School Dance

Andrew Carnegie Middle School was not as welcoming as this photo of Andrew Carnegie. Emily and Grace convinced Anatole to let them go to the school dance. There are three things you need to get into a school dance these days. 1. student id 2. $5 and 3. signed dance card. Well Emily had all three...Grace didn't. Grace lost her purse at school and among the many things contained in said purse was her student id. Their friend Jordan called and gave Grace the hope that she could still attend. "Go early and find Mr. Uhler...he will open the door for you and you will be able to find your purse and then go to the dance" Grace thinks she left her purse in Mr. Uhler's class. I told her that Nik couldn't get in to a school dance once because he didn't have his student id hoping to prepare Grace for the inevitable. Poor Grace was so sad she couldn't go to the dance. After exhausting all possible options she was turned away and Emily went without her. Many tears were shed...

A Fun Day With Emily & Grace

Saturday October 22nd we all went to the Time Out For Women & Girls where we got to listen to some great speakers and some interesting music. We had a great time. Some of the singers were good and lots weren't but it was still fun and Emily and Grace had a great time. We talked about what they learned and who was their favorite speaker and all that good stuff. Jane Clayson Johnson was there. She's a hometown girl and she even graduated from Rio Americano High School. She played a violin duet with her mom. That was one of the good music pieces. Our old stake president's wife, Cathy Wood, played the piano along with them. Wasn't sure if I would enjoy the day but I totally did.

Well that stinks...I couldn't get the picture to upload. Maybe I'll try again later.

Looks like I was able to add a picture afterall. We all like pictures. Makes the blog much more fun.

Nik's Job

Nik is working as an attendant for a young man with Asperger's Syndrome. His mother wrote a book about raising him so I checked it out on Amazon. That's where I got the image of Ben. Nik is excited he gets to go to music classes at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood and he gets to go to the recording studio while Ben records all 200 tracks of whatever songs he is recording. The 200 tracks quote is from his mom. She called and talked to me for a long time. Interesting woman.

California Burning

Well...Faith was one of the evacuee's of the San Diego fires. Ian drove down to San Diego and swept her away to Los Angeles and Nik took her back to San Diego on Wednesday evening. He said the fires in the night looked amazing. Too bad they are so devastating. Faith went back to her apartment Thursday to find all was well. Aside from lots of ash and debris outside, everything inside was safe and sound. Her clients actually came in for their scheduled hair cuts on Thursday. Amazing.

Happy Hallowe'en!

After visiting the boys' cousin Liam (and his parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles of course!) I was impressed that Jamie took her little guy so often to the photo studio to get his picture taken. They really turned out so much nicer than the ones that I take at home. As I read all the adverts about how they grow so fast and you want to capture them at each stage before it's gone forever I became wistful. So when I got home and saw a Hallowe'en coupon from Picture People and I also glanced over at the boys' as yet unworn cute turtle costumes from Children's Place, I decided I better carpe the diem.
When we got to Picture People told the photolady I just wanted a shot where both boys were looking at the camera and smiling- no fancy poses. I guess I thought I'd sit back a little and let the photographer do her thing. Well, it wasn't working out so well- the photographer took the photos, of course, but I became much more involved than I was expecting! I kept running up to the boys and putting them in place next to each other, and then running back behind the photographer and making googly faces and noises to get them to look at me. We had been at it for awhile and I must have been looking really disshevelled and just sort of panting there because she said that she thought we were good. I said- no way! I haven't gotten my picture yet! Luckily after just a few more minutes we got the winning shot. It was a good thing I had made us keep going because out of the whole lot I only got one where both boys were looking at the camera and smiling. Phewsh- close one. Moral of the story: it's much easier at these things with one baby- or two adults. And no head items. :D

Happy Hallowe'en!

Pumpkin Patch!

On our way home from a ward party at the beach we ran into this pumpkin patch with our friends the Morrises. It's called McGrath St. Pumpkin Patch and it was the best pumpkin farm we've ever seen. They had free hayrides, although it was late in the day so we didn't take advantage, and bargain prices. They also had some of the wackiest pumpkins and gourds we've ever seen! We are going to carve our pumpkin tomorrow for FHE- looking forward to it!

Mischief Makers

I came across this video today as I was uploading the recent additions- it was taken just a week or two before the barricade went up... now you can see what I mean!

the party is so over

BUSTED!

It has been noted in recent weeks that a level of disruption unlike any other has descended upon the Puente household. While initially the dissemblement of pots, pans and other sundry items was met with tolerance and even encouragement, the frequency of such disruptions and disorderly behavior has risen so sharply as to really get on the nerves of the household's adult tenants. After much perusing of used baby items advertisements and a long drive to Torrance, relief may be at hand. As of September 29, 2006 the first gate was erected in the Puente home to prevent entry into what will be hereafter referred to as 'the kitchen.' The purpose of the blockade is to attempt to restore some semblance of order, and recover what precious little sanity remains.




Initially the disturbers were quite agitated about the inaccessibility into 'the kitchen' (aka their playroom), but they gradually got used to the idea and now use the blockade as a launching point to practice their walking.

caleb takes a few steps

Caleb is walking so often now that we'll turn our backs and look at him and he's teetering from one corner of the couch to the armchair across the carpet. We're wise enough to know that anything new our boys are doing seems to develop in fits and starts- one day they'll be doing it every chance they get and the next day they seem to have forgotten how, especially in front of the camera. But we did catch this little piece of fun last night. I'm predicting that he'll be walking exclusively by the end of October- right around the time of his unofficial first birthday/elusive due date of October 9.