She was not very happy when I told her that Kindergarten did not start until August and that she would have to come to preschool with me for the summer.

I was helping out with the graduation and could not take pictures. Morgan took these.

McKinley Park

Today I took the kids to the park for a picnic. We were on the grass, eating our lunch when a bunch of moms and kids came running towards us. Apparently the swing set was being taken over by a swarm of bees. We finished our lunch, then fed some ducks and were able to play at the park for a while. Some city workers had put "caution tape" around the swings. The bees did not seem to bother anyone.

Easter 2010

So this is what happens when you turn your back for a couple of minutes.

I couldn't figure out why it was so quiet. Everyone was happily playing their Nintendos.

Zip Line

Unfortunately I was not able to take pictures when the kids were on the high elements of the challenge course. I was busy fastening harnesses and holding ladders. Morgan did a great job on one of the courses. It was a telephone pole with a pedestal on top. You had to climb up and then stand on top. Then you had to jump off and try to hit a tether ball that was dangling from a line. Did I mention that the top was about 25-30 feet off the ground.

It is funny to see the tough boys get scared about half way up. (I can't say that I blame them for being scared.) Only 3 kids from our group actually made it to the top and jumped off. 2 boys and 1 girl. Morgan did not make it to the top, she got about 3/4 of the way. She was the only one to jump though. Most were too scared and wanted to climb back down. She said it was fun.

The next one they got to do was the Zip Line. The kids had to shimmy across a tightrope from the side of the hill to get to the zip line. This was quite intimidating itself. Only 2 kids wanted to do this. One girl was first (Morgan's friend Abigail) and then one of the boys. (same 2 that did the other challenge).

If you look closely you will notice that this is not Morgan, it's me! The chaperons were able to do the challenges if there was time. And since only 2 kids wanted to do it, we had plenty of time.

I was surprised to see these pictures. I had one of the girls walk my camera down for me. Morgan was already at the bottom of the hill. She was working the bike that brought the zip line back up to the top (that would be the set of ropes on the right of the picture). When I got down, she told me that she took pictures for me. What a sweet girl!

Westminster Woods

I went camping with Morgan's 5th grade class at Westminster Woods for 3 days. The girls in my cabin were great! Morgan had a blast. I would definitely recommend going if you ever get the chance.

It rained the first and last day. But that did not stop them. They were still able to do most of the things that were planned in the rain. The first day they went on a hike in the rain and got to kiss a banana slug. Morgan did not kiss one.

After their hike they talked about the things they saw and recorded them in their field journals. they learned the difference between a Redwood and a Douglass fir. Notice how wet Morgan's pants are. Maybe next time I will spring for the rain suit.

The second day it was nice and sunny all day. It was a good thing too, because they were doing their challenge course today. (They would still do it even if it was raining.) They started with a few exercises using communication and team work. Their group was not very good with these skills and did not do very well on some of the exercises. In this one they were supposed to lower the hula hoop to the ground. It kept going up and not down.

This one they did pretty well. They had to lead their partner through the camp, making sure that they did not trip or fall.

This was another game where you had to get all 11 people from your team across the giant vat of "turkey vulture vomit". They were given only 5 boards and someone had to have contact with the boards at all times. If you lost contact with a board, it was taken away. They struggled a lot with this one. They came close but did not quite get it. On these challenge courses the chaperons could not help them at all. It was very hard trying not to help them.

Madison's Family Birthday Party

After making 25 cupcakes for school, 8 mini cakes for the slumber party and an ice cream cake for Dale (which turned out horrible) in the span of 4 days, I was done making cakes.

We had a sundae party instead. No one seemed to mind.

I don't know why she wanted a snake.

Madison finally got her own Nintendogs game. No more sharing with Morgan.

Madison's Baptism

Madison poses at home in her new dress.

Before the baptism with dad.

Here is the after picture with the family.

And we can't forget Grandma and Grandpa!

Another Birthday for Dale

I think the older you get, the smaller and less exciting your gifts get. Unless you were really looking forward to using that new paper shredder.

I made an Oreo ice cream cake for Dale. It looked great, but tasted horrible. I think I got a bad cake mix. The girls would not even eat it, they just licked the frosting off. Sorry Dale!