Backyard fun

We recently raked up leaves from the fruit trees in our backyard. I love the leaves, the blazing color, the smells inside of stews, soups, and baked goods cooking, the crisp feel of the air. When the sun is shining, and despite the chill in the air, the kids love to be outside. I had so much fun capturing these tiny little moments in time.

Emma picked the last apple off of our tree for the year, and boy was it ever sweet and delicious.

Halloween 2009

(still playing catch up.......Enjoy!)

Halloween 2009

Peter Pan and his crew came to visit us.

Captain Hook made an appearance.

As did Tinkerbell and little Michael.

Wendy and Smee were feeling camera shy, so no pictures were snapped of them.

Festival of Trees 2009

The Festival of Trees is an event put on by one of the local hospitals. Various groups and individuals in the community decorate Christmas trees and wreaths that are then auctioned and sold. There is also a small entrance fee into the Festival of Trees. The proceeds go toward community health education and serving the poor. It is one of our favorite events to attend. The creativity that goes into decorating the trees and wreaths amazes me. There are some really talented people out there. Some of my favorites this year included some items made by elementary schools classes.

The best part of the event was watching Emma's group dance. One of Emma's friends from school came to watch her, and that just lit up her day.

There will always be.

There will always be.....



dishes to do
laundry to fold
bills to pay
toys to pick up
glass to shine
toilets to clean
floors to wash
sinks to wipe down
checkbooks to balance
showers to scrub
bookcases to dust
papers to file
carpets to vaccuum



BUT



There will never be another time that my children will be 7, 6, 3 and 2 again in their lives.



So we have been


baking cookies
taking walks in the leaves
making fall art to decorate the walls
reading books like Skippy Jon Jones, The First Thanksgiving, and the Bible
learning to chop vegetables for a stew
dressing up as a family for Halloween- Peter Pan
volunteering at school
becoming Art Mom for Brigham's 1st Grade class
becoming The General Art Parent over the elementary school
doing the Turkey Trot Walk/Run at the school
enjoying these preciouse little moments as much as we can before they disappear.

Family Reunion Dinner

(Yes, I am behind very.....behind in my posting)
July 2009

This past summer we were in charge of the family reunion for The Doc's parents, siblings and their families. One of the things we did was a spaghetti dinner at the park. Because we live so far from everyone, and we don't have the chance to celebrate occasions with them, particularly our nieces and nephews, we had a birthday party for everyone. We invited The Doc's paternal grandparents and maternal grandmother. There was cake and ice cream, and goodie bags for the kids afterwards.


I snapped some photos of family members.........

I learned something from this family reunion.......

In the end it's all about perspective

And Love.........

New Tabletop

One project completed, a million more to do.....

When we bought our dining set I didn't think about what a pain the grooves, that make the table look like a wood plank table, would be to clean. Nor did I realize that it would be a hinderance in doing writing exercise or homework. I don't like throwing things away or getting something new because of a minor detail, so I came up with a solution- make a removeable tabletop.

I had The Doc cut me a tabletop from 1/4 inch Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) which I lined with non-slip drawer liner to protect the table and then I covered it with oil cloth.

This is a before picture of our tabletop, or the best that I could find

http://docfamily.blogspot.com/2008/11/our-little-peanut.html

Here are the after pictures.

The Model A

The Doc's grandfather, whom Brigham's middle name is after, owned a Model A. I can't remember the entire story behind this piece of history, but if memory serves me correctly, The Doc's Grandpa Casey restored the Model A. During our visit this past summer we took a few fun photos, and these were my favorites.