Trick or treaters!

Witch & 50's Waitress

the Boys

Pumpkins

Allen, Rachael, Ethan and Sabba's pumpkins.

Allen's

Sabba's

Halloween Day

Josh and Ethan on the rock wall.

Allen and Sabba enjoying the game.

Bubbe enjoying the sun and game.

Pumpkin Patch

Rachael and her pumpkin!

Rachael jumping from the top of the hay pyramid.
(It was brought to our attention, thank you Cody, that it looks like Rachael bonked her head on the pole. She did not. Also, thank you Aunt Karen, she is not sitting on the pole like a witch).

Ethan about to land from jumping off the hay stack. To get some perspective both kids were jumping from the top of the pyramid and when Ethan lands in the picture the top of his head will be about level to the top of the hay...

Cracker Jack

This is one of my lunchboxes from when I was a kid. Ethan had been using it to hold some of his toys (bouncy balls I think) but he doesn't need it anymore. Rachael asked if she could start using it as her lunchbox. Today I packed her lunch in it. When we talk about "recycle and reuse" I never thought she would be using my old lunchbox.

The boys.

The boys played hard this morning and had tied 2 - 2. They played with toys, sticks, dirt and mud during the girls game. The girls tied too.

Cub Scouts

Tonight another Cub Scout Troop had a deaf man come speak to the boys. It was a great experience. The man's wife interpreted for him and he answered many questions from the boys. He also brought his working dog and explained how the dog helps him "hear" things. A big Thank You to them for coming and speaking to the boys. The boys also wrote their names in braille and made tin can phones. Dad played with the cans...

Let's try this again, cookie anyone?

Doing better.

Cookie anyone?

This is what happens when the paper with the just baked sugar cookies slides off the tray while taking it out... Smell the burning cookies? Do you hear the smoke alarm? Well Miles our deaf dog does... He just asked to go outside. Katie is eating the non burnt pieces that fell onto the floor. Best part of the whole thing is I still have about 30 more cookies to bake and decorate for the bake sale at school tomorrow. I would go to Costco and buy cookies but there is still smoke in the house and I would need to close the windows to leave. I think it is going to be a long day. Hope yours is going better than mine.

2009

Rachael 5th Grade 2009

Ethan 3rd Grade 2009

Movie Night at school

On Friday night we went to the kids' school for "movie night". We visited with friends, ate candy and watched the movie Bolt. Fun for all!

Nimbus Dam at sunset.

We showed Darren and Mabrissa around Sacramento on Saturday. It was nice spending time with them. We ended up at Nimbus Dam at sunset. Hopefully when they come back we can go on a few hikes with them.

Busy Day!

Today Rachael went to basketball tryouts for her school team. She did well. There are only 15 spots and 25 girls were there. We will find out in a couple weeks if she is on the team. The field trip planned for Tuesday has been moved. A big storm is coming in tonight. The rain and wind will make it hard to walk to the local High School to see a play. Rachael is doing a little family research for a class project. She found out there was a Rachael Grand, age 19 who came through Ellis Island in 1901.

Another week!

Another week flies by. We were missing the camera for a few days so I did not get pictures of Lunch on the Quad at the kids school, Simchat Torah or the kids games today. I finally found it tonight so we can take more pictures next week. Both Rachael and Ethan's soccer teams played hard but did not win. We are so proud of how well they play, the effort the put out and the fun they have doing it. They have great coaches. Next week is a bye for tournaments but neither teams signed up to participate so we have a Saturday free of soccer games. Maybe we will go bike riding inside. The forecast is predicting some colder weather and rain coming our way. Tuesday is the walking field trip for Rachael's class so it will most likely rain.

Cool Moon

Driving to pick Ethan up from Cub Scouts I saw how cool the moon looked. It was very clear and bright. By the time we got home it was getting hazy.

The fish saga ends for now...

Ethan's fish Pumpkin is now swimming in larger waters. She tried, but just did not make it through the night.

Onto other news I am making some 66 matzah balls to bring into Rachael's class for International Food Tasting today. You can guess what we might have for dinner depending on how many we have leftover.

Tonight Ethan is going to make a bird feeder out of empty liter bottles. Should be lots of fun.

Two soccer game coming up on Saturday. Go Fireballs! Go Cobras!

The fish saga

Ethan's fish is not looking very good tonight. It seems she may have the same thing Rachael's fish had (looked it up, maybe fin rot). They shared a bowl with a divider so it does not surprise me. Ethan is crying and very sad. We put some salt in the tank and had cleaned it again when we removed Bitter earlier. Hopefully she will be doing better in the morning.

RIP

Today Rachael's fish is swimming in bigger waters.

Bitter has bite the dust.