Snail hunting at Sunset

One of our favorite things to do while we are at my Aunt's house is to sit on the front porch during the sunset. There is nothing quite like it.

see...

I also introduced the kids to snail hunting. I used to do it at my Grandma's house all the time when I was their age. They were kind of creeped out by them at first, but as soon as I showed Clara a baby snail she was smitten.

October 28, 2011 - Legoland

This year we continued with the Tradition of heading down to Encinitas, California to stay in my Aunt's beach house.

Our first stop on Friday was Legoland. Thomas has finally hit the lego obsession ago. Everything he does revolves around legos. We didn't tell the kids we were going. We just woke them up on Friday and said we were going to go have some family time. We drove into the parking lot waiting for one of them to catch on. When they finally did, both of them were thrilled.

Legoland is right up our alley. The kids are not fans of Disneyland and all the hype that goes with it. They LOVED this place! It was very calm, not a lot of people and the rides we went on were perfect for them. To be honest, they would have been happy just walking around looking at all the models.

Thomas was picked to be the special helper in the little skit they had.

Probably because he was the only one willing to sit on the front row and risk getting wet.

It was a great day and we can't wait to go back.

Halloween 2011

Okay - so technically it's not Halloween yet, but it can't come soon enough over here. Almost every house in this neighborhood is decorated. Think Christmas, but substitute orange and black for red and green. The kids have already started their sugar IV drips, and everyday I get the same question from Clara, "Is it Halloween?"

Yesterday night was the Annual Fall Festival. So that meant yesterday was the day I spent running back and forth to WalMart trying to finish the costumes for the kids. I love it. I work best under pressure. To tell you the truth, yesterday while I was pulling apart $.94 rose bushes for Clara's hairpiece I was secretly wishing I could go on Project Runway.

Thomas is a the Lego Ninjago Guy. If you don't know anything about Ninjago, then you don't have a boy under the age of 12 living in your home. I bought the face paint for Clara, but he really wanted to wear it, too. Painting his face yellow like a lego guy was his idea. He couldn't wear a mask to school, so instead of wearing his headpiece that covers his mouth, he wanted me to paint the white. He's so clever.

Clara's costume was forever evolving. She wanted to be a cat, then a witch, then a fairy. We went to buy her fairy wings and she saw a really cool witch broom she had to have. We bought the matching witch hat, came home and went to work on her costume. The next day she decided she wanted to be a fairy again. I tried to talk her into staying a witch, but she really wanted to be a fairy. I really wanted to make a fairy costume instead of witch, so it didn't take much for her to convince me to return the witch stuff.

Thomas' costume was easy. I bought a Karate uniform and added a grey belt and some rope. He made his medallion and we spray painted it gold.

The festival was so much fun and the kids had a great time. Can't wait until next year!

Camera Dump

I can't believe how long it's been since I've updated. And I bet that if you go back and read the last couple entries they all start with that exact same sentence.

Life has been great. We have been enjoying some amazing fall weather and just finding our groove with 1st grade and preschool. I am in the car driving from home to school to preschool to the library (I get editing done there while I wait for Clara) to preschool to home to school. I have started crocheting again just to pass the time I spend waiting in the car for kids to get out of school.

I was going through all the pictures that I have taken the last couple weeks. I have meant to post them, but I just haven't had the time. Instead of trying to plan the perfect post, I have decided to do a camera dump.

What would we do without the Ipad? The kids know this thing better than Steve or I do. The other night we were waiting for some friends to come over for dinner. I walked by the front door and found Thomas patiently waiting while playing. I'm sure it was an educational game.

Steve took Thomas and Clara to the Dollar Tree the other night. They LOVE that store. Clara thinks it's called Dollar Treat, which I find quite perfect. Steve bought her a mermaid at Dollar Treat and she was thrilled.

Clara is adicted to spinning in her bilibo. She is so good at it and is constantly spinning. As soon as she stops she asks, " was that awesome?" Every. Single. Time. I love it!

My cute friend Crystal B who I met at my Blue Lily Photography weekend in Park City had a Pintrest Project Challenge. We were supposed to find something on pintrest that we liked and actually make it rather than just pinning it and thinking about making it. I decided on the wreath. It has about 10 lbs of hot glue, 3 lbs of candy corn and a gallon of shellack. I made sure the kids saw me spraying it so they knew it wasn't edible.

What's more exciting than a new dishwasher for mama? A dishwasher box for the kids.

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of the dump. Steve and I decided that it was time for Thomas to learn to ride the 2-wheeler. He is so good on the balance bike and just needs the confidence to do it on the real bike. Steve took him out to learn one Saturday morning and I couldn't resist taking a picture of the pep-talk. We're still working on the bike riding.

I keep trying to think of a catchy saying to go along with this picture I took. Something about each of us having a bigger impact than we realize...

and finally....just because she is so stinking fun. She wore her "pinpess" dress all day, everywhere we went. She tried to get me to wear a feather boa and a crown the same day. I wish I had the guts to do so.

September 13, 2011

I woke up this morning around 6 am. I laid there and tried to talk myself into getting up, but my inner motivational monologue wasn't cutting it today. I ignored the voices in my head for about 45 minutes and then reluctantly gave in.

I shouldn't have waited so long. It was a beautiful morning. I came downstairs and opened the door to see that it was raining. It didn't look like a passing storm, it was too thick and I knew it was going to be a rainy day. all day.

I dropped the kids off at school and then decided I was going to enjoy the day. I usually go to the library while Clara is in preschool and work on my photo editing for my recent sessions, but not today. I went and ran a quick errand, bought myself a popcorn and Diet Dr. Pepper and parked myself in front of Clara's preschool to read in the car with the windows open. Every once and a while I had to roll the windows up when it got too intense, but for the most part they were down while I sat and read. It was wonderful.

After school Clara and I came home and hung out in the house with the windows and doors open. The Ipod has been shuffle and is constantly surprising me with tracks I haven't listened to in a long time.

Then there was a break in the sprinkle and she decided to go outside and play around in the puddles.

She also experimented with chalk on the wet concrete and was so excited to tell me it "got pinker" when it was wet.

life is good.

Clara's First Day of Preschool

Clara had her first day of preschool today. I wasn't going to put her in this year because she's going to Mrs. M next year who will basically have her ready for college by the end of the year. To be honest, I also didn't want to put her in because she is my baby. I figured If I kept her out of preschool it would prevent her from growing up. From what I hear, it doesn't work, so I went ahead an put her in.

She was very excited to go. She wore her "farkle pants and her farkle heart shirt." She was supposed to wear the new converse shoes I bought her last month, but when we went to put them on, her feet wouldn't fit. We ended up dropping Thomas off at school and making an emergency stop at Kohls to buy new ones.

I dropped her off and then decided that I would try to become a Starbucks Laptop Hobo. I made it 30 minutes and then started going crazy. I'm not cut out for hanging in Starbucks. I ended up driving around and stopping at random stores trying to kill time. It was hard being childless. I finally pulled up to the preschool and waited for 30 minutes in the car. I'm sure I will grow fond of having alone time on a regular basis, but for now it is just odd.

She had a great time. When I asked her what she did she said, "we talked about bodies and I got a red sucker."

Sounds like a perfect day if you ask me.