Korinne's Blessing

Other churches might call it a christening, but for us it's just a simple blessing that's given to babies after their born. Here is Miss Korinne Dawn, all dressed up in white frills. I believe that lace bonnet was handmade. Fancy!Korinne looks mighty serious in that photo, but let me assure you that she's normally all smiles! Speaking of smiles, we took the opportunity to snap a few family photos since we were all together. Here's my mom with her three girls:
And here is the Sparks Family. Kory, Tandy and wee Korinne. Sorry that it's kind of a dark photo. It was a bit cloudy out that day. Doesn't Tandy look like a proud mom?
And here are the LeVines! Nice that all our outfits sort of coordinated that day! Simon wasn't in a great mood, since he was fighting an ear infection. He always looks so serious in photos!

Joey's School Project

Sorry I haven't updated in a while! Time to catch up!

Joey's class was studying different careers and professions, so the students were all assigned to do a special project on what they wanted to be when they grew up. Each student was given a giant blank paper doll, which they then had to decorate. Of course, Joey wants to be an astronaut. Here is the finished product:
Note those killer silver boots! While I helped a bit, Joey really did most of the work on this project himself. (As it should be!) I helped him design and cut out the main helmet for the spacesuit, but then Joey decorated it with stickers (the flag and the USA) and drew in the face:
He also designed a couple patches for the spacesuit, including this name tag:
Joey was very proud of his astronaut project! In fact, it was his idea to take photos of it for the family blog.
Great job, Joey!

Halloweenie!

Here are the kids in their Halloween costumes. First, Joey as a chef. Specifically, he is Alfredo Linguine, the chef from the movie Ratatouille. (That's why he also has the stuffed rat.) Originally Joey wanted to be the rat from Ratatouille, but I thought it would be much easier to come up with a costume for being a chef than for being a rat. He got lots of compliments when we were out Trick-or-Treating.Kristin was a mermaid this year. We were all set, and then my mom asked Kristin if she was going to have a red wig so she could be Ariel, the Little Mermaid. (At which point I gave Mom the Look of Death™.) So then she insisted that she needed a wig for her costume. It was a very busy week for us, and I just never made it out to a costume store to find her the red wig she wanted. Fortunately for us all, she was satisfied with this shiny tiara. So, she wasn't just a mermaid, she was a princess mermaid. Princess mermaids, as you know, can have whatever color hair they want.And here is Simon, our little stinker. Originally he was going to be Dash from The Incredibles. We had the costume all ready but when we tried it on him, Simon was swimming in it. The outfit was just way, way too big. Of course, I'd waited until the last minute to try it on him so there weren't many options. I just dug through the costume box and found the skunk costume Joey wore when he was two. I personally think that it fit with Simon's personality much better than Joey's. Simon really IS a stinker!

Hulking Out on Halloween

During Saturday's game, in honor of it being Halloween, Joey's soccer team (The Hulks) decided to show its holiday team spirit by giving everyone green hair! The bright green perfectly matched their uniforms.What do you think, Joe? Is it easy being green?Joey was the team captain this week. They all take turns being the team captain. It's the captain's job to lead stretches during warm up. And here, Joey goes up for the coin toss at the beginning of the game. And there's Matt, the referee extraordinaire!Happy Halloween, everyone!

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

One of the rides at Disneyland is called Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. You go through the ride and shoot at targets with a laser gun. It's a lot of fun. And they take your picture while you're on the ride, too! Here's Wendy and Kristin. I love how you can barely see her face. She's such a wee thing!And here is my photo with Sean. It's like the least flattering photo of me ever taken, but I just HAD to show off my killer score! 232,200!! I am amazing! (Just not that photogenic.)

Kristin's Disneyland Birthday

Disneyland had a special deal this year where you could get into the park for free if you went on your birthday. Since Disneyland admission costs so much these days, we definitely wanted to take advantage of the savings. Kristin's birthday was on a Monday this year, so we had to pull the kids out of school. (Sometimes it's worth it!) My mom offered to watch Simon for us, since Disneyland and toddlers aren't the greatest combo.

Here are Matt and the kids walking in from the parking lot. Kristin skipped most of the way.When you go to Disneyland on your birthday, they give you a big button with your name on it. Here's Kristin showing hers off. Also note that she's wearing the new Cinderella shirt she got for her birthday.Aww, look at Joey and Kristin getting along! This really IS the Magic Kingdom!Here is a photo of Kristin, Matt and Joey at lunch. We ate at The Blue Bayou, which is the restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It's our favorite place!Wendy and Sean were also able to join is for our day at Disneyland. The more the merrier! This photo cracks me up because Sean purposely pulled the basket of bread over to be in the photo with them. Hooray for carbs!On thing Kristin really wanted to do during her visit was to meet Minnie Mouse. When we got over to Toon Town, Minnie was at her house but the Disney worker said that the line to meet her was closed because a parade was going to start soon and Minnie had to leave. I begged them to let Kristin in. I even pulled the "but it's her birthday!" card. They said no. Kristin was so sad. But then they asked Kristin to wait over on the side. Minnie came out of her house and went right over to Kristin to give her a hug. Kristin was so excited! Minnie insisted that Joey and I take a photo along with her.Here's Wendy and I in Toon Town. I just love how all the buildings look so cartoony. In this photo, we're waiting outside of the boat where Donald Duck lives. Joey and Kristin were running around inside.And there's Kristin on the bow of the ship, waving. I love the look of excitement on her face. And this was at the end of the day! That girl never ran out of steam.Of course, once we left, she was fast asleep in the car before we'd even left the parking lot.

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!