Ode to Fall

I love fall.  I love the activities, the smells, the colors and watching my kids enjoy a beautiful day like yesterday.  I love a warm Oregon fall day.  They can be rare which adds to their beauty and enjoyment.  This year we are extra blessed in our new house.  We have a really gorgeous view off of our deck.  I have loved watching the colors change, even though raking is a pain, I love a yard covered in fallen leaves.  Sarah and Adam can go searching for leaves right in our backyard which is great for me, I can watch with a cup of coffee and never leave our family room.  We didn't have a chance to go to the big pumpkin patch this year, but yesterday was so beautiful that we thought, even though we are super tired and want to nap, let's go find some pumpkins and take a drive.  If you don't drive the outskirts of Salem often, you should.  It's such a pretty place to live.  We went out to a place we had heard of out South and it was closed.  They have a hay tower that you can play in right on the road, and it's free, so we went ahead and played for a bit even though we couldn't get any pumpkins there.  After we went to a local patch and picked out some pumpkins to carve.  It was relaxing, and a chance to really look at God's creation.  When we have such breath taking thinks to enjoy here on earth I can only imagine what heaven will be like!  Enjoy a few pictures of our fall day.

Going for it - Thanks a lot Amanda!

Alright, I have officially been motivated to blog about my desire to loose 20 pounds.  I have been inspired by my very good friend Amanda, who did this and lost the weight.  Well she only had to loose 10 pounds, and really she was already so skinny.   I have decided to go in baby steps, I actually would love to loose 30 pounds but don't want to put a goal out there that is only going to discourage me.  I feel that I need some encouragement along the way, I guess I have a hard time focusing and waiting until all 20 pounds is gone is just too long.  So I am going to reward the hard work at 10 pounds, 15 pounds and then 20 pounds.  Those rewards are yet to be determined with the help of my hubby.  If I loose the 20, see already negative talk...WHEN I loose the 20 I will decide if I should loose the extra 10.  I feel like Valerie Bertinelli, she started with 20 and then went for the extra 10.  My hope would be to loose this weight in 12 weeks - we shall see.  Wish me luck, I am very rebellious and feel that really if I would just choose to take care of myself like I know I should, this would be easy.  Not to mention that I want to be a good healthy example for my kids.  Exercise and good food here I come.  As a side note, why do I have to love sugar so much?  And with Halloween right around the corner.  Deep sigh.

Little Friends

I love watching my kids make new little friends.  Yesterday I went with Sarah to the pumpkin patch with her class and got to watch her with her newest best friend Becca. Becca lives in the house right behind ours, and I am thrilled to learn she comes from a christian family.  As I was watching them together I got visions of our possible future.  They were giggly and silly and at one point they were even trying to leave one little girl out so that they could be alone.  This of course provided a chance for me to talk to Sarah about loving everyone, but it was really sad to me that they are already falling into those girl patterns of drama.  Kyle said that one day they may have a zip line connecting Becca's backyard to ours, or maybe one of those can phone lines.  I'm not sure about that, but I do know that right now they are madly in love with each other and want to spend every waking moment together.  Watching them yesterday and over the last few weeks has revived my desire to pray faithfully for my kids. 

Pray that they make good choices in school friends, that they put Christ first living out His plans for them rather then pushing for their own earthly desires.  It's hard to let the grip of my kids go a little bit as they enter into the world of school, but I know God will protect them, that He is in control and that they are not mine to hold tight to.  

1st graders are odd.

I have the pleasure of volunteering in Alex's classroom this year.  I am really enjoying being there, although I must admit 1st graders are little odd.  I feel the whole time I am in the room that I am gambling with my health, as many of them appear to have rather dirty hands.  They have an odd smell to them up close and they seem to always want to be "up close".  Last time I was there I made the mistake of letting this one little guy tell me all about his dream from the night before.  Well that did it, I was now officially his story telling victim.  Every time I turned around he was there, asking if he could tell me a story or tell me about something really scary.  It was hard not to roll my eyes, plus when I was trying to not look at him I could tell he was looking at me.  It became this battle of wills between us, as I looked anywhere but at him and he looked only at me.  After volunteering this week Alex had a melt down at home.  I asked him what was wrong and he finally cried out,"my girlfriend is moving to another state".  I was not aware he had a girlfriend, so I started to ask him who she was.  But no sooner had I taken a breath to speak then he was throwing his hands up saying, "I guess i'll have to get a new one".  I hope he will recover so easily from heart break when he is a teenager.  Really, first grade is great.  The kids are still sweet and fun and have a lot of little kid in there.  But they are a little odd.

Valerie Hibler Photography

You should notice a new web stop in my side bar.  It's Valerie Hibler Photography.  Please check it out.  This girl is an amazing photographer and as a bonus one my very good friends.  Check out her site and get those pictures taken.  Really, having beautiful, meaningful pictures is something you will treasure forever.  Check her out and smile!

My dog is wearing a sweater!

I never thought we would own a dog that wears a sweater.   I must say I use the word dog pretty loosely.  So far I have been way more excited about poop and pee where the dog is concerned then with my own kid.  Granted I can't put a diaper on the dog, well at least I don't think I can. She has the funniest bark, she can make herself sound like two dogs.  She whines and barks at the same time, really entertaining for Kyle and I.  She has survived the three year old, although he did launch himself down the stairs, jumping over pillows, while holding her this morning.  She looked a little worried, but then she always looks a little worried, something about those eyes.  Shopping for the sweater last night about pushed Kyle over the edge, although secretly I think he likes it.  We tried to find one with skulls and guns on it, but instead ended up with an orange and black striped one, that Alex picked out and a heart design one that Sarah picked out.  Sarah also picked a cute pink striped one for my moms dog.  An exciting adventure, well exciting might be over stating it, more like a little sad and funny to be buying our dog a sweater.  In our defense, it's because she's always cold, not because we like dressing our animals up. 

Chiweenie

The two kids holding my moms dog and our dog and our little Padme' with her chew toy.

Well we broke down and got a rat dog.  Granted it's a pretty cute rat dog, but rat dog all the same.  My mom called on Tuesday saying they had found a puppy that they wanted to get and they would like to buy Alex her sister.  At first we said no, she's to fragile and will get hurt way to easy, but being weak, we gave in to Alex who really wanted her.  I must say she is really cute and sweet and I am totally in love with her.  I'm not so sure that Kyle has grown to love her as much as I have.  What was really funny was that when we originally started talking about getting Alex a puppy he said OK but no dachshund and REALLY NO chiuaua.  Well we came home with a Chiweenie, a mix of those two exact breeds.  Its breed nick-name is the Mexican Hotdog!  So far I have been very pleased with her training, although we have had a few accidents today.  I think she's going to be a great addition to our family, and also the source of many great stories to come.  She has already had a fit over seeing Kyle's reflection in our sliding glass door and her own reflection.  I'm sure it is only going to get more interesting.