Last week the kids and I made a road trip to visit some family and friends down south. We had a great time - we got to see Great Grandpa and Grandma Parkinson, Uncle Roger, Aunt Janet, Cousin Olivia, Cousin Haley, their cute puppies, The Backlund Family, and my momma (Tutu to the kids)! The kids had a blast at Lego Land and the beach, but most of all they just had fun with their friends and family. We love all of you and miss you lots!

Lil' Princesses!

There are some things that we buy for our kids that are a huge waste, but this one was really priceless! I took Keilani to Disney's Princesses on Ice a couple of weeks ago with 2 of her best buddies. She didn't take her eyes of the stage the entire time! She was totally enthralled. I'm sure it's something she wont forget! Before the show, we went to Applebees (Kids eat free!) to make it a complete "girls night out!"

Trophy #2

Jacob finished year 2 of soccer. He had a great time this year and he really performed well. Next year he moves up to the big leagues- Under 8s with real game rules on Saturdays. It will be crazy next year- Keilani will start playing on Friday nights too. 2 different practice days and 2 different game days!

Fall Fun!

We've been busy celebrating fall the last few weeks! We went to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm in Wheatland with some friends- it was incredible!! That will definitely be our new tradition. It had so much fun stuff for the kids - and the pumpkins were only a few dollars a piece ($2-$4).
We also helped out and played at the Greenhouse's annual Harvest Carnival. Jeff donated the hot dogs and our life group manned the craft table.
Unfortunately my camera battery died after 1 picture on Halloween night. So, I have one picture of Meigan trick or treating- it is a cute one- but I'm a little sad that I didn't get pics of the other 2. Oh well, next year!






:)

Happy Halloween!!

Here are the kids' costume picks this year: Strawberry Shortcake, Apple Dumpling, and Lego Wii Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Exploratorium

Last week we ventured to San Francisco for a free day at the Exploratorium. The drive was fine and the kids behaved really well. They had a lot of fun with all the hands-on experimenting. One of their favorites was the room that "took a picture" of your shadow. They also liked the Alice in Wonderland room and the earthquake table. We didn't make it upstairs, so I guess we'll have to go again sometime!

Recent pics:
They're so cute. For real.

Lil' Gymnast and a Soccer Star!

This summer I asked Keilani if she wanted to do ballet or gymnastics. She did "fairytale ballet" about 3 times and loved it. But, one week the ballet room was closed and they let Keilani's class do gymnastics, and she was hooked! So, we switched over. I was really looking forward to the Nutcracker recital, but she's so full of energy that gymnastics suits her perfectly!

Homeschooling Adventures!

Jacob is officially a school-boy now! Kindergarten started 3 weeks ago. He's been doing a great job on all his schoolwork- lots of perfect papers! He got 100% on his first spelling and math tests! We are so glad we are home schooling. Everywhere we go we are "doing school"! At the zoo we were talking about whether the animals were mammals, birds, or reptiles. We are in the back yard planting seeds and watching them grow. And we can work with the kids right where they are at. Keilani is learning a new letter every 3 days and working on writing. Jacob is doing a 2nd grade reading program and first grade math. And of course we can talk about God's work as much as we want- the patterns on a snake in math, grace in the characters of a book, and the complexity of everything in science!

Granny's Surgery

Granny was diagnosed with Colon cancer this spring. But, Praise God she came out of surgery cancer free! She is recovering well and much more quickly than we all imagined! Yay for Granny!

Camping

We had a blast on a weekend camping trip this summer with a group of friends. We camped in Santa Cruz by the beach. It was a bit chilly until we drove up the coast a short ways to the beach. The kids had a blast playing with friends, climbing trees, making smores, and chasing the waves!

Celebrating 10 years in Cancun!

Jeff and I had a wonderful weekend in Cancun in July. We celebrated 10 years of marriage!

I like to drawings!

Here's some of the latest refridgerator art from Keilani. It's a picture of grandma. See the resemblence?




And here's Jacob's picture of the family:

Family Time

Here are some pictures of our anniversary lunch- we took the kiddos back to Rusch Park where we got married. Notice the same bridge in our wedding picture below! This week we also spent a day at the SF Zoo to reward the kids for filling their "speaking nicely" sticker charts.

Our first decade anniversary! 10 years of marriage!

Happy Anniversary to us! Still lovebirds!

June 26, 1999

Disneyland! 5 days- so super fun, so very tiring. We all had a blast.

The Birthday Princess

Keilani Mei had a magical princess birthday yesterday. She turned 3! Her big gift was a big girl bike- princess themed of course. She got piles of gifts from family and friends- I've never seen so much fru fru princess stuff in my life! I didn't like dresses, pink, or barbies when I was little, but as Kei Kei gathers more of these things, I've decided it's all pretty FUN! Keilani is such a bright and cheery girl - she's beautiful inside and out. Happy Birthday Princess!

There Will Be A Day - Jeremy Camp

Praise God- there will be a day. Romans 21:4

A great visit

A couple of weeks ago we had our good friends here for a visit. Their 2 oldest kiddos had a sleepover while Mommy Backlund took a little break. It was a busy day for sure, but I found out that I can hang with 5 kids- for a few days anyways! I took the kids to Bounceopolis in Folsom to get some of the energy out and later we had a movie night and then it was sleepover time. I sat in the room until they fell asleep and it worked! Check out all the cute pics. Can you tell who has a crush on who?

Easter

Hope you had a lovely Easter. We sure enjoyed the great weather! The kids woke up to a note from "E. Bunny." They found their baskets and then even more goodies from grandpa and grandpa. It was hard to hold them off from running out the door at 7am to hunt for eggs! We made it until about 8 and I finally gave in. We made it to church and celebrated Jesus' resurrection. Granny P. and Aunt Judy joined us for dinner (and brought the kids more goodies!) You have to know I brushed their teeth extra long tonight!!! Check out the cute pics!