Happy Birthday John!

John celebrated a big birthday this year. Let's just say it rhymes with "shorty". =P We had a nice party with family. He got a turkey frier and an 18 year old bottle of wiskey. Sounds like a dangerous combination!

Happy Thanksgiving

Claire had fun getting ready for Thanksgiving at pre-school. First they learned about the Indians and had a pow-wow where they dressed up, ate Indian food and danced.
Then they learned about the Pilgrims and had a Thanksgiving feast. Claire did a prayer for our family where she was thankful for "houses, horses and family". Later we learned that we cut her off before she could give thanks for pigs.

That turkey sure takes a long time to cook! The girls and their cousin passed the time playing and watching a DVD on the smallest screen in the house.

But the wait was worth it! Gotta love those turkey legs!

Being turkeys with Aunt Kim:

First Grade Picture

We got Emily's first grade portraits today. Isn't she cute!!?? She decided after she got them back that she wanted one of the other backgrounds - a library, beach scene, forest, etc. But I like just being able to see her.
Also, she lost her 2nd tooth last night. She didn't put it under her pillow though because she wanted to show it to everyone at Thanksgiving dinner. Lucky for our family, the tooth fairy will come tonight and she can just talk about it instead.

Happy Halloween!

It was a "super" Halloween at our house this year. Claire had a fun party at school where they carved a pumpkin and trick-or-treated to each of the classrooms. Emily's school has a Halloween parade where all the kids march around the playground blacktop and show off their costumes to the rest of the school. Halloween night some friends came to have dinner and trick or treat with us. It was a little odd heading out before it was totally dark (darn Daylight Savings Time!) but the kids came back with a good haul of candy.

Oak Glen

After worrying for a few days about the air quality from the SoCal firestorm, we decided to head up to the mountains for a taste of fall and APPLES! Oak Glen is known for its apple orchards and generally being a great place to go for a day trip. The girls had a ball collecting acorns from all the oak trees. We took a nice walk around a nature preserve. Unfortunately, Claire lost her sunglasses in the pond while looking at a fish. Could have been worse we suppose! Of course, we had to stop by the pumpkin patch since it was just a few days before Halloween. This time we were able to leave without a pumpkin. Our own personal patch at home was quite full already.

They're Growing Like Weeds!

Emily and Claire saw their doctor this week. They are both totally healthy (yay!) and growing like mad. Claire is now 35 pounds and 40.5 inches. Emily is "square" at 48 inches and 48 pounds.

September's Student of the Month

Emily is off to a great start this year! For being a hard worker and setting a good example to others in her class, she was named Student of the Month. We are so proud of her!