Kristin's Turns Five

Here is a photo of our birthday girl. She's all smiles because she loves parties, princesses, and presents - and this birthday has all three! How old are you going to be, Kristin?Oh, that's right. Five years old. That's a milestone year. Especially in our family because when you turn 5, you get to go to Disneyland! But for tonight, it's just a simple family dinner. With cake and presents at the end, of course. Kristin's cake had Cinderella and Prince Charming on it. Cinderella is Kristin's favorite of the Disney Princesses. Auntie Alicia even gave her a shirt with Cinderella on it. Hooray for Princess Presents and cake!After dinner, when everyone went home we tried to get some rest for our big day at Disneyland the next day. Of course, Joey and Kristin were far too excited to get much sleep. I think they were both up until almost 3am!

Alicia's Birthday

We had our traditional family dinner in honor of Alicia's birthday. Her actual birthday was Monday October 5th, but we all got together the night before. Something about her wanting to spend her actual birthday at Disneyland or some such. Anyway - we had a big BBQ at our house. Burgers, hot dogs, chicken, potato salad and corn on the cob. Matt got a new grill for Father's Day and he is quite the backyard chef. Everything was delicious!

This was Korinne's first family birthday celebration. We all took turns holding her. Babies are so much fun. Here's Korinne and Grandma. Korinne was just learning to smile at this point. It sort of looks like she's starting to get fussy in this picture - but it was the tail end of a smile, I promise!And here's Kristin with her baby cousin. Kristin is completely smitten. She loves holding Korinne and singing to her. It's so sweet to see them together. Occasionally we let Korinne's dad hold her, too. Here's Kory and his "Mini Me." And, of course, I had to take a turn. Korinne was smiling and cooing at me. It was awesome.Okay, back to the main event: Alicia's birthday! Every year for her birthday, Alicia requests that Mom make her a German Chocolate cake from scratch. Doesn't she look excited to dig in?I love this picture of the smoke left behind after blowing out 27 candles! (Kristin insisted on helping.)Alicia got several nice gifts, but the one she was most excited about was this electric toothbrush. What can I say? We're a family that takes dental care very seriously.
Happy Birthday, Alicia!!

Oktoberfest!

Sorry it's been such a long time since I posted. Time gets away from me. And October is such a busy month for us! It all starts with La Mesa Oktoberfest! It's the first weekend in October every year. Our family has been going every year for as long as I can remember. It's a fun street fair. Lots of craft booths and delicious food. And a Beer Garden, though that's not exactly our thing. When we first started going, it was mostly a craft show. It's grown in size and is now more commercial. But we still go every year.

The last couple years, since Joey and Kristin are getting older, we've spent lots of time in "the Kid Zone" where they have rides and big inflatable slides. The rides are your basic rickety carnival rides, but the kids have a blast.

Of course, the number one thing we look forward to at Oktoberfest every year is THE FUNNEL CAKE. Oh, sure: it's just a big plate of sugar and fat. Nothing good for you. But it's so, so delicious! Here's Sean enjoying his funnel cake:Kind of a funny thing about funnel cake is that even though I look forward to it and plan on having some, and even though I know it's covered in powdered sugar, I end up wearing black to Oktoberfest every year. EVERY YEAR! When will I ever learn?

After a few hours of walking around, shopping and eating and having fun in The Kid Zone, we're all pretty tired. Simon was wiped out early on:(Thanks, Wendy, for taking photos! It's nice to have some pictures to remember our annual tradition!)

Korinne

Tandy had been dragging her feet about sending out birth announcements for Korinne because she didn't have any photos of her that she really loved. So last night, she had Alicia (photographer extraordinaire) take some pictures. Here are a few that really caught my eye:I really love Korinne's eyes in this second photo. They look so soulful. Korinne has the prettiest eyes!Here's Korinne and her mom. I just love Tandy's new hair cut - and that she's finally embracing her gorgeous natural curls after years of trying to straighten them out.

More from Idaho

Here are a few more pictures from our Idaho trip. We finally got them all uploaded onto the computer from the camera! As I mentioned in an earlier post, the main reason we went to Idaho on vacation was so we could attend the 90th birthday party of Matt's Grandpa. Here's Big Grandpa Joe on the first day we got there, relaxing in the backyard while the rest of the family ran around like crazy people trying to get ready for the party.
The party itself was also kind of a family reunion, with folks flying in from all over. Here's a photo of Grandpa with his three kids: Steve, Joe and Lynn (Matt's mom). Steve came up from the San Francisco Bay area, Joe came from Georgia, and Lynn from Seattle!
And here's the whole family (well, the whole group of us that were there, anyway!)
During the party, Simon discovered that if he was careful and tried hard enough, he could climb up onto the lawn chairs by himself. He was quite excited about this new feat of dexterity, and would give himself a hand whenever he turned around and sat down.Here is Joey with his Grandma Lynn, taking a break for a "Kodak moment" during the party.

Here's a photo of Kristin playing with her cousin Alyssa. Alyssa is the daughter of Matt's cousin Missy, which technically makes Alyssa and Kristin second cousins. But who keeps track of that stuff? At the end of the day, Kristin climbed up on Grandpa's lap and fell asleep. It was so sweet! It reminded me of when the kids used to take naps on my dad's lap.

Soccer Season

Yesterday we had the first official games of this year's soccer season. This is Joey's 4th year of soccer, and Kristin's first. We just love watching them play - even though I must admit that it makes Saturdays VERY busy for us!

First was Kristin's game. Kristin's is on the gold team, and their name is The Unicorns. Kristin's struggled a bit during practices. She's still learning how to play, and gets frustrated when she doesn't get things on the first try. So she's had a few times where she's walked off the field pouting. We talked to her about how important it is to keep trying, and to play as a team. When the game started yesterday, Kristin had a rough start. She said her stomach hurt and she wasn't really playing. Then at one point she got hit in the stomach with the ball during a throw-in. I was worried she was going to quit, but she eventually got out there. She even scored two goals!Joey's game came next. He's on the lime green team this year, and their team name is The Hulks. Last year, I posted here on the blog about how Joey wasn't always that attentive to the game. He'd often miss the ball because he was watching dragonflies or kicking at the dirt. But yesterday was a tough year for Joey, dealing with losing his Grandpa (not to mention moving to a new house and getting a new brother!). This year, Joey is an entirely different player. He was really into the game. And boy, did he run his butt off!He also really stuck with the player he was supposed to cover, while still staying open so teammates could pass the ball to him if needed.It was one of the best soccer games he's ever played. Maybe he never scored a goal, and I don't even know if the team won the game or not. But he certainly did his best, and we can't ask for much more than that!Thanks to Wendy for taking all the photos! (And for helping me wrangle Simon along with all the other equipment we had to lug around to the games!)

Helping in the Garden

While we were in Idaho, Simon loved helping in the garden. Well...what he really loved was playing in the water. Here he is, watching his Grandma water the plants. He was anxious to help!He was so excited when Great Uncle Joe or Grandma let him play with the sprayer.


He was soaked to the skin when he was done - not that he particularly minded, since it was almost 90 degrees outside. (And muggy because of a bit of rain!) I'm sure the cool water felt great! And can you believe how much blonder his hair has gotten lately? I guess the brown hair he was born with was just a fake out.