Skills Spectacular Part 2...

When I worked at EA, I was able to go and watch Stacy practice but I haven't seen her practice in a few months.  Stacy hardly does anything on the balance beam when I go but she had a whole balance beam exercise:

She had a good balance and didn't fall off:

I was really shocked to see her do a cartwheel off the balance beam to end her routine:

Skills Spectacular Part 1...

Earlier in the year, Stacy moved up from beginner's gymnastics onto a pre-club team the Perfect 10's. Over the weekend, they had their first skills competition showcasing what they have learned the past few months.

Stacy is one of the youngest girls but she did really well.  Stacy's warming up:

Assembly...

Last week Jack came home from school and told us that the teacher picked him to be in an assembly at school and he had to do a little performance.  We kind of got bits and pieces of information but then over the weekend I got an email from the school and it turns out a local acting group from the Kirk Douglas Theater Group came and performed Homer's Odyssey and Jack was in it.

Jack is on the side of the stage holding his chin.

I am not sure why the teacher picked him, but Jack didn't know about it until that day.  He had 2-3 lines and had to snort like a pig.

I am so glad that Jack wasn't embarrassed or shy to participate.

Jack's 9th Birthday

We asked Jack what he wanted to do this year for his birthday.  We gave him 2 choices have a big party and invite lots of friends or have a sleepover and invite 2 friends. Jack chose the later and invited 2 school friends over, Winston and Tristan.

We went to see Big Hero 6 and it was pretty good.

Then off the Island for dinner:

And then back home for some video games:

Jack and Toshi...

Both Jack and Stacy are really nice to Toshi.  Stacy is too rough with Toshi and treats him like her own personal baby doll that she can boss around (for now).  Jack on the other hand is patient with Toshi and basically just lets Toshi do his own thing:

Toshi trying to get in on the gaming action:

No game, no problem.  I will just go back to sitting on Jack:

Halloween...

Aya calls me up on Halloween in the afternoon and asks me the following question, "Do you want 4 courtside tickets plus parking for the UCLA game tonight?"   Hmm...UCLA or take the kids trick or treating.

I thought it was an easy decision, take the kids trick or treating but Aya was like, "Are you sure??"  No I wasn't 100% sure but I figured there is no way you BOTH Jack and Stacy would pass on trick or treating to go to a basketball game!

Jack had fun trick or treating and this was Stacy's first year of really trick or treating.  Stacy was able to keep up with Jack walking around the neighborhood.  On top of that, I found an Elsa costume for Stacy so we was able to go as Elsa:

Little Toshi went as Frankenstein!

The kids had a blast and after we sorted out all the Halloween loot Aya agreed, it was much better that we took the kids trick or treating!

Halloween Pumpkins Part 3...

Aunty Dawn and Uncle Bryan got into the Halloween spirit and carved out their pumpkins as well:

Bryan's Superman pumpkin was a big hit with all the trick or treaters:

I can't believe I didn't take a picture with all the pumpkins lit up.  Grr.  

They looked much better at night:

Halloween Pumpkins Part 2...

Grandpa helped Stacy carve her pumpkin.

Stacy wanted Grandpa to carve a kitty cat:

Halloween Pumpkins Part 1...

This year Jack carved his very own pumpkin:

He struggled a bit at first using the pumpkin cutter but he soon got the hang of it:

Jack imitating his pumpkin carving:

Aya came over after work and carved out her pumpkin:

Such concentration... 

The ghastly ghost!

Halloween Parade - Jack

You would have thought that Jack's school would have been more organized for their Halloween parade but it was chaotic!  There were more parents then kids and luckily I was able to get some pictures of the Jack in his parade.  This year Jack went as the Joker from Batman:

His friend Ian in his hazmat Ebola costume:

Classmates:

Ha-ha...I just like this one because it looks like Jack is giving me the finger:

Halloween Parade - Stacy

As luck would have it, I would be off for two days from work and I was able to attend both Stacy and Jack's school Halloween parades.  First up was Stacy's parade.  Stacy wanted to be Elsa from Frozen but we figured there would be lots and lots of Elsa's so Stacy went as Princess Sophia from Sophia the first:

Lot's of princesses and super heroes:

Pumpkin Patch Part 3...

We met Toshi at the pumpkin patch:

Perfect timing...Stacy was done getting her face painted and riding the pony so now she was all set to take pictures:

I like this one...felt spooky looking:

Pumpkins!

Pumpkin Patch Part 2...

Happy Halloween:

Jack making goofy faces:

Imitating the werefolf:

The kids thought the 'wart' pumpkins were nasty looking:

Pumpkin Patch Part 1...

We have been so busy in October that we got a late start to the Halloween festivities.  We waited until the last weekend before Halloween to visit a pumpkin patch.  We went to the Cottone Pumpkin patch in Torrance:

Stacy getting a pony ride:

Facepainted a skull and crossbone in pink to get into the Halloween spirit!

Feeding a baby goat: