Halloween Fun!

We have been very busy with Halloween! This is a long post! First we headed down to Tanka Farms. We enjoyed it so much last year we decided to go back this year! 

James wanted to get a wheel barrel...which he couldn't really push! 

 There were so many good pumpkins we found ours right away!

 Family picture

Nonni went with us this year since she has never been to the farm! 

 Boys having a fun ride

James was the only one who wanted to go in the corn maze... 

So Nonni went with him! :) 

James and Jake loved the Charlie Brown Halloween 

 This year we picked vegetables!

 We picked radishes, carrots, green beans, and onions! Then Nonni used them for dinner! 

 We had to ride on the tractor

 Then we got some lunch while the boys had a HUGE shaved ice. 

 James driving the tractor

 Jake's first time driving a motorized vehicle! Craig had to help him practically the whole way around. Just at the end he finally got how to push down his foot. Since Craig was pushing Jake's foot with his hand, Jake thought that is what he was supposed to do! So he was trying to push his foot with his hand! Ha, silly boy!

Our next Halloween adventure was to our local pumpkin patch, or I like to call the money pit. Driving up and down Yorba Linda Blvd for the last month the boys see the 7 bounce houses, tractor rides, petting zoo and other crazy things they have and ask every time if they can go. So finally we made it to the pumpkin patch. 

 James going down the shark slide

 Having so much fun!

 Jake on the other hand does not like bounce houses anymore. He wanted to go in the petting zoo! Which I was so amazed that he wanted to do that!

 He was a little nervous at first and wanted to be held but after a few minutes he wanted to get down and pet the animals!

 Going on the tractor together since we knew it wouldn't be easy for Jake to push the pedal. They were having so much fun, I think James was trying to make Jake fall out, but Jake held on! 

 The nice guy working there let them ride for SO long since nobody else was there. He let Jake try it himself. He went round and round with Jake! Earned himself a tip! 

We met my Brother and his family there because my nephew Sammy was working at the patch! 

 Jake and Andi

Andi and Alex took Jake into the petting zoo for a second time!

 More bouncing

 Getting eaten by the bounce house

 The huge slide that was 6 tickets!!!

 Loving it!

Jake finally went on the "open" bounce house!

 James and Andi

Nino swinging around James

and Jake of course must be next!

What an exhausting night!! Yay! 

Our third Halloween fun was a Trunk-or-Treat at James' school. James was so excited to see his friends from school for Halloween! 

Smurf James and Papa Smurf Jake ready to go! I was so worried people wouldn't know what they were but everyone recognized them!

 James and Jake with one of James' best friends, Brendan.

People dress up the cars, or the trunk of their cars and pass out candy! So cute!

 James and his friend Isabella, I know her Aunt from when we were younger!

 Someone had a Flinstones theme and had this picture thing to stand in! 

 Another car...

 After Trunk-or-Treating! 

The boys had so much fun we might have to do it again next year! 

Sunday we carved our pumpkins! I love carving pumpkins, everyone else...not so much. 

The boys were really excited!

 But wouldn't touch them!

 James held his nose the WHOLE time because he thought they stunk.  

 At least Brianna helped me clean them out, since she hasn't been around for any of our Halloween fun! 

Two of my pumpkins I was so proud of! Good thing I had nothing to do all day because it took me all day! 

 Here is the third one, didn't come out as well as it was supposed to. And it says Rusteze, if you can't tell. Which of course is from CARS movie, James' choice. 

 Hug-a-Bear was my cousin Vince's pumpkin. He doesn't use stencils like I did! Although my smurf pumpkin was made from my own drawing of a stencil! 

We went over to my cousin Vince's house for the third year in a row. 

All the kids except for Michael, he didn't really like Halloween this year. He didn't want to dress up or go trick-or-treating. :( 

James, Jake, Jade, Ian, & Ava

 James was the greeter, he LOVED handing out candy to everyone! I think they enjoyed that just as much as trick-or-treating! 

 He would get so excited when people came to the door. Complimenting everyone on their costumes! He was so funny! Every time more people came to the door he would yell, "Customers, customers"! A little girl about his age came to the door and when she walked away he look at my cousin DJ and said, I gave her two! What a little charmer! LOL!

 Vince, Ava, And Lisa

 The first house! Jake was very nervous when all the trick-or-treaters were coming to the door. He wouldn't let me put him down. But once out on the streets he was Mister Independent! 

 Papa Smurf not wanting to hold anyone's hand!

 Smurf James

Again, everyone complimented their costumes and knew exactly who they were! 

 Princess Jade and Auntie Lisa

 Daddy Smurf

 Group picture with all the kids, the best I could get! 

Phew! It was fun while it lasted but I am so done with Halloween! Now I need to get started on my Christmas shopping! 

Field Trip!

A couple weeks ago James had his first field trip! They needed parents to drive and siblings could not go so luckily it was on a Friday and my Mom was home to watch Jake so I could go to the field trip. We were going to the fire station! I was more excited than James was! James didn't really want to go because he thought it would be loud! I assured him that I would be there and things would be fine. They might put the sirens on for just a minute so everyone could hear what they sound like!

James and the little boy that came in our car, Jackson.

 Right when we got there a few of the firemen introduced themselves and were talking to the kids about safety and calling 911. Then a call came in. A few of them left on the fire truck. 

 We broke up into two groups and our fireman started our tour of the fire house. We went inside and saw their tiny bedrooms. I never knew how small they were! He let the kids go in and jump on the beds! 

 As the kids were jumping on the beds another call came through. Our guide looked at his pager and looked at us and said we need to get out of here. So he told us to follow ourselves out and he went the other way. Pretty soon another engine left, with two other fire cars. 

 The kids waved bye...

 We were all standing out on the grass with no firemen around! We thought there has to be someone there, they can't all be gone. One of the teachers goes inside to see if anyone is left and nope! No one is there!

 They left the garage open so we decided that we would show the kids around the garage! 

They saw the cloathes they were and their helmets! 

 James asked me what this hose thing was and I had no idea! 

 We showed them the maps...

 And there was this cute fire hose outside the station. 

There wasn't much else we could show them so we left! James wanted to see the kitchen, but we didn't get to see it! :( James' teacher thinks she jinxed it. On the way over she said that in all her years doing this they have never had a call while they were at the station. Then they had TWO! She said maybe they will get to reschedule it, but I don't think the kids even knew the difference! 

After school we went to Nonni's and James wanted to play croquet. So he set it all up and he and Jake played! He got that hat from the fire station. 

 Nonni played too.

 Jake decided to sit with James' class pet, Magic Monkey and watch.

Rosary Day

Oh how behind I am on my blog! A few weeks ago at Brianna's school they have a day called Rosary Day. It is the feast day of the Rosary. Every year the school does a big ceremony for the junior class in which they have a mass, present them their class rings and talk about how they are now upperclass women. Ugh, made me cry! I can't believe she is half way done with high school! Seriously, I remember the first day of Kindergarden like it was yesterday! Where did my little girl go??

All the junior girls are processed in caring a flower. She is walking next to her friend Brooke who she has been friends with since Kindergarden! 

They have a full mass with the Bishop and our Deacon from our church was there! 

 Blessing the rings...

 The girls had to pick a teacher who talked about their class. Mrs. Dialba was chosen. Brianna had her for Freshman Religion and LOVED her! She made such a great speech! 

 Brianna and a couple of her friends decided to sing in the Rosary day choir! 

 Singing...

 Brianna didn't get a class ring. She was being practical for once, haha, just kidding! No but really, she was and she didn't want a class ring. She thought she would only wear it during high school and then that would be the end of it. And they weren't cheap! $350 was what they started at! So thank goodness my daughter was thinking about it and opted out! The school wants every girl to be presented with a ring so she had to bring another. There is a ring in our family that we all have. One is given to the person on their 16th Birthday. She just received that ring for her 16th Birthday, so she decided to choose that one. It was much more meaningful having this ring blessed and I am so glad she made that choice! 

Being presented the ring...

After the ceremony the junior class all surrounded us in a big circle holding hands and singing a song. So sweet. 

With some of her friends

 Showing off their rings.

After the ceremony the whole school goes to Disneyland! Their favorite part of the day! 

BUNK Beds!!

For awhile I had been looking for bunk beds for the boys. It is that time Jake should be getting out of his crib and we thought we would save some space in their room by getting bunk beds. James has seen bunk beds at a few friends' houses and has been excited that he gets to have one! I took them shopping with me a few times to get them more excited. Finally I found some that matched and we bought them. I was pretty nervous about the whole thing. I know James was excited but was he going to really want to sleep on the top bunk when the time comes?? And Jake getting out of his crib, is it going to be an easy task or will he be like James and not want to sleep in his bed?? We ordered the beds and it took about a week and a half to get them. The day they called to say they were delivering them James was SO excited, jumping up and down. The next day the guys came to set them up and James and Jake watched the whole time. James was so funny telling the guys how well they were doing, clapping his hands, and asking them questions. He noticed they were speaking Spanish and asked them if they were! The man started speaking in Spanish to him! 

After they were done James and Jake played on the beds ALL day. The spot I originally thought of putting the beds didn't work out so I actually had to rearrange their whole room. It took all day for me to get things arranged and that night we headed to IKEA to buy some storage stuff for the closet. 

Jake was not too happy about sleeping in a big boy bed. His crib was taken apart and in the hallway and he kept looking at it and saying my bed. :( We got a late start on going to bed which was a bad idea on my part. Well not too late, 8:30, but we should have started much earlier since we didn't know how the process would go. I made sure to do the whole routine and not skip out on anything to make the transition for Jake as easy as possible. We got all the toys he wanted in his bed, we read two books, got his water and his blankie. 

All ready for bed!

 When it was time to turn off the lights Jake got a little whiny and wanted his crib.  He said he wanted to rock. I told him I would sit in the rocking chair until he fell asleep. James was so excited and he kept moving around and needing to go down the ladder and get more things in his bed and looking over the side to tell Jake something. It was making it harder for Jake to relax and go to sleep. Plus it was getting very late. I finally climbed up the ladder and had a little talk with James. I told him that I know he is excited but he needs to be quiet and just lay in bed. That this was a difficult night for Jake because it is his first night out of his crib and he is not used to sleeping in a big boy bed and he might miss his bed. All of a sudden James burst into tears. I ask him what's wrong and he says Jake wants his crib and misses his crib! I tell him it's ok, Jake's not crying so he doesn't need to cry! Awe, my sensitive boy!

Finally I sit in the chair and there is peace. James fell asleep and then Jake, not until about 9:45! 

Jake did pretty well and only woke up once in the night and went right back to sleep! Yay! The next night he did even better I didn't have to sit in the chair and it has been easy every night since! Phew! Yesterday was the first day he took a nap in his bed and I was a little nervous about that. Didn't think he would stay there or fall asleep right away. But he proved me wrong and fell asleep within minutes and slept for 3 1/2 hours! I had to wake him up at 5:00! That's what happens when you don't have a nap for two days! I am so glad this was an easy transition for both of them! Now if we can just find a side rail so Jake doesn't fall out of bed! Oops! He has fell out twice, but he doesn't even cry! I just hear the boom! Sorry Jake!   

Octoberfest

A couple weekends ago it was the annual Octoberfest at one of our parishes. When we go to my Mom's the boys see the carnival rides going up all week. So the anticipation is high until Friday comes around! We headed down there Friday night right when it opened. We met lots of friends there. I forgot my camera but luckily we had our phones to take some pictures. This year was the first year Jake really got to experience the rides! He went on the motorcycles, which was his favorite. I think we went on them 5 times! The ferris wheel, the merry-go-round, and the big slide with Daddy. 

James went on all of the same rides as Jake...

And he went on the flying turtles. 

We had so much fun and I wish we had more pictures! We used all our tickets and then enjoyed the yummy food and listened to a fun 80's band! The kids were dancing and wore themselves out! Nonni took the kids back to her house and we stayed to hang out with our friends! I love that this is a tradition every year! I remember when I was a kid being so excited for the Octoberfest to come! We will be looking forward to the next one!