Fall

Will and his blue eyes.

I have no idea where Ryan gets that from?

One of the many stops along the hike.

Leaves are falling all around... right?  If not, then according to one of my children it is not Fall. Apparently, William believes that the season of Fall is only during the moments that you visually see leaves falling.  I have tried to explain it... but no point in getting into an argument with a four year old.  Luckily for us, there were plenty of leaves on our hike in the local mountains with Grandma Janet.    

This is Halloween!

Our jack-o-latern masterpiece

Reagan, Mrs. Richards, and Ryan at Fall Festival

Kiele, Cara, Janelle, Kathryn, Olivia & Will at Pre-School Halloween Party

We had a great Halloween!

(minus this song) 

My husband loves just about every kind of music... and likes to have it on most of the time.  For the most part I do not mind.  Occasionally... it drives me crazy.  Like, when he is losing his patience waiting for me to be ready to go.  Then when we get in the car - no matter how LATE we are - or- how SHORT of a distance to our destination - he will spend five minutes putting in some tunes.  Seriously, we used to live across the street from the grocery store... and he would still search for some tunes before driving out of the parking lot and crossing the street.

This year he updated Ryan and Will's MP3 players - and the song from the Nightmare Before Christmas "THIS IS HALLOWEEN" is now sung around the house constantly!  I never thought that I would say this BEFORE Thanksgiving - but bring on the Christmas Carols - I'm tired of the one Halloween song that is stuck in my head.

But, we are still loving the fruits of our labor (trick or treating).  We collected candy at five different events this year.  We gorged until our dental cleaning appointments mid November.  I promised Uncle Mark who is on his mission in New Hampshire that I would ship him the rest.  Just what every missionary needs - a serious sugar high!  

 

Our Trip to Big Bear Lake

Will & me trying to stay warm Ryan the cold water lover

        

Kevin a.k.a. Mr. Athletic

Apples... apples...

Will feeding the goats

Ryan with antlers

Ryan, Will and Ryan

We seized upon a great opportunity (a half day of school) to go up to Oak Glen with friends.  Cheryl and I were the Room Parents in kindergarten last year.  Cheryl's boys are the same ages as Ryan and Will.  Our Ryan (Ryan G.) and Ryan T.  have spent countless hours playing alongside Ben & Will... and us mothers have enjoyed watching them, while sitting in the shade and chatting.  At Oak Glen, the kids were content playing with the dirt.  We did manage to have a small picnic, and check out the goats.  We purchased a 5lb. bag of small Granny Smith apples.  Now we need to plan a play date to decorate some carmel apples with m&m's, nuts, and maybe some gummy worms.       

Where the Wild Things Are...

Reminds me of Pinocchio when the boys turn into donkeys

Ryan & Jamie

Kevin and Will on the Safari Tour

A cheetah about 6 ft. from Will

The San Diego Wild Animal Park is one of our favorite places.  We had a ton of fun hanging out with our good friends and checking out all the cool animals over the weekend.  

The elephants were very entertaining!  We saw three little elephants and their mom splashing around in the pool.  My guess is that they were trying to stay cool since the humidity was about 50%.

We also saw, one cheetah out of the cage (on a leash).  The children (and us - the nervous parents) were in the front row... completely excited and terrified at the same time.   

Shout out to the M family - thanks for hooking us up with tickets!  And for being seen in public with the "tourist".  Here are some pictures of our WILD little ones.   

I will go and do, my talk!

Last week Ryan was asked to give a talk about baptism at church.  Being Bonnie - I completely forgot about it.  So an hour before church began, Kevin sits down and types as Ryan dictates her whole talk to him.  Kevin put some images into the document to prompt her when to change the pictures she was holding.  

She read over it once while I was trying to curl under the ends of her hair, which was in pony tails. Unfortunately, we bumped into each other and Ryan got a bad burn on her shoulder.  (First time in over a year that she gave me permission to curl her hair... and now it will be at least another year before she'll let me again).  I seriously felt bad.  I have never burned myself that bad.  It looked very painful.  Ryan took it like a trooper.  We put on the magic spray (Dermoblast), threw on the band aid and made a mad dash to the church building.  

After the sacrament was passed, Ryan asked us if she needed to go up the front and sit down.  We were puzzled for a minute.  Then we realized - she was planning on giving the talk to the whole congregation.  (Moment of stunned silence).  Then we clarified that she would be speaking during Sharing Time in Primary, she just shrugged and said okay.

She was totally ready to give the talk, by herself in front of the entire congregation during the Sacrament Meeting.  How cool is that?  I know grown men who dodge the Bishopric in the halls, and screen phone calls... trying to avoid being asked to give a talk.  And she was willing to do it... with only an hours notice.

During Primary, she stood in front all by herself, and read the entire talk... not missing a single beat.  You ROCK Ryan!

 

Sweet! It's mine turn to go to School.

Okay, I just have to say that William loves Pre-School.  What boy doesn't, right?  After all, on the first day of school his teacher hands him some nails and a hammer.  After pounding way (with my supervision) he created this cool tank/ship with blaster gun on the back.  Nice!!!

But all in all, he loves his teacher and his classmates.  As, do I... it is a parent participation pre-school.  We have met some terrific moms and kids.  They seem like a second family, we love spending time with them, and look forward to getting to know the five new moms & kids that are in the class this year.

School is in full swing!

This picture is of Ryan's first day at her first grade desk.  She is elated that her good friend Reagan sits right next to her.  (I wonder how long that will last, before the teacher has to separate them?)  Ryan was put into the first/second combination class.  I am thankful that learning comes quickly to her because this class is taught on a second grade level.  I am a little apprehensive about her being in this class.  The teacher is great, the children are all very well behaved, but it makes me feel that before I know it she will be a second grader...  and then a teenager.  She is growing up so fast.  I miss rocking my little baby girl to sleep.  I guess I will have to settle for rocking out with her instead... since her favorite song is Move Along by All-American Rejects.  (Not a bad choice.)  Besides, she is only about fifteen inches shorter than me.  So, she can't exactly crawl up into my lap and get comfortable... or at least I'm not.  But, I do cherish it!