Snow Day!

We got SNOW! 

Well  not at our house, but about 10 minutes away in Lake Mathews!  It was so Awesome! John's sister Anna heard that there was snow close by so she took some of the kids for a drive to find it. Then we decided to let all the kids experience it! None of my kids had ever been in the snow before. I know that is CRAZY! Charles is 9 and had not even touched real snow. But they finally got to and we didn't even have to go too far. When they got all cold and wet (Because us Southern Californians don't have any snow gear) we just drove the 10 minutes back to our house and warmed up. It was great!!!!

Jillian's Nogin

Jillian was in the pantry and pulled a huge can of pineapple juice down on her head. She nailed it pretty good. Luckily no blood or cuts. I noticed a few days later that she had this huge goose egg showing up on her head. And it was kind of squishy. I made an appointment with the doctor and she said as long as it didn't get worse she should be fine. But it could a a skull fracture. I waited a few days and could not tell if it was worse or better. So I took her in for the x-ray any. She did good despite being strapped to the x-ray machine. We found out a few days later that all was well. No skull fracture! Hooray!!!!

These pictures make it look small. But believe me it was a pretty big bump. 

Christmas decorating & COOKIES

The kids always enjoying decorating the Christmas tree. I LOVE to see them enjoy the little things of each holiday. And they really do enjoying doing things together.

Grandma Anderson has a Christmas cookie tradition. Every year we get together and make lots and lots of cookies and treats to share with friends and neighbors. It gets harder and harder every year to get together to do this. But the kids always LOVE it!

Claudia Sings!

Claudia's preschool class did a Christmas concert it was ADORABLE! I wish I could print the videos. She LOVES to sing!

Madison's Birthday

Baseball Life

Charles played Little League again this season which made for LOTS of FUN

 times at the baseball park.

Charles is finally starting to blossom on the field. This season he had some pretty Amazing coaches. Charles got to play infield a lot and got lots and lots of hits. He even got a triple one game. He came home so happy!!! 

His cousin Nathan played also this year but was on a different team.

 These are photos of Charles batting his cousin Nathan catching! So Awesome!!!!

  

We even enjoyed many meals there. 

We always try to come well prepared with lots of things for the girls to do. Aunt Jennie is pretty great about supplying the art stuff. 

This season was one of the BEST seasons for Charles. He had some AMAZING coaches and really blossomed as a player. He got lots of hits and did some great fielding work. He got to play both outfield and infield.  His team WON the Championships.

We have a crawler!!!! Yikes!!!

I'm not sure how all this happened but Jillian is growing up WAY Way too FAST!!!! She turns 6 months old at the end of this week but is on her way to being a toddler. She is still tiny like all my babies. But she full on crawls, sit up on her own, and will even pull herself to standing. What is this MADNESS!! How do I slow it down??

She crawled for the 1st time on her 5 month birthday!

Mission San Luis Reyes

For Charles' 4th Grade mission project we decided to go visit the mission while we were on Thanksgiving break. We invited Aunt Goo and got a hotel for the night in the area. The mission Charles chose was Mission San Luis Reyes. Aunt Goo teaches 4-6th grade and she has made it a personal goal to visit ALL the California missions. She hadn't been to Mission San Luis Reyes yet so we were happy to have her join us and to help her work towards her goal. 

We drove down to Oceanside stayed at a hotel. Then the next day we headed over to the Mission. Mission San Luis Reyes is one of the only missions that is still an active fully functioning mission. It was neat to learn more about it. It wasn't as entertaining as the kids thought it would be but it was a good experience for them and Charles was able to get some good information for his project. 

There was Mass going on when we arrived.

Halloween

Halloween as always was full of lots of Festivities!!!

 We started with a parade and activities at the Disney Store with my brother Justin and his family. The girls and I went while Charles was at Baseball. It was a fun little event.

Some of the girls costumes weren't ready for this event so they wore old costumes. 

Below are their actual costumes for this year.

Charles- Old Man, Claudia- Sheriff Callie, Madison- Rapunzel, Jillian- Frog, & Katelyn- Indian, complete with a papoose for her baby

Next up....

Grandma Garthe's Annual work Halloween Party!  

This is one of the kids Favorite Halloween events!

Followed by... 

Ward Trunk-o-Treating and Parade

 

 

 

Cousin Kaylee and my parents joined us at the Trunk-o-treat

  

Then...Pumpkin Carving with the Garthe Clan

 Next... Claudia had a Costume parade a preschool. They all looked so cute!

She was so EXCITED to wear her costume to school and show Mrs. Heather.

Finally.... Halloween Day! We enjoyed dinner with family and friends and then trick or treating.