Back to School

We were so excited to have three boys all at the same school this year. Blake, the big fifth grader, started his last year of elementary school, Crew started his first year of elementary school, and Nash fell right in the middle. Finn started preschool and was thrilled to have his own carpool and lunch box two days a week.

Crew made it into kindergarten during the last year that our school district offered half-day kindergarten. I was grateful that Crew made the cut off because he is one of the youngest in his class and he would not have been ready for all-day school. 

Blake was definitely too cool for school.

I'm not quite sure what was happening with the hair that got crazier and crazier with each pose.

It always feels good to vacuum out the pound of sand in the car and get back to schedules and routines.

Christmas Build Up

Somewhere in between the nonstop chaos of December and everyday life with four little boys, we managed to fit in a few festive activities. We would have liked to fit in so much more but it wasn't in the cards this year.

We kicked off the month by making hygiene kits for orphanages at a church service activity. Santa made an appearance at the end. It was nice to check off chatting with the big guy early on in the month, without the hassle of waiting in lines.

Santa and Finn looked a little like twins.

Blake and I had some tough, unplanned conversations about what is real and what isn't at Christmas time. He learned the truth about elves on shelves and was devastated. It was heartbreaking. He declared that he didn't want to know that information until he was 12. He was skeptical about Santa too, but I think we safely held on to the magic for at least another year.

We took a cruise around the Newport Harbor while Troy's family was in town. We rented a Duffy boat and brought dinner on board.

We had the water almost to ourselves which gave us a great view of all the lights, but was also eerily dark at times.

I got to help at Nash's kindergarten party.

Even though I used to teach kindergarten, every time I step into a classroom, I'm blown away that anyone can be a teacher. Teachers are amazing. 

Once school was out and we made it through the church program, we headed out to Arizona for the days leading up to Christmas. I drove with the boys and Troy flew out a few days later. One hour from our destination, we were in a multiple car accident. It wasn't because of traffic or bad weather, but simply because one driver didn't see another car when changing lanes. The sudden stop created quite a ripple effect.

Thankfully, no one was hurt. My car took the impact much more than any of us.

We waited on the side of the freeway for hours as we took care of all of the logistics with the officers and insurance company. The most beautiful sunset sprawled across the sky while we were waiting. My car made it the remaining hour to our destination, but not without several strange noises. After inspection the next day, it was determined there was no way it could make it back to California. The radiator was leaning on the radiator fan, the brakes were rubbing, the left headlight was cracked and pointing upward and the A/C hoses were bent and could blow any minute. It was a bit of a pain to work out having repairs done in Arizona with California auto insurance. But we had no choice other than to leave it behind in desert. We should be able to retrieve it the second week in January.

With all of the auto drama behind us, we packed up on Christmas Eve Eve and headed to the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort.

We wandered around the resort grounds and checked out the carousel, ice skating rink, light displays and animated nativity.

Crew was pretty thrilled about the new friend he made.

It was unusually cold in the desert so we enjoyed our breaks by the fire pits. Usually I would be sad if we traveled to Arizona and it was rainy and cold all week, but since we were headed back to Southern California this year, we were just happy to be with extended family for a few days.

One by one, the rest of our family trickled in to the desert and we prepared for one of the most anticipated days of the year...

Halloween Wrap-Up

We're almost halfway into November already but I'm going back in time for a moment to wrap up Halloween.

Since Halloween was on a Saturday this year, we began the day where we begin most holiday weekends.

Crew insisted on bringing his trick-or-treat bucket, hoping it might be filled.

Crew was committed to the bucket, I'll give him that. Sadly, only sand made its way in. No candy was to be found at the beach.

This year's festivities were limited. I'm usually exhausted by the end of all of the school parties, work parties, church parties and neighborhood trick-or-treating. But this year was different. They don't allow the kids to dress up at school here. They had "Dress Like a Superhero" day instead. And instead of costumes parades and Halloween parties, they designated a day for "fall activities." Politically correct? Yes. Lame? Yes.

I got to volunteer in both of the boys' classes for "fall activity day." We played lots of rounds of Bingo in 2nd grade.

In Kindergarten, we made pumpkin faces out of clementines and played more Bingo at my station.

They all made spider hats as well.

I loved that every other child's spider legs were attached to the bottom of their hats and Nash's were spiking out from both directions.

In addition to no costumes or parades at school, Troy was in Chicago for a wedding so we didn't go to his work trick-or-treating party. And then, the trunk-or-treat at church was on Halloween instead of the week before. So, that meant the boys only dressed up for one day and one day only.

I have to admit, even though I'm usually complaining about all of hoopla surrounding Halloween, it was a bit of a let down this year to only dress up once. After all of the effort that goes into gathering costumes parts, it's nice to have more than one day to wear them.

Nonetheless, I took their individual costume pictures (pineapple, Descendants characters and train conductor) and we were off to celebrate for a few short hours at the church trunk-or-treat followed by neighborhood trick-or-treating. The big kids collected their candy at trunk-or-treat quickly and took over distribution for the rest of the event. 

Crew was as happy as can be when some candy was finally placed in his bucket. Little did he know, there was much more to come.

We carved our pumpkins a few days before Halloween. It's a good thing I took a shot of them then because after five days in the heat, they were moldy and deformed and had to be thrown out before trick-or-treaters arrived.

We met up with a bunch of our friends for trick-or-treating. This was the best we could get from this crowd. Even though we all started out together, it was impossible to stay together. Blake branched off with some friends for a good hour while I took a quick detour with Nash to find a bush. Sadly, I feel like the days of not trick-or-treating with mom are just beginning.

I made a last ditch effort to get all of my boys together for a shot in the darkening sky. 

I don't know if I'll ever get used to trick-or-treating in short sleeves and still being hot. I had to rethink a few original fleece costume ideas. Even Nash's jacket was a stretch in the heat. But it was so nice to not have to cover up those costumes with winter coats! Doors were both opened and closed in the realm of Halloween costume possibilities.

Crew would have been happy with a few suckers and packs of gummy bears. But he was delighted to go door-to-door and watch that candy level rise.

Crew asks me regularly now if we can go trick-or-treating. "That was so fun!" he exclaims. He was a riot this year. For the entire month of October, he lit up when he spotted "punkin punkins" (it was never one pumpkin, it was always doubled). And don't even get me started on houses with Halloween decor. He called them "pooky pooky" (spooky spooky) and it was adorable every single time.

Most years I'm relieved to put Halloween behind us but this year left me wanting more. I'm sure I'll reconsider next year when costume parts are strewn around for a week straight we have more candy than we'll ever need.