Tricks or Treats?

This year we went Trick or Treating before the Branch Halloween party. As usual we ended up with way to much candy, but I don't hear any kids complaining!

We got 6 out 7 to look at the camera...not bad!
Matt and I stuck in the 80's

The boys actually left on their hats the whole time we trick or treated and during the whole party. It was so awesome to watch them crawl around and see their "hair" bob up and down! Makes me giggle!!

Our spooky Halloween dinner this year was Hair spiders with worms served with a side of Frog-eye salad with boomallows.

A what?

All of them looking!

Anya as "The Cat" with her Things

Cora was a fairy

Hannah reprised the role Anya played several years ago as Pikachu from Pokemon

My last minute costume, something between a Gypsy and Pirate. My Branch party costume as an 80's girl was much better :)

Anya lasted about 5 minutes pushing them around.

I just have to say, they were sooooo cute!!!

The cutest Things ever, if I don't says so myself.

Trick-or-Treating aftermath.

Let the sugar buzz begin!

Carving Away

Below are pictures of our pumpkin carving fest. It was a blast! We carved 5 pumpkins, one for each kid, Dad and Mom "helped" carve Jack and Hunter's pumpkins. We had a great time trying to keep the boys away from carving knives, out of pumpkin goo and any other mischief they might try. What an adventure, but we ended up with some mighty fine pumpkins!

After all the carving was done we made some crunchy eyeball cookies (donated and thanks to our good friends the Throcks). While eating our cookies we watched our annual pumpkin carving cartoon "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown".

It doesn't get much better then that!

School Days with Cora

A little belated, but here are some pictures of our big Kindergartner. It was very hard for me to let her go to school for most of the day this year. She was always my buddy, since she was a baby she was the only one home because big sisters were in school. It has always been her and me hanging out, and I find the day a little bit lonely without my Cori around. Not too lonely, the boys keep me busy, but that doesn't keep me from missing my Cora girl.

She was super excited to go to big girl school though!

Coming home on the bus. One of my favorite parts of the day is meeting her at the bus stop and then walking to the park!

The Boys

So I just went on and on about the girls in my bragging corner, and I mustn't neglect my boys! This isn't really a bragging post, just more of an "in case you wanted to know" post. I thought I would just tell you there 1 year stats. and how they are doing with their milestones. They are monsters already!! But really, I wouldn't have it any other way, it means they are developing well and thinking and doing basic problem solving, and exploring. So Monsters is good!

JACK is still the biggest out of the two, although he didn't start out that way. He just loves to eat, he will pretty much eat anything we give him. His one year stats he was 21 pounds 11 ounces and 30 inches tall. He is in the 34% for weight, so still one of our smaller babies. But he is proportional to his height, so we are not worried. He does the speed crawl like a pro, loves to walk around any furniture he can, has walked from one piece of furniture to the other when it is very close, loves going up the stairs (he thinks he is so tricky when he gets to do this...you can hear him just giggling away while he climbs), loves to eat and has taken to the sippy cup wonderfully, has a fetish for hitting and banging things, found a pen and drew all over his Dad's leather recliner (the stinker! first one of our kids to draw on furniture!) he throws fits already by kicking his legs really hard when he is not happy. Has a mind that is just clicking away...you can literally watch it click...what can I do next...! But he is so sweet, and still loves his before night time cuddles with his mama.

HUNTER is the smallest, although he was the biggest when they were born. He is very picky, it is a constant struggle to find something that he will eat! Most times I will give him a spoonful of something and he will just spit it out, or if I put it on his tray he will just throw it off without even trying it! Drives me crazy! He has taken well to sippy cups, thank goodness!! He weighed in at 19 pounds and 13 ounces and is 29 1/2 inches tall. He hasn't grown much since we last weighed him and he has dropped from the 12% in weight down to the 8% for weight. He has to go in for another weight check in a month, but he looks healthy and he is not emaciated or anything...so we are not overly concerned. He is very emotional, when he is excited or mad he will clench his fists out to the side and start grunting loud and high pitched. It is very funny. He loves books, he loves to just sit and look at the pictures, and he is very careful with the pages. If he is being quiet and I don't know where he is, I can usually find him by the bookshelves with a book in his lap. He loves cuddles and anything soft and cozy. He will hold, squeeze it and rub it on his face and say "ahhhhh". so cute! He crawls everywhere, was the first to learn how to go up stairs. Stands and yells at the baby gates like he is in jail, likes to crawl and get stuck in impossible spaces, walks around furniture and loves to walk behind his push toy. He loves outside, and walks, and watching out the car window. he gives loves, and loves to wave bye bye. he still loves his night time cuddles with his mama too!

They are so much fun to watch together. Right now they are both playing on our huge bean bag chair, seeing who can yell "ahhh" the loudest and just laughing and giggling at each other. They love to be next to each other, I often find them crawling around together around the house...each taking a turn leading and then following. They love to touch each other, if they are sitting they are right next to each other, almost on top of one another, or their hand is on the others leg or arm. They race across the great room together, and put their hands through their crib rails at night so they can have contact with each other at night (Jack pinches, its a comfort thing with him, so we can't have them in the same bed because he was pinching Hunter and waking him all night long!) However, we are noticing some rivalry surfacing. They always want the toy the other one has...sometimes that's ok, at other times it is not ok and causes a fuss. Matt has taught them to wrestle, hilarious! They are not walking yet, but I am not pressing them to walk either. I feel like when they start to walk...they are grown up and not my babies any longer. I want to prolong their babyhood for as long as I can, since I know they are our last babies. So I am good if they don't want to walk anytime soon and we just love having them in our family.

They complete us!

Bragging Corner

I don't usually brag about my kids. I believe that everyone feels like their kids are the awesomest kids on the planet, so why brag...you won't convince them that your kid is more awesome!

However, we just had Parent Teacher Conferences, and I just have to brag! My kids are doing so exceptionally well, and I am so proud of them, I just can't resist!

First off, ANYA, our little genius...is doing fantastic this year. As if there were any doubt that she would. She is in 5th grade and is still participating in California's gifted program. She is doing amazing things this year, I am so impressed. She reads over 200 words per minute (I say over because her teacher stopped counting after 200...) and gets perfect scores on her comprehension tests. She reads at a 12.9 grade level already. She is advanced in mathematics as well, and her teacher said that she will be ready to start an Algebra class when she goes to 6th grade. She gets along well with peers, and is making new friends. Her BFF moved this past summer, and it was hard for her to recover from that, but it looks like she slowly is. This May she will get to go to science camp with her class for a week, and she has already earned more then half her money. She is so excited!

Way to go Anya, your a super star!

HANNAH, is the one that I always worry about. She doesn't mind school except when it conflicts with her opinion of how something should be...then she has a problem with school! Very opinionated, that one is! She is doing phenomenal this year. Her reading and math skill have just taken off!! She is in 3rd grade and doing great. She is reading at a 4th grade level, but her fluency and comprehension are awesome! She can read 140 words per minute and ace her comprehension tests (to put it in perspective, they like to see kids be able to read over 120 WPM by the end of 5th grade...so she is doing over and beyond) She is doing well in Math too, she has learned all her multiplication tables, and loves to do science. I am most impressed with her conduct at school. This year she has been great, respectful and willing to learn!

You are amazing Hannah!

CORA, my little Kindergartner, is doing fantastic too! We sat down with her teacher, and she pretty much said she didn't know what to say. Cora had already surpassed everything she is required to know to move onto 1st grade...and it is only the 1st quarter . She can count to 100, knows all her numbers out of order, knows all her letters (upper and lower) out of order and the sounds, and she can sound out words. She also understands all the basic mathematical concepts. So her teacher said that she has moved Cora to a harder reading level book, and works with her separately on that, but as far as she is concerned that is all extra...she is already ready for 1st grade. I love this age of discovery when they are learning to read. How exciting and new it is when they figure out words on their own and they are so proud that they didn't need help. Everyday Cora comes up to us and says "guess what, I just learned how to read this word, it says...". I love it. I love that my kids love to learn, and are excited about it. I know that probably won't always be the case, so I am really enjoying this time!

Good job Cora, you are such a super reader!!

Ok, that is it, I have tortured you all long enough...for the few that made it past "bragging". I just am so grateful for my kids and family and the adventure they bring into my life. I don't know what I would do without them! I love them so much and am so proud of each of them!

Keep up the good work guys!

San Fransico for Labor Day

For Labor day weekend this year we went to San Francisco. Matt needed to go for work, he does some recruiting there at Stanford and Golden Gate Universities. Since he was going, and it was paid for, we tagged along...yet again. Does that sound familiar? It was an awesome trip, and the kids had so much fun!

Here are some of us on the boat. We took a bout tour of the bay area. It went out under the golden gate bridge and swung back around Alcatraz. We all loved it, even though it was cool weather. For a bonus, no one got sick!

Cora on the boat with San Francisco in the background

Hannah on the boat with a little bit of the old Presidio in the back ground.

Anya on the boat with San Fran in the background

Going under the Golden Gate

While in San Francisco we had to ride an historic Cable car. Here we all are crammed in one, and we all fit! We rode it up to the cable car museum and then got off. The museum was really cool, we could see the cables working and running, as the go underground. It was a real, working museum. Fascinating

We love sour dough bread, so we stopped at Boudine's Sour dough company, and Hannah had to have a Sour dough sea turtle! He was almost too cute to eat, but he did taste great!

ooh, Chocolate.

What is a stop in San Francisco without stopping at Ghiradelli's for some chocolate. You can sit there all day and just eat samples, they give out so many!

Us girls love our chocolate!

Walking on the Golden Gate bridge.

we saw lots of Sea lions popping out of the water, and one dolphin.

It was a fun weekend, we might be going back this January (again for Matt's work), if we do...I am sure we will find lots more to explore!

Anya's soccer debute!

Spartans
Ft. Irwin 2010, fall soccer season

Anya played soccer this year! She did great and learned a lot. Her first game she had no clue what she was doing, or even really how to play soccer. Kicking a ball was a challenge as well. Her last game she made some of the star kicks, like in the air, clear across the field kicks. She did this more then once, and totally new how to play the game. She understood strategy, and defended her position wonderfully. Way to go Anya, we are sure proud of you!!

Pumpkin Hunting

We found the most amazing Pumpkin Patch on Saturday. A dear friend had told us about it, and we decided to go and check it out. It was the perfect fall day, kind of cloudy, and blustery...perfect for pumpkin hunting!

Here are the kids...Cora didn't look that happy, but she really was very excited to be there!

All the boys wanted to do was eat their pumpkins


Anya searched and searched, and finally she found the "perfect" pumpkin! Jeppson perfect isn't "perfect", we like our pumpkins to have some character. Anya's is kind of pear shaped, but the best is the stem. It kind of had a fuzzy top...very cool.

oops!

Hannah still searching

Her only criteria was that her pumpkin be the biggest...always the competitive one.

Jack liked the grass

What do you see Hunter?

There was a bunch of activities, bounce houses and other things for the kids to do. We let them each pick one thing to do. Hannah and Cora both wanted to go in a bounce house. Anya, however, wanted to go through the Corn Maze. So while the girls bounced, Anya, Dad and the boys went through the corn maze together.

What a fun day! And we all found the perfect pumpkins, so it was a success. At the end of the day, I discovered that Hannah was trying to smuggle a bunch of lady bugs home in her pocket. The lady bugs had a different plan!

We LOVE the fall!!

The Boys Birthday Celebration!

Well, it happened, despite my trying to prevent it...Our boys turned 1!

These are our last babies, so I have been trying to hang on to their babyhood. Enjoying, Cherishing, drinking in their babyhood. But, it all comes to an end eventually...and today they became 1 year olds, opening the page of toddler hood.

It was an exciting day, a fun day, but I remember how small they used to be, and now they are such big strong boys. I love it! I love them! Surprisingly, I have loved the experience this past year has been! We are so glad that Jack and Hunter are part of our lives. To celebrate the big "1", we had a big party. We invited all the volunteers that helped us make it through pregnancy, bed rest, and the first year. We had a big pizza party, everyone made their own pizzas, and then cake and Ice cream of course. It was Grand! Below are a few pictures we took...

Hunter helping me decorate
Jack, seeing his brother helping, decided to get in on the decorating action.

Happy Birthday Jack

Happy Birthday Hunter

(they wouldn't keep their hats on for the party...these pictures I snapped real quick the day after, while they were playing around)

The birthday cake everyone shared

Jack's 1st birthday cake

Notice his initals

Hunter's 1st birthday cake

complete with his initals also

Happy Birthday to you, Jack

Happy birthday to you, Hunter

we sang the song to each boy, seperately. They each deserve their own special moment and candle to blow out.

Jack LOVED his cake. He immediately started eating it. Picking up big chunks and taking bites.

Hunter loved demolishing his cake. He didn't eat too much, mostly he enjoyed smooshing it and smearing the crumbs and frosting around. He did take some tastes though.

Jack is all done

Hunter on a slight sugar rush

The boys opening some presents

Jack pushing his car he got from the Overton Grands.

Hunter enjoying the tee set they got from Mom and Dad.

(we are questioning our judgement in getting them a bat...weapon...for their birthday. One of the first things they discovered was hitting each other's heads with the bat...hmmm!)


It was a great day, full of great celebration.

These two boys have greatly blessed our lives and we are so in love with them!\

Happy Birthday Boys!