David Archuleta's Christmas Album

My three sisters and I are all big David Archuleta fans and we all just got his new Christmas CD. This is what I wrote to them today:


Sisters,

Okay, I've been listening to the CD-- it came yesterday in the mail. I literally have a crying headache, it's so beautiful. We put it in the car and we've been driving around listening to it. I LOVE IT!!! I'M IN LOVE WITH DAVID ARCHULETA!!!!!

I've been dying for this album and it has fullfilled my dreams.

And Brenda, yes, "Pat a pan" is LEGEND. I LOVE IT!! We've been listening to it the most.

I keep getting weepy and getting chills listening to the spiritual songs.

I sorta feel like I'm with you all when I'm listening to it.

I love you all!

Suzy

I LOVE this CD!! It feels a little strange, listening to Christmas music in October, like I'm cheating or opening my Christmas presents too early, but I LOVE it! You can really feel the love that David has for our Savior, it's so nice to know that he really means the spiritual words that he is singing. And how I LOVE Christmas carols such as "O Holy Night" and "Joy to the World!" I'm loving it and so are my little girls!! Run out and get your copy today!!

A visit from Tristan and Eathen!

Today after church Brieanne came to stay with us. How I love to see my dear friend. The kids were sooooooooo happy to be together. They all LOVE chickens so I had to get this picture of them all.

I haven't posted pictures of the chickens in a long time-- they are so big now!! I don't blog much about the chickens because I only try to blog about happy things and our chickens have been a bit of a burden. (I've had to retrieve from up and down the street way too many times and my neighbor has been very unhappy when they've gotten in her yard!) We've also had a lot of comings and goings with them. We have six chickens total right now and three are from our original five that we got on Easter. (One accidently fell in our pool and one wandered off. :( ) Brieanne replaced those two with two more that she gave us. My friend Lucy also gave us two chickens a while back and we still have Penelope (the one Olivia is holding.) Penelope came with a chicken named Kathryn, but when we discovered Kathyrn was a rooster, we gave him to Brieanne! It has just recently come to our attention that Jasmine (in Bella's arms) is also a rooster!!! So we can't keep him much longer! Raising chickens can be A LOT of work.
From left to right, Jasmine, Penelope, Hannah, Jackie, and Emily. Banana is not in the picture.

Cute Girls

Got this picture after church today. How I love these little girls! The dresses were given to us by my sweet sister-in law, Sandra. The girls love them!

A Beautiful, Busy Saturday!

What a busy and beautiful day we had today! It started by going to our good friend James' baptism. Bella and James have been friends and in the same primary class since they were 3! It was a very nice service, it is always wonderful to see a child choose to follow Christ and be baptized.

We then took the girls to their Polynesian dance class and then went straight to our friend Lauren's 7th birthday party. It was cowgirl themed and really cute! Lauren always has the best parties because her mama, my very good friend Jenelle, is an excellent party planner! My girls were so happy to celebrate with their friend.

We then left to go to ANOTHER baptism for our friend Hannah! Hannah is in our home school group and our milk coop so we get to see each other often. She is a sweetie. Her baptism was beautiful and her mama, my good friend Kristen, gave a beautiful talk. We then went to Kristen's home for dinner and to hang out. There were lots of kids running around and having fun. It was very nice, especially to hang out with some of the other families from my home school group.

It was a very full and even exhausting day because I had to go to squeeze in errands and grocery shopping after that! (Michael's, Trader Joe's, Target)

I, very out of character, forgot to take pictures at both of the baptisms. I'm hoping to get some from the mama's and post later!

The Farmer's Market

We've had the best experiences the past couple weeks at the South Pasadena Farmer's Market! I'm just really enjoying this harvest season. I feel sooooo grateful to have such delicious, organic produce and meat so easily available. Between my co-op (where I get fresh eggs, raw milk and some produce) and this farmer's market I feel so blessed. Here I can get fresh local organic chicken, local organic grass-fed beef, and delicious vegetables and fruits!! We got green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, zucchini, corn and garlic. The Fuji apples are excellent right now. We also got grapes, asian pears, pomegranates, strawberries and figs! Then we got some super-sweet oranges and grapefruits. Nothing tastes as good as fresh fruits and veggies organically grown and picked ripe. We are so blessed to have this bounty so easily available!! I feel so grateful.

It is also so fun that we have fun artists that play music for the kids. My girls had a great time playing instruments and singing songs with this nice man!

I love the Farmer's Market!

Beautiful, Rainy Days

We have had the most wonderful past couple of days of rain! It has been cleansing, refreshing, and beautiful! Monday was clouds all day, Tuesday and today gentle consistent rain. I loved it! I love the way everything looks when its wet and the lighting that a cloud covering creates. Its so pretty and it feels like autumn.

I'm really mad at myself that I didn't take any pictures of the girls playing in the rain! They did though! It wasn't cold, and it was coming down so softly. It was so fun for them. At one point, I caught Bella playing with her umbrella and singing "I'm singing in the rain!" I'm sad that tomorrow is predicted to be sunny and 80 degrees.

Go Donny!!

I'm totally into it and I want him to win!!

Polynesian Dance Class

I've been meaning to post that Bella and Olivia started a new dance class. They've gone for the past three Saturdays. They are learning the dances of Polynesia, specifically Hula and Maori dancing. They are even going to learn to use poi balls! They have a wonderful teacher. They are very excited. Bella has been wanting to take these classes since we went to a Luau back in June. She is sooooooooo happy!

The Huntington!

We have been soooo busy, that I hardly find time for blogging! I don't know how other home schooling bloggers do it, but I'm feeling like I can barely squeeze it in. (Maybe it's because of all the diapers I'm still changing?)

Anyways, today we went to the Huntington Library with some sweet new friends and we had a blast. I just had to post some photos. I met my new friend Courtney at my home school group-- she recently moved into the area. We have lots in common in that we're both home schoolers, both have 3 daughters, and are both members of the same church!

Courtney and I both loved it when our littlest ones decided to hold hands with each other-- so cute!

It was so fun to hang out today! Of course, our girls had so much fun. I'm looking forward to us spending more time together!

Conference was wonderful

I just have so much repenting and changing to do! :)

Our Michaelmas Celebration

Today we celebrated Michaelmas with our Waldorf Home Schooling group. It was perfect, beautiful weather and just a mellow time. We had a circle time where we sang some songs, said some autumn verses and a Michaelmas verse. Then we listened to a Michaelmas story. We then had a yummy potluck-- everybody brought such yummy stuff!

Then we sculpted dragons. My girls had a wonderful time sculpting! They seriously did it for hours, they kept making more and more things and their dragons kept changing. I'm glad they like sculpting so much!! We had such a wonderful time. I love autumn and that our weather is cooling off!! It was a very beautiful and mellow day.

LA County Fair

I took the girls to the LA County Fair yesterday. We had a beautiful time. And I was proud of myself for taking them there without Craig! (I'm usually intimidated by such a big place!) But we had a really sweet time. I made sure that we would enter at and only stay in the area where the farm animals are. Luckily it was the only place where school groups could enter! (We got free tickets and parking because we are a school group!) Last year, we had to walk for miles in the "Pleasure Island" Carnival part of the fair and I really disliked it. This time, it was like visiting a farm.
























The first adorable thing we saw were baby goats!! This picture could never capture how cute they really were. Then we saw lots of pigs, many of them nursing on their mamas, which was super-cute.
We then went into a petting zoo area where we got to pet lots of goats, sheep, and even a cow. We were completely surrounded by animals. We got some food to feed them and they went nuts! It was really fun, but occasionally scary for Ceci so I held her a lot!



















We got to see a sheep shearing demonstration which was awesome! I've told the girls where wool comes from, and they knew, but they never actually got to see it and now they have! The sheep whined a little, but was not in any pain. I wish I would have gotten a before and after picture! The man doing the shearing was kind enough to give us all a bit of wool and we plan to wash and card it.











Ceci got to pet a nice kitty-- we also got to see her kittens!















We then got to watch a goat milking demonstration where each of the girls got to milk a goat! (I wish I could have done it!) We've been meaning to do it with Brieanne's goats, but that means getting to her house by 6am and we haven't been able to do it yet. It was really neat to see the goats milked.
I loved these adorable snuggling goats. We also got to see a newly born baby goat that was only 2 hours old!!! But they had her in a spot where I couldn't get a good picture.


All the girls got to rock on these cute rocking horses.



When we went to see the bee exhibit, I got us some honeycomb, and some honey sticks. When Olivia tried to bite into her honey stick, she made her second loose tooth fall out! So now she is missing her two bottom middle teeth!









We got to pet this adorable baby cow.


I loved how this sheep looked over at us while we practiced carding wool.











We went to an area where there were women spinning, weaving, and knitting. They also had some beautiful felted animals and other cute things. (I had to really hold back and not buy a cute scarf that kept calling me!) The kids all did some carding.










Olivia liked doing the weaving and didn't want to stop!





We got to go into this replica of an old school house!
















We then went to where you could make a rag doll! Each of the girls made one with the help of some nice people.














The last things we did were to watch this man make home made brooms and then sculpt some hand made soap. We had such a wonderful, full day!! The fair really has soooooo much to offer!