Gridley's Christmas Parade

We were all getting ready for our annual Christmas parade in downtown Gridley. Manzanita School always participates and has all of the kids walk together singing Christmas carols. Matthew came out of his room looking like this...He kept the glasses and hat on all night. Mind you it was pitch black outside other than the floats. I am not quite sure if Gridley decided to turn off all Chistmas lights because of the parade or it was a budget problem. If it wasn't for the people and some of the floats you would have thought it was in the middle of summer or something. Not one speck of evidence it was Christmas.

We didn't have out Christmas tree yet (12-3-09) so I decided to decorate a branch of Manzanita and that is what the kids are sitting in front of. We do have a tree now and it looks a lot better than this.

Matthew is so cool !

Afterwards we walked over to a friends house and had Hot Chocolate with yummy chocolate candy I couldn't stop eating. It was a good night.

The Secret Garden

Our goal was to go up to the mountains and see the beautiful fall colors changing. We did that but.... we found an unexpected trail under a old bridge. And this is where the title comes in "The Secret Garden". We followed the trail and we saw water falls, rocks with moss all over, leaves, streams and lots of other things. The kids had a wonderful time jumping over rocks, water and enjoying nature. We hope the secret garden will be ours for years to come and we can enjoy this little secret with our family often.

We have been here several times and the trail had gone unnoticed, but not today. The trail starts right under this bridge

The kids were already getting sick of pictures and we hadn't even started!

I had brought a stool with us so that we could get some family pictures. I guess I didn't put the camera close enough to the edge. Sorry not a professional!!! Hate to say it, but this is the best family shot we got. We must try again.

Fall Leaves

Matthew and I had a great morning. Most of our time was spent chasing eachother and throwing leaves, but I did manage to get Matthew up in a tree. While I was taking pictures he kept repeating to himself "Mommy owie's" -"Mommy owie's". I think he was scared he was going to fall or maybe he was sitting on some stick. Who knows....but we enjoyed eachother. In the end he brought home 10 sticks and alot of leaves.

I love this kid!

I'm going to get you mommyI am going to try and get the rest of the kids out here tomorrow!

4th Grade Talent Show

Ellie and her class had a talent show before the Halloween parade. Ellie and several of her classmates danced to "Thriller" which was choreographed by her wonderful teacher Mrs. Denzel and then she played the violin. Ellie did awesome! We were so proud of her. I am going to try and put her song on so you can hear her.

Violin Piece by Ellianna Miskin

Fun Family Halloween Pictures

Matthew looked so sweet in his little German outfit.

This picture was taken at my moms. We always go to Grandma's house and eat lunch and get dressed here. We were off to the Halloween parade!

Halloween

I love Halloween!

It's one of my favorite holidays. With the beautiful fall colors all around, kids excited about their costumes, candy every where and many parties to attend. Matthew this year was a little German boy half the time and a Lion the other half. Taylor decided to be a old oak tree after ordering a cheap Ninja costume online and was very disappointed with the quality (see through to be exact). Ellianna was dressing up in my mom's old clothes (some in a suitcase) and came across some awesome old clothes and a old square dancing skirt and slip from my mom. She looked so cute in them she decided to be a 19 century lady. My mom added the titantic ticket and suitcase and she then was a beautiful traveler. It was all perfect and didn't cost us a dime other than the awful costume bought online. Ellianna and Taylor both took home a prize at the school parade. I forgot to mention my wondeful hubby Grant. He dresses up every year with some great finds in the kids dress up container this year he was Hurricane Negro (with spanish emphasis). Of course made it up the name himself but some friends actually knew who is was trying to impose.

Titanic 19 Century Lady

Old Oak Tree

My Little Lion

Hurricane Negro (with spanish accent)

Saturday morning SOCCER

We love our Saturday mornings. They are filled with cool weather, wet shoes, hot chocolate, soccer balls, a lot of positive cheering, friends and most of all time with the kids. This Saturday is the last for our soccer season. Taylor's team has not lost a game and Ellie's team (Grant coaching of course) has won all but one game and that was a tie. We love this time of year!





Taylor made the goal, nice set up.

Pumpkins and Sugar Cookies

Thanks mom for providing us with the memories and cleaning up the mess!

Matthew loved playing with the Flour, I think he used about 3 cups of it with out even rolling out dough. His cookie making equaled flour and lots of sprinkles.

Pumpkin seeds, carmel and apples are a must!

Grant=official carver

Matthew had know idea what was going on but was so excited about it!

Two out of the three done. Taylor was at Soccer practice and was only able to clean out his pumpkin, he will finish up tomorrow.

Yes, Matthew is wearing the same shirt in every picture I have taken lately! His usuall look is Swim shorts (always) and a swim shirt or he will wear T-shirts (thank goodness). If we do not have a clean pair of swim trunks he will dig though the dirty clothes. I remind myself this is just a phase.

Jog "A" Thon

I love watching my children run. I don't know what it is...nostalgic might be the word, I'm not sure but it always brings tears. I guess it's because they are trying their hardest to do the best they can. I just love running. The jog-a-thon is Manzanita's annual fundraiser for many school activities. The kids go and get sponsors and then get paid per lap they run or just a flat fee. We have learned to pay just a flat fee because otherwise we would be broke. Taylor ran 41 laps and Ellie ran 26 laps. Matthew was yelling, go T.J. go the whole time. It was fun to watch.

Oroville Fish Hatchery

We visit the Fish Hatchery every year since we have moved here, I guess you would call it a tradition. The life cycle of Salmon is very interesting and sad but it's a learning experience for the kids. Matthew did not want to go home yesterday, he loved watching the salmon swim (not too many this year). He even slept with his little pamplet we received.

Matthew standing by the glass window watching a male salmon swimming by!

Classic picture, we take one here every year with the kids. This year we went with out the older two because if we wait till school gets out they close down shop and we are not able to watch them spawning.

Legally Blond

Some of my friends and I went to see the Musical "Legally Blond" in celebration of my 33rd birthday. We laughed, we cried, (because we were laughing so hard), we ate at a gourmet restaurant "Subway", we enjoyed cheese cake, dressing up and the much anticipated boa's. The best part of the play was the UPS man, he was hilarious. We were young again and enjoyed every minute of it.

Michelle Cota, Tiff Akers, me and Shawna Menth

We took pictures in front of McConnell Chevrolet. Tiff works there so we got special privilege's (Ha, Ha, Ha)

Our wonderful dinner at Subway

Theatre picture, we were on the top row almost touching the ceiling. It took about 10 minutes to adjust our eyes to be able to see the cast and to catch our breath (a lot of stairs)!

Bend and Snap

I don't think any of us wanted to go home, we just kept taking pictures!!!!

First Day of School

Two hours and 35 minutes till I can pick up the kids from school!! Pretty sad Uh????





T.J. is in 6th grade (middle school AHHHH) and Ellianna is in 4th grade. The kids had a wide range of emotions this year. Ellianna moved up to the big kids playground and she didn't quite know what to do, although she said she would go and bug T.J. and his friends. I am quite confident T.J. won't let that happen to often. Ellie said in quote "I am not quite sure what to feel", but she was excited to wear her new clothes. T.J. is a little afraid of the homework situation. He believes there is going to be a lot more homework and that it will be a lot harder. They both are excited for school and have always had a wonderful attitude for learning. I have to admit I may have had more butterflies in my stomach then the kids.

Natural Phenomenon

Matthew sure does look lucky in this picture and especially CharmingLucky and

Charming

Why is it...When we put kids to bed late (11:00 p.m. horrible mom) they wake up at the crack of dawn (6:00 a.m.)???? I always have a tiny bit of hope that they will sleep in till 9:00 a.m. because that's what they should do. Another why, Why is it... when Grant gives Matthew a bath and gets him ready for bed, Matthew often looks like this afterwards.........Shorts all way up to his chest and of course his shirt tucked in and don't forget the hair do, parted right down the middle.. Gotta love Grant and of course Matthew!!! Matthew was so proud of the pictures he thought he looked so cute.