Brooke's Photo Shoot - Ten Years Old

We get the kids' pictures taken every year around their birthdays (instead of school pictures). Brooke's birthday was three months ago, and she has reminded me several times that we still haven't done her pictures. Instead of going to the portrait studio and having that hassle, we decided to do some at the beach at the beginning of Christmas break. Our original plan was to go near sunset so the light would be better, but plans are just that - easily made, easily changed to fit everyone else's needs in this case, so we went right smack in the middle of the day.

I think they turned out pretty great considering, and she's happy, so that's all that matters. Not too bad especially having 10 children and a dog to keep track of as well . . .

Hence this picture - she was 'enjoying' a book when Cole came bounding over to her. Funny!

It's Christmas!

It's time for our annual Peppermint Street Caroling party.

We start at our house, sing throughout the neighborhood,

and end at the Hallmark's for treats and catching up with friends and neighbors.

We had quite a good group to spread good holiday cheer.

It's time also for our annual Christmas Pageant.

The kids completely did the costumes and parts all on their own.

Paige was the angel, Christian and Brent shepherds, and Ashlyn a cow (would the boys then be called cowherds?)

The older girls, Madison, Gwen, and Darby were the wise men, and Brooke was Joseph with Kate as Mary, kind of.

Here's the cast and crew! Great show everyone!

Merry Christmas!!

Orange to Purple

This little guy of mine is progressing rather quickly. He loves Tae Kwon Do and attends many times a week - thus ready to be tested already for the next level. He answered the questions properly, did all the techniques and showed his improving skill.

The questions, I might add, are not easy, especially the Excellent student one. This is what he had to memorize:

What is a Poor Student?

A Poor Student is lazy and simply expects results without sweat, Sir!

What is a Good Student?

A Good Student has the desire to learn and to achieve challenging goals, Sir!

What is an Excellent Student?

An Excellent Student not only learns the techniques, but gains knowledge of expressive ability and accepts hard work and sweat, realizing results come from practice, Sir!

What is Home Rule number three? (under 17 years)

Children will be kind to their brothers and sisters, Sir!

He had to round-house kick and break the board (which was TWO boards together) and he did it on the first try.

It's great to see how he is learning, getting stronger and improving his skill. He can now kick over head and has impressive side kick snaps.

Congratulations on your purple belt little man! You rock!

Ducks and Cookie Monsters

Madison's soccer team, the Cookie Monsters, were so totally awesome that they made it to the playoffs. So, soccer season didn't end for us like we thought and the playoff games are held all weekend long, playing three games on Saturday, then single-elimination games on Sunday.

Her coach was dismayed that she wasn't going to be playing on Sunday (it's the CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!), but later apologized to us for being disrespectful.

Well, they won the games on Saturday, so made to the Sunday games and ended up losing the first game 0-1 near the end. I think they are disappointed that Maddy wasn't there, as she was a key defender, but they ended up taking home yet another-much larger-trophy and had a wonderful season.

However, what do you do when you're stuck at the soccer fields all day with three other kids that are not playing? In between games, I took them to the library, which was very close. It wasn't opened yet in the morning, so we went around to the back where there is a large park, creek and duck pond.

And lots of ducks.

I think that means that we are South.

A very nice man gave us three bags of bread for the kids to feed the ducks.

And other little critters who did not want to miss out on anything.

Conejo Creek Park is very fun! And a fun break in between games. Oh, and we checked out a dozen books, read some of them during game #2, then returned between games 2 and 3 for more. These kids can't get enough books.

Now onto basketball.

Ice Ice Baby

It's time for our annual jaunt to the seasonal outdoor skating rink and it felt festively the occasion . . . brrr it was chilly out.

Everyone had improved their skating abilities from last year and we had a great night of FHE fun.

I Saw Santa . . .

Have you been naughty or nice?

Santa knows when you are sleeping and knows when you're awake. (Brooke informed me today that that's a bit creepy).

What are you going to ask Santa for this year?

At the ward party, Ashlyn asked for a make up set,

and Christian asked for police gear.

Very simple.

Very innocent.

From two darling innocent children who are certainly on Santa's nice list this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is about giving thanks!

We are thankful

We are grateful

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving complete with a fun day with family and a wonderful feast shared.

We started out the day seeing HUGO at the movie theater. We are big fans of the book and were excited to see it come to the screen; we were not disappointed.

Then home to enjoy the day and prepare the meal.

And we were sure to save room for dessert!

Perfect pecan cheescake pie, silky smooth chocolate pie, See's English toffee, delectable deep dish apple pie, and a classic creamy pumpkin pie.

Don't you with this was scratch and sniff?

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving . . . Kindergarten Style

Every year the kindergarten puts on a Thanksgiving Show which is totally adorable. All of my children have participated in it, and Ashlyn is no exception. Except that she is the last of my children to be in it! No more cute Thanksgiving show for us after this, which I don't know if I'll ever be able to wrap my brain around.

All the little Injuns sung their hearts out, and Ashlyn got to do a dance as well which just cracked us up the whole time. She never let on at home that she was doing this as it was a 'surprise' and we really had no idea. She knows how to keep a secret!

After the show, we headed over to the Middle School where Madison was participating in a 5K. We staked out a location and waited for her to pass. Luckily it was a beautiful, crisp, cool day - perfect for a nice long run. My parents came out for the show and after all this, we went to lunch. Ashlyn never did take off her Indian shirt or headband the whole day.

Two days until Thanksgiving . . . let the baking begin! I started with a deep dish apple pie.

So far, so good! You'll have to wait until Thanksgiving to find out how it tasted!

Sunday Storm

A very cold and rainy storm blew through on Sunday creating a gorgeous rainbow on the way to church.

It also created the perfect reason to build a fire

and cuddle up with hot cocoa and read together.

One of the benefits of always having 9:00 church is having the afternoon totally free to enjoy Sunday.

I want a hot cup of cocoa

with a marshmallow or two

I want a hot cup of liquid love

only the chocolate kind will do

Soccer is NOT over!

Even though the season has ended and we went to three team parties, received three new trophies, presented three coach's gifts . . . it's still not over.

Because, Madison's team, The Cookie Monsters,

are number ONE!!

That means they go to the playoffs! Yeah! So, instead of having four different teams to to watch at two different parks, we only have three games to go to, at one park because the playoffs are all weekend long. They play three games on Saturday and Sunday each (she'll miss the latter).

Go Cookies!!

We Were Flocked

One morning we awoke to find a flock of flamingos taking over our territory!

That was a shocker . . . and a fun high school fundraiser. There are some creative peeps out there!

The best part is that the flock disappears at night, without the homeowner having to clean anything up.

Service and Newspaper

Madison is in a magnet school - part of the middle school - called Discover. One of the components is that the students need to complete 5 hours of community service per trimester. Last Saturday, she volunteered at the YMCA to put together Thanksgiving baskets. Then she (we) spent 2 hours cleaning windows and scouring the kitchen at the Y.

When we first arrived, there was a reporter from the Ventura County Star who interviewed us. Lo and behold, we made the paper!

It's not the best picture; I inconspicuously snapped it with my phone.

A Night Out

John and I were invited to a formal fundraising dinner for the Boy Scouts of America at the Four Seasons Hotel. It was a fun night with a silent auction, a live auction - complete with auctioneers (one thousand give me two didigididigidi or whatever he says), live entertainment, a wonderful dinner and

scrumptious dessert. And the best part, besides being dressed to the nines and out on a date together, was being with a large group of wonderful friends and a ballroom filled with generous people who love God and Country and the BSA.

Here's a video clip of the auctioneer (and part of our table).

Morning Walks

When we take Cole for a walk to the field in the morning (I love having Ashlyn home in the mornings! Afternoon kindergarten is the best!), Ashlyn sometimes likes to take the electric scooter. She seriously scares me on that thing! She has no fear and will tear down our steep driveway and sharply turn onto the street like a speed demon.

The fall colors are becoming beautiful and the days sunny and gorgeous. I love this time of year.

Halloween '11

Halloween is here and is kicked off on the Friday before with the

first of four activities . . .

Friday morning was the Award Assembly at school and kindergarten carnival. Christian was chosen to receive the Teacher's Choice Award (a.k.a. the teacher's pet award as John calls it). He was so excited. On his award said he "is a well rounded young man. He does well academically, is fun to be around, and he is a great friend." Can't get better than that! Good job Christian!

The kindergartners are the only ones who dress up and each year have a Carnival. They get to parade into the assembly room to show off their costumes for the rest of the school. It is totally darling. Ashlyn was Rapunzel this year and was beyond ecstatic with her wig.

At the Carnival, I was in charge of the cookie decorating station. I can't believe Ashlyn is now participating in the carnival, she has been there twice before; first as a little pumpkin baby, then helping me when Christian was in K. Now it's her turn, and my last!!

On Friday night, Brooke had a daddy-daughter Activity Days night Halloween dinner. They got to dress up; John came up with an impromptu Bob the Builder and Brooke is the Mad Hatter. They had a great time!

The next night, we were invited to the Zdenek's annual Halloween party which Madison and Brooke were enlisted to help. Lisa Zdenek is Ashlyn's kindergarten teacher, and has had all the Merrill kids.

Here she is with her darling family. When she was Madison's teacher, she just got married and now she has three cute boys. I love the lake in their backyard - such a beautiful setting.

Look, Ashlyn really does have eyelashes! A little mascara made her feel pretty grown up.

The candy house table! M&B were in charge of helping kids with decorating the houses.

Lots of sprinkles, lots of frosting, lots of sticky.

Super fun night!!!!

Then the next night we carved our pumpkins! It's funny how the kids beg and beg to do it, and we put it off, knowing how messy and difficult it can be. Then half way through they complain that it's messy and difficult. ha!

But they turned out darling. Madison donated her cleaned-out shell to me to use for our traditional pumpkin stew for Halloween night. Thank you Maddy! It saved me from having to clean out one!

Halloween day: the after school snack was pumpkin smoothies. YUM!!!

Everyone's dressed up and ready to trick or treat throughout the neighborhood.

And I mean everyone! Even I donned a costume for the first time this year.

They all got their fill of loot; enough to keep dentists in business for the year.

Happy Halloween!