November so far...

We kicked off November with a rain "storm" after we trick-or-treated on Halloween night and woke up to this rainbow right out our front door.  

Since then its been lots of the usual routine as well as some holiday prep.

I'm on a cashew milk kick right now and have turned out a few of these babies every week! Yum!

I also discovered a new little lunch gem in the neighborhood.  Joi cafe's menu is completely plant based, gluten free and organic.  Music to my ears.  And my tummy.  My first time I had their pad thai, to.die.for.  I've since been back for their rosemary smoothie and bob marley zucchini pasta!

This little guy has been cracking us up, always into something these days.

We went up to Ojai with Mimi and Papa and Parker, Auntie and Eden one Friday for some yummy lunch at Papa Lennon's.  These two enjoyed some cousin catch up time over pizza and sorbetto. 

 We celebrated our friend Adam's birthday with friends.  The only picture I got of the grown ups was one I stole from Bonnie, the rest are of the crazy kiddos, of course.  Another group of ALL BOYS.

Playing in their hideout.

An old lifeguard tower turned playhouse made for a whole evening of fun for this crew.

Hanging with my honey.

Malibu sunsets.  Sigh.

The next day we had a little football and brunch with this guy and his wife to be.  Its been far too long since we've hung out with Uncle Aaron.

And he held his own with a table full of little dudes. 

 This lucky kid even got a chocolate covered strawberry.  #chocolatewasted

Mischief:

Since its dark at like 5pm these days we have had to come up with some creative and fun indoor stuff.  Enter living room science and the tornado tube.  Owen dug it.

A little stop at the Thursday Farmer's Market after school.  We went for eggs, but left with plums, apple chips and honey sticks for snacking as well.

Last weekend we headed out to pismo with the family.  I did a terrible job of documenting the weekend, whoops.

These two love a good camping trip though.

Welcome to Pismo.

My guys heading out for a ride.

I joined them like once.  Too much motion sickness material for me.

 The boys came home from Pismo with nasty colds so today we are home from school taking a sick day.  At about 9:30 I started to realize that they are pretty much recovered.  I guess you can always use one extra rest, stay in your pajamas day right?!

 So much for a sick day...

I can't believe next week is Thanksgiving.  I'm off to try to get some things done, like maybe order our Christmas cards so they don't go out two days before Christmas yet again!  Wish me luck...

Cousins

Way back before Halloween, we got all the cousins together at Mimi's for a pumpkin crafting playdate.  And since we knew we would have all 6 kiddos together it would make for a great opportunity for a photo shoot.  That is until I forgot my good camera.  Boo.

But it turns out that my good camera was the least of our worries.  Our pumpkin crafting party turned into a pirate party.  I think each boy swiped some paint on a mask and maybe a pumpkin and they were done.

When we finally got them to all sit with Eden for a picture we could not convince them to do so without eye patches.  The majority of the shoot consisted of them getting their eye patches on and off.

And cheering for themselves:

All I know is that Eden is going to be well taken care of/have her hands full with these five crazy boys by her side!

Trick-or-Treat

Another Halloween night has come and gone and its already November.  Holy moly. I have to say that our Trick-or-Treating tradition is quickly becoming one of my favorites.  The first year we moved into our new neighborhood we were invited to trick-or-treat with some friends who lived around the corner, and we've been doing it ever since.  This was our third year all together, and in my opinion three years running makes for a true tradition.  The first year we went Scott was the age that Owen and Katelyn are now, time flies.

This year Brian got in on the action with a little Clark Kent/Superman combo we put together.  Scott was so jazzed about it.  All day he was telling me that it was daddy's first halloween, I tried to explain that it wasn't, but Scott countered with the fact that this was Daddy's first time dressing up (at least as far as Scott can remember).  Owen went back and forth on whether to be Spiderman or the great white shark....in the end Spidey won out, when your big brother and your dad are superheroes there really is no other choice.

My super dudes on our way out the door to join the Howell's for dinner.

Lexi (Katelyn's cousin) trick-or-treated last year, but was only about 3 or 4 months old.  Next year there will be at least one more little one in the picture, Brooke, Katelyn's sister is about 2 months and not quite ready for the picture line up.

Lexi (1), Owen (2.5), Scott (4.5) and Katelyn (2.5)

Love these three besties

Erika and I joke when we take pictures that we will put them in the kids yearbook when they graduate high school, I really think this one will make the cut.  Katelyn and Owen, class of 2030. Oy!

Our little trick-or-treaters:

This year grandma even got to come down and join in on the fun.

Scott definitely has the hang of it by now and wanted to go and go.  This year we went to the most houses yet.  Scott wanted to fill his pumpkin to the top.  He was going great and running up to the doors all by himself until a big kid growled at him, it totally ruined his night and was a big topic of conversation the rest of the evening.  It proved to be a good learning experience, we discussed not letting it ruin his night and how he would never ever do that to a little kid when he gets older. 

It was a wonderful night that was capped off by much needed RAIN after we all went to bed.  Buckets and buckets of rain.

And then a full rainbow out of our front door in the morning.

Happy November everyone!

Pumpkin carving

We got our pumpkins carved just under the wire this year.  I talked with my girlfriend/neighbor as I was doing errands on Wednesday afternoon, we decided if I could find kits they would come over with some left overs and I would throw a frozen pizza in and we'd go for it.  So it all worked out and we got our jack-o-lanterns carved.  And I have to say that with each glass of wine we got more and more artistic ; )

Campbell jack-o-lanterns.  One was stenciled, one was free hand....yay wine!

Love these kiddos!

The next day the boys went to town on their mini pumpkins from the field trip.  Scott really wanted a picture with his.  So big.

Up next: Halloween night post and trick or treating : )