Halloween time @ Disneyland

We took the kids to Disneyland after school. I love seeing all the decoration changes that they do. I finally used my Disney credit card to get the free stroller rental in the park. It was so much easier not having to take a stroller on the tram (and Jeremy loved being allowed to sit in the stroller while Eliza was in her Baby Bjorn). We went shortly after Cassie's birthday and she got the nifty "Birthday Pin" to wear around.

Eliza fell asleep in her stroller, but when Cinderella walked by she opened her eyes just long enough to smile at her. It's always important to be nice to a princess.

A quick mommy sighting as I waited for the rest of the family to go on a ride.

Jon and Cassie went on Grizzly Rapids a couple of times. It must have felt good in the almost 90 degree heat.

Eliza entertained herself by working on her kissy noises.

I love having passes to the happiest place on earth. We go so often and I just feel lucky that we live close enough to do it.

He can see clearly now

This cute boy got tested and fitted for glasses . . .
and now sees much better.

Now maybe he'll look at the camera now that he can see it.

Felling a little left out - his sister wanted some glasses too.

Jane Rea Meyers Eliason

Grandmother on her wedding day.Jon's grandmother passed away. She was a wonderful woman and I'm so glad that I got to know her and that she was close enough for the kids to know her. She was 93. Some things I'd like to share about Grandmother.

1. She LOVED pink. She loved pink roses, handbags, bedding, clothing, lotions and basically anything you can find in any shade of pink.
2. She loved dolls. She's got a fantastic collection of dolls. Some she still has from her childhood. Beautiful porcelain dolls, paper dolls, newer dolls - all things associated with dolls.
3. She loved her family (especially the babies). One of her favorite memories that she'd share with me was when she held two great-grandchildren at the same time. One was the youngest daughter from her oldest granddaughter and one was the oldest daughter from another granddaughter. The girls are about 13 years old now, but Grandmother would still talk about that.
4. She loved her home. Until she couldn't live on her own anymore because of health reasons she lived in the same home that she lived in for more than 60 years. She had beautiful, impeccable taste and it reflected in her home decorating.
5. She was a bit of a saver. OK - that is the understatement of the century because she saved EVERYTHING. That might have been a product of the Great Depression era, but nobody knows. This weekend we found spelling tests of my mother-in-law's from about 1st or 2nd grade. They were on the top of a beautiful old steam locker trunk that was completely full of papers.
Please notice the pink casket that she picked out for herself years ago.
Her funeral was in Fresno and ALL Jon's cousins came in for it. We haven't had all the cousins together since Caroline's wedding in the summer of 2000. Although the occasion was sad it was great to see everybody. I think that everybody ended up with a great "trouble getting to Fresno" story. One flew directly from a trip to China, one had her flight delayed four times while her sister was stuck waiting for her in the airport for hours and another was tried to fly stand-by and ended up purchasing an extra set of tickets that they couldn't use. Ours was that our air conditioning broke a few hours outside of Fresno in 90 degree heat. We apparently hit a pebble that bounced into the engine and created a hole in the air conditioner. We had to drive home at night so it wouldn't be so hot in the car. It made for some interesting and sometimes desperate (and funny) phone calls the day before the funeral.

Jon and his grandmother at his graduation from USC in 1998.
The last time all three of my kids visited her. This was taken in mid-September.

These are some of my favorite shots the kids with her that I've got in digital and can upload easily.

Cassie with Grandmother in 2006Jeremy kissing her when he was two.Eliza getting a kiss from Grandmother in September

Eliza sleeping in Grandmother's arms in July.
One of the fun things during our trip was to meet Eliza's newest second-cousin.


His name is Blake Bauer and he's absolutely adorable. They are only about 6 weeks apart and I'm looking forward to seeing them grow up. I wish they lived closer together so they could play. I didn't get the shot of them laying on their backs together with his hand on her leg and her arm linked with his. It was really cute. You can't see it in the picture, but Blake's onsie has a little tie on it. They were both dressed up for the funeral. Boy Grandmother would have loved to hold these two babies together.
We'll miss you Grandmother!
Yours is a seat at the family table that can never be filled.

Little Pumpkin

A friend of mine had an adorable picture of her son in a pumpkin and I thought it was the cutest thing and I wanted one of my own little pumpkin. I asked my mother-in-law to knit a pumpkin hat for Eliza to wear. I bought a great big pumpkin and asked my friend Sarah if she wanted to come with me back to the pumpkin patch to take pictures of her son in the pumpkin also. She came up with the idea to do a photo shoot in her front yard instead. Sarah has one of those rare trees here in Southern California that actually has leaves that fall off in autumn. We each brought a few extra pumpkins for the set and Sarah bought some beautiful sunflowers (that she gave to me when we left - thank you Sarah) to finish it off. One of Sarah's friends came with her sweet little boys to take pictures also. Wow! Stacey not only has one of the coolest cameras - that I'm not so secretly coveting - but she is also an amazing photographer. She was wonderful enough to take all these great pictures of Eliza. Our fall scene was set . . .
to take wonderful autumnal photos of babies in a pumpkin.
Eliza really got into the "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" scene and chewed on the inside of the pumpkin but in between bites Stacey got some gorgeous shots.
I love how sweet and innocent she looks. While Sarah went to pre-school to pick up Ella I asked Stacey if she could get a shot of Eliza and I.

I was thinking of how few and how bad the only pictures of us together are.

She took these pictures and I couldn't be happier. Now I have photographic evidence that my children have a mother. Since I'm the only one in our family that takes pictures I'm never in them.

I picked Jeremy up from Kindergarten and Stacey snapped this one of their their joyous reunion after three hours of separation. I just love to see how much my kids love each other.

Weezer

For Father's Day I bought Jon tickets to see Weezer. I love how when you buy tickets so far in advance that it makes the present seem like two. I get to enjoy giving it and he gets excited in June and then we go and have fun in October.
Jon and I have been at least four Weezer concerts that I can think of - he's a probably a better person to ask about how many times. Weezer is one of the bands that he and I both like. Jon is much better about listening to new music and artists and then he introduces them to me. I generally resist liking them until I get used to hearing them (over and over and over again thanks to my hubby), but Weezer takes no getting used to.

For our ward Primary Talent Show Jeremy danced to Weezer's "Pork and Beans" song. He loves to rock out with his daddy and now the entire primary has seen his cool moves. Some days we have dance parties with just the five of us at our house. Even Eliza will join in with her "toushy dance". Cassie is especially fond of doing the sprinkler and Jeremy does a mixture of Kung Foo and muscle posing. I love dancing with my family - it is such a happy time.

Pa's Pumpkin Patch

Every year we go to Pa's Pumpkin Patch. The kids love to go on the rides and see the HUGE pumpkins they have for sale there. I took the kids a few days ago to buy a big pumpkin for an upcoming pumpkin shoot for Eliza and her friends (be looking for pictures soon), but we waited for Daddy to go with us before they went on the rides. Eliza loves watching Jeremy to see whatever he's going to do next. Come to think of it I seem to watch Jeremy to see whatever he's going to do next too!
Jeremy loved riding on the bumper boats. I don't think he knew the "lake" was only 2 feet deep . . . he rode as if he was out on the open ocean.
Cassie is a real animal lover, but she also still a little timid around them when they do sudden movements. We call it a "healthy respect for all living creatures with teeth".
I'm not sure if I have a picture of Eliza and I together since we were in the hospital. To bad it had to be on a ponytail and no make-up day. Wait a minute . . . that's everyday.
Here's Jon with his little pink bundle. I think I cropped it out, but I'm sure in the original picture it shows him completely wrapped around that little finger of hers.
Jeremy sharing some good grub with a goat. Somewhere I have another adorable picture of Jeremy sharing (by eating) some good grub with a goat. He and that other goat shared a yummy carrot stick - I don't think he'd do it again, but I admit I was relieved that they were only given food pellets to feed the livestock.
So I found the picture of him sharing a carrot stick with a goat and I had to include it.
We had a great Monday night out with the family. I'm so lucky to have such a great family and fun things to do with them.

Field Trips

Jeremy's kindergarten class had such a fun week. On Tuesday they went on their very first field trip to a children's entertainer in Cerritos. They got to ride a bus and they stayed at school until 1:20 (exciting for Jeremy and for me). He came home singing cute little songs that he heard at the concert. The entertainer, Hap Palmer, is very popular and our school entered into a lottery to get tickets. The funny thing was that when they found out that they got the tickets and what day they were for the teachers realized that it was the same week as the fire station field trip. Two days after going to the fun concert the cute little kindergartners got to walk over to the local fire station for a tour. Since the fire station is only about a block from our house I walked over with Eliza to take a few pictures. I'm signed up to go on the "farm" field trip at the end of the year - my Favorite field trip to go on. Jeremy was very excited to be so close to the fire truck. In the picture on the left the fire woman was showing them the oxygen tank they wear and asked if anyone had any questions. Jeremy raised his hand and when she called on him he asked, "What happens if they get all filled?", meaning "What happens if they get over filled - do they explode?" She thought he said, "What happens if they all failed?" She told me that she was very impressed with his use of language and for the amount of concern that he showed for the welfare of the fire-fighters. I didn't tell her what he really said - how often does a speech/language problem work out in your favor?



Eliza and I went home and she looked so cute that we spent some time taking photos in the side yard. I wanted to use some of the things I've learned in the photography class so please notice how I was able to blur the background a little bit. I'm pretty excited myself.

Forever Young - Prom 1984 Style

Some friends of ours hosted a "1980's Prom Style" party last weekend complete with an awesome live band. It was so much fun to have an occasion to dress up and go out with my cute hubby. He's been working late and on weekends lately and we haven't been able to go out on our date nights so this was just what we needed. I bought some bright teal eyeshadow, put my hair into a big, puffy side ponytail, added some peach lip gloss and I was ready to go. The whole way over to the party Jon kept asking, "Are you sure other people are going to be dressed up?" He was a little afraid of reenacting the scene from Legally Blonde when Reese Witherspoon showed up at a party dressed as a playboy bunny and nobody else was in costume. Luckily everybody else was dressed up even more than us.

Jon and I didn't meet until college so I'm glad we got this great Prom experience together.

The Incredible, but Shrinking Baby

Finally, pictures! Eliza had her four month check up and we had a few surprises. Now technically she's not shrinking, but she's growing slowly. Before she was at 97 % for weight, 80% for length and 50% for her head and now she's 80% weight (15lbs even), 50% length and only 25% for her little head. I was sooo surprised! I asked the Dr. if he was worried about her losing in percentiles and he said that he wasn't because she was just evening out from being so big at birth. He reassured me that she wasn't shrinking and not a tiny baby that we should worry about.

Then came the shots. I was prepared for the screaming and the look of utter fear and betrayal that always comes when my kids get vaccinated. This sweet baby, however, didn't cry at all. She looked surprised after the first shot, sad after the second, scrunched her face up after the third and barely whimpered after the last one. The nurse said that some babies do that, but I've never heard of it and it shocked the heck out of me!

For those of you who know my dad - isn't she the spitting image of him?

Sorry - no pictures

My card reader for the computer is on the fritz. Well, that's putting it mildly. It is just plain ol' not working. The camera, however, is working just fine and is getting pretty full of pictures now.

I'm taking a great photography class and I think that I'm learning a lot. We'll see if I've improved once the images are bigger than the two inches on the back of the camera. I've always wanted to take a photography class because I wanted to process my own film in a dark room like I've seen in movies, but now with digital I don't get to do that.

The kids are doing well and I'll upload all the pictures and start back to blogging soon. I did get over my cold from the last post and without caving in to the desires for medication.

It's been 100 degrees here for the last few days and it's going to be hot again today. We've got soccer practice for both kids today. Boy is it going to be HOT! I'm freezing some wet washcloths for Cassie's team for their water breaks. She's on an awesome team with fantastic coaches. So far they are in first place with a 5-0 record. She's really learning and progressing in soccer and Jon and I are so proud of her. I'll get some pictures up soon of them. Their team is called "The Green Highlighters" and their uniforms are florescent green.