We are back

We've been working on settling back in. Started school again this week. We talked about robins, Connecticut's state bird. Afterwards we made edible birds nest.
They thought it was icky to mold the nest. We made these with grass(shredded wheat) twigs(sesame stick) and mud(melted peanut butter and carob) and the eggs are grapes.




They did think they were quite tasty!

We've been working on putting up the Christmas decorations. Kitty has decided that the tree skirt makes a good sleeping spot. Little one has discovered this and takes the opportunity to get close.

trip updates

We got to watch the planes before we left.


We did a little rock climbing at the science center.



We saw some dino's......J played in dino poo.

On the road

or in the air. Vacation time is here. After a long plane ride we finally arrived to the cold air of LA. I7 keeps asking me, why is it sooo cold here. I & I chatted someones ear off for the whole plane ride. The nice lady did get a bit of a break while she covered up and tried to sleep...or was she trying to get away from the endless chatter?? Whatever it was she was a good sport and seemed not to mind, although hmm, I think she did walk rather fast off of the plane!
J & L both had a nap on the plane, although not long enough for me;) After a few hours the thrill of the plane soon wore off and J was ready to get to California. (Which btw it is so cute to hear him say CA in his little 3yr old voice, he just draws it out so) When are we going to be there? Can't we just land now? L was happy as long as he was eating, as they no longer feed you on planes anymore he had lots of raisins and granola bars as that is what I had brought.
First thoughts of being on the mainland again.....it's cold(well most of us agree this is a fact, I thought CA was suppose to be sun and beaches and beach boy songs). We see billboards again, although most of them didn't have lights-so you couldn't really read them. The signage in the city must be different then we are use to because we kept missing the signs we needed last night-although on the plus side we didn't have traffic to deal with!
We went to play at the science center today...will share more of our fun their with pictures later.
Right now I'm enjoying the awwwwwww sound of silence. James took the big kids out for some fun and the little ones are resting so they will be up and ready to go for a fun filled adventure tomorrow. You might see us if you see a group of people tied together. It was a little crazy today with everyone getting caught up in their own thing and forgetting to stay together. I think it may be a good plan to leash ourselves together:)

Packing

Someone thought he'd jump right into the packing idea.....you'll have to excuse the red eye, fixed it as best I could.

Happy Halloween

We made some web dip for supper tonight. It was a big hit, especially with the little one. He much preferred it over the pumpkin pasta. He doesn't seem to be much of a pasta eater, also tends to throw the food he doesn't want to eat. He will give you a bit of a warning first but if you don't get it fast enough.......down with the food!

We had some nice pumpkin decorations tonight. The kids went to a pumpkin patch today. J painted his and the other 2 drew on theirs(they also got 2 each) They will come in handy as we are doing a Thanksgiving study this week and need some pumpkins for experiments.




Isn't this a great spooky photo of L? Red eyes,the strange glow and of course the food, he must have thought that was paint! Hmm, I know where he got that idea from.... I & I had made masks and when daddy got home they quickly put them on. J didn't have a mask so he put some pumpkin(from the pasta) on his face and said he was a pumpkin monster!

Weekend

What a great weekend! James, L and I went out for some Jamba Juice while the older kids were at Awana's Friday night. Saturday I was gone all day at a conference and today we had a great day at church then went to pick up groceries and James' belated birthday gift. He's been patiently waiting and today Guitar Hero for the Wii came out. So we are all taking turns trying to play. Here is our Guitar hero:)

belated pictures