Happy Halloween!

Yes, apparently we carved our pumpkins too early. Of course it didn't help to have them sitting in 90 degree heat either. Well, now they are super spooky, icky, and scary!

Fall Festival

Just a little gathering at the community center. Jack was proud to be in a REAL fire engine and not just the plastic one he sleeps in. And the girls love carnival games...I like them when they're FREE!

Our "New" Used Van

Well, the old van was needing some repairs and since it was 10 years old we decided to replace it with this 2006 Honda Odyssey. Looks and feels like new to us and will provide us with some comfortable (and safe) cruising for our up coming road trips.

"Cali" meets "Guns"

The dogs enjoy meeting new neighbors too...The kids wanted to know why Guns wants to sniff Cali's butt all the time!

Jack-O-Lanterns

We carved our pumpkins this weekend. The kids are still too small to be using kitchen knives, but they chose the design they wanted and they helped to "gut" the pumpkins. Jack wanted the Storm Trooper, Paige wanted the dragon and Emily wanted the skeleton.

Our Very Busy Saturday

Paige won an award for most original costume.

Emily singing Yellow Submarine.

Jack liked this boy because he got to squeeze his "heart".

We started off with Paige's soccer game. Unfortunately they lost 2-1, but they played well. Paige took a shot to the face and her glasses got pushed against her nose. Luckily her skin didn't break-not to mention the glasses. Then we hurried home to change clothes and go to a party. It was Emily's friend, Summer, who was having a birthday and I am also friends with her mom (we play Bunco together). I agreed to make Summer's birthday cookies (she's not a big cake fan). It was a fun party as there were almost 100 people there! There was a scavenger hunt, crafts, caramel apples, and karaoke for the kids. Then we had to change again and go to Emily's soccer game. It was pretty exciting- tied 1-1. Paige and Jack ran around being fun mascots in their bat costumes.

Two of my Pups- Jack & Cali

I know Cali thinks she's one of the kids and up until about 6 months ago, she acted like one of them. Now that she's 2 years old, she has started to mellow out and and is now one of the care takers. We never would have dreamed that she'd be such a great indoor dog. She has never been naughty while we're out. When we're home her weaknesses are the kid's food and stuffed animals- although she is getting better at controlling those urges too.

Google Ads

You might have noticed...I put some google ads on my blog. I just wanted to see what would happen and if anyone really made any money off of them. Well, so far there has been 3 clicks on the ads which made me about $0.30 per click...pretty cool. So if you want to help a stay home mom make a $1 a week...click away :) Anyway, Google keeps track of the number of visits to the site and everything, so that's pretty interesting too. They also "crawl" the site to make relevant ads. So when I have a post about Paige getting glasses, there's ads about eye care. And since I had a blog about going to the Price is Right, there was an ad about the Price is Right video game. Since my kids' names run throughout the ad, at the bottom of my page there are links to things that share my kids names...like "Emily the Strange". Anyway, it's an interesting experiment and I'll keep them up there at least till I see my first check! :)

Beach Walk ( AKA: Affordable Entertainment)

Snuggle

Jack doesn't normally cuddle up to Emily, so I made sure I caught it on camera...People always tell me that Emily and Paige look alike, but I think Emily and Jack look a lot alike.

Jack-Jack Nap Attack

Every once in a while Jack's week catches up to him and he crashes wherever he happens to be. This worked out well for us this time as we were preparing for company.

Papa's 81st Birthday

Sarah baked this big oatmeal cookie...it was quite tasty!

Fire, Fire, Fire!

It's that time of year again. There have been several fires on base since last week. Luckily, we haven't really been affected by them and so far no houses have been burned down. Jack's preschool is closed (because it is in one of the housing areas that got evacuated). The back gate has been closed since yesterday afternoon. This is a picture I took from our back patio.

Big Truck Entertainment

Apparently there was been a water leak under the road on this street for quite some time. A couple days ago they finally dug it up and fixed it...which is a big relief to us because the gutter was constantly wet which led to slippery yucky algae. Well, Jack and I (and his friend next door)spent quite a lot of time just watching the big trucks work. Amazingly, they've already fixed and filled the hole. Jack is going to miss his friend, Garrett, when he moves in the next couple weeks. Garrett has already asked if Jack can go to Japan with him.

Huntington Beach