Rufus!

I don't often get a chance to include Rufus in a blog post so I wanted to take the opportunity when it did come up, and this is a sweet one.  Rufus was hanging out in the living room tonight while we were eating dinner. After dinner, Matt went over to him to give him some attention.  As soon as Matt was down, Olivier came over and rested on Matt.  It was sweet.  Only lasted for a moment (quite literally!) but sweet none the less.  And I think Rufus is now eight and a half.  I will have to tell the kids tomorrow, after all, a half is a big deal to them!  :-)

Pumpkin patch!

This afternoon we went to the pumpkin patch!  The kids were very excited and happy to play with their friend Henry again too!  

We started by getting a group shot of the kiddos, and they are all looking at the camera!  (Thank you Jenni for helping Anna!)

 Anna and Henry were working the horse trying to rope the bull!  She did surprisingly well circling the rope.  Not so good on the toss but you have to start somewhere!

 Olivier and his turn with the rope.  Watch out!  :-)  And I love his expression!

 Anna taking another turn, this time with Mason.  Henry is trying to get the rope to put it on the bull for her but I was worried she would actually lasso him instead!

 A better visual of the setup.  Anna on the "horse" and Olivier and Henry on the "bull".

 Henry and Mason setting up the bean bag toss.  Too much set up work though so they weren't interested for too long.  Bummer!

 Jenni got a great shot of Anna during a thoughtful moment.  Really captures her personality.

And now we have a whole bunch of pumpkins!  :-)

Happy Birthday Natalie!

Today we celebrated our niece's 4th birthday!  So exciting to start the wave of birthday parties for some very cool 4 year olds!  :-)  I remember sitting in the hospital waiting room counting contractions and just so excited to meet her!  

It was very sweet to arrive to the party, to be greeted by Natalie who ran to Anna, thrilled to see her!  

I tried to get a good photo of "little" sister, Rhys, but this is the best she would give me.  She is full of personality!

 And Miss Natalie so proud to be four!

 Make a wish!

 Love this look she gave!

 And she got a bike so of course everyone had to go for a ride, birthday girl first!

 And "little" Rhys would not hear the news that she wouldn't be able to ride.  She did eventually get a turn and it won't be long before she asks for her very own big bike.  Although I think she may have already!  :-)

 Wishing you all the best Natalie!  We love you!

Special Panther

Anna was special panther again this week. She wasn't as excited but happy she didn't have to wait for October before getting another turn. They start longer days next week, which is her Spanish week. She is loving school!

Boys are working hard in school!

Not to be outdone by their big sister in kindergarten, Olivier and Mason have been working hard on some projects! More to come with photos of their self portraits soon.

They have given the teachers the following notable quotes. And Pearl is a classmate. Seems as thought Mason is starting to try and piece things together!

And Olivier has been working really hard on his name. Sitting and working on fine motor is not his favorite and we are really proud of the strides he has taken!

The small things

It has been a while since I have posted information about the kids just in general (I know a post with out photos, what am I thinking!) but as this month has gone I find myself reflecting a lot more.

I will start with Anna.  This is a time with a great deal of change for her as she adjusts to life as a kindergartner.  She was at the top of the totem pole at Cal Poly and now finds herself at the bottom adjusting to so many new surroundings.  Today was picture day (I will share when we get them!) and she was a bit nervous, not sure what exactly that meant.  Overall she has done very well and is already working on teaching the boys the little bit of Spanish that she has already learned.

Some of the little things I have noticed about her that I don't want to forget as she gets older:

• She has a handful of light freckles on her nose
• We constantly have to ask her to close her book when she is walking, she LOVES to read
• Gymnastics is going well and she is ready for the next step, unfortunately with both of us working it may not happen but she still seems to enjoy the Saturday classes
• As much as she loves pink and purple, she loves bugs and lizards and snakes

Olivier continues to be a love bug.  If he is playing with one of us while the other is making dinner, he will "check in" every once in a while just to say "I love you" and give our leg a hug.  He can throw a mean tantrum and pushes everything to the limit, including himself.  I am wondering how his hearing is because when he talks (and does he ever really stop making noise??) he is loud!  He continues to love the movie Cars (especially Lightning McQueen).

Some of the little things I have noticed about Olivier:

• He often turns his head to the side when he says "I love you"
• When he hugs me, he doesn't like my hair to be on my shoulder.  He much prefers when it is in a ponytail.  
• He loves to swing and seems so at peace when he is swinging.  Reminds me of when he was a baby.
• When someone ask him what his name is (everyone from adults to kids at the park) he will answer with "Olivier James Arnold".  I am glad I love him name and he says it so cute!

As Mason gets older I often wonder if he is Anna's twin.  He is really getting into letters and writing and is trying to memorize books, much like Anna did not long before she started reading.  It wouldn't be a surprise if he is reading by the end of next summer.  He loves to play games, anything from CandyLand to Crazy 8's.  He is growing by leaps and bounds and it wouldn't surprise me if he passes Anna in the next six month (which won't make her too happy, after all, she is the big sister!).  

A few notes about Mason that I have seen:

• He love his "blue bear".  It is a panda bear that is blue and white instead of black and white.  He got it when we went to the San Diego Zoo last September and he loves it.
• His favorite color is blue and I think it would be next to impossible to get him in a shirt without some blue on it.  
• Much like Anna he is starting to get some freckles but they are more "random".  There is a cute one on the back of his ear.  
• Unlike Anna and Olivier, he "usually" pops out of bed in the morning (when we have to wake them on school days).  

I thought the hard part of being a working mom was going to be when they were little, but as they grow there continue to be so many moments that I wish we could share.  Continuing to learn to cherish all the little moments and be thankful for our three blessings!  

I Madonnari

Today was day two of our local I Madonnari (chalk drawing festival) and we took the kids to see the works in progress.  They weren't nearly as interested in the draws as we thought they would be but we did see all the drawings and did a fair amount of walking around the creek.  We also checked out the San Luis Obispo Art Gallary but made that a quick visit - the wanted to touch everything!  :-)

Here is a sampling of some project.  Olivier thought he saw owls in this one...

 And Olivier liked these happy monsters.

 And Anna liked the turtle.

 And the happy kitty next to it.

 I liked this flower.

 I think all three liked Mickey Mouse!

 This one has amazing color.

 And they were excited to see an octopus.

 There were many others but the kids were not willing to let us enjoy them or take a photo.  They were on a mission at the Mission!  They wanted to check out the fountain.  I love Mason's expression.  A rare catch!

 This is how we usually catch him for photos!

 And Anna posing for the camera.

It was great warm weather for us to enjoy.  Not so great for the artists.