Happy Autumn Pictures

One morning, when the girls were leaving for school, we had the most beautiful fog with sunlight glowing through.  Some fog is creepy, but this glowing fog was gorgeous!

Lovely driveway in the fall.

These pumpkins.  Oh, these pumpkins. :)

It's Fall and I'm in LOVE!

There is something about autumn that makes me swoon every year!

Is it that it's just right for comfort foods like hearty stews?

Is it the evenings and mornings that are cool enough to want to snuggle in blankets with books and hot cocoa?

Is it roadside farmer's markets overflowing with colorful goodness?

Is it harvesting and, my new love, preserving?

Is it throwing on a sweater to run outside in the leaves?

Is it the burst of vibrant color as nature puts on it's dancing shoes and skirts before sleeping the winter away?

I think it could be all these.  Today, while I could have been stuck inside canning pears, I took the boys on a 'what makes me smile?' photo hunt.  These are some things I loved, with a few at the end for Carson.

Can I say color?

This is what we see driving up the hill to Grandpa and Grandma's house.  Some of that is their property, some their neighbors', but it come together so nicely!

One of the trees in Grandpa's woods.

The next hill over from Grandma and Grandpa's place.

I loved that this tree looked like a flame, with the deep red at the top, then dark orange, gold and green going down.  Lovely.

Produce stand!  The squash was beautiful, the wheat crispy fresh, and the corn colorful.

Carson loves Grandma's chickens and we spent a few minutes taking pictures of them.  This one red hen was very brave and wanted to be in every picture!  I have lots of her.  I wish I'd gotten more of the timid speckled ones.  And the rooster.  I'll have to go another time with fewer distractions, because the chickens are so beautiful!

More Landscaping

Yesterday I also watched the guys do tons of work. :)  Carson and Grandpa worked the loader to bring dirt from the driveway to the pool gap.  Like we previously decided, there won't be a pool there for some time, so filling it in and reducing the marsh seemed like a good idea.

Dirt-filled semi-circle.

A funny moment with Cole.  He had gotten into the cozy coupe and then slipped on the seat and got stuck.  He didn't fuss for a few minutes, so I snapped a picture.  After Aaron and I giggled at Cole's situation, he must have figured out that he couldn't get out, and started struggling.  So I helped him out.

Part of cleaning up included clearing out the garden.  The tomatoes are inside, but the cucumbers, strawberries, peppers and squash got to be razed and burned.  I'm not sure yet what to do with the soil left in the buckets.  I'm thinking about putting the garden down where all the dirt is going now, next year.  Not sure yet.  The buckets were really easy to maintain, but there were some things I wanted more of, like green beans and strawberries.  I'll think on it a couple of months.  If we don't put a garden there, we'll brick some of it up and put in a firepit.  Which also has it's draw...

Anyway, Cole helped me 'clean' out the garden.

...and watched enviously while Carson got to do the big work with the big boys.

Muffins With Mom

Today was muffins with Mom - a school event for the girls.  This was my first time going in the several years I've had a kid in elementary school, but I'm so glad I did!  The morning was misty, and I really loved how the playground looked when we arrived!

Me and my two beautiful girls.  The really liked the pumpkin muffins and the strawberries.  It was a small breakfast, but they didn't seem to mind.

After the breakfast, there was a craft.  Well, more of a demonstration by Learning Express.  They market this fun craft called rainbow loom.  Basically, it's woven or crocheted rubber bands.  Evidently, it's a craze and it's all Evie wants for Christmas.

This is my girls with Lizzie's fifth-grader bus-buddy, who makes these for Lizzie all the time.  Not as intricate as the one she's helping Evie to make in the picture, but still, Lizzie has LOTS of these bracelets now.  And excuse Lizzie's expression in the bottom picture.  She was intently focused on the bracelet she was trying to make when I hollered, 'Lizzie, look up'.  She obviously didn't have time to process that I wanted her to look and look happy. :)

It was super-fun to get out and have a morning with my girls in their element.  I got to see how they interacted with other kids and do what they wanted to do.

Happy NINE Years!

It's been a crazy almost-decade with Aaron!  On our anniversary, we went to the Fireside dinner theater, which is around an hour's drive from our home.  We spent the hour reminiscing about what nine years of marriage has brought us.  Aaron's finished school.  Four children entered our lives.  A handful of moves.  Lots of wonderful family growing around us.  Medical ups and downs.  Renovating the homes we've lived in.  Not to mention all the little stuff.  Just so much.  I cannot imagine what another nine years will bring!

The play was fantastic, the meal they served us spectacular.  We spent a little extra and got their 'special occasion' package, which included a picture of us, a loaf of bread, a special dessert, and two of their baked goods - tomato-Parmesan bread and pecan treasures.  Neither Aaron nor I am impressed by the bread; in the first place, it's just weird to get tomato skins in a bite and second of all, the breads they served us at dinner were MUCH better - a cheesy something and a basil bread.  On the other hand, the pecan treasures were a real treat!

I was really impressed with the musical.  I've seen a couple versions of it before and LOVE the script.  However, this theater performs 'in the round' which means on a platform in the center of an audience as opposed to on a stage in front of one.  It was super-impressive!!  Granted, it wasn't just a platform; it was a platform with rising/lowering parts so it could be used for some of the entrances/exits.  That just made it all the cooler for me!  Seeing this play made me wish I had time or energy to go and find a local theater group and join.  It made me miss community theater so much!

We have Aaron's mom to thank for us getting out for the 5+ hours we got to have.  She was great to stay with the boys and be there for an hour after the girls got off the bus.  We are both really grateful to have family nearby that can help and with whom we get to spend so much time!

First Day of School (x2!)

I have two children in school.

I have TWO children in school.

I can hardly believe it!

Both girls opted to wear pink.  Lots of pink today. :)  And they each requested straight hair with a front French braid variation.

As soon as we stepped out the door to take pictures, Evie scrambled back in for jackets.  I was surprised at how chilly it was!

 

Lizzie's teacher sent a special thing home for Lizzie.  It was a ziplock of sparkly star confetti.  The note said to put it under her pillow the night before school to help her be excited.  We let her put the whole baggie under her pillow, and then throw the confetti in the air just before the bus arrived.  This is her, throwing the confetti. (And, behind the door, sad brothers.  They would have wreaked havoc!)

Confetti ground cover and happy girls!

Evelyn began 2nd grade today!  Here are things she wants to remember:

She sits at the purple table.

Drew and Laya, from previous years, are both in her class.

For the first time, our neighbor Leilani is in her class!

She had art on the first day and drew a scary roller coaster that goes underground (Mt. Olympus memories)

Being in 2nd grade, there will be more homework than can be contained in the previous years' 'aqua folders'.  So now she gets a zippered 'trapper keeper' thing.  So grown up. :)

She played with Angie at recess.

Lizzie started Kindergarten today!  Some things Lizzie wants to remember about today are:

She made a pencil craft using paper shapes and colored it.

She made a crown.

Lizzie's class had PhyEd on the first day.

She practiced writing her name and even did the letter z right!

She made a new friend (but can't remember her name).

Here comes the bus!

Happy school kids!  And we get Ms Patti again as our bus driver.  Evie has always liked Ms Patti.

After the girls got on the bus, Carson played in the confetti, happy to find the stars.

I tossed the boys in the car and beat the girls' bus to the school.  Partly for pictures, in part for some actual business.  Lizzie looked SO LITTLE and she looked so lost.  I'm glad they had the kids as buddies.

Evie was quick to latch onto her friend Angie from last year.  She's bummed they don't share a class.  I don't mind, since it was more of a 'frenemy' situation.  Little girls can be hurtful sometimes!

I stopped by Lizzie's class.  Excuse me; Elizabeth's class.  She has asked to be called by her given name rather than her nickname at school.  My little Lizzie's growing up and evolving! :(

She's so proud of her little cubby.  A place to hang her art smock, jacket and backpack, as well as a shelf for her snack and any other small things.  (Like a comfort item, which she seems to need.  Story later in post.)

I dropped briefly by Evie's class.  She was all settled in and ready to listen.  You can see I had the boys with me; That's Carson with his new leash (thanks, LaNita) in the foreground.

Evie's table.  She loves that she's at the purple table!

Her locker.  Carson pointed it out every time we walked down this hall today.  (Which was a few; we had several places to go within the school.)

After dropping off and taking pictures of the girls, the boys and I swung by the resource center.  Last week I volunteered to help in there, since they said the help could be done from home.  I brought home three small boxes of books to remove stickers from.  The resource room aides have struggled the last two years with several different rating systems for the books and they're taking off all systems and making them unified.  So I keep the books in order, but remove stickers and stickiness.  It is such easy work I feel bad that I can't do more.  I have loved working in the library the last two years, but Aaron's work schedule won't allow it this year.  I do what I can, though.

After school, happy girls off the bus!

Sometime after school, I got a call from Lizzie's teacher.  Mrs. B explained that Elizabeth had an anxious moment at recess.  She was missing me and started crying, when some other student made a comment/laughed/made Lizzie feel bad for crying.  In a huff, crying, Lizzie ran and hid behind a tree.  She didn't come out when the bell rang, which sent a couple teachers searching.  She was so sad and scared!  She's such a Mama's girl that I worried about this kind of thing, and mentioned to the teacher there might be some anxiety.  But I feel so bad for Lizzie that it happened.  Tomorrow I'll be sending some 'if-you're-scared-or-missing-Mom-then-snuggle-this' item.  Hopefully that helps.

This afternoon, Cole and I were playing outside.  Loved this moment, which I captioned in my head: "I am Baby, hear me roar!"

Cute moment of Cole helping Aaron check the broken muffler situation.

R Family Downtime

I had a lot of fun coming up with our family craft!  It seemed appropriate, since two years ago we had a take-home craft of a tie-dye t-shirt for our first family reunion, to do roasting sticks as our camp reminder.  There was much creativity!  The kids all got to do what they wanted.  mine is the pink and green patchwork.  Aaron's, which I don't see in the picture but was sure was there, is a fun camouflage thing.  I loved the one Calista did for Steve, with the Oregon coastline (forefront).  I went all-out for Cole's and did a shadowy sunset.  We're so proud of our family art!

We all put our roasting sticks to good use that night, with hotdogs and marshmallows!

Sitting around a campfire - or sitting anywhere with the R family - wouldn't be real without Dad and his guitar.  

This is the family singing one of Dad's favorites - or maybe it's just one that we all love to hear Dad play - "I'm My Own Grandpa".  (If it shows up; Blogger's telling me there's a problem with it.)  It makes me happy to listen to again and again!

Everyone was supposed to be showing off their own roasting stick handle here, but it's difficult to see.

The marshmallows were accompanied by an awesome s'mores bar - an amazing variety of chocolate delicacies to choose from to smother with marshmallow and graham cracker!  What a brilliant idea from Calista!