Halloween

Our little ballerina


and our street


had a great time tonight! We visited the neighbors on our street, went to the church carnival, did a bit more trick-or-treating in the neighborhood with friends, then came home to eat candy and pass some more out. Our kids feel so big this year, walking up to doors with friends and getting into the spirit of things. What fun!

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween from our family of ghouls to yours!

A Wackoween Weekend in the Woods

This past weekend we packed our Civic full of essentials, and also some less-than-basic needs, and drove less than an hour to a great little cabin in Shaver Lake owned by friends at church, and spent the weekend with the Mack family. We had such a great time, hiking, coloring, carving pumpkins, making our favorite cake, playing games, and more.


You may remember that in the past we have celebrated Wackoween, a Wiens/Mack family tradition. We decorate pumpkins and eat yummy food, the favorite being chocolate pumpkin cake. We usually bake this cake in a pumpkin-shaped bunt pan, but since it didn't make the trip, we discovered our cake tastes just as yummy in a sheet pan and cupcakes. Our pumpkin decorating went a bit faster than in past years, which I suppose makes sense as the kids get older. The parents still do lots of the work, but we have so much fun doing it!






I've included a few pictures, but if you'd like to see more, click on the album on the right. Jamie's got some good ones, too.

Meeta and Cake

This photo is staged. It seemed like a good idea to take a picture of Charlotte eating lunch with two empty plates next to her, one for each imaginary friend, but instead I was reprimanded. I was told Meeta and Cake weren't even here today. She wouldn't smile for me because Meeta and Cake weren't eating, they were at Grandma's house. So much for artistic interpretation.

We met Meeta and Cake probably about 8 months ago now. We came home from church one morning and she was talking about these two new friends who were eating lunch with us. Of course, there was no room for them at the table, so they were eating on the couch. Since then, Meeta and Cake take most of their meals on our couch. Except this one, of course, when they were apparently at Grandma's house.

They have been other places, too. When we went to Seattle, Charlotte left a doll at a restaurant and Uncle Chris went back to get it. Meeta went with him. When we went to Bible study at a new church for the first time, Meeta and Cake came along. Often Meeta and Cake are accompanying us on our trips, but in another car. Fortunately they have two cars, one blue and one green, and both are "like Jessie's car," which is a VW Bug.

We have learned a few other things about Charlotte's friends over the past few months:

• They are 2 and 4 years old
• One has blue hair and one has green, and they both have tattoos
• They have a dog named Hallelujah
• They have a baby whose name is Brella
• They don't live at our house. They have a home of their own, but it's apparently not far away.

Our little girl is pretty creative. These friends keep her company and keep us entertained. She apparently takes after her father, who had an imaginary friend all his own. Well, not so much a friend as an imaginary wife, but that's another story.

Pumpkin Patch

This morning I took the kids to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins for us to carve. We went to one in town, which of course means it's just a parking lot full of pumpkins, but they had some fun rides for the kids too. They loved the train and the ball pit, but Mommy did not particularly love the creepy carnie who followed us around the pumpkin patch, telling us all about himself and even picking up Levi at one point. I don't think I'd go back to that one. But fortunately the kids had fun and we did get what we came for.

Driving the train

Enjoying the ride


Ball-ball (that's how Levi says "ball," always twice)



So many choices...

maybe this one?

And the winners are...

Some Pictures from the Park

I'm trying to improve my photography, so I've been more intentional about having my camera with me. The only way to get better is to take more pictures, right? Well here are a few from the park today.




Having fun on the see-saw. Look at those curls bounce!

Jackson on the see-saw

Violet on the monkey bars

Fairly Busy

It's been a while since I posted anything new, and I apologize. We've been battling illness in our house, which has kept me from doing much more than what was necessary to keep us going. But we have managed to do a few fun things. How could we not, with the fair in town?

Two weeks ago we went to the Caruthers Fair, a small-town free fair just a few minutes south of us. I remember going as a kid with my parents and going down the giant slide. Hopefully our kids remember it as fondly as I do!

Enjoying a different kind of fair food, sponsored by local churches.

Zooming around the track



They both loved the bounce house!

Last week our moms' group from church took a trip to the Fresno Fair. It was crazy busy, but we had a great time and ate some wonderful fair food.

Look at that, Mom!



Audrey was quite the helper!


Check out this guy!

Everybody pet the big snake!

Aunt Jamie helping Levi pet the turtle.

This picture makes me laugh. It looks like Charlotte is smothering her brother, but actually it was Levi who grabbed her to give her a rib-crunching hug.

Half-way through we needed a snack...

Then at lunch time we ate corndogs, tacos, and these yummy fries...


And we followed it up with dessert!

Who doesn't love the fair?

Dodgers Win

Someday I'll be able to tell my kids and grandkids I was at that game:
"You know kids, the game where Matt Holliday of the Cardinals doinked the potential game ending line drive off of his groin and 2 journeyman infielders in their 30's named Ronnie Belliard and Mark Loretta provided clutch singles in the bottom of the ninth to propel the Dodgers to an amazing comeback after 8 innings of being manhandled by the Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright? Yeah, I was there."

Party Animals

Believe it or not, our little girl is three! We had a big safari party to celebrate this special day.

We met at Roeding Park for lunch (sandwiches, safari skewers, chips, and these cute little cupcakes). Of course, when I planned the party, I figured the middle of September, nay, nearly the end of September, the weather would be favorable. Little did I know it would still be almost 100 degrees. So I was very sad that the adorable cupcakes didn't fare quite as well as I'd hoped. The turtles, monkeys, and lions did OK, but the elephants melted rapidly. Ah well. They were still enjoyed, and Charlotte was so thrilled with them, which is what really matters.

Party favors were pith helmets and binoculars, which seemed to be a hit. The table was decorated with green "grassy" streamers and animal crackers.

Charlotte had a great time at lunch and opening her presents. She was so thrilled to have her friends there! After presents, we cleaned up and went to the zoo for the afternoon. It was definitely warm, and unseasonably humid. Perfect for a safari, I suppose, but not exactly what we had hoped for. But the kids got to feed the giraffes, see the sting rays, and most of the animals. The monkey were very active, the elephants were out, and the tiger was laying on his back with his feet in the air!






We had such a fun day! Thank you to everyone who helped me as I prepared by helping set up, watching the kids, or picking up supplies. And thank you to all of you who love our little girl. We never forget how fortunate we are to have her. Birthdays are always such special celebrations for us, as we thank God for another year with our precious kids.

As for Charlotte, she is so proud to be a big 3-year-old. She could hardly sleep the night before because she was so excited for her birthday. She is such a grateful kid, who truly appreciates the time I put into her party. She must have thanked me a dozen times for the cupcakes, for the party, for the hats, for her friends. She just appreciates things so genuinely, which, of course, gives all the motivation I need. She has changed so much in this past year. She is funny, creative, clever. She picks up vocabulary extremely quickly, which makes for surprising moments. As we walked in to the the stingrays she said, "Are we going to get to touch them? Awesome!" She is also very compassionate, always concerned with other people's feelings, and genuinely desiring to make others happy. She is a wonderful big sister who is always excited to see her brother and is always looking out for him. Though this past week brought a new change still, when she said, "Mommy, can you please take Levi out so I can play quietly in my room?" How could I deny such a well-crafted request? She is part of the preschool class on Wed. nights and church and is learning so much. She seems so big when I drop her off there! I guess what I'm getting at is that we LOVE our little/ big girl. We look forward to watching God mold her in this next year.

**Note: There were so many pictures that I couldn't post them all here. Please click on the album on the right to view more.