football, fair, fun, flags, and feet

 Dylan and I finally got to go to a UCLA football game.  Aunt Lori got us great seats,  and the only bad part about the day was how HOT it was!  I bought us all rally towels and kept going to the restrooms to get them soaking wet to cool us off.  UCLA didn't win the game but it was a fun experience and we stopped at the Stonefire Grill in Pasadena on the way home and had a great dinner!

 At the end of September, we were able to go to the fair again with our homeschool group for free.  Here we are enjoying our free chocolate milk while waiting for the milking show to start.

 We were so happy to have Abby along with us for the day.  We met up with the Shorts and got to try out weaving and watch them spin wool.  Marilyn and I were excited to see these things that related so much to what we had been reading about in Farmer Boy.

 They also got to braid some strands that were part of a rag rug.  This is definitely something that Gracie wants to try to do herself.

 Montclair played Chaffey in football a few weeks ago.  The kids and I sat on the Chaffey side while Bill and Dylan stood on the Montclair side.  We knew Bill was rooting for Chris on the inside.

 At the beginning of October, we were finally able to share a day at Disneyland with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Bob.  We had bought them tickets for a xmas gift, and Diana wanted to wait and use them during Halloween time because she had never seen how they decorate during October.

 We had beautiful weather that day, and even though the lines were long, we were able to ride lots of things, even the carousel.  Everyone had a try at pulling the sword out of the stone.

 We waited the longest for the Haunted Mansion ride, which was decorated  with special things from "Nightmare Before Christmas."  No one minded the wait, as long as I had plenty of snacks in my back pack.

 We got to the end of Main Street just as they were having the ceremony to take down the flags.  We had never seen this before and it just shows how many neat things go on at Disneyland each day.  You see something new and special almost every time you go.

 Last Saturday, Bill had to be at school all day so we met him for lunch at Chipotle.

Gracie took this picture on my phone of her and Winona wearing their Converse high tops.  These are actually my high tops that now fit Gracie.  I never wear them so I gave them to her. I can not believe that we wear the same size in shoes now. Time flies and feet grow. :)

spelling, speeches, and pumpkin pie

 In September and October our homeschool group made our way through our last two Laura Ingalls Wilder books.  We met together after completing Little Town on the Prairie.  In the spirit of the Friday night Literary meetings in the book, Reuben and Isaac encouraged us all to have our own spelling bee.  It was fun watching each child feel pleased at how many words they were able to spell.  Perhaps the seventh grader of the group had a little bit of an advantage!

 In the book, Laura got herself into a mess with her quick ability to write clever rhyming phrases.  One of our activities was playing rhyming bingo, reading Shel Silverstein poems, and writing our own poetry.  Here is what one group came up with:

 In October, we met to do activities from the book, Farmer Boy.  I had not read this book because I never thought I would be that interested in a book about a boy.  I am so glad I got the opportunity as an adult to share this with my kids.  We learned so many lessons about hard work, responsibility, and loving others.  I teared up at the end, as usual, and now find myself bringing up Almanzo quite a bit when the kids start to complain or don't appreciate how easy things are around here!  This was a very big day for Caleb who did his very first oral presentation to the group.  Caleb and Luke acted out one of their favorite Mo Willems books, Watch me throw the ball!.  I am still in the process of trying to figure out how to load the video onto here.  I was so proud of him overcoming his shyness to do this in front of everyone.

 Kim Medina brought a jar of cream for us to churn into butter.  Each kid took turns shaking it up and enjoyed having a taste.

 Couldn't resist another picture of Grammy and Caleb together.  He can't wait for Grammy to ring our doorbell whenever our group gets together. He brought down his entire stack of 20 library books for Grammy to read to him....and Grammy read every single one!

 Sweet Isaac is actually very allergic to dogs but that doesn't stop him from playing so sweetly with Jack.  He usually ends up with hives on his face or neck before they leave the house, but he never complains.

 In the book, Almanzo talks about filling up his glass of milk with popcorn and that it never overflows.  Laurie popped some popcorn for us and we tried it out to see if this was true!

 They kept adding more and more popcorn, and it never overflowed!

 For my activity, we took a bunch of new vocabulary words from the book and put them in alphabetical order.   Then I read a random definition from the dictionary to see if they could remember what they all meant.  Luke and Winona were quite a team, but Reuben and Wade kept it very close!  Dylan and Isaac barely beat the girls, thanks to Isaac remembering what the word "sheave" meant!

 Marilyn explained the science behind Almanzo's family using sawdust to pack the ice into the icehouse.

 Grammy made mini pumpkin pies for all the kids. I think they were the hit of the day!  In the book, Almanzo ate pies, cakes, ice cream, donuts, candy, and the list goes on and on... I told my kids that if they worked out in the fields from sun up until sun down they could eat more foods like that too!

 Ok, one more random picture of Owen and Jack.  I forgot to put this one in my last blog post and I thought it was just too cute to leave out!

We got a dog!!!

 One day while we were in Cayucos this summer, Bill and I decided that it was time for us to get a dog.  Luke and Caleb have been scared of dogs since they could walk, and Dylan and Gracie have reached an age where we thought they could handle the bulk of responsibility for him. We spent the next couple of weeks reading up on various breeds, and looking up dogs online from the local shelters.  One Monday morning when Bill was off of work, we saw "lightning" come up on the screen as a perfect match for what type of dog we were looking for.  The kids loved him from the second we saw his picture and off we went to the animal shelter in Ontario. The kids and I had never been to a shelter, and Gracie and I could hardly bear to see all of the animals who needed a good home.  They brought lightning out to us and I liked his manner right away.  I have never had a dog before, but I felt like I could handle this one.  After dealing with the very protective manager of the shelter, we convinced her that we were the best family for him. This is Dylan and Gracie with him on our way home.

 One thing I knew that I didn't like too much was the name lightning.  I spent the next couple of hours trying to talk the kids into picking a new name.  We stopped at Bill's mom's house on our way home to show Diana and Bob the new member of the family.  We talked to them first before we even got the dog to make sure they were willing to watch him whenever we went out of town.  Diana loved him from the first minute she saw him!

 By the time we got home, I had come up with a new name for our dog - Jack.  I was happy to hear that both Dylan and Gracie liked it immediately.  Caleb and Luke didn't like it too much, but they weren't happy about much of anything on that day!  I had a feeling I would be saying his name quite a bit and I wanted something quick and easy to say!

 Here I am the next morning trying to calm a nervous and scared puppy while we were doing school work at the kitchen table.  Seeing how he acts now, I can look back and understand how frightened he was...perhaps as frightened as I was, since I didn't really know what to do with him!  He slept a lot the first few days and then slowly the real Jack began to appear.

 A few days later we were outside playing with Jack when the most beautiful rainbow appeared.  It was a good day...Luke and Caleb were starting to warm up to Jack and the weather was gorgeous.  I was starting to feel like we made the right decision.

 Gracie felt sick one morning and spent most of the day reading with Jack next to her on the couch.  You would think she was raised with animals the way she understood how to handle Jack right away.  She calls him her baby and it is very clear that Jack adores her.

 Life finally seemed to start coming to a new normal after a couple of weeks.  Luke and Caleb started to feel more comfortable around Jack.  Especially Caleb!  He now lets Jack lick him, jumps around with him, plays tug of war, and he even occasionally tries to ride him like a horse.  Here we all are at one of Chaffey's home football games.  We had a big crowd that night and it was a beautiful September night!

 Occasionally, we get to babysit Owen.  We love playing with him. Here you can see Luke and Caleb trying to teach him how to shoot the basketball.  I see many more lessons in his future!

 September also means going to the LA county fair!  They had a superhero exhibit this year and here are Luke and Caleb trying to fly like Superman.

 I really liked this sign in the kids building. They had questions to answer about which literary character you like better.  I knew that it was an easy choice for Delaney to pick Sherlock Holmes!

 Everyone loves to get their favorite foods at the fair.  I have been disappointed the past two years that my favorite gingerbread house is not there anymore.  Here you can see everyone sharing a ten pound bun and crispy chips. Plus, they always love having the cherry lemonade and cheese sticks.

 This year they had a music exhibit in one of the buildings.  I was pleased to see Dylan pick up the guitar.  I miss hearing him play in the house, but he has become a decent piano player now also.  Gracie still loves playing the piano, and I love to hear the sound of them both playing a little each day.

So thankful for these kiddos!

 Here's the whole Brown family together after a Chaffey football game.  Lori reminded me the other night that we have been going to Chaffey football games for over 25 years!  I love this fall tradition, and it never gets old.

 After we got Jack, Dylan started reading Old Yeller for school and then we watched it as a family together when he was done reading it.  I know a lot of people don't like this movie very much, but it had a whole new meaning for us.  Bill and I have been jokingly calling Caleb, "Arliss" lately because he sometimes acts a little like him in this movie!

I'm the first one up most mornings.  The first thing I have been doing lately is letting Jack go outside, fixing myself a cup of coffee, and taking it outside while I read my Bible next to Jack.  It's a lovely new tradition.  Life is good.