Park Days

I'm learning to take advantage of these Fall days when the sun shines and the rain is sparse. I used to feel guilty about running to the park in the morning because dishes weren't done and we hadn't started schoolwork yet. But I've come to a few realizations: 1. The dishes eventually get done and I'd much rather spend a morning at the park with my kiddos and 2. We've figured out that doing schoolwork after lunch when Moddy takes her nap works better for us. For some reason I was believing that it had to be done first thing in the morning, silly me.

Of course, Clayton started off yesterday at the park by hitting his sister. So I drew a circle in the bark chips and there he stood for timeout.


Miss Moddy loves the park and she loves to climb and sometimes I think she'll give me a heart attack.
She climbs:
She sits:
She does the drop and hang. And she loves it all and has no fear.

Momma, has a little fear.
Ivan and Hannah have both learned to pump on the swings and only occasionally want a little push. Ivan has started sticking his tongue out when he sees me taking pictures (where do they learn this?) I caught him just before here:
Ahh...there it is though:
And my superheroes:
Hannah-Hannah lost another tooth the other morning. It's been loose for awhile and it fell out when she was eating her morning apple. I'm loving the cute toothless smile:
Though I don't know about this type of posing (where do they learn this stuff?):
Again with the "no fear", she holds on, she swings, she leans back to look at the sky and shakes the swing around. I just don't know what I'm going to do with her.
I think I'll keep her though.

I kind of like her.

I kind of like them all.

Pumpkin Carving

The kiddos have been begging to carve pumpkins this year, and a week ago when we were at Fred Meyer we picked up 3 to do just that.
They sat on the counter for a week and everyday I heard "Can we carve our pumpkin faces now?"
So Wednesday we did.
Mod was taking her nap and Clayton had fallen asleep so Hannah and Ivan each picked "their" pumpkin, I gave them a permanent marker and told them to draw the face for me to cut out.
I then cut off the tops and told them to pull out all the insides.
I don't think they realized all that was involved and commented that they never wanted to do this again.
But we made it through.

Clayton woke up and told me what he wanted and I drew it and then cut his out as well.

We had to run to the store for candles but later that night when Daddy got home we stuck in the candles and showed off their creations. Hannah, Ivan and Clayton are all hoping to scare some trick-or-treat-ers with the "really scary pumpkin faces".
Can you guess which pumpkin was designed by which kid?

Breakfast at Emily's

Wow. I've been slacking in my blogging lately. But I still have a recipe up over at Cowgirl Clippings today. It's my favorite (I know, they're all my favorite) Spiced Pumpkin Waffle Recipe.
It's Fall, the weather is colder and rainy and anything pumpkin-y or spicy sounds wonderful and tasty and comfortable. (Can something taste comfortable?) For some reason I can't load a picture to tempt you in that direction, so you'll just have to follow the links for all the goodness. Enjoy!

Breakfast at Emily's

Mmm....coffee.
I love coffee.
So when I found this recipe a few years ago I couldn't pass it up.
Though I left out the rum, I'm not a big rum person.
Especially first thing in the morning.
You're curious aren't you?
Better head over to Cowgirl Clippings and check out the White Spiced Coffee.

Merry Christmas!

Don't hate me.

I've been listening to Christmas music all morning and it's not even Halloween yet.

It's not the first time this month either.

While I will exclaim, "Good grief! It's not even Halloween or Thanksgiving yet and they have Christmas stuff out!" right along with Hannah (true story, it happened the other day at Fred Meyer) I will happily pull out the Christmas music early.

I think it has something to do with Christmas craft bazaars.

(Confused? It helps to listen to Christmas music when you're making stuff to sell at a "Holiday" craft bazaar.)

I love craft bazaars.

I used to any way.

My mom sold stuff at craft bazaars a lot when I was younger and I loved it. And since I want to be just like my mom, I too have attempted selling crafts.

It's just not the same anymore.

Not when you can buy "crafty" looking stuff that's made in China and costs a fraction of something homemade.

But still every year I get a flyer in the mail asking if I want to rent a booth at the "Holiday" bazaar around here.

Every year there is the fleeting moment of "Could I?"

And then I remembered this year that all my craft stuff is packed away in the trailer and besides, there is no way I have enough time to get stuff ready to fill a booth at a bazaar.

I think they should send out the flyer in March, or even as late as July. Then I might attempt it again.

I suppose I could just remember and start now for next year...

...but it's so much easier to blame someone else for my lack of planning.

Oh dear, maybe I shouldn't have said anything.

Now my brain is reeling with thoughts of what I could make and sell.

I better just leave you with a picture of my first craft bazaar. Hannah was about a year and half, she's in the picture there if you look closely, and I was very pregnant with Ivan, but I'm not in the picture, I'm just mentioning it so you have a time reference.

Wood and Vinyl Floors and Counter Tops

Work is getting done.

Flooring/counter top guys were there yesterday, so last night we stopped by and I grabbed a couple pictures to share.`

It looks amazing. I'm so excited.

The view walking in the front door:


The kitchen:
And the master bathroom once again:

Sinks need to go in. Trimwork and carpets need to be put in and then I think there's a bunch of work under the house that needs to be done.

It's fun to see it all come together (and not have to do the work ourselves).

Breakfast at Emily's

I've started making Craisin bread instead of cinnamon rolls when I make sourdough bread every week. I'm sharing that variation with you over at Cowgirl Clippings today. Enjoy!