Halloween week at Farm Drive

On Halloween morning at Bible Club the Junior High girls and Rosa and I decorated cupkakes and then we gave them to the older girls and all the leaders. We had a great time. This is Briseida, Jessica, Rosa and Angie.


This is Zareli who came over Halloween day in the afternoon to show us her vampire costume. She lives right across the driveway from us.


Halloween night we had a party and opened the Center. We bbq'd hamburgers and hotdogs and then played and later we made s'mores out on the patio on the fire pit. A fun night. Kids came in and out all night and we got to see lots of fun costumes. This is the view from our apt. balcony.


Making s'mores and enjoying the fire with neighbors

The week of Halloween we took the younger kids to a pumpkin patch. They played on bounce houses and got a pumpkin to take home. This slide was a favorite! Samantha and Alexis sure seemed to think so.

A bunch of kids showing their pumpkins.

Rich and Samantha, Briseida nd Eveline

One other night we took the older kids to a corn maze. The corn was so high! We all had a blast getting lost in the maze. Here we are getting our wristbands.

A typical scene in the maze. Which way to go? The sunset was beautiful that night.

The kids got to feed this cow. What a great week of being with the kids. And that's what it is all about.

Kids Club at Canoas Elementary

For the past 4 years I have been a part of Kids Club at the local elementary school where most of the kids in the Farm Drive neighborhood attend. Every Tuesday from 12:15 till 2:15 we play games, have a snack, hear a Bible Story and get to know our small group.

I love 5th grade girls so I have them again this year. I have 7 girls and that is a handful but we have a lot of fun and I am already getting to know them. They are an awesome group of girls.

My prayer is that they would learn more about who God is and they would take what they learn on to middle school next year and it would make a difference in their lives.

Giselle, Itzayana, Gaby, Jacky, Jazmen, Zobeida and Tiffany.

Disneyland with family

Pete, Jessica and I went to Disneyland last week for my brother-in-laws 50th birthday. My sister Mel, her hubby Mike (birthday boy) and their 2 girls and their kids all went. We had a great time. This is Pete and I right outside Disney California.




Princess Pete...so very pretty!



Jessica and her cousin Cherlyn's little boy Bobby.

Think this was on the Matterhorn

Patty's Trip to Scio, Oregon

My sister Mel and I met up in Scio, Oregon where my mom and dad live, for 5 days of relaxing and seeing our family. This is a picture of us 3 girls (my sister Becky lives in Corvallis which is close by) with our 94 year old grandma. We love visiting her every time we visit.

Mom and grandma.



My dad mowing the lawn. They have a huge lawn so he uses a riding mower. That is a great place to just sit and talk and relax. They have a porch swing out there and one morning we all sat out there for almost 3 hours and just talked. That was a treat!


This is my mom and dad's garden. Even at 75 they still have a huge garden and like to can things like tomatoes, pears, apples, etc.

Dad on his mower listening to his ipod.

Us 3 girls on that swing I was talking about.

Mom and dad.

All of us with the dogs of course.

Small Groups Fall 09

In order to have a successful Homework Club, we feel small groups are the best way to go. The kids get help with their homework from their leader and the leaders build relationships with their kids as well. We don't have more than 5 kids in a group. Each group has a name that they give themselves. They do their homework together, they go to our "store" together, and have snack together. Every group has the same age kids in it and same sex too (at least for the older kids).
Our older guys group call themselves "The Jackson 5"



Our older girls call themselves. . . The Purple and Green Butterflies

Las Mariachis for the younger girls


Here's The Great Green Party Sharks (anything having to do with Sharks)

My younger girls group is called "Cosmo's Chicas" (after Cosmo our dog)

We have11 small groups for the elementary age kids. That's the most we've every had. My group on Monday's and Wednesday's meets upstairs in my apt. The kids love coming here and we love having them!

Pete and Patty's 28th Anniversary

For our 28th anniversary Pete and I went to Napa. We treated ourselves and stayed at a B and B. That was nice. We spent the weekend wine tasting and drove all over Napa Valley taking beautiful pictures. What a fun weekend.

One of the wineries we went to is a castle built by some guy that had a lot of money to spend. He went all over Europe getting ideas and put all those ideas into this castle. It was a beautiful place and I felt like I was in France. Think it was called Castile de Amorosa.

A New Start for Homework Club

Here are some pictures from the first day of our Kinders Class and Homework Club older kids). Below is Rich and Eunise with their Kinder Class.



Ruben and some of the kids.

Gary and more of the kids.

Of course, it would not be complete without the unofficial mascot, Cosmo!

A very good picture of Eunise and some of her fans.

Look at all those excited faces!

Gary making announcements
Lucy, Kay, and Natalie with their group.

Ruben with Javier in their group.

Our largest group ever this fall. It's exciting to see all the kids and all the people who help them with their homework.