Happy Halloween 10-31-13

Happy Halloween! Can't believe how fast Halloween came up this year. Originally, Cecily wanted to be a minion, and Caren put together a cute outfit and made goggles for her. But then, she decided she wanted to be a witch again. So we pulled out her old witch costume she wore two years ago and gave one to Nicolette so they could match.

At school, they had their annual Halloween Parade. Loved seeing all the kid and teacher costumes. The 4th grade teachers were Guess Who characters (too bad they did the Lego costumes last year!). Some of the costumes were so creative. After seeing a bunch of the 4th grade boys as minions, Cecily was glad she wasn't a minion (although Caren was sad she missed out on the group minion picture). http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Ve9w

After recess, our class had their Halloween party. We had 5 stations: pumpkin decorating, cursive skeletons, vampire donuts, mummy game, and spooky boxes. The kids all had so much fun. We ended the party with a pizza lunch. Apparently it is the busiest day of the year for pizza. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VfCQ

In the evening, we went to a Halloween get-together at Ava's house with some school friends. We had snacks, the kids played, and then we headed out to trick or treat on Humboldt Island. The kids got tired at the end of the night, so they jumped in the wagon for a ride back to Ava's house. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VfGA

Girl Scouts & Science Project 10-30-13

At our Girl Scout meeting today, we started out new Journey, It's Your World Change It (Agent of Change). We also had a new girl join our troop, Ireland. Cecily also turned in her cool science project (making a circuit) that Richard helped her make. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VekQ

Emma & Soccer Game - Saige Hill 10-27-13

We headed over to Amanda's house in the morning so Cecily and Emma could do some Halloween crafts together. They made spiderwebs and puppets, which they decided to turn into purses instead. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vefw

We played Santa Clarita at Sage Hill today. The girls didn't do so well in the first half, but they perked up and did much better in the second half. Even though we lost again, the girls loved their Halloween treats from Caren. Their favorite was the vampire teeth. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VegA

Soccer Game & Pumpkins 10-26-13

We had our first game with our full team today as Katie Monholland came out to play. The girls were so excited to have her there. They all played so great we only lost 0-1. Hopefully Katie will stay for the rest of the fall season. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vebg

Before her soccer game, we went to the last loom bracelet craft event at Toys R Us. Cecily made bracelets for Ted and Isobel since we saw them after our soccer game at Trader Joe's for their free pumpkin carving contest. The kids had so much fun carving their own pumpkins. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VeTA

Cotillion 10-23-13

Cecily got new high heeled shoes for her October Cotillion. Since there were more girls than boys, Cecily ended up sharing a boy with her soccer teammate, Natalie, when they went outside to get their snack. After Cotillion, we headed to Tsunami's for a delicious teppan dinner. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VeKg

Soccer Game - Marina 10-20-13

We played our first home game at Marina High School against our own club today. Katie Monholland came out to watch, and the girls were so excited to see her. Hopefully she will be back with us for the spring season. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vdkg

Soccer Game & Legoland Brick or Treat 10-19-13

We had the first of our 5 consecutive home games today at our Sage Hill field playing the Downtown team. The girls started out strong but quickly got hot and tired. We lost again, but the girls worked really hard on their passing. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VdfA

After our soccer game, we headed down to Legoland for the annual Brick or Treat. This year, they had more trick or treat stations scattered around the park. Cecily grew since our last visit in September and could now go on the Knights Tournament all by herself. Cecily had fun collecting all the goodies trick or treating, and we ended the night with a delicious dinner at the restaurant in the new Legoland Hotel. It was our first time eating there, and we enjoyed the selection of food that they had. Can't wait to come back sometime to stay the night in the hotel. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vdgw

HV Olympics 10-18-13

At the end of our Red Ribbon Week, Harbour View had their annual fall fundraiser today - the HV Olympics and Health Fair. Alexsia was the top fundraiser two years in a row. The kids had fun checking out the booths, getting goodies, and participating in the games. Cecily's favorite one was new this year, a fun obstacle course and balancing on an upside-down half ball. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VdXg

P!nk 10-12-13

Since we missed out the first time P!nk played at the Staples Center in February, Caren and Kelly planned and bought tickets in March for her show in October. Today was the day for Cecily and Alexsia's first concert. Caren got the girls matching shirts and little goodie bags (a CD of the concert songs, pink snacks, glow ropes, bracelets, and even a P!nk paper doll). We headed up to their LA condo in the afternoon. The girls changed into their matching outfits, and the car service that Kelly called drove us to the Staples Center. We forgot to make reservations, and all the restaurants there were fully booked. So we ended up grabbing CPK inside Staples Center for dinner. Kelly had ended up getting us VIP tickets, so we got a P!nk tote bag, hat, and lanyard (also a blanket, but that will be mailed to us). Caren was going to buy Cecily a shirt but never ended up getting it. Caren had borrowed some concert headphones for the girls, which they wore through the whole opening act (The Kin). They were pretty good (the drummer drummed with his hands!). Then the girls took the headphones off for P!nk. P!nk was AMAZING!!! She sang live, danced, twirled on silks, flew through the air, etc. Cecily sang along through the whole concert. When the show was over, Cecily wanted to watch it again! They showed a little video montage of behind the scenes from the concert, and Cecily was excited to see that P!nk's daughter Willow had the same pink headphones that we borrowed. Such a fabulous concert and so glad that it was Cecily's very first one! http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VdGg

We spent the night at the LA condo and went to brunch at Farmshop at the Brentwood County Mart. It was such a cute little place. Brunch was delicious, and Kelly told us that celebrities go there frequently. When Kelly and Caren were checking out the wine display (Kelly's friend has a wine there), Ellen Pompeo from Grey's Anatomy happened to browsing right next to them. Caren was going to sneak a picture, but Cecily came running up (Caren had to say excuse me to Ellen because Cecily almost bumped into her) and took her phone away. Oh well! When we got back to HB, Cecily went to watch Alexsia at her Nutcracker rehearsal before coming back to our house to do a fun light-up Frankenstein Halloween craft. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VdOA

Girl Scout Meeting 10-09-13

We had our first Junior Girl Scout meeting today to talk about nut sales and Red Ribbon Week. The girls got to put up fliers, red cups to spell out "say no to drugs," and tie red ribbons around the trees at school. The rain put a little damper on our plans, but we got most of Red Ribbon Week decorations up. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3VdCw

Soccer Game - Manhattan Beach 10-06-13

We headed up to Manhattan Beach for our Sunday game. It was at the field at Marine Avenue Park that Cecily and Caren had been at this summer when they took Richard to work. Cecily loved that she could say she had been there before. Although we lost 0-15, the girls played much better than they did on Saturday. The other team even told them that they were like us two years ago, that our girls had so much heart, and to not give up. Our neighbors (Dave, Rasha, Aidan, Allie, and Sophia) happened to be at a birthday party in Manhattan Beach, so they came to watch the game after their party was over. We all went to the Kettle for dinner after the game. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vc9Q

Soccer Game - Golden West 10-05-13

Busy Saturday for us. Caren and Cecily started out the morning with the kids workshop at Home Depot, where she got to see a pumpkin patch, get a free Lego set, build and paint an airplane, and eat a free hot dog. As soon as we were done, we headed to Toys R Us to make loom bracelets with Charlize. After making a couple bracelets, we dropped off Charlize and picked up Papa and Richard for lunch before Cecily's soccer game. Today we played our fellow Galaxy U11 team at Golden West College. We had all eleven girls, but we still lost 0-10. Our neighbors (Dave, Rasha, Aidan, Allie, and Sophia) came to watch our game. Since it was so hot, we went to Dairy Queen after the game with Ava to get some ice cream. Then we headed home so Cecily and Papa could play together. We ended the evening with all of us playing Pictionary before Papa had to go home. http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8UbNGrdw3Vc5A