And onto November...

Woah, October is gone and boy have we kept busy!  I am determined to post something and put some photos up that have been held captive on my camera… even though I need to pick up the kiddos soon, I have some unfinished homework, and one of our smoke detectors is making that annoying beeping… -does that beeping mean something? j/k-

So here is a quick run-down of our October (before I forget anything)..

On Oct. 16^th we went to the Mrs. Philippines Coronation Ball..  if you remember I ran for Mrs. Philippines in 2008, somewhere I have a photo of that (I’ll look for it later), I got 2^nd place.  Then in 2009 Ms. Lourdes, a good friend of ours ran and won 1^st place!  Well this year we sponsored one the candidates, she is the daughter of one of the Fil-Am (FAACCV) Directors, and she also won 2^nd place!  We were so happy, and we filled the ballroom with cheers just for her J  Oh, and I should include that we were all persuaded to wear ‘color-ful’ dresses, and if you don’t know filipino’s; they LOVE colorful things.. (hehe)  So I picked out a purple dress, and when I got there, what should I see but another board member wearing the same color purple..  No hard feelings though, because we both looked great and we were happy we could take this photo together..

Nick, Bernice, Me, and Julius

 Here is a few of us with Lourdes, Mrs. Phil 2009

 

Nick, Lourdes' Mom, Bernice, Lourdes, Julius, and Me

And of course we had to take a group photo of FAACCV

 Vivian, Jet, Frances, Evelyn, Bernie, Gretel, Zenny, Amy, Julius, Me, Lourdes,

Bernice, Lettie, Chuck, and Rita (L-R)

And one with our candidate (in the red ball gown), this is most of our group, minus one member who was unable to attend the ball.

 
Here is a random one of Miss. Adrianne, she built this tower before school and I was so shocked that I had to take a photo of her.  I've never seen either one of the girls 'build' anything like this before!

On Oct. 22^nd Adrianne had her school field trip to Bi-Zi farms, what a good time she had, and with her good friends all around her!

 N and Adrianne

Adrianne with the Chickens, just before one pecked at her sore thumb and made her cry..

 (so much drama)

 This child loves the goats

Feeding the goats corn collected off the ground, because mom forgot the quarters

Hay pyramid!

 E, N, and Adrianne

Picking out the perfect pumpkin.  Which had to be 'child' size, apparently that is the rule now.

A quick shot at the family photo op.

Then she found this pumpkin which lent itself perfectly for a 'rocking chair'...

then of course she didn't want to leave 'her chair'...

Cute photo op.

Then ofcourse we had to go again on the 24^th as a family..  it was wet and rainy, but we were able to dodge the rain and still have a good time.

Alexa having a blast throwing corn and making it 'rain'.

Adrianne in the corn pit.

The girls burying dad int he corn.

Alexa getting buried.

J found his favorite goat, and had to get a photo of him hugging it.

Alexa's first year to 'willingly' feed the goats.

!

Hey, I'm the one who remembered the quarters, so I get the feed the goats too!

Adrianne was so happy to feed all the animals.

Alexa petting the bunny.

Adrianne feeding the goat again, same goat, I think?

Dad decided he wanted to crawl through the hole in the hay pyramid..

however, the hole was a bit smaller than he anticipated!

Alexa with her face paint.

Adrianne with her horse...  minutes before it was washed off by the down pour.

Adrianne riding the ponies.

Alexa riding the pony.

Adrianne picking out her pumpkin for the pumpkin launch..

Alexa, happy as ever... even if we didn't win.  But those people behind her, they won TWICE!

Alexa trying to win the ducky race.

Adrianne's 'Auntie Mikki' shoes, drowning during the ducky race..

Determined to win!

On Oct. 29^th we were able to make a ton of cookies with my mom and Aunt, what a good time was had by all!  I didn’t get any photos of it though, I guess between making dinner and preparing the dough I just didn’t have any extra hands..  sure would be nice to have a photographer to capture those moments that you just are unable to catch.

On Oct. 30^th we carved our pumpkins, one of my favorite parts of Halloween!

Adrianne had a rough start, 

 but she perked up after I showed her the Hello Kitty design I printed for her.

Alexa picked a stencil of Maleficent.  The bad lady from Sleeping Beauty.

Alexa's..  J helped with the carving.

Adrianne's..  J also helped with carving.

The front side of mine, that is Tiana.  (and just for the record, I LOVE how it came out!)

This is one side of mine, with Cinderella on it.

This is the other side with Tinkerbell, I did a three sided pumpkin..

J's pumpkin, it was hand-drawn in the 'traditional' way..  he had fun carving with Alexa.

I also did a smaller pumpkin, my 'kid size' one from Bi-Zi, it's supposed to be a bird on a branch..

 

On the 31^st the kids went to a birthday party while I studied for a little while, then when they got home they put on their costumes and as we were getting ready to leave we were surprised by Lourdes and her family, so they took us to a haunted house and then trick or treating around the area.  The girls had a great time trying to keep up with the older kids, and we got back just in time to hand off our 45 bags of treats and most of their girls’ candy that they didn’t want (they don’t eat much candy, I always end up throwing it away at next Halloween).

 Alexa was a purple fairy, and Adrianne was a pumpkin..

 

And finally as proof of how exhausted the kiddos have been, here is Adrianne on Monday evening, after school.  She first was in the living room inside the white laundry basket, but I came in and turned on the light so I could study..  then she moved up to my room and got her blue laundry basket, and proceeded to fall asleep inside of it..  poor kid, she really does need more sleep but we just don’t have enough hours in the day!

P.S.  We’ve also been doing a dance practice for our annual Pasko Na Naman (Christmas Party), that has been quite an exercise!  More to come on that in December.

It's Almost Halloween!

Today the kiddos do not have school, although Julius woke them up early to go to school (he didn't know it wasn't a school day - however its so quiet that I think they went back to sleep!)  So it's nearly Halloween, and we are spending the day cleaning up and hanging our Halloween deco (and studying, as always).  We have been super busy, we went to Sutherlin, OR for a triathlon, and the girls and I did the 5k walk (very slow walk), while Julius did the duathalon (he even won 1st place for his age group - however he was the only one in his age group, haha!  He actually finished last and fell off his bike twice, but let's not dwell on that part!)

 

And while we were down there we decided to go to the Wildlife Safari, the kiddos really liked that, and we had a good time driving through, oh and we rode the camel, my favorite part!

 Gotta love those cut-outs!

And who can have such a nice weekend without getting some camping in!  (You know how much I LOVE camping.. not!)  Dispite my general dislike for roughing it, J did pick a nice spot with clean potties, and he bought us a new tent and got me an airbed..  which really added to my happiness!  I may actually want to do it again next year - once a year is enough... however, the airbed has been put to use many times for movie night in the living room :)

And then we had the Sausage Fest, who could miss that?  It's a good way to spend alot of money for a little bit of stuff.. but the kids had fun!

Then Alexa has had her Girl Scout troop to keep her busy.  A while back she went to GS after dark and had a great time with all her friends.

The girl next to her with the curly red hair is her BFF, they are too cute together.

And we went to the zoo the weekend before last, we woke up and it was sunny so we thought it would be a nice day to go.. However everyone in the great northwest also thought it would be a good day to go, and it was member appreciation day so it was PACKED, it took us 45 mins just to get on the shuttle because the line was SO long.  But we had fun once we got there!

 

They have also been having their last classes of gymnastics, which is sad and happy at the same time.  We're sad because they finally have a coach that they like (they've had good ones before but they really had some bad ones over the summer!) and their class is just the two of them, so it's like a private class - they really like that.  However we just don't have the time, or money, to keep up with their tuition hikes.  So they have chosen to try Ballet for the next couple of months, and if they like after the new year they can go back to gymnastics.

Adrianne has been doing good in preschool, she's still a little clingy sometimes in the morning but that is mostly on the days when she, "want's mother" who is her other mother..  don't ask me who it is, I have no idea, but she's been talking about her since she was two..

We've also been trying to keep up with the MOMS Club, although it's difficult sometimes due to scheduling or exams.  But I started on my harvest craft (yes I know, it's almost time to hang it already).  Adrianne and I have also been trying to get in to the playgroup routine, that is not easy either.  It seems she is just so used to playing with Alexa that she hasn't really bonded with the other kids yet, but we've only met a few times.

This weekend is pretty quiet, just studying for my midterm and we have a wedding reception to go to.  Next weekend however is packed to the brim, so I am going to enjoy these next few days before they are gone!  Also coming up is the Ms. Philippines Ball, so you know that means I have to go and buy another dress (to which I've been instructed NO black, only colorful dresses)..  oh dear.  I don't even know where to begin, the dress barn I guess?  (Any suggestions?)

Okay, well I am off to get this day started, I just wanted to update the blog a bit, and put that cute photo of Alexa up..  She was such a cute little girl, she's still cute but sassy sometimes. :)