The Front Yard

Our front yard is so much smaller than the back that we decided to take it on first. This weekend Derek broke up all the old sod and netting (making yet another pile of things in our back yard) and smoothed it out. I think we've decided to seed it ourselves and will probably get to it in the next week now that it is all ready to go. It was a lot of work to do this 750 square feet or so... the back yard is about 10 times as big and all needs to be dug up by hand because the sod they had down before (that died of course) has a plastic mesh backing. I'll post pictures of the front lawn as it is now (no sod or weeds) later. This is what it looked like before he got to that section.

An Easy Morning

Last week was a little odd for us schedule-wise. We went to Santa Clarita with Derek on Monday. He was there for the day for work and the kids and I hung out with Kenny and Kathy. And I had a dentist appointment! We've had such terrible dentists since we moved it Arizona that we decided that it was worth the drive to go back to our old dentist-- and it sooo was. We love them! Then on Tuesday Derek took the day off to do some more work around the house, including removing more of the dreaded Yucca plants. But there is good news... he's almost done! There are a few stragglers that need to be trimmed or removed, but for the most part the ones we want out for now are out. There are now huge piles of Yucca plants in our yard as we slowly remove them through our green trash bin every week. We also had a doctor appointment for Anna on Tuesday and everyone was so excited to get their annual flu shot, too! Wednesday was the normal PE, Piano and Awana. Thursday was catching our breath, barely. Friday there was something at a church in the morning that we went to and then off to IKEA, which I'd been waiting months to do. Did we do any school work? Ummmm... not much all week. But we're back in the saddle this week.

Here are some pictures from one of our slow mornings last week.


Luke loves Anna, and Anna is so sweet to him!

The endless supply of funny faces from Leah continues.

Hard at work on his dog picture.

More Country Fair - Did I mention the candy?

Here they are, all decked out in their dress-up of choice. Jack is the Knight, Anna is Snow White, Leah is a ballerina and Luke is a cowboy. Not sure I know any real cowboy that still sucks his finger.

Derek was amazed by the amount of candy they had there. He mentioned it several times and has told a couple people about it. It was quite a bit, I guess. The kids were each given a bag that they could fill up. Funny thing is that Leah left with her bag only half full... she didn't want anymore. Odd kid :)!

Choosing...

This is most of the display. There are a few more buckets to the left. Each basket was full of candy and there were bags and bags more stuffed under the tables and behind the volunteers.

More Country Fair - Bouncer Slide

They all wanted in on the bouncer action. There was a regular bouncer that they all bounded around in for awhile and then there was this monster size one. All of them climbed (mostly) up to the top and slid back down again. Luke got a little assistance.

More Country Fair - Riding Horses

These were no pony rides, these were the full size things! The three older kids had fun riding the horses. If you know Anna's recent fascinations, you know this was her favorite part.

The Country Fair

A local church hosted a Country Fair on the night of Halloween. We raided the dress up box and headed down to enjoy some carnival games, live music, horse rides and candy. Lots of candy. Here are some of the shots:



Luke going for a hole in one.

Leah's masterful strokes.

Anna popping some balloons.

Jack knocking over milk jars.

Annual Pancake Breakfast

Turtle Township used to do one of these every year. The Pancake Breakfast. Yes, I really lived in a place where there was a township named after a turtle. It didn't seem odd at the time, but then being related to half of the people in my hometown didn't seem so odd back then either :). Anyhow, the Norco Fire Department had their Annual Pancake Breakfast a few weeks back and Derek took the kids. It was a chilly morning, but you can't be the small town feel of a good ol' pancake breakfast!