September

On a Thursday night, almost three weeks into the school year, the kids' school had its "Back to School Night."  Ryan and I got a sitter (it's a parents-only thing) and spent some time getting oriented by Connor's and Elise's teachers.  I was impressed by how much stuff they had made, in such a short amount of time!  I didn't think to take pictures, though, until after we had moved to Elise's orientation, and it was too late for Connor's classroom (sorry, Connor!)  So far this year, the kids are both doing really well.  They're both near the top of their classes academically, and have done a good job of adjusting to most of the non-academic stuff, too.
  

  

I liked this one.

   
During the four days of Labor Day weekend, Ryan went with friends on a huge backpacking trip into the Ansel Adams Wilderness.  They had to filter their water and keep their food in bear canisters.  Ryan came home a little beat-up and exhausted, but had an awesome time.
   

  

He lost his sunglasses in a different stream.

While Daddy was gone, we found this crazy giant green spider on Corinne's swimsuit.  The second picture is from the internet.  It's called a lynx spider, and was bigger than it looks here.
  

  

  
Connor started basketball class again with his friend, Isaac.  He still thinks he's entitled to a quarter for every basket he makes in a game.  Elise started up with a new level of ballet at her dance studio.  It's real ballet now - they're using the barre and everything.  Sometimes she says it's too hard, but most of the time she still loves it.
  

  
Evan made this picture for Grandma and wanted me to take a picture.  Of both sides.
   

Elise

Ryan made an impulse buy at the pool supply store.

Asleep on the Treadmill

First Taste of Carolina Reaper!

She can unlock the TV, turn on the receiver and PS3, and navigate to Netflix.

   

Evan made a "king hat" all by himself.

Ryan got tickets to the Hollywood Bowl through work, so we got to take the kids and have a picnic dinner in our fancy box seats.  We picked the Simpsons show, since we thought it would have cartoons to keep the kids' attention, but it was a lousy choice.  The songs, comedy, and video clips were all totally inappropriate.  Luckily, it mostly went over their heads, and they had fun anyway!

  

    

   
Ryan and I had been discussing buying a new minivan, but we hated to get rid of the old one if it still had life in it.  Well, on Wednesday the 17th, we started noticing that the van was slipping while going up our hill, almost as if the traction-control was coming on.  Ryan researched it, and it was apparently a sign that the transmission was failing.  We figured the vehicle only had to make it through the week, and that we'd go shop for a new one that weekend.  I parked it at the bottom of the hill, and planned to only drive it to and from school.  It made it through Thursday fine, and Friday morning, but right as I was lining up in the pickup line at school that afternoon, it died.  Anyway, it was really a huge blessing, because the kids could see me from where I was, so the crossing-guard released them.  My friend Claire came and took all four kids to her house (they had a playdate scheduled for right then, anyway,) and AAA came to pick up the van.  Ryan, at that exact moment, was at Carmax in Ontario, so when I called him on my cell he just said, "I'll buy this one."  All I had to do was catch a ride home with the tow truck and wait in my quiet house for my husband to bring me a new van.  It was the most painless car death ever!  Cars4Causes picked up the old one the next day.
   

Bye-bye, Odyssey!  You were a fabulous car!

The new one is a 2014, and used, but with less than 2000 miles on it.  We still haven't figured out how to work everything, but I'm loving the automatic doors, keyless ignition, and backup camera!
  

  
Corinney's hair has finally gotten long enough for tiny piggy-tails!  she was quite pleased.
  

Piggy-Tail Jedi

    
Towards the end of September, Ryan's work had a family picnic.  It was at a park in Burbank, and had a petting zoo, pony rides, music, games, and some pretty awesome food.  It was the most family-friendly event I think Analytic has ever put on.  The kids came home totally sugared-up and exhausted.
     

Connor loves pigs.

"Mo' Hosey!"

Corinne's Birthday and First Days of School

A few days before Corinne's birthday, she went swimming in our pool, took a shower to rinse off (with the other kids,) and slipped coming out to get dried off.  She hit her chin on the shower door track, and when I got home from the errand I was running, I found her on Daddy's lap with a bloody washcloth pressed to her face!  The bleeding kept stopping and starting again, so I took her to the Pasadena Urgent Care to have it looked at.  They cleaned the cut and put a little Dermabond on it, rather than stitches, then covered it with a Band-Aid (to keep her from picking at the Dermabond.)
  

Ow Chin..

She suceeded in picking off the Dermabond the next day, but the wound stayed closed.

My littlest girl turned two!  She doesn't seem two to me.  Maybe it's the hair . . .  She was showered with presents by everyone.  She got a stuffed cow, beautiful church dresses, an old-school wind-up musical television, and a doctor kit (with a toy Band-Aid - she loves Band-Aids!)
   

  

Saturday, we had some friends over for swimming and a barbecue.  It was a perfect level of party for a two-year-old's birthday!  Corinne got a giant cookie as her cake.
  

  

Cows are Corinne's favorite animal.  They say moo.

Looking at Grandma's E-Card

  

We had these two lovely visitors in our home and yard that week, too!

This fall was a big adventure for Connor and Elise.  I had promised Ryan, long ago, that the kids would try public school at some point.  I also wanted to see for myself, and have the kids see for themselves, what everybody else was doing.  Maybe it could prove to be a better fit for us, overall.  Friday afternoon, we drove over to the elementary school fence to see the class lists for Monday.  It was very exciting!  Connor and Elise lucked out and both got awesome teachers.  Elise's is very sweet and motherly, while Connor has team teachers who both do a great job.  Although they didn't get in the same classes as any of their friends, they do get to play with them at lunch, so that made things a lot easier.

 

Connor has a pretty large class.

Elise's

Although the kids weren't thrilled with the idea of going to full-time school, they were good sports about it.

   

First-Day Jitters

   
At the end of that first week of school, our good friends, the Palmers, came down to stay with us for a few days.  We went to see the Hollywood sign, and hiked around the Mount Wilson Observatory.  We consider the Palmer kids to be our kids' honorary cousins!
   

Mount Wilson Observatory (The Drinking Fountain Part)

  
The week after public school started, it was time for Joy School!  We added another boy this year, bringing our group up to five.  Evan was crazy excited.
      

First Day of Joy School!

   

Okay, now randomness.  Connor made this sign a year ago at science camp with a magnifying glass.  There was never really a good place to put it, since it's fairly big, so it finally got its picture taken, and was retired.

 

  

During much of August and September, I was on an allergy-elimination diet.  For the first three weeks, I was gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, beef/pork/chicken/shellfish-free, corn-free, nut-free, and sugar-free.  Anyway, one of my treats at the time was raspberries.  I got a huge tray of them at Trader Joe's and put them in the fridge.  The next morning, I found this on the counter.  When confronted about it, Evan told me, "It's okay, Mom.  I saved you some!"

     

Smoothies are such a great quick breakfast before school.  Unless your two-year-old enjoys pouring them out and playing smackety-smack in the puddle.
    

This was AFTER I'd cleaned some of it up.