The Niven Clan: November 2009

Posting Away

Wow! Four posts in one night! I'm on a roll.....actually I'm just sick and should be resting in bed. So this will be a short one. My husband just finished his latest Reality Shoot image of the Hopkins family. Check it out here.

This is Halloween......

Bryan decided the kids were old enough (?) to watch "Nightmare Before Christmas", (his personal favorite Halloween show), and now both of them have been marching around singing, "This is Halloween, This is Halloween...." I should have got that on camera. Anyway, we had a fun Halloween.

This pumpkin was the one Ethan picked from the pumpkin patch for his school field trip, and he let Daddy carve it for him.

Last year Ethan was Buzz and Austin was Spiderman. This year Ethan was able to reuse his costume and Austin dressed up as Woody.

Ethan is trying to show Austin how to push his "power buttons." The fun of having boys......everything is about superheroes and pushing their power buttons.

This next one cracks me up......for some reason Austin is holding his hat in a way that reminds me of some musical where the cowboy is singing to his lady. And Austin loves to sing!

These next two are from Ethan's Halloween party and parade at school.

Field Trip Fun

One thing I like about Ethan's school is the high parental involvement. I enjoy going in once a month and teaching them about the Composer of the Month, and I also get to help out occasionally with centers, activities, and field trips. Hmmm..... I guess that's why I'm even busier now with Ethan in school. We've already gone on two field trips, and they have another one planned in a few weeks. The first field trip was to an Apple Farm in Ojai, and the second was to McGrath's Pumpkin Patch here in Camarillo.

The first day of school Ethan met a boy in his class named Joshua, and they have been buddies in school ever since. I guess Joshua has an older brother named Ethan, so he connected with him right away.

Off To School

Ethan turned 5 in July and started Kindergarten in August. He's almost been in school now for three months and is really enjoying it......except for the part where he has to wake up early and get ready. We are still struggling with that. Here are a few pictures of his first few days.....

Handing in his name tag at the end of the day.....

Austin was so funny the first week or so. He insisted I pack him a lunch and was very disappointed that he couldn't stay with "E-E" as he calls him.

There is a really fun park next to Ethan's school that I would take Austin to every day the first week as he adjusted to his brother being at school. Now he calls this park "my preschool."

Summer Fun

I am a little slow at getting this up, but here are a few of the fun things we did this summer.

Ethan turned 5 in July and got this Tony Hawk bike for his birthday.

I think this next picture is hilarious. From the left is Gavin, Bailey, Austin, and Ethan. Gavin and Bailey are my twin sister's kids. They live in Utah and came for a visit in August. Bailey is making a peace sign with her fingers and Austin is trying to figure something out with his. ;)