Oh Fall, How we Love You!

One of the blessings that living on the Eastern side of the country gives us is the amazing colors that fall brings. I just can't get over it -- and I LOVE it. I posted about this last year, but the variety of color is so vibrant and glorious, I just can't fill my eyes with enough of its beauty! Madison and I went on a walk a couple days ago, and here is just a tiny sampling of what we saw:

The oranges and reds (and peace signs ;) down our street,

This tree has all the colors - green, yellow, red and orange,
This is the view off our back deck, and the color is so vibrant in the morning when the sun shines on it that our whole kitchen has a reddish/orange glow.














This is the tree in our front yard, the picture on the left is from last Thursday, and the one on the right is today. Pretty soon, all those lovely leaves will be on the ground - then we can play in them! :D Next year I will take the same picture every day so I can capture the change of color. Just a week ago, this tree was completely green!

The Triple C

= Chili, Costumes & Candy and we have seen plenty of those in the last three weeks. It all started on the 15th with an Army chili cook off, then again on the 16th with our neighborhood "Hotdogs and Hayrides/Chili Cook off" event. It just so happens that our next door neighbor is the Social Activities director for the HOA and was hoping for lots of entries in their first ever cook off - so that was an easy yes.

Part of the judging was for table decorations so along with my chili I made a "witches lair" complete with witch legs poking out from under the cauldron of bubbling chili. We had a lot of fun getting things ready - all the jars had different labels for crazy things like giant tarantula legs [black licorice], blood worms [gummy worms in oreo dirt], crows bones [pretzels dipped in white candy melts], pumpkin tooth [our fave candy corn and peanuts], goblin eyes [round chocolates wrapped in eyeball foil] and hair of werewolf [my vacuum helped out with this one - yes, I know gross]. We also had a spider sanctuary and some spooky candles glowing. I found all the ideas online and just put it all together. I didn't win the judges choice for chili, but did win the people's choice golden spoon award --- and I get to keep it for the year :D Many thanks to my SIL Caroline for sharing her "Pepperoni Pizza Chili" recipe with me a few years back, it always seems to please! :D
For costumes this year Lester and I decided to recycle our past outfits one last time, since we didn't have a church activity last year and we moved to a new home - no one had really seen them. So he returned as Daniel-son and I wore my renaissance dress one more time [I do love it - but I'm thinking a new one is in the works]. Corben wanted to be a Colonial Soldier, so I modified a white dress shirt, ladies vest and some boys khakis into his costume. I bought the tricorn hat [since they are readily available here] and made a haversack which doubled as his candy bag. His musket finished the look and he was very happy with how it turned out. I loved it -- he looked like he just walked out of a history book :D
Last year at Madison's preschool I wore cat ears and a tail while I worked in the classroom that day. Since that time, she knew exactly what she wanted to be this year -- a black cat. Easy enough although we added a fluffy skirt - a cat with a skirt - is what she called herself.

We dressed up for a Battalion family fun run last Friday morning [I only wore a bit of jewelry and my french hood] and then Madison had a dress up parade at preschool, then that night back to the Battalion for trunk or treat, then one last time for the church trunk or treat on Saturday evening. That was an amazing party - on a farm with hayrides, games, a bluegrass band, great food and drinks and candy, candy, CANDY! Lester won the pumpkin carving contest, and Corben won the youth costume award. :D
Corben guarding the trunk at the Army party.

[with our pumpkins - Corben - scary face, Lester - howling wolf, Madison & Mommy's - Kitty]

Knowing that Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, we knew we wouldn't go out and trick or treat and were thankful for the two trunk or treats we were able to participate in - we can't believe how much candy the children hauled in!!! That box is about 8x12 and 8 inches deep -- the lid barely closes! Unreal!!!!
We've already taken down the Halloween decorations, but not before I took pictures of our growing ghost family -- we had five additions this year:
And here is "Skinny Bones" driving himself into storage......until next year.........

I Need Your Help!!!

I'm really good at waiting until the last minute to figure something out - and I've done it again ;] Tomorrow is picture day for Madison and I'm not sure which outfit I like the best...we're talking about a girl that would wear pink from head to toe and not think twice, so I snuck in a complimentary color and of course all the choices are with skirts. Such a girly-girl :D

Here are the three combinations:

#1

#2#3

The background will be white, and I'm not sure what the props will be -- which one do you like??

Projects, always more projects

Here is a little something I refinished -- I had been looking for a sewing desk after seeing a fabulous one online that I fell in love with and I would have taken it right away, but it belonged to someone else ;] After searching on my favorite go-to place [Craigslist...what would I do without you?] I found this solid wood little lovely. Those 8 drawers will make for great storage too.

Here's what she looked like before I gave her a makeover:
I love all the space that is created when she opens her wings :D

After a little sanding/priming/painting/distressing and protecting, here she is in all her glory:
With Halloween fast approaching, she's already getting broken in :D I love the way she turned out and look forward to creating fun things with her.

I also gave this desk a makeover -- she was a boring gray work desk, and now she's a fiery cherry red with a wedgewood gray trim. This is my crafting area and it didn't take me long to start creating in this space.

Fourth Grade and Preschool

The first day of school has already come and gone....Corben is a 4th grader and Madison is in her last year of Preschool. Here are their first day pics:

It was kind of sad we couldn't stay at our old school when we moved, but Corben's new school is even closer and he has already made lots of new friends. The bus stop in the mornings is also a fun place to be - scooters, bikes and balls everywhere!

Please Summer, don't go yet...

And yet another extended break from my blog -- I guess moving will do that to you. Yup, we moved, again...make that two summers in a row, and boy howdy, does it take up valuable fun summer playing time. We love our new home, and having a pool right down the street was amazing. We went at least 3 times a week, and I finished 3 or 4 books I had been wanting to read. Here's our new home:
It's taking a while to get settled, figuring out where to put things and hang pictures. Having a party a couple weeks ago actually helped me make the downstairs look like we live in it. :D Oh well, it come with time. I just finished working on two desks I needed for the bonus room - I'll post pictures of those soon, one was wood; the other an old metal drafting desk.

So back to the summer that is now fast leaving this area - we were pretty busy, moving took the better part of June, and then July was a blur unpacking boxes and swimming, August we went to visit family in Massachusetts, then school started after Labor Day. It flew by. Some adventures:

Utah friends came to visit right before we moved.

End of school bonfire/hot dog roast in our park-like back yard before we moved. We truly miss that amazing space, but just thinking of mowing it again is exhausting. I was grateful to finally get rid our Christmas tree...it made an amazing fire.

Daddy and the kids on his "causeway" during his annual field training exercise. His Army unit builds portable piers wherever they are needed -- go 331st Causeway!! "Causeway or no way!

Corben and one of the [four] fish he caught at Cub Scout day camp. This boy loves to fish -- too bad his parents can't stand it! ;]

One of our favorite stops in New England, Hot Dog Annie's. I highly recommend going there if you are ever in the area. Mmmm.

The whole family at another favorite eatery -- Wright's Chicken Farm. Going on vacation is about hitting all the favorite food stops, right?

We spent a few days on Cape Cod, and had fun playing in the sand and riding bikes. We tried to catch the ferry out to Martha's Vineyard but we'll have to save that for another time.













After returning from up north, we ventured down to one of the beaches near us - Madison jumped the waves, and Corben "boogied."

The Summer of 2010 was a great one, even though it flew by. I'm enjoying the fleeting moments we have left especially with the cooler weather - when I can throw open the windows and revel in the fresh air. I guess after Thursday it will be time to drag out the fall decorations and start thinking of costumes. Wow, time really marches on! See you soon.....[much sooner than last time] ;D

Don't Remind Me

Yes, please don't remind me of how long it's been since my last post. Lots has happened including finding out we have to move, again! The owners of the house we're living in are selling, so we are out. We are so VERY blessed though, and already have a great home to move into right when we needed to. Our Heavenly Father is so mindful of our family and we are very grateful!!

So let's catch up then, okay? :D First, Spring arrived here on the Peninsula...


Spring for us means adventure walks and taking all the beauty that the flowers bring.

Second, Corben's happenings:




Corben won the big prize at a recent pack meeting, earned several belt loops, competed in the Pinewood Derby with his Nasa Spacerocket Car, and again realized how much he loves to ride dirt bikes and eat dust! :D He has also been playing soccer and is taking a boys gymnastics class. (and yes, that crazy excited look Corben has in the first picture was before we told him he couldn't eat all those M&M's....)

Third Madison's excitement:

Maddie took ballet, swimming, gymnastics and got to wear a beautiful pink cast for 3 weeks. Watch out for those piggy back rides ;) The third picture shows her very dirty foot after getting her cast off. Eeew!

Fourth, I've been busy:
I finally made a quilt for Madison - it's really a duvet cover with a sheet on the bottom so when it's cold in the winter I can slip in a down comforter. She loves it!

Fifth, we traveled and spent time with FAMILY doing what we love :D :
...which is just being together! We had a great time at the desert, playing together and going to JPL in Pasadena.


Lester has been busy with work as he will be taking command of a Causeway company here at Fort Eustis - they work on the water building portable piers. Once he changes command next week, he'll be even busier! We're so thankful for him and his hard work!

Okay, so now I'm pretty up-to-date with our "busyness" and as we head into late spring/early summer I'm sure we'll have more adventures to write about. Watch for new posts :P

Birds of a Feather

I'm a couple days behind in getting my post on here....I'll just attribute that to the house of sickness we had this last weekend. Maddie started it on the eve of our "Opening Ceremonies" get-together [after having acquired the "bug" from a text...***], then passed it on to Lester for Sunday, then Corben enjoyed an evening of it that night as well. I figured I was next, but thankfully I'm still on the good side of it [now that I've said that.....hmmmmm]. All I can say about the weekend is that I'm so very thankful for our recent purchase of a portable Bissell carpet cleaner. That thing rocks! :D

Anyways, this post is definitely for the BIRDS! Since we moved here to this home, we've had so many birds coming to our yard. Our old house, as great as it was had only one tree on the whole property. I couldn't get a bird in our yard to save my life, well except for the bluebirds. I even had two different feeders, but no birds, in fact the mice enjoyed the food before the birds did. Boooo!

So, on to the birds here - well it's like night and day -- there are birds everywhere, and I love it. I have 4 different feeders [with more planned] and have identified more than 25 different birds thanks to my bird watchers book I got on Christmas Eve :D [and hence one of the many reasons Patton the cat continues to be an indoor cat!] Here are some of my favorites:




























Bird identification:
Row 1 - White Throated Sparrow [White striped], Northern Cardinal,
Row 2 - Red Bellied Woodpecker [female], Yellow Rumped Warbler
Row 3 - Mockingbird, White Breasted Nuthatch

I'm trying to take pictures of all the varieties of birds we see in our yard, and as spring comes we will have the birds that come home from migration. Look forward to more "for the birds" posts! :D

***We had some friends text us prior to our "get together" and say they had a sick child, but that one of them could come with the other child that wasn't sick -- but if that would be taking too great a chance in exposing us, that they would just stay home. We agreed that was the best idea - since none of us had been sick "yet." So much for that......Maddie was throwing up within three hours of that text. See? It was the text! LOL