The Farrells

The Farrells
Matt, Nicki, Owen and Nora live in the San Francisco Bay area. Matt is a research analyst at CBRE and is loving his job. Nicki spends her time playing with Owen and Nora, reading, crafting, and taking lots of pictures. Owen loves to read, sing, throw toys, and quote movies. Nora is growing quickly and loves to be the center of attention. We have a wonderful life!

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Friday, October 31, 2014

Halloween 2014




We went to so many fun Halloween activities this year! We did Owen's school parade and carnival, the Pleasanton downtown scavenger hunt, the Pleasanton Stake Halloween carnival, trick-or-treating in Alamo Plaza with cousins, a Halloween cookie party with grandma Farrell, pumpkin carving, and of course trick-or-treating! We love making our own costumes and spend a lot of time each year coming up with themes. The kids had just recently checked out Alice in Wonderland from the library, and Nora decided she wanted to be the Queen of Hearts. We kind of went crazy from there. :)

We went trick-or-treating this year on 2nd Street in Pleasanton. It's a downtown street with a ton of old beautiful houses that EVERYONE trick-or-treats at. Seriously, everyone - we were walking shoulder to shoulder down the sidewalk, and getting candy at each house took 5-10 minutes because we had to get through the crowd. It was especially difficult with Nora, who is so short that she can't be seen in a crowd. She nearly got run over several times. We had a blast, though, and were sad that we didn't know about this street in the past few years that we've been here.



Scavenger-hunting at the bookstore on Main Street in Pleasanton.


That hat was pretty heavy for Owen - he carried it most of the time.


Mad Hatter!

Queen of Hearts! This dress was a pain to make (mostly because Nora is waaaay smaller than the measurements for her size - I had to take in the dress a ton after I had made it). I love how it turned out, though!

Alice and the White Rabbit


Those lips just kill me.

The Cheshire Cat.

The whole crew


Pumpkins! Yes, I always make my children strip when doing something messy. Maybe one day when we have a washer and dryer they'll be able to keep their clothes on. :)

Owen's school parade! He was definitely the most handsome kid out there.


Owen's class all dressed up.

Cousins at the Alamo Plaza trick-or-treat.

Jack and Aubrey pestering each other.


Love these cute faces.



Train ride!

After trick-or-treating.







We don't have to take all the dairy out of Nora's candy this year! She's so excited.


Is there anything cuter than a baby with bunny ears? I think not.


The all-important candy sorting.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Owen's 6th birthday




Owen's birthday was pretty low-key (after his giant pirate party last year). We picked up Matt from work and headed to the pumpkin patch (because what else do you do with an October birthday?). We took some cute pictures, played in the corn pit, and then headed home for cake and presents. We went a few days later to grandma Farrell's house for cake and presents with lots of family.

Owen at 6 years is a very curious boy. He talks and asks questions all. day. long. He loves to look things up on the computer, just like I do. If there's anything he wants to know, he'll ask me about it, and then if I don't know, we look it up and read about it. We usually end up checking out several books from the library, and he'll be obsessed with that subject for the next few weeks. He loves to write books - both fiction and non-fiction. We have stacks and stacks of the books he's written. He loves to draw and paint and do anything artistic or crafty. We have to be careful to hide cool boxes or containers deep in the trashcan, because he literally goes through the trash to find things to craft with. I am always hearing "don't throw that away! I can make something out of that!". I love my little artist. Owen is also a voracious reader. We enjoy reading books together (particularly Roald Dahl), and he loves going to the library and checking out books to read on his own. We owe the library a small fortune in overdue fees, and have discovered that there is, in fact, an upper limit to the number of books you can check out at one time. Owen loves Google Earth, and frequently asks if he can play it. He likes zooming around the Grand Canyon and the Eiffel Tower and particularly loves finding the Titanic on the bottom of the Atlantic. The Titanic is another of his obsessions - he found a National Geographic from a few years ago that had an article about the Titanic and has read it hundreds of times since then. We've checked out every Titanic book from the library and look up ship diagrams on the internet frequently. Owen is a very sweet little boy, and super patient. He loves making things for everyone in the family, and is a loving older brother to Jack and Nora. Nora tends to beat up on him sometimes, and even though he's twice her size, he almost never lays a hand on her - he is so patient and kind with her. He loves to teach her and Jack and help them out. He definitely has a stubborn, independent streak, but his kindness, obedience, helpfulness, and innate sense of right and wrong are what shine through. He is definitely a rule-follower. One thing that I'm hearing more frequently from him is that when he's scared or thinking about something, he takes the time to quietly go to his room and pray. I usually know nothing about it until he comes and tells me about it later. I love this sweet, thoughtful, creative, handsome boy. Happy birthday, O!








The corn was much cleaner this time (three weeks into the season, all the dust and dirt has been kicked up by all the kids).


Jack wasn't quite sure at first.

Then he discovered that the corn could be put in his mouth.

Mom wasn't quite fast enough on this one.


Opening birthday presents from grandmas. He got lots of art supplies, plus some awesome Ninja Turtle toys. We had Matt's parents take pictures of our family in our Halloween costumes prior to Owen's party, which is why both kids are dressed up in these pictures. :)

Ninja Turtle sweatshirt!

Pumpkin birthday cake.


Wednesday, October 15, 2014

October 2014

In October, we visited the pumpkin patch several times, had our apartment flood (suuuper fun), I volunteered in Owen's class a couple times, and we did lots of Halloween events. I think October is my favorite month... the weather is perfect and there are always tons of family activities and fun places to go. 

A sunny pumpkin patch day.



Our local pumpkin patch has a giant corn pit that's super fun... except for apparently, when you go on the first day of the season as we did, the corn is still full of dust and dirt. These kids were filthy when they got out - completely gray. It looked like I had dumped out our vacuum canister over them. It was so bad.

So dirty!

Owen's eyebrows and eyelashes have disappeared under the dirt.



Kiddie corn maze!



Our family room flooded from a broken toilet upstairs. We had to move all the furniture out before our carpet was replaced, which gave us lots of room for swordfights!


Even Jack got in on the action!



I volunteered to count laps at Owen's Fun Run. I loved watching this skinny little guy prance around the course. He never stops moving. :)

All done and sweaty!


Sitting with the other yellow kinders.

His whole class.

Nora and Jack did not particularly like the Fun Run. 

Hooray for new carpet!


My mom and Owen and Nora planted tons and tons of pumpkins in the spring. We had a pumpkin party with all the cousins to harvest and decorate pumpkins.












Jackson, Lily, Katelyn, Aubrey, Nora, and Owen




Painting pumpkins! Yes, I always make my children paint naked.



Michael and Lily
Grandpa with a baby pumpkin.



Dress-up at grandma's.
Dressed as pirates for Owen's school fall carnival.