Seussical the Musical

Rebecca just completed her musical debut! She did fantastic and is already looking forward to auditioning for Annie in January.

Halloween 2010

We had so much fun with costumes this year!  Drew wanted to be on skates.  With her personality, I knew she could pull off a Roller Derby Girl.  And pull it off she did!  She stayed in character the whole time that costume was on.  I had a blast dressing her up - from the ratted hair, and tattoos to the black nails and custom shirt with her derby name on the front - Drew's A Bruiser.

Rebecca is always afraid of Halloween, so I thought if she had a beautiful costume, she might enjoy it more.  A few weeks before Halloween, she spent some time visiting Aunt Carrie in Oakland.  They went to china town and found a beautiful Chinese silk dress complete with a matching paper umbrella.  She looked amazing!

Matthew is at the age that he doesn't dress up for school and he wasn't sure if he wanted to go out Trick or Treating, so I knew I did not want to go crazy with his costume.  We shopped the day before Halloween and came up with a great, inexpensive idea - Spider Food!  I covered him in webbing and covered the webs with tiny plastic spiders.  He also had the Mamma spider.  He loved the idea but ended up hating the costume!!!  I convinced him to pose for a few photos and then he tore it off and handed out candy that night.  All well...  It was still fun!

Another School Year has Begun

The kids and all so excited to be back in school!  Matthew started middle school this year.  I know - I can't believe it myself!  He was a little nervous at first.  We went to the school twice and walked through campus so that he could familiarize himself with where his classes were.  By the time the first day arrived, he didn't even need to look at his schedule or the school map.  And, it turns out he has several friends in his classes.

The girls couldn't wait to walk to school on the first day.  Rebecca is in the fourth grade, and Drew is in the first.  Drew was so excited that the minute we arrived on campus she yelled goodbye and ran off.  I walked Rebecca to her class and went to see Drew, but she was no where to be found.  Turns out she had run to the kindergarten wing.  Old habit I suppose.  Just like with Matthew, the girls have many friends in class and they both have wonderful teachers.  It's going to be a GREAT year!!

Camp Wente

I was honored to accompany Matthew to his first Boy Scout camp last week. The week started a bit rough as the car we rode up in broke down about an hour outside of camp. We had to leave a few campers behind and carpool up. Fortunately, Matthew and I made the first leg so we didn't have to sit around in the hot sun and wait. Then during Matthew's first set of classes, he got the stomach flu. He spent some time in the infirmary and then slept for 13 hours! The next afternoon, he was back to normal. The kid just amazes me!!! He loaded his schedule FULL of classes as he is very advancement motivated. Due to his illness, he fell way behind right away. BUT, he didn't let it stop him. He spent all of his free time (which wasn't much) playing catch up - carving wood, fishing, studying, etc. By the end of the week he had successfully earned 4 merit badges and completed several achievements toward ranking up. He was so proud of himself! Not nearly as proud as I was, however! We stayed 7 fantastic days, and lucky for me we did spend much of it together. I can't wait to to go back next year!!!

New Year's Resolution #1 - Get out of the House!

The Morganstein Family is tired of being inside so we are heading outdoors... One of our New Year's resolutions is to spend more time in the great outdoors. One way we are doing that is by Geo Caching. The kids call it treasure hunting. We have already gone several times and have had 7 successful finds so far! While some of our hikes have been an easy stroll, others have been challenging to say the least. In fact, last weekend we weren't sure we would even make it home. BUT we did and we're are already looking forward to our next caching adventure. I am sure you will see many Geo Caching posts in the near future.

Go Sharks!!!

It's no secret that our family LOVES Hockey. We have two kids that play the sport, so we basically eat, sleep, and breathe hockey. We go to Stockton Thunder games often and enjoy every minute, but the truth is we are die hard Sharks fans. This year, we have been lucky enough to have already gone to a couple Sharks games. Bill and Matthew already have tickets for another in January. Can't wait!!!

Let's Skate!

The kids are LOVING skating these days. it doesn't matter if they are on ice skates or roller skates... as long as they are on skates. It's fun to finally have found something active they all enjoy doing. On this day, we went to the outdoor ice skating rink in Brentwood. They skated for three hours before I had to drag them kicking and screaming off the ice. I am sure we'll go back soon...