Saturday, November 29, 2008

More autumn leaves




Autumn leaves






I love the fall time. This whole time I have been meaning to get pictures of the kids playing in the leaves...but finding the time and help to accomplish that has been difficult. I had an hour to myself last night - imagine...alone in the house...and decided to take control of a few things. On my early morning walk in the fog this morning (again alone, believe it or not) I found the perfect set of leaves just round the corner from our house. So, we did it! I love how they turned out too. Happy November! 

Thanksgiving






Jesse's third birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year, so it feels like we celebrated double time. I finally got a nap today. It will probably be another 6 months before I have another nap. Anywho, we had fun...we had family...we have tons to be thankful for. We actually still have our third installment of Jesse's birthday/Thanksgiving to look forward to on Monday, but in the mean time here are a few pictures of our adventures. Monday - his birthday party with friends at Oso de Oro; Wednesday - Thanksgiving/Birthday at Grammy's; Thursday; is THE day: to the zoo with family and on to Uncle Wes and Auntie Karen's for dinner and presents. If you have never tried it, the zoo on Thanksgiving is fun. There was that wonderful crispness in the air that only a holiday brings and very few people. The animals were very active and the walk made for a good appetite for dinner! 

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Moving forward!





One of my least favorite stages of a baby's life is crawling backward. I know, it's foundational and important, but it is frustrating for me to watch. Who wants to go backwards. I am not a big fan of moving backwards. Maggie has been crawling backwards for a few weeks (although it seemed like years) and is now finally moving forwards. She "army crawls" mostly, but is taking 3 or 4 crawls forward on her hands and knees! She can also sit back up from crawling and has been practicing that for a while. Yeay! This is much earlier than any of the other kids; she is very focused and determined. We had a couple days of terrible sleep...but are back to being much happier in that area too. Our life is moving forward. It's especially fun this time because we are not going to be going back to the start in less than 2 years and do the dance all over again. We are all growing up, even me! I can look back and see how I was at this stage with each of the other children and see how much I have changed. I am relishing the new-ness of being "done" with the baby stage and not having to dread it. I do know, however, that there will be new challenges along the way...different ones. We are moving forward.
Speaking of moving forward, Jesse and Abbey are in a new phase of being best buddies. They are sharing a room right now, and have been for a year or so. Recently they have started to disappear into their room at any opportunity and play with "Little People" and Barbies, make clubhouses, and all assundry of other schemes I am sure. Last night they wanted to sleep on the floor together. I had my doubts, but they did fall asleep. I snuck in and took a picture. They are so cute. I'm guessing this won't last too long, but it is so cute to see such a team right now! 

Thanksgiving Break





I am so thankful for a break. It used to be that I didn't like breaks from school because everyone was home. Now, it's the reverse.  A break for them is a break for me. Yippee! I started my vacation by reading a whole book last night. It was a "fluffy" fiction book - Twenty Wishes. It did inspire me to maybe make my own Twenty Wishes list.  Today I am planning on making a CD of Thanksgiving/Harvest hymns that I remember from my childhood to play this week. Music was very important for me growing up, and I am determined to expose my kids to all kinds of music. I also plan on starting and completing Christmas shopping/making this week. Probably a little bit of a dream, but that's what I am aiming for. Monday is Jesse's birthday party - so I have some preparing for that, though it will be VERY low key. We are really looking forward to spending time as a family this week, and seeing more family. Jesse's birthday is on Thanksgiving day. We have a lot to be thankful for, including this break! 

Sunday, November 9, 2008

More pictures




All Saints Day






Otherwise known as Halloween...here are a couple of pictures from the day. I kind of dreaded the day because there was so much going on. We did end up scaling back at night; just relaxing and doing a small amount of trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. It was a fun day in the end. Just a little frantic going from getting Maggie down for her nap, to Abbey's class, to Jesse's parade and then to lunch and then back to get Maggie down for her nap again. I am SOOOO going to love the freedom that comes with 1 nap! Anyways, here's some cute pix from over the month that they wore their costumes to different events! 

Reminiscing..


Ever since Maggie was born, I seem to be reminiscing about my own childhood. Maybe it's that Susannah is old enough that I remember myself at her age. Also, I think it's because I have recently got back in touch with some friends from school in England. I spent all my formative years there, so there are many memories. Brandon grew up in Fresno and gets to see the house(s) he grew up in etc. etc. whenever. I have begun to feel more sentimental that I have almost completely lost touch with that part of my life. Also recently, I have started to want to cook better. I love all the different flavors and varieties, ethnicities of food. My sister mentioned that she had found a recipe for Cheese and Potato Pasties like we used to have in England. My ears pricked up big time. Even better than that she said they tasted a lot like the Cheese and Potato Pie that was my favorite food EVER when I was a child. For a special treat we went to the cafe that was opposite the bus station in Harrogate. And I ALWAYS had the same thing. So, in an effort to reconnect with my past I experimented with making one. It was pretty good. It seemed weird to be eating it in the middle of California, in a house with children of my own. However, it was good. I will be doing this more. Nothing much to look at, but many memories involved!