Boo!

Clara & Ella

We had a great time trick or treating this year.  Unfortunately Jordan had to work, but I invited family and friends over for chili, cornbread and trick or treating!  We had a fun large group of darling little kiddos and made a loop around the neighborhood.  Clara had to hold her friend Brynley's hand the whole time which was adorable.  And Coleton toddled along in his little pumpkin costume, dragging his candy bag behind him.  He would not let you pick him up or hold his hand, which made it a little challenging for him to keep up with the pace of the group.  I went cheap this year with Halloween costumes, last year's fit so they wore them again!  They didn't mind and I was happy to save the money and get good use out of them!

Paso Picacho Camping!

We had a family camping trip a couple of weekends ago.  We camped at Paso Picacho which is about a mile past Lake Cuyamaca.  The first night, after setting up camp we started a bonfire to keep warm, it got pretty chilly at night!

Clara building a house for the ants ;)

One of my favorite parts of camping is sitting by the fire at night and cooking dinner.

The next morning, after a very eventful night with 3 little ones sleeping together in the tent trailer, we went fishing at Lake Cuyamaca.  We rented a little row boat and spent the morning unsuccessfully trying to catch a fish.  The kids had a blast just casting and reeling back in, and it was fun just being out on the water.  Unfortunately we are not experienced fishermen ;)

After fishing got old, they started feeding the geese!

After some naps we went on an afternoon hike, there were many great hikes right at our campsite, and we picked a 1.5 mile loop.  On our hike we saw 6 deer!  At one point it felt like they were completely surrounding us!  The terrain and landscape of our mountains are very different after the Cedar Creek fire burned through them, it is haunting but still beautiful...

She was hiding to try to surprise everyone!

Unfortunately Alissa & Jon didn't make it through the second eventful night, and headed home for some much needed sleep around 2:00 am.  We missed them the next morning as we went on another hike a couple miles down the road in Green Valley Campground.  It was an area called Green Valley Falls, and there was a beautiful little stream that collected in various pools with small waterfalls.  It was a great place to explore, and after tiring out the kids we headed back for naps and packing up our campsite. 

It was a great weekend, this was the first time that we ran our heater in the tent trailer, and it kept us nice a toasty.  It is good to know we can camp through the winter.  We will definitely be heading back to this campground, and it is so nice that it is only an hour away!

Pumpkin Patch

Fall is here!  My favorite time of year.  The weather has been cooling down and on a perfectly crisp fall day we took a family trip to the pumpkin patch.  My mom, sister, brother-in-law, and niece Ella went with us.  We hunted down the perfect carving pumpkins, strolled through the corn maze and petted some animals.  The kids are just growing up so fast and I really love and enjoy fun activities like these.  Clara has such personality and I must admit that I get bossed around more than I would like by my 3 year old.  But she is also sweet as can be and loves to be my little helper.  Coleton's personality comes out more and more each day, he is a thoughtful little guy who already says more words than I can count.  He also has the toddler stubborn streak right now, "I wanna do what I wanna do, try and stop me!"  Love these kids more than words can say, they just bring our lives so much joy!

Flower Girl & Sign Bearer

 Clara was the flower girl, and Coleton the sign bearer for Jordan's cousin's wedding.  It was a beautiful wedding, and the kids did a great job with their "duties."  It was also a great opportunity to get some pictures taken of the two of them, especially since Uncle Taylor was their photographer.  It's not an easy task taking pictures at this age, but I thought he got some great ones!

Clara's 3rd Birthday!

Our sweet girl turned 3 on September 3rd!  We had family over for a special breakfast in the morning and to give her the presents from us.  We all went in and got her a doll house and all the little pieces that go with it.  It is absolutely adorable and she loves it!

Then we recorded the milestone on our new growth chart.  She is 35" tall, just shy of 3 feet.  I can't wait to compare and keep track of how our kids grow through the years!


Then after a nap for both kiddos we got the house ready for her birthday party!  This girl still remembers her 2nd birthday party, so I knew I had to make it special.  Lots of friends and family came over and we all had a blast.  We had water balloons, a painting station, cupcake pinata, sprinklers, opened presents, delicious dinner of Ham & Cheese Sliders and homemade Mac & Cheese.  Along with fruit kebabs and chocolate cupcakes, what more could a girl ask for!








The day after her birthday I interviewed her, here is 20 questions with Clara...
1. What is your favorite color? Black (So not true, any other day of the week and she would say purple.)
2. What is your favorite toy? Blocks...no my dollhouse...my dollhouse is my favorite toy.
3. What is your favorite fruit? Pear (Also not true, I never buy pears for some reason)
4. What is your favorite tv show? My favorite tv show is Yo Gabba Gabba!
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Meat & Cheese
6. What is your favorite outfit? A dress I have in my closet.
7. What is your favorite game? Umm...Dominos.
8. What is your favorite snack? Umm...my favorite snack is Crackers.
9. What is your favorite animal? Lions.
10. What is your favorite song? Twinkle Twinkle.
11. What is your favorite book? Caps for Sale.
12. Who is your best friend? Katie & Allie
13. What is your favorite cereal? My favorite cereal is Hot Grape Nuts!
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play in my play house.
15.What is your favorite drink? Milk
16. What is your favorite holiday? What is a holiday? Halloween, because it's fun! (after a brief explanation)
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Baby dolls.
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Hot Grape Nuts! (It's true she loves that stuff)
19. What is your favorite dinner? Just kidding!
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A cupcake!

She loved being interviewed and for the most part she was serious with her answers, until the very end, then she just got goofy.  Some other interesting facts about Clara...she has an imaginary monkey who goes almost everywhere with her, she is obsessed with band aids and slippery soap (bar soap) she has an amazing imagination and loves all books.  Happy Birthday to the sweetest girl there is!  We love you so much and are so blessed to have you in our lives!

Expectations...

It has taken me a long time to figure out this whole parenting thing...I mean, I have an almost three year old, I should have this down by now...right?  Wrong.  I have been learning in leaps and bounds these past three years, and just plain old trying to figure things out.  I have come to realize that the areas I struggle most have to do with unrealistic expectations.  For example, Jordan works a lot.  He works 24, 48 and 72 hour shifts.  There are more times than I would like that he tallys up 120 hours in one week.  So on those few precious days that he is home I have grand expectations.  Then when they are not met, which in reality they never are, I get disappointed, and I waste those precious days being frustrated.  In my mind I was not allowing myself to enjoy the day until...I was showered and presentable looking, the kids were clothed and lookin' cute, the house was clean and tidy, laundry was put away...and then we could begin to enjoy the day.  Yeah right.  Those simple few things end up taking all day, and before I know it the day is gone and Jordan is back to work, and I forgot to enjoy any part of the day.  Sounds ridiculous now that I think about it, but for some reason the days are a whirlwind of getting things done, and then they are over and a new day begins with Jordan back at work.  I realized that had to end, I had to re-evaluate my expectations.  The day begins when I wake up and get out of bed.  I need to learn to enjoy getting the kids up and dressed, enjoy making breakfast, lunch and dinner, enjoy cleaning up the kitchen over and over again, enjoy doing 4-6 loads of laundry a week and folding and putting away endless amounts of clothes.  I need to enjoy these tasks, because this is my life right now.  I need to be okay with not having make up on, and having my hair in a crazy mess 75% of the time, because life is still going on, and I don't want to miss it! This new perspective has brought me so much peace.  I am working on brainwashing Clara...for example...kids are such copy cats of what we do.  So if I go around cleaning with a smile on my face then she joins along.  She insisted I buy her a pink sponge at the store the other day, so now she goes around the house scrubbing here and there, saying, "I love having a clean house" and "doing dishes is so much fun."  I just have to laugh at how she mimics things I say, and the more I say it the more I believe it, and the more good habits she picks up.  Win...win.

Clara's first time flying a kite, she was giddy with excitement!

On another note, we went beach camping last weekend with our best camping buddies.  Matt, Jeannine and Elora stayed in our tent trailer with us, and I just love how much fun we have.  Yes the kiddos are sometimes loud at night, and wake up at the crack of dawn, but it is so worth it.  Jeannine's sister's family and their 3 kids camped as well, and it made for a fun and crazy campsite.  I am checking the calendar as we speak to see when we can go camping again!

Gardening...

Hello blog world, it's been a while!  I guess maybe I needed a break from blogging?  Maybe I am still not ready to come back?  Not sure, but for now, here is our latest at home hobby that we just love.  Jordan's last project was a fence surrounding our garden, he did it himself and in my book it took up way too much of his precious time.  But the result was well worth it.  We have chicken wire on the inside of the fence which goes down about 2 feet underground.  Take that rabbits and gophers!  We have had 4 dumpload trucks of wood chips delivered, which now cover every square inch of our property that was once dirt.  Jordan has brought in loads and loads of rich soil and manure, and we compost all our organic materials, I love not wasting that stuff!  Now our 9 garden boxes (which Jordan built) and our large plot of land were safe and ready for spring planting!  These pictures were taken a couple weeks ago when everything was at it's prime.  We were hauling in crazy amounts of bounty and could hardly keep up.  Don't worry, nothing has gone to waste, we distribute freely among friends and family and get creative with our dinners.  Beet Burgers, Eggplant Parmigian, grilled veggies, frozen corn, stuffed peppers, tomato and basil pizza, strawberry ice cream and the list could go on of all the wonderful things we have been eating out of our garden.  I believe I am getting a bit spoiled and will forever be a vegetable snob when it comes to buying vegetables from the store. 

Helping us do the prep work...corn just sprouting in the back...Coleton thought he found the perfect sand box ;)

Our little gardeners.

Yellow squash, cucumbers, eggplant, green beans, bell peppers, strawberries, radishes & beets, tomatoes, pumpkins & melons.

Zucchini, corn, herb garden, an example of our harvests every few days.

Did I mention we have an orchard?  25 fruit trees, you name it, we have it.

An aerial view, we aren't close to done yet either, we plan for berries between the herb garden and fence, as well as berries and grapes around the fence.

 

We are getting very attached to our little half acre property.  It is so rewarding to grow your own food, and make delicious and healthy meals for your family.  So there you have it, our garden!