October was a good month!

October is always busy for the Mesquitas. We usually have some type of Fall Break in the beginning, celebrate Alexandra’s birthday in the middle and end with Halloween. This year was no different.

Fall break was really just a long weekend. The kids had a half day on Thursday, and then were off the following Friday and Monday. We usually stay in town because Anthony doesn’t get the time off, but this year was different. To celebrate Alexandra’s 10th birthday, we decided to go to Disneyland. Yes, I know, we’ve been there many, many times before, but this is the first time we celebrated Alexandra’s 10th birthday at the Land!

For her 10th birthday, Alexandra asked to go. That was her gift from us (plus we bought her extra souvenirs, ssshhh, don’t tell Joshua!). It was a great gift she shared with all of us. We spent two days at the parks, spending time with cousin Patti, plus our friends, the Zamudios. It was so fun to ride rides, walk around and share meals with them. They were even able to get Joshua to ride the Matterhorn for the first time. And then we couldn’t keep him off that ride! Alexandra’s favorite ride (I think) was Space Mountain. Yes, Alexandra loves Space Mountain! Hard to believe I know. And I rode it, too! I made a deal with the kids that if they rode the Haunted Mansion, I would ride Space Mountain. And although they whined, cried and held on tight, they rode the ride. OF course, they refused to get on it again! All it all it was a good weekend at our favorite place on Earth, Disneyland.

The 12th is her actual birthday.  We had Joshua's classroom Rosary night, so we had a small celebration that night.

We celebrated two Rosary nights at school as October is also the month of the Rosary. I was proud to represent 4th grade with Alexandra as we recited one of the decades. The kids also showed off their Sign Language Club skills as the group performed the Hail Mary song. (Both Alexandra and Joshua are in the club.)

We celebrated Halloween with a couple of parties, plus a trip to Talmachoff Farms in Glendale. We went through the family corn maze with our directions and finally 45 minutes later we were out with most of what we were supposed to find.

SJV held their annual All Hallow’s Eve Event on the Friday before Halloween. It was fun to see all the kids (and some parents) dressed up as their favorite characters. We then had a Halloween party at the Morenos where the kids wore their costumes for the second time.

And finally, on Sunday it was Halloween. We went trick or treating in our neighborhood, which we haven’t done in a couple of years, with Briana (our niece/cousin). Briana was Beannie Wells (Cardinals player), Alexandra was Hermoine Grainger from Harry Potter books/movies and Joshua was Indiana Jones. We all had fun and after just two blocks we headed back home to sort through candy and pull out all the Snickers for me!

Now, hard to believe, it’s November, time to prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving. Hopefully we’ll have a big family dinner, as we are trying to plan. If only we could all put aside the family drama for just a day to make my Tata happy. I’ll keep you posted!

Two other big events in November… SJV Fall Gala on November 13th and our 12th wedding anniversary on November 14th. Woo Hoo!