Some Great Finds!!

Yesterday the kids and I headed out to do our errands and we made some wonderful discoveries.

One of my very favorite stores ever, Pink Pineapple had their semi annual garage sale. I had some terrific finds and was super pleased with my total. I love this idea . . .a great way to pick up some fun new goodies but without spending a fortune to do so. The event was a huge success for them. When we got there, I would imagine there were probably 40 - 50 people shopping and tons of product that had been brought in by various sellers.

Then we headed to Target to do some birthday party shopping and Christmas wish list writing. Here are a few of the things we found that I picked up, what jewels.

The first was, school house rock, a series that I remember really enjoying and having the catchy lyrics stay with me. They just released the 30th anniversary edition. I put this one away for Christmas, I couldn't pass it up. I also picked up a DVD of the beloved Tom & Jerry, which I let the kids watch on the way home. I have never heard my kids laugh so hard. What a joy it is to share some of my favorite childhood series with them, and see them get the same joy out of them that I did. The one thing that I had forgotten about Tom & Jerry was just how little talking there is, for the most part the series was silent. We also spotted the Smurfs, which I think would also be a great addition to our collection. Some others that we are really into right now include Scooby Doo and the Flintstones.

Lanny & I got a kick out of Alyssa's take on Tom& Jerry. After watching about three episodes, she turned to us and asks "Why is that mouse so smart and the cat isn't so smart? " Too funny.

Crazy Hair Day!!!

Today was crazy hair day at Alyssa's school, she decided she wanted lots of curls, sparkle and butterflies. Here is a shot of the night before . . . . hair in rollers.





Then the final product. It turned out super cute and held fairly well for a good part of the day. It was so fun, because all of her friends ran up to her at school and said " WHOAA!! How'd you get your hair to do that?" Then she would break into a story that started with "Well, I had to sleep in rollers . . ." Here's to my wildly fun, creative and spirited young lady. Love ya!!!

A Weekend of Fun in the Sun

So . . . it has only taken me almost an entire week to post this, better late than never, right ;) Last weekend, our family headed out to Palm Springs for a nice quick little get away. The boys had some golfing planned and us girls had fun at the pool and hanging with the little ones. I absolutely love how children can turn anything into a wonderful adventure. When we first got there we all got suited up and headed to the pool for hours of fun.

It is amazing to see the progress that both Alyssa and Drew have made in the water over the summer. Alyssa is quite a good swimmer, using all of her body to get her through to where she wants to go. Drew is also very confident in the water, but he has no fear, which gives me a fair amount of fear :) . Then we all went out for dinner and a quick dessert run, which was so fun (ice cream sundaes anyone).

The next morning, as the kids and I woke up, they had been dying to test the "bounciness of the beds", I couldn't resist. So within a matter of minutes there were children flying through the air and uncontrollable laughter abound. Then we got a call from across the hall that there were ducks outside, so we gathered up and went out and fed the ducks, which as you can tell was great fun.

As we were finishing up with the ducks, the boys called to let us know that they were at the last hole, which was right outside our rooms. The kids made a quick move to find their daddy, papa, and uncles and "play golf".

Our Little Jack-o-Lantern

When I went to pick up Alyssa from school today, her Nana told me that she had a surprise for us!!!! Here was our surprise . . .
Our Little Jack-O-Lantern!! She has lost three teeth within the last couple of months, and now has the most toothless grin you could imagine. The tooth fairy has frequent flyer miles at our house this year!! Drew has started asking when the tooth fairy will be visiting him and we told him probably another year or so, so he proudly proclaims to his sister: " One more EAR and the tooth fairy will be coming to see me". Too funny!!!

"Homeschooling" has officiallly started

So, as many of you may know, we were really torn about whether or not we were going to have Drew do preschool this year. It was something that we had been praying about and hoping that we would be guided in the right direction. While I really wanted to thoroughly enjoy some one on one time with him, I didn't want to make the decision for selfish reasons. After a series of circumstances, the answer became very clear to us: Drew was not going to be going back to preschool, and we would be working with him at home. When we first made this decision, I was really worried about how Drew might take it. He quickly put my worries at ease, as my sweet boy has affectionately and enthusiastically started telling everyone that he is "homeschooling".

So, every M/W/F Drew and I do "homeschooling" and we are both really enjoying it. To get started, I purchased a wonderful book, Learning at Home, and I have been very pleased with the layout and curriculum that it provides. I have to admit, going into it, I wasn't sure what to expect. It has been so rewarding and fulfilling for both of us. It is time that I truly look forward to on each of these days. I try to do all of the necessary prep work on the weekend before the week gets under way and that seems to be working out pretty well. I know when my little guy gets ready to head off to kindergarten, I will look back at these days and treasure the lessons we learned together.

Honest, the kids were clean at the start of the day!!!

We had a very nice day today, we got to spend some much needed time together as a family. It has been a bit more tricky to get in our family fun time since school has started back up. Today, we spent almost the entire day outdoors, which was awesome for everyone. In the morning, we headed to one of our favorite local spots for a nice breakfast and then headed back to take the dogs for a nice long walk.

Then it was game time, so Lanny watched the Chargers and the kids and I headed outside to clean the car (well I cleaned, they played). It was such a delight to watch the two of them together, it was on from one idea to the next. They started by running through the hose as I was washing down the car. Which, then became a game; I would spray the car and then spray the kids. Their shrieks of excitement could be heard a mile away. Then when I started cleaning the inside of the car, they started collaborating in all kind of different imaginative games. It started with "running is fun", which consisted of laps from our mailbox, down to the neighbors and back (about 25 times). I later learned from "lyssa that this is an activity that they do at school during gym class.
Next, out came the sidewalk chalk and our entire front sidewalk became a mural of all things fun. From here the two of them could be seen sitting on the sidewalk, literally heads together, devising a plan for the next game. We ended the day with "leaf pile mania" and "Drew showing us his new tricks".

Midway through the afternoon, I look over and realized my children were so dirty . . . . and so happy. At this point I thought to myself, "honestly, they were clean when the day started, oh well." Ah, the things memories are made of; dirt, water and fresh air. The possibilities are endless.

Fall My Most Favorite Season of All

There is something so wonderful and magical to me about the start of fall. Being a midwestern girl at heart, I vividly remember the changing of the leaves from green to the beautiful hues of red, orange, yellow and brown. As this change occurred you knew it was time to throw on an extra layer of clothing or bundle up in a nice warm coat. I think that the feelings of warmth, family and an overall more relaxed pace is what I still love so much about fall. All be it that fall in southern California is a bit different than the same time of year in Missouri, I still love this season!!

I am so thankful that our house has one of the few (southern California) trees that actually goes through the full spectrum of the color change for the fall season, our awesome liquid amber tree. It has just started to drop leaves in all of the beautiful fall hues. I can't wait for another week or so when we will be able to go out with the rake and scoop a huge pile of leaves together to run in, jump through and toss into the air. Soon after that we will make our annual trip to the pumpkin patch to select the perfect pumpkins for display during the harvest season. While there we'll enjoy pony rides, feed the animals and delight in some of the wonderful yummy treats that are available. Then in November we'll head to the mountains to stay in the cabin. We'll be surrounded by family, a cozy fire lit in the wood burning stove and awesome hikes throughout the mountain. Is it any wonder why this is such an awesome time of year!! Family, Friends & Fun, it doesn't get any better than that!!

Let's give it a whirl!!!

So, I have been admiring the writings of a friend for several months now and keep telling myself, that I really should start a blog. . .

Well, I have finally done it, not really sure how to do everything, but I am always up for an adventure and a challenge. My main reason for starting this, is to capture the very quickly passing precious moments that often seem to whiz by far too quickly for my liking. I would love to have something to look back and re-read that will hold the wonderful treasures of days past.

Thoughts for today . .

I am feeling very satisfied as I have been doing some much needed sorting and purging of items around the house. Late last week, I was starting to get that feeling that things were getting a bit out of hand (in relation to how much stuff was accumulating around our house). So starting on Saturday, I started in one room and have worked my way through the downstairs and have made a drastic reduction in the amount of stuff occupying (a.k.a taking over) our space *wink*.

Alyssa is now into her third week of school and homework has started, while it is such an exhilarating excitement to see her learn new things and conquer new challenges, there is a part of my heart that aches knowing that she is growing up. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed and my infant has become a young lady. I know that the Lord has wonderful things in store for you, and I am so excited to see where that journey takes you.

My dear Drew has such a great excitement that he meets every day with, which is a great reminder to me about all of the wonderful beauties there are to be enjoyed and truly appreciated everyday. Thank you so much to both of you for all that you add to my life and for helping me to be a better
person, by seeing the world more through your eyes.