Family Portraits 2012

Chris's talented cousin Lindsey took our family photos for us.  Enjoy!

Christmas is here!

Not the best picture, but Christmas is in our home!  I'm listening to a Hawaiian Christmas CD right now.  I sure LOVE this season!!

Firegirl

Keilah's "preschool" class got to visit the Fire Station.  They got to see a fireman suit up to show he's not a scary alien.  Here's Keilah using the fire hose to knock a soccer ball off a traffic cone.

Halloween 2012

Finally posting my Halloween photos... Silas was a zombie pirate, Zeke was GI Joe, and Keilah was Rapunzel.  We had fun at a church Halloween party the Friday before Halloween (carnival games, costume & jack-o-lantern contests, and trick-or-treating).  We also did some neighborhood trick-or-treating on Halloween night.  The photo was taken at their school's costume parade.

 The kids each picked a design for their pumpkin and we all helped gut & carve them.  Silas's is on the left (he it all himself except that I drew the picture he wanted on it), then Zeke's, then Keilah's on the right.  Zeke was accidentally give a pumpkin pie pumpkin, so Chris had to use power tools to carve it!

Fall Photos

Keilah and I went to the Reis Family pumpkin patch today.  We picked a pumpkin, played with friends, went through a "maze", looked at farm animals, AND launched a pumpkin with a giant sling!!  That was FUN!

 Here are the boys' school photos.  Third Grade and Kindergarten.  Their class photos are fun too, they actually had the classes pose together for one photo.  The last 2 schools we've been at just made a collage of the individual photos and called it a class photo.  :(

Soccer Photos 2012

Here are my handsome boys in their soccer photos.  Silas is on the Yellow Jackets and Zeke is on the Purple Panthers team.  In a couple of years I'll be able to add Keilah's soccer photo.  Sigh.

Another Bike Rider

Zeke said he'd agree to try it after he turned 6.  So we took off his training wheels... and he took off!  Woo Hoo Ezekiel!!

Happy Birthdays

I can't believe how old my kids are!  Silas turns 9 soon, Zeke is now 6, and Keilah is a few months shy of 4!  The kids decorated their own birthday cake.  I think they did a treat job for a first time.

 We celebrated their birthdays today with family after watching Silas and Zeke play soccer.  It was a fun day.

Soccer Season!

 Soccer season has begun!  Our first game was with Zeke's team - the Purple Panthers.  Zeke scored the team's only 2 goals.  Yes, he's a head taller than all the other players, but he's only older than 1 of them.

 Silas ran hard for his team - the Yellow Jackets.  I'm sure we'll see a lot of improvement by the end of the season.  He does have some bragging to do though.  His STAR test scores came back from last year and he scored 96-100% in all categories (mostly 100%)!!!!

Keilah's just as cute as ever!  And silly.

Triple Bunk Bed

After 2 weeks of working in every spare moment I had, I finally finished the triple bunk bed for the kids.  They love it, even Silas up in the clouds.  Keilah was outgrowing her toddler bed, so rather than add a twin to their room I made this.

Cardboard Boat Race

The youth of the church had a multi-stake activity that included a cardboard boat race, BBQ, and dance.  Chris is one of the youth leaders, so he helped them design/build a cardboard boat.  There were about a dozen entries, but the surf was really hard to get past.

 The boat floated fine, but getting into it was a challenge.

 This is what it looked like in the end.  The boys ended up swimming.  But my what fun!

Rauch Cousins

We visited Chris's parents and not all of the grown-ups were there, but ALL of the grandkids were there.  Our kids has so much FUN playing with their cousins!

Keilah Swimming

The boys can both swim very well, but Keilah's just learning.  So I took this video of her demonstrating her skills.  I think she's doing wonderfully!  Go Keilah!

Father-Son Day

Chris, his dad, brother, and brother-in-law had a father-son weekend.  They raced go-carts, shot guns at a range, and went fishing.  Here's proof for the fish tale.

Dancing Keilah

Silas and Keilah are playing Wii Rock Band.  She's got the moves!

First Office

Chris got his own office space not far from home here in Los Osos.  It's got 3 rooms.  When you walk in you see this first picture.  The second desk is for his part-time intern.  The door in the background goes to a large room that Chris uses as a closet.  Off to the right in that picture, or directly ahead as you walk in the door, is the conference room - featured in the second picture.  It's a nice space, and I'm sure he'll get more work done there while the kids are home for the summer (but we do miss having him around all day).

Summer Break Begins!

Summer Break began with a long bike ride on the Bob Jones Trail to Avila Beach.

 Yes, Keilah rode her bike the whole way.  She's quite a girl!

 Then Saturday we went to the beach as a family, but of course we forgot to bring a camera.  So you'll have to imagine the children buried in the sand up to their necks and playing in the shore break.

Monday we had visitors - Chris's mom and sister, Ashleigh, with her adorable baby, Roxie.

Tuesday we went swimming at a community pool in San Luis Obispo.  It's been a fun start to Summer!

 Silas's best friend, Ryan, was there.

 Zeke was trying new swimming styles.  Go Zeke!

Final Rockies Game

Silas had his last baseball game.  He made some good hits (that's him at bat).

 He also got to pitch for his third game (he's pretty good).  It was a fun season!

2nd Grade Play

Silas was in a play at school.  He's in the middle in a lab coat.  He had his lines memorized and the play was very cute and dorky at the same time.  It was called "Good Manners" - enough said.

Memorial Day family visit

Chris's brother, Tim, and his family came to California for the holiday weekend, so we drove up to Ben Lomond for the day.  It was a beautiful day, and we had tons of fun with family.

Hiking at Santa Margarita Lake

It was foggy and cold in Los Osos, so we went inland for some warmer weather.  Santa Margarita Lake had some good hiking trails and a few geocaches to hunt down.  It was a fun afternoon!

Annular Solar Eclipse!

Chris and Silas made an eclipse viewer so we could watch the moon pass across the sun without burning our eyeballs.

 Here are the pictures we took of the start of the solar eclipse and just past the maximum eclipse.

The kids (and Chris & I) thought it was pretty cool!

Weekend Fun

Chris took the boys on a father-son campout to Lopez Lake.  There were a lot of people there from the San Luis Obispo Stake (a church group).  They had a fun, manly time.

 While the boys were off having their fun, Keilah and I gathered with the women and daughters left behind and had a "girl party".  Keilah was SO EXCITED to have her nails painted for the first time.

Date night - roller derby

Chris and I went on a double date with our friends, the Brights.  First we went to a restaurant that featured a mechanical bull.  We both took a ride and did all right.

 Then we went to the roller derby.  They had a program with an explanation of the rules on back, which made watching the sport much more interesting.  It was VERY FUN!  And the people watching was great too.

New School Photo

Normally I don't buy the Spring photos from the school, but this one was too good to pass up!

Futsal!

What is Futsal, you ask?  It's a type of soccer played indoors with a smaller, heavier ball and slightly different rules.  Heather is coaching Zeke's Futsal team of 5 boys between the ages of 5-7.

 Zeke is having a lot of fun with it.

Spring Break with Rauchs in San Diego

We had the excuse to celebrate Mom Rauch's 60th birthday this weekend. So they decided to go big and have everybody (except Emily et. al.) gather in San Diego for a fun weekend.
We spent a lazy day by the pool at the Bahia Resort in San Diego. My children are fish! They had fun diving with their cousin Billie.

... and even Keilah got more comfortable in water.

While most of us were at the pool, Chris, Tim & their dad, Greg, went to the USS Midway museum and enjoyed the expanded tours.

That night we went to the amusement park down the street. Several of us rode the rollercoaster while the less crazy folk rode the carousel.

Easter morning we enjoyed an easter egg hunt on the beach with all the cousins.

The six hour ride home was even entertaining with all our Easter bunnies.