A Hair Cut? Why not cut them all?

While it seems like everyone in the family is growing out their hair a little to accommodate Halloween costumes (yes, that does happen at my house), Maddie decided to go in another direction.  After years of unsuccessfully trying to grow her hair long, she resigned herself to try a new style.  She cut her hair very short.  It is amazingly cute.  It frames her face perfectly, is so easy to manage and looks stylish and fun.  She loves her new look and has received several compliments on it.  Check her out!

Under Attack

We were attacked this week by a flu bug.  I won't go into the details, as in most attacks, casualties are not pretty.  I managed to continue to hold my scrapbook weekend at my house anyways, some of my friends were willing to brave being placed in the line of fire.  We had a great time laughing and working despite the underlying evidence of the upcoming battle.  I think that this week promises to be much of the same.  We have bolstered our defenses as some members of the family have yet to be conquered.  Only time will tell.  I hope to report with better news next week.

Life's little moments

This week, things just went on as normal.  We didn't do anything spectacular, but we spent the week doing normal things, so I thought I would give you each a quick update on our normal things.

Jeff is doing well at work.  He hasn't been quite as busy lately, but that will be changing and he will go back to his normal 9-midnight self.  He recently was able to establish funding for an exciting developmental program.  He is very excited to work on this project.  Unfortunately, some of his best friends and co-workers recently left the company for greener pastures somewhere else.  He is going to miss them.
Mindy is still in cub scouts, but after 6 years with the wolves, she recently moved to the bear den.  Although not intended, it was perfect timing as Gabe was also moving to the bear den.  It almost feels like a new calling.  She is still playing volleyball 3-4 times a week and basketball a few times a week while the kids are at school, then does things with/for the kids all afternoon.
Maddie is finding her junior year to be less stressful than the sophmore year.  She has found a few good friends, and is enjoying her math based AP classes.  She started taking her fencing classes again, and is looking forward to beginning driver's education and training.
Jayd is being challenged a little more with the demands of school, but he is rising to the occassion.  He plays volleyball at every opportunity and his skills are improving.  He has been practicing with the track during PE and is enjoying the strength training benefits.
Allie is doing very well in school.  She tries so hard to do well on each test and quiz and complete her homework on time.  She is also my best little missionary.  She is always telling me about how she brings the gospel into her conversations at school and invites many of her friends to come to church with her.
Gabe is getting taller and smarter by the minute.  He has recently taken to bike riding and is frequently asking to ride over to the train station, his favorite bike ride.  He is playing volleyball at the park and rec.  He was a little dismayed to find that he is the only boy on a team with 7 girls.

We are enjoying the fall weather, and just being together as a family.  Life just seems to happen sometimes and you don't even stop to think about all the little interactions throughout your day.  We can appreciate that even the little things make up a full and interesting life.

Not Too Shabby....anymore

Since Jayd and Gabe's current bedroom was the "garage" for 10 years, I had never found the time or motivation to put curtains in the room.  The previous residents removed all the window treatments before leaving, so there weren't any curtains/blinds in the room.  At the time, my only consideration was to protect things in the room from the sunlight, and to provide a small measure of privacy.  So I quickly grabbed an old fitted sheet, cut it into squares that would cover the windows and hung them up with nails.  The sheets stayed up performing their lackluster duty for 10 years.  Now that we have properly converted that room back into a bedroom, I thought that more fitting window dressings could be arranged.  So I made some cornice boxes (these are very fancy terms for me) and put up some curtains.  I like them very much, they are simple, yet a little elegant and perfect for a boys room.

The streets of Venice

This week we had a random day without school.  Wednesday was declared a local holiday and the kids were out.  As part of our "Tour LA" year, I had wanted to take them down to Santa Monica and ride our bikes along the beach.  There is a path there designated to ride bikes, rollerblade, skateboard etc.  We finally went this week.  We rode from Santa Monica south to Venice Beach.  As we wound along the shore, we heard live jazz music, watched the skaters in the skate park, and glanced over at the many tourist shops (several with medical marijuana) lining the promenade.  Then we rode inland a bit to explore the area of Venice.  I finally found the famous canals that give the city it's name.  Nestled within Venice is a network of canals,  The houses face the canals and there are very narrow walkways along the canals.  They are connected by bridges.  We rode around a few of the canals.  They were beautiful, the house had green lush gardens, and the bridges were cute and quaint.  It even had a bit of the aroma of Venice to transport us across the globe.  Other than a small bike crash resulting in a cut elbow, it was a very smooth ride.  We enjoyed riding along and soaking in the scenery.

Parading the Shuttle

On Friday, Jeff surprised me with a mid-day date.  He picked me up at 10:00 and we jetted down to the Getty Center for a glimpse at history.  The space shuttle, Endeavor, was on it's way to the California Science Center to be displayed for future generations.  As this was the last time that the space shuttle was to be in the air, they decided to parade the shuttle around the LA Basin a few times before landing at LAX.  We (along with scores of other people) were present to witness the shuttle being flown from a grand viewing point at Getty Center which is located at the top of the Santa Monica Mountains.  We watched as the 747 carrying the shuttle emerged from a fog of haze in the west, crossed the sky over the downtown area.  Then it faded from view only to reemerge, this time from the south (we understand it passed over Disneyland) and head directly towards us.  It banked slightly west before turning east again and passing nearly directly over us.  We were able to clearly see the shuttle.  Jeff had always dreamed of going to a shuttle launch.  Although this doesn't hardly compare, it was a small concession.

On Saturday, the parading continued for us.  This past week has been Simi Valley Days, which culminate in a parade on Saturday.  I have always wanted to go, and finally, we were clear of baseball games and other activities that allowed us to attend.  Gabe and I decided to walk in the parade with the cub scouts.  Allie and Jeff were standing on the sidelines watching the parade.  The staging (or waiting) part was long and tedious, but I really enjoyed walking in the parade.  Allie enjoyed watching all of the different people go by, and especially enjoyed the candy they passed out!

Around the House

It has been a fairly routine week at the Stout house this week.  We have done the usual activities, scouts, volleyball, swimming and, of course, lots of homework.  Since life has slowed down a bit, we are trying to focus a little on our home and some of those projects that we have been wanting to do for a while.
This week the focus was on a workbench in the garage.  Having a workshop has always been high on Jeff's list.  After 8 years of fixing and building things in the "spare room", the addition of the garage had a big impact.  But it just wasn't quite complete without a workbench.  Now that our garage seems to be our own, and we happened to get some free scrap lumber, it was time to get busy.  The project just seemed to become more complicated as the day went on, but in the end, we have the sturdiest workbench I have ever encountered!  Jeff is looking forward to using his new workbench for our next project, after he finishes cleaning up the mess in the garage!