Halloween has come and gone once again.

It's that time of year again. Halloween has come and gone just like that. I'm not even sure what happened to the month of October.

I had planned to take the kids to the corn maze again this year. However the day we decided to go it raid ALL day. Bummer!

However this a darn cute picture of Jackson.

So here is a rundown of the Halloween festivities.

Anthony had is first Halloween parade at school. Of course it was one of those days at work that could not be missed. I sent Shane with the camera and one simple request, get pictures.

This is what I got.

Shane ended up helping in the classroom and walking 50 kids around the school with 2 other parents and the teacher. What a good dad.

Buzz Lighter aka Anthony using his blaster.
The Friday before Halloween Anthony had a party at Karate. They played some games and did a trunk or treat. The start of the pile of candy they would get over the weekend.
He even had his face painted.

Afterwards we made a stop and got a pumpkin pizza before carving pumpkins.

Anthony trying his hardest cleaning out the pumpkin.

He was only getting one seed at a time.

I ended up helping clean it out so we weren't carving all night.

Anthony told us what shape to make the eyes and nose. As well if it was a happy or mean pumpkin on each one.
Jackson pretty excited about the pumpkins.

Here we are painting a pumpkin.

Anthony even got in on the painting while Shane carved his pumpkin.

All finished.

Time to do some trick or treating.

Look at that 2 Buzz Light years!

Trick or treating this year was wet and cold.

However both kids loved it!

Alien from Toy Story aka Jackson.

Jackson even got his groove thing on with Frankenstein.

I am pretty sure this should last awhile.

Shane is loving every bit of it.

Exciting News

I received some pretty exciting news today.

I get to go here.

Christmas Markets in Europe.

Christmas is my favorite time of year. So going to these famous markets is going to be amazing!

Here is a map of the river I will be sailing down.

I will be flying into to Prague and return home from Budapest. Seeing such cities along the way like Regensburg, Passau, Linz and Vienna.

This is going to be an amazing trip.

He Said What???

(Anthony walks in with his finger in his mouth)

A: I want my teeth to fall out.

(Me start feeling all teeth for a loose one)

M: Do you have a loose tooth.

A: I just want them to fall out so I don't have to brush them.

(All I could do was laugh)

Too Cute!

1-4 FINALLY!

Yep that time of year again. Time to make our annual trip to Oakland.

We drove the full 11 hours on Friday so we could recover and enjoy ourselves before the festivities began on Saturday.

Saturday we had a few hours to kill so since Mitch has never been to San Fransisco we spent a few hours in the city. Seeing the main sights.

This picture of the Golden Gate is the only proof I have that we went to San Francisco.
Once back in Oakland we headed over to the Raider Image. Saw some current players.
Rookies Lamar Houston & Jacoby Ford.

Then we headed to Ricky's.

There we saw some players of the past.

Hanging out at Rickey's for a few hours

With friends. Mitch, Shane, Me, Felisa, and Manny.

Good Times.

Sunday morning tailgating started early.

Good food.

Ran with his famous woop woop juice.

Shane, Darren, Ran, and Me.

We know we are always welcomed when we are in town.

Getting one more beer in before game time.

2010 Oakland Raiders!

Lined up for a play.

The first quarter was a bit slow moving. Come half time the Raiders were down.

However put in a new quarterback. Things picked up and guess what?

Raiders WON!

Raiders 16 Rams 14

After the game you win it's time to head back out to the tailgate for a bit of celebrating.

This is my 5th trip to Oakland and my first win.

Boy does it feel good.

We made it home safe Monday after another 11 hour drive and one speeding ticket later.
Let's hope these Raiders will turn the losing streak over and start putting more wins on the board.

(I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the scoreboard showing they won.)

Swimming lessons

For the last 2 summers Anthony has been taking swimming lessons. Here are a few of the most recent pictures of what he is learning.

Holding his breath under water.
With help from his teacher, learning to use his arms while swimming.

Blowing bubbles in the water.

This is how Jackson feels that he isn't in the water too.

I do have to share a story from one of the lessons. Colored rings were being thrown to the bottom of the pool. The kids were to hold their breath and go get the rings. Anthony decides to use his foot and bring the ring up with his foot.

That is what I call being creative.

1st day of Kindergarten

Anthony is finally in Kindergarten.

He was so excited that he gets to walk to school this year.
So excited to make new friends and meet his teacher Miss Gifford.

Started introducing himself to everyone right away.

Can't believe it's time to send him off to the wonderful years of public schooling. I am excited for him to be in Kindergarten. Shane wanted to hold him back another year.

I must say those moms are crazy. As soon as the teachers opened the door there were some moms that just couldn't let go and crowded the doors. Poor kids couldn't even get into the school. I must say I am proud of the fact I was not a crying mom.

Let's celebrate

To celebrate this...

(Jackson moving into Anthony's room)

We went from this...
(Yes. That is still a box I haven't unpacked since moving in 2 1/2 yrs ago)

To this...

It was kinda a mix for my birthday and moving Jackson out of our room. I have had the other bed since I was a Jr. in High School.

I love my new bed. Now it is going to take some getting used too.