Family Photo

Making Peanut Butter

For Kelly's math lesson we were shelling and counting peanuts. When we were finished we made peanut butter. Here's Kelly shelling nuts. Yes, she is in her pajamas. That's one of the fun things about homeschool-you can stay in your pjs!

Putting the shelled nuts into the food processor.

The finished product-yummy!

A Birthday Bead Party

Kelly wanted to celebrate her birthday by having a bead party. She invited our good friends, The Seling's to join in the fun. We celebrated a bit early since this was the best day out of the busy month. Closer to Kelly's actual birthday we will have a cake and ice cream party with more of our friends.

Kelly chooses her beads before getting to work.

Kelly gets a hand from one of the store helpers.

Everyone works hard on their projects.

Kelly works on one of her projects with Daddy's help.

Kelly holds up the bookmark she made. It has her favorite animal on it. Can you guess what that is???

Tom jumps in on the fun. Here he is working on a fish bookmark.

Mommy models the earrings that Kelly just made for her.

A Night of Beauty

Kelly went to a birthday party for a night of glittered hairdos, nail painting and makeup. Here she is getting her hair done. She loved getting dolled up.

The finished hairdo.

Kelly strikes a pose as the girls walked the runway.

USMC Birthday Ball

We celebrated the 231st Marine Corps Birthday Ball at the Barona Casino and Resort.

Tom played The Marine's Hymn on the bagpipes during the ceremony.

A Special Day

Tom took Mandi and Kelly to see the Moscow Ballet's presentation of "The Nutcracker". He took us to get our nails done and brought us corsages before heading down to San Diego for the show. After the show he took us to a nice seafood restaurant. We had a wonderful time.

Happy Halloween

We took Kelly trick-or-treating at the shopping center by our house. Kelly was a fairy princess.

Carving a Pumpkin

After our hike we visited the pumpkin patch. Kelly chose a nice fat one perfect for carving a jack-o-lantern. She was so excited about it that as soon as we got home she wanted to carve it. Being the artist that she is, Kelly first sketched the face that she wanted to cut into the pumpkin. Here she is with Tom just after he cut the top off, showing him the gooey pulp.

Kelly sorts the seed so that we can bake them.

Kelly scoops out more pulp.

Kelly carefully draws the face on her pumpkin that she designed herself.

Kelly watches as Tom carves the pumpkin.

Kelly and Tom show off her finished pumpkin. Kelly decided to name the pumpkin Jack-O-Lantern.

Tom and Kelly tested our jack-o-lantern right away. Wow, didn't he turn out great!?

Hike on Highland Valley Trail

Kelly's school field trip took us to the Highland Valley Trail where we hiked for about 2 miles. Here we are waiting to get a move on.

Kelly brought her magnifying glass along to get a closer look at some of the plants and insects.

Kelly hiked the entire trail without making Tom carry her. We rested at this bridge by a running stream.

Happy Birthday Tom!!!

We celebrated Tom's 34th birthday at our favorite restaurant, the Chinese Buffet. Kelly shows off her ability to use chopsticks while she and Tom munch on some kimchi.

Tom blows out his candles.

Our friends, the Seling's, came to help us celebrate.

Legoland Field Trip

Kelly's kindergarten class took a field trip to Legoland. They are studying dinosaurs this semester and went on a Dino Dig. Afterward we explored some more of the park.

Kelly looks at a sculpture of a tyrannosaurus rex.

Paleontologist for a Day

Kelly's kindergarten class participated in "Dig those Dinos". They pretended to be paleontologists and dug for fossilized dinosaur bones.

We went on a leisurely boat ride through the Fairy Tale Brook and saw The Three Little Pigs, Hansel & Gretel and many other fairy tale story characters.

There were many amazing Lego sculptures. This pumpkin was the perfect backdrop for our fall trip, even though it doesn't feel quite like fall out here.

Kelly got her driver's license at the Legoland Driver's Course.

Rollerblading has become one of Kelly's newest outdoor activities. She is practicing in preparation to for ice skating.

Another one of Kelly's bike tricks. You could be looking at a future BMX trick rider!

Coronado Speed Festival

Tom had to work at the Coronado Speed Festival this weekend. Kelly and Mandi visited him on Sunday afternoon. There were a lot of really cool cars on display. We also got to watch some racing. It was a fun day.

Kelly and Mandi sit in the cockpit of a military airplane.

While we were looking at the race cars, one of the racers wanted Kelly to try out his car.

Tom and Kelly test drove a VW hydrogen powered fuel cell vehicle.

Tom painted Kelly's face camouflage. There was a group of Marines doing the painting, but Kelly wanted Daddy to do it.

Mandi enjoys taking a spin on our newest set of wheels.