Halloween Night - Trick or Treat!

what is thing one and thing two without the cat in the hat pumpkin?  special thanks to auntie who is the master pumpkin carver!  logan picked out a dinosaur for his pumpkin and brady picked out sally the car.

dinner before our trick or treating.

the rest of our little clan eating in the other room.

we had a great night with friends walking the neighborhood.  i will say the little ones certainly got it down after the 3rd house.  it became a mad dash to the rest to see who could ring the bell and collect their goodies.  happy halloween!

halloween school party day!

today we partied with our classmates.  some of us had a bad start to our morning.  running to say bye to daddy and putting our fingers in the door just as it was getting shut.  poor logey roo.  rough start to our day but was happy by the time the afternoon rolled around.

others of us had a great time picking out pumpkins in the patch and losing our hair to a giant wind gust.  it rolled across the pumpkin field like a tumble weed but was rescued by a teacher... thing one hair lives on!

a little trick or treating around school and then back to our classes for crafts, games and of course.... cupcakes.

just the beginning of the trick or treating

today thing one and thing two visited the trick or treat event at grant ranch.  we had a great time visiting all of the booths and even got to take our picture in a camera booth.  i love the succession of photos here.  can't wait for halloween night!

"i call it perseverance"

i have been following a blog called chatting at the sky lately.  this month she has been blogging about 31 days to grace.  today's post was on 31 days to grace and focused on marriage.  as i read her post today, it brought tears to my eyes thinking of all the hills and valleys that come with the commitment.  i have been struggling to find grace in a lot of different areas of my life. what a great day for me to visit my grandparents.  you see, they have been married for 55+ years.  if anyone knows grace it is them.  i spent every sunday at their home growing up.  i witnessed a fair deal of their hills and valleys and probably missed a lot of them too.  i asked my grandma today what she could tell me of grace in marriage.  her response was,  "i don't call it grace honey.  i call it perseverance."  a little more about grace for me to ponder from a woman whom i admire.

the man behind the scenes completing my crafty dreams....

bed number two being painted by the man who knows just the right amount of water to mix with the paint and has just the right stroke of the arm so no over spray occurs.  the beds are done the last one is curing and the room is looking cute.  can't wait to show you the finished product.  i am so lucky to have this handy man sharing my life with me.  boys you are lucky to have him too.  thanks for helping me with all my crafty furniture painting projects honey!

donuts with dad day

i especially love the answer for what daddy does for a job.  the boys had a great morning together.

a little pumpkin fun

a little climbing on the pumpkins. a little picking of the perfect ones.a little sillyness to round off our day.  what a perfect day out in the colorado sun.  happy pumpkining!

a difficult night with much thought

last night was a night of the constant cry for mommy, daddy......  brian and i are both beat today.  it reminded me of those newborn days.  you know the ones where your child is crying and unable to sleep all night and you can't figure out what is wrong.  i used to think it will be so great when they can talk and tell us what is going on.  however, just because they can talk doesn't mean they will be able to help you solve the puzzle.  we woke up and wiped off spider webs with a kleenex last night.  then we were told the bugs were itching him, then it was i need my water, i need to go pee pee...... this morning we still have no idea what happened. the fog is dense this morning and no amount of coffee will do.  you know... the fog that comes after no sleep.  as i laid awake last night with my three year old the thought kept creeping into my mind.  do i really have it in me to pull all nighter's again?  the answer this morning is no, even though those cute little baby feet are so tempting.  probably better ask me another day when more sleep is involved and my head isn't so clouded.

fall wreath

i have had my eye on this wreath.  it is from pottery barn of course.  i cannot bring myself to spend $89 on  wreath for my front door.  so i called up my crafty auntie.... a little shopping and some time and she created this for me.

it is just the right touch for my front door this fall and at a fraction of the cost.  thanks aunt mo!

what fun things are you doing to decorate for fall?

a not so graceful moment

you expect things to get broken when you have preschoolers and toddlers around the house.  it is a common thing.  today brady pulled my camera case off the counter.  my camera was inside.  thump.  the anger started to rise in me.  it peaked when i opened the case and tried to use the camera only to find it is broken.  we all have not so shining moments as parents.  today my parenting was tarnished, no amount of silver polish would do.  i did not handle the situation as i should have.  after all, he did not intentionally go to the counter and pull down my camera.  he was just acting like a crazy preschooler.  i scolded him and the look on his face said it all.  my grace flew right out the window.  this all happened right before bed time.  somewhere in the middle of reading in the night kitchen i remembered this post i read only days before.  then i thought to myself, how can if fix this?  the answer: it's never to late to have grace.  i apologized to brady for scolding him and told him i knew he did not mean to break my camera.  i then said i am sure we can fix it in the morning (meaning the people at the camera repair shop.)  brady in true brady style said, " it's okay mommy.  i will get my screw driver out in the morning and fix it for you."  lights out and a small prayer from this mommy.  may i find grace tomorrow a little sooner than i did today.

desire and determination

this little man is so determined and desires so much. he is determined to do just as his big brother did 30 seconds before.  age and size mean nothing in his little mind.  as i watched him today i was far more conscious of his decisions and actions.  mostly because i wonder where we lose the desire and determination as adults?  when fear and ignorance creep into our minds and cloud our vision.  watching logan today made me realize, we are all born with a strong desire to obtain and achieve all we want.  listen to that burning desire within you and have the determination to reach it.  in the words of a famous author i will leave you with this.

I wish to convey the thought that all achievement, no matter what its nature or purpose, must begin with an intense, burning desire for something definite.  Through some strange and powerful principle of "mental chemistry", Nature wraps up in the impulse of strong desire "that something" which recognizes no such word as impossible, and accepts no such reality as failure.

- Napoleon Hill -

with the change of the season

photo courtesy of Daniel Bayer

something is stirring inside me.  fall is one of my favorite seasons.  i love how nature transforms itself and prepares for winter.  i have been thinking lately that there is more inside me than i am giving.  not only to my family but to myself and my career.  the transformation will be long and not without a lot of effort.  i have learned you cannot excel at anything if you don't take care of yourself.   once you accomplish feeding your mind and your body what it needs to flourish, you then can move on to helping others excel at what they want.  so it starts for me this amazing transformation, little steps at a time.  i invite you to join me on my journey!