FHE Halloween Party

For the last few years Jeff's mom has invited us over for a little Halloween party the Monday before Halloween. It is so much fun to get dressed up, play games and eat yummy foods!


Jeff LOVES to dress up. He has had some pretty good costumes over the years. This is pretty hilarious, Patrice saw this costume at Target. He made me go out and find it ASAP! Here is our family......



Can you tell who he is???? Yep Michael Jackson is back from the dead....atleast for Halloween!

Our cute little monkey...I am so in love with his costume this year!


Some of the group....as you can Ryder loves his costume!!


Grandpa and Grandma with the boys!


Jeff and I!


Somehow it always ends in a little whip cream fight!


We of course played find the bubblegum in the whip cream. Noah wasn't sure about it but finally braved it.



It was so fun! I can't wait until Halloween. I just love this time of year!!

Family Weekend!

Phew I am exhausted! We had a VERY fun and busy weekend! On Saturday Grammy and Grampy came down to watch Noah's soccer game. This was actually the third game. I think it is so funny to watch. Noah is a crack up. The first game he was playing and was all upset he kept trying to pick up the ball finally he grabbed and brought it over to Jeff on the sideline, he didn't want the kids to use his ball! It was really funny and I still laugh. Later in that game he just walked off and sat down and was like I am done. But Saturday he was tired so he just sat in the middle of the field. He is such a funny guy. Soccer makes him so exhausted after every game he has taken a three hour nap! Score for Mom and Dad!


After the game we took my parents down to San Clemente to get my Dad some Rainbow sandals. We had some lunch and then went down to the pier to walk around. The boys think that the pier was so fun!





There were these HUGE Pelicans hanging out on the pier trying to grab peoples fish while they were fishing.

After nice long naps we took the boys out front to ride bikes, Noah is FINALLY getting the hang of his big bike. We tried to contain Ryder by setting him on a bike too. It didn't last long. This kid refuses to walk and it is driving me bananas!!



Ryders favorite thing to do around the house it to pull EVERYTHING off the book shelf. A few times this week Jeff came home to this. I got sick of putting it back so I just waited until he went to bed!

But seriously who could get mad at that face.....

And finally yesterday we went to Temecula to go and see the newest Rath boy. Anderson Levi was born on Friday! Cari is AMAZING she did it with absolutely NO drugs. My mom called my like at 1 and said her water broke and she was going to the hospital. The next phone call was around 3 that she was starting to push and he was here about 3:30! So crazy!

Congratulations Sam and Cari! He is such a doll! I am not going to lie for a split second this made me want to have one, then after hearing the birth story and seeing the utter exhaustion that comes from a new baby I am happy to say I think I am MORE than happy with my three crazy boys!

Fall at Disneyland!

Last night we met up at Disneyland with Ryan and Missy. I love fall at Disneyland, I only wish it was cooler. It didn't get cold enough for me to get my favorite hot chocolate =( Maybe next time! Grandma Jody offered to keep Ryder so I headed up with Noah and Sawyer before everyone got off of work. It was a great afternoon. I was amazed how easy it was with only two kids!

First we had to go to California Adventure....I love this age of my kids the BELIEVE everything! Noah really thinks that the candy corn grows in the ground like they have it at California Adventure....so cute!


We of course had to hit up the Bugs life movie!



Noah had fun taking pictures of mommy and Sawyer.....


The boys asked about every twenty minutes when Ryan and Missy were going to get there.....we tortured them with the jungle cruise.....I think Sawyer knew that Missy would be sad that we didn't have the baby so he made sure to act like a baby so she wouldn't feel left out. He kept asking Missy if he could hold her....which is what he says when he wants to be held!



Us waiting for the haunted mansion....


Visiting Jack on the Haunted Mansion....


Sawyer was EXHAUSTED!


We had and awesome time and can't wait to go back again VERY soon!

Lemon Festival

On Friday I went with Jody and Patrice up to Santa Barbara, I didn't know if we were going to make it, Friday morning Ryder had a high fever, luckily Jeff was able to leave a little bit early and take care of him, he got shots the day before and had a slight reaction. Lucky for Jeff he was pretty mellow all day!


First stop was lunch of course.......the desserts were the best part! When we got to the restraunt we realized Patrice's camera was dead, and I left the memomry card in the lap top. Luckily I got a few pictures on my phone, I need to get copies from Jody and Patrice.


On our way....Patrice was a great driver!

Friday we did our favorite thing lots of shopping!!! The outlets where a little dissapointing this year...it was too hot!!!!! Luckily once we got to Santa Barbara we were able to do some cooler shopping. We went to this yummy place for Italian dinner. They have the best pasta with chicken and white sauce artichoke hearts...mmmm it is making me hungry just thinking about it.
The sad thing about SB is there is a lot of homeless people, this year especially with the economy. There were so many young kids, it is heart wrenching to see. It really humbles you. Jody and Patrice had a great idea of making a few bags of food to give to people we saw on the beach. The people we gave them to were so grateful, it was a great experience, something I will never forget. I am glad Jody and Patrice are such good examples!
We head to Santa Barbara for the lemon festival....again this is the only picture I got there but it was so fun to look at the different booths and have delicious lemon ice cream!


Our drive back home....it is so beautiful!!!


It was so nice to go away and get a little break with the girls. Jeff took great care of the boys and I think they all hardly noticed I was gone. That's how great of a dad Jeff is!! Thanks everyone it was so fun!!

Painting Pumpkins

Jeff and I haven't carved pumpkins in our whole married life. I guess I just have never been a fan of the huge mess and then the fact that they just rot. So when I saw this idea on a blog I knew it would be fun. We picked out pumpkins and painted them for family night on Monday. The boys loved it and thought it was so fun. Our plan is to do carving this year, but at least these give us something fun to look at!

Jeff's pirate pumpkin


Noah and his "scary" pumpkin.....


Sawyer calls his a pirate too.....


My self portrait pumpkin....haha


It was such a fun thing to do as a family. Definitely a tradition for our family.

Family Campout 09 Edition

First Happy 18th Michael Man! Wow that just makes me feel old!! We love you!


Ever October my Mom's family gets together to go camping.....(family why do we choose October?? I vote for the summer.....I am so not a cold fan) Not that I should get a say we didn't actually spend the night. But we still came down for a bit to have some fun. Noah, Sawyer and Jeff headed down to the beach, they had a blast watching Uncle Greg and Uncle Sam caught some really cool sharks and squids. I opted to stay at camp and play some games with Heather and Cari, and by the way thanks for the farkle intro I am now addicted!

Jeff and I around the campfire....


Thanks LuLu and Owen for the Glo sticks!!!


I had to chase Sawyer to get a photo....still cute.


My Barnacle...people tell me he doesn't whine and cry if I am not there but when I am around he wants to be attached...I do love it though. (most of the time)


In Aunt Leslie's fake glasses....


Getting into the Rath's yummy snacks....

Cousins......

Autumn in the tree....

Boys in nature must be heaven to them!


Thanks family for the fun day....maybe next year I can talk Jeff into staying the night. We do average every other year!

This is what falling off the wagon looks like....

Yep he has a paci in his mouth. And ask me if I care. Because this morning I totally don't. Sawyer for the past few weeks has been getting up 3-6 times a night. He is screaming waking up the entire house trying to turn the tv on blah blah blah.
On most nights poor Jeff deals with him. But last night he came to my side of the bed. After the fourth time I couldn't go back to sleep....but I will say it was nice to just sit and listen to the rain.....SO calming.

He was the first one up this morning and he will hardly take a nap even though he needs one to get through the day. So when he found his old paci this morning Jeff told him we didn't care. And he has had it all morning.....if it helps him sleep he can have until 12 for all I care. We will see how the night goes. He has always missed the paci....he sees babies with one and just wants to steal....sorry to my friends with babies. But now he has his own. I think Jeff wants sleep, I can't function with out it. And he is solo this weekend so hey why not. Mom and Dad don't judge me I KNOW you hate the paci, but I am all about making life easier. Even if he does look like a four year....with a paci.....Oh and while we are on the subject of my stellar parenting....I gave up potty training. So my kid will be the one with a paci and a diaper in kindergarten. (Really I am hoping to try all of these things once he is three) I feel like he got robbed of being a baby because he was a big brother so young.

And ps.... I know I will regret this later that is why I am posting this now so I will remember it was an act of desperation.

And this is for you Patrice.....the boys had fun putting these on the windows...and kept saying that they love there Aunt Trice.....Thanks for the Halloween fun!!