Museum Fun, Yeerbo, Cakes and Violin Recital

The week of November 16 was a busy one. Monday set the pace; after hitting the gym, the younger kids and I headed down to the Children's Museum for a fun morning and afternoon. 

On Tuesday, Eli presented his Project of the Future. The assignment was to come up with something he thought would be used in the year 2065 (50 years into the future). His idea was a robot that could find things. We spent a lot of time over the weekend working on it, and the ideas were mostly Eli's, although he had some help in the execution. He did a fantastic job on the presentation. Way to go, Eli!

Wednesday the kids and I went to the mall for a playgroup. One of Justin's members is the company that makes these animal sculptures at the playplace. That evening I had Chorale practice.

Thursday I made a cake for the children's home. The kids are used to helping me in the kitchen, but it was tough to find things they could help with in the decorating phase. Instead, they decorated their own cakes using the excess cake and frosting.  

Saturday was my sister's birthday, so my family went to lunch to celebrate with her. 

Sunday the 22nd was Eli's violin recital. He started with his new teacher about two months ago and already has progressed a lot. His teacher is fantastic and we absolutely love her. Eli did an awesome job at the recital. Way to go again, Eli!

Beginning of November

The first couple weeks of Novemer were pretty laid back. We were all recovering from the excitement of Halloween and our California trip (or at least I was).

We bought a Blendtec blender a few months back and have been enjoying fresh smoothies several times a week. I have been making smoothies for awhile, but with a regular blender, the motor wasn't powerful enough to get through the frozen stuff without a lot of stopping and stirring. It was a huge pain. We are loving the Blendtec!

I found this in a pile of Eli's artwork. I love everything about it, including the fact that I appear to be related to the jack-o-lantern.

The kids and I rode bikes to the park the week after Halloween. You've got to take advantage of the warm days while they last.

The kids got to keep their treats in their trick-or-treat buckets for the first couple weeks after Halloween. They loved getting to pick treats out of them, and Emmeline especially was very attached to her pumpkin and wanted to carry it around everywhere. 

Here Emmeline tells about it.

These pictures were taken on a particularly difficult Sunday morning. Justin usually leaves for church before 10 so I get everyone fed and ready for church alone, which is not always an easy task. When I came upstairs after getting ready, I found Emmeline had gotten into some watercolor paints. It had already been such a morning that all I could do at that point was wave a white flag and grab a camera. One thing I have learned as a parent is to take pictures when your kids wreak havoc on themselves or objects. I still wish I had gotten pictures when Eli took a permanent marker to our couches and furniture right before we moved away from Kansas. 

 Benjy likes to do "Russell hair" (like the Up character) after bath. 

On November 10, Eli had a music program at school. All the K/1 labs participated in the combined music program. They sang a variety of songs, some familiar, some not. I will try to remember to snap a photo of the program when I come across it again.

Halloween

Halloween was a few weeks ago, and we are still eating the spoils of the kids' trick-or-treating. It's threatening to undermine all the hard work I've been doing at the gym...

On Thursday, a couple days before Halloween, Benjy's Joy School had a Halloween party. The moms came for the last half hour to watch the costume parade. The kids were all very cute in their costumes.

Afterward, we had a Halloween-themed potluck. There were mummies (crescent roll wrapped hot dogs), creepy smiles (apples with peanut butter and marshmallows), ghost cheese sticks, pumpkin tangerines, a veggie skeleton, and jack-o'-lantern dip (sundried tomato hummus) with crackers. A surprisingly well-balanced meal for a potluck.

On Friday, Justin had his work Halloween party. His department always does a themed costume contest where they compete with the other departments at his company. This year his department chose to dress as characters from the show Game of Thrones. They assigned Justin to be Jon Snow, who is apparently the good guy. We put together a costume using materials mostly borrowed, but also bought and found. The kids and I went for the party, and Benjy got to be an honorary part of the group.

That afternoon, Eli had his school party, which the kids and I also attended. It was a nonstop party day! Eli's class did games in the classroom next door first. They had four stations- three games and a craft. Then they went back to Eli's classroom for snacks and treats.

This year, Eli didn't have a strong opinion about what he wanted to be, so I coordinated the kids' costumes around Benjy's dragon costume. Who knows how many years I will be able to do that!

 Our frighteningly cute dragon, knight in shining armor, and beautiful princess.

Saturday was Halloween. Our church had trunk-or-treat at noon that day, so the kids trunk-or-treated in the daylight. There were food tables and game tents set up outside. The weather was beautiful, so it worked out great.

The kids loved having their faces painted. They also loved taking "hay rides" around the parking lot in wagons pulled by the young men and young women.

 One of our home teachers and his family.

That night, we set out before dark to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. We started out with just us but ran into some neighbors and ended up trick-or-treating with them.

Benjy and Emmie lasted about 45 minutes and were done, so I took them home while Justin went further with Eli. He got quite a haul! Way too much candy, of course, but what would Halloween be without it?

Vacation Wrap Up: Knott's and the Beach

Almost there... the end is in sight... Friday we went to Knott's Berry Farm in Anaheim. After the crowds at Disney, it was a pleasant shock to have the park almost to ourselves. We got to walk onto practically every ride that day. My aunt Kris, who lives in Riverside, met up with us that day, but I failed to any pictures with her! :( We didn't take our camera that day, so we just have a few photos from our phones.

The park has a Peanuts-themed kids area with lots of kid-friendly rides. We even got to see some Peanuts characters throughout the day.

 

 

We rode some serious thrill rides and roller coasters that day! One roller coaster went from 0 to 60 (?) mph in just a few seconds flat. The vertical drop ride was also super crazy-intense! 

One highlight was watching Justin do the NBA challenge shooting contest. He only had I think 30 seconds to make a bunch of 3-point shots from different places around the arc. It looked way hard but he managed to get some baskets. Go Justin!

 Last ride of the day.

We had dinner that night at El Torito, which I mention by name because the food was so incredible. I had spinach enchiladas, which may not sound appetizing, but they were truly a culinary masterpiece, as was everything else around the table. Definitely a destination if we are ever in the neighborhood again! (*edited: Justin kept meticulous track of the meals we had while on vacation, and I didn't want his efforts to go to waste:)

On Saturday, we headed back down to San Diego where our flight would be departing. On our way, we stopped at Oceanside to spend a few hours at the beach. 

 

 

 

 Emmeline was so excited to go to the beach, but pretty early on she decided she did not like the water rushing up at her. She maintained a safe distance for the remainder of our stay.

Brad and Eli dug a pit that could have swallowed Benjy whole! They probably got about halfway to China, by my estimates.

 

That evening we flew back to Denver on the late flight. What a great trip we had! So many fun places and great memories; so much delicious food and family time. Having my family there to provide extra hands and spend time with the kids really added to the enjoyment of it all. We will certainly remember this trip for years to come!