November

 Our little nutmeg turned 13 this month (pretend it is still November)  

Time is accelerating and I don't like it one bit.

How fitting that she was born around Thanksgiving because I am

so thankful for this child.

Thanksgiving was spent with the Farnsworth side this year.

There are always 100+ people there.
Many hands make light work

I always look forward to hearing the gratitude speech from my father-in-law.
He never misses an opportunity to share what he is grateful for.
I love this tradition.

This is our nephew Freddie Ashby and his beautiful family with Mama and Papa.  

Freddie is currently climbing the charts on Itunes with a

Christmas album "Brighter Days Ahead."

  

My two "Celiacs."

They are pros at eating gluten-free...going on 4 years now.

After feasting, we played.

Sharanette was over the main group activity. 

 She organized a huge corn hole tournament. 

So much fun for such a large group.

We, Farnsworths, like our competitive tournaments...

... and the little ones get a little frustrated when they can't participate.

I am grateful for family.  

October

A brief summary of October happenings....really no rhyme or reason to this post.  

I love that I have an extra driver these days...
and I don't think Cole minds helping out.

I also love that these two drive to school together...

and that Ike gets himself to and from the bus stop thanks to a nice bush to hide his scooter in.

So with Cole and Summer driving to school,

 Ike and his wheels, 

I just have one carpool to junior high.

Heaven.

We love having our "littles" over to play.

For October Break we went to Carlsbad and met up with several fun families.

The more the merrier!

At night we lit big lanterns off over the beach.

They are biodegradable and so easy to launch.  

Check it out here

We also had to stop and say hi to Shamu on our way back home.

Fall Sports include:

Flag football

Club volleyball

Meg made the Molten blue team in club.  She loves her teammates and coach.

We are all looking forward to this club season.

Summer has finished high school volleyball and has decided to pursue tennis.

She is loving it and working hard.

  

She plans on trying out for the Mountain View Tennis team.

Tom and I just want our kids to find something they enjoy and will work hard at.

The cooler weather makes winter grass and a little volleyball on the front lawn possible.

It is so nice to see real green grass again.

Thanks to our yard expert for keeping things looking nice out there.

In October, we had a couple of feline friends come visit us everyday.  

I broke a long standing rule of never feeding neighborhood cats.

I can't believe I am going to admit this but these were special cats.

They were more like dogs than cats.
I liked having them around and then one day they just disappeared.
Word on the street is that they were
"cat-napped"---really.

Ike is perfecting his swagger.

He also finished up the Harry Potter series this month. 

We just finished putting in a pizza oven and are getting a lot of use out of it.

It gives us an excuse to invite family and friends over for dinner.

We have already made 180+ pizzas in it.  

I am still in YW and loving it.  

We attempted to play softball in the month of October-- but it was a little rough...so we decided a great game of kick ball is more our speed.  I love these girls.

Finished off October with a great Halloween.

Cole, Summer and Meg all helped run booths at our neighborhood carnival.

Ike went as Batman and had the scruffy voice down perfectly.

He has no problem getting into character.

My niece Molly with the littles and a baby girl due in March..... we can't wait!