Pumpkin Carving 2011

I love traditions.  And we have a tradition of having friends over for pumpkin carving.  Our new house and the gigantic kitchen island was a great set-up.

Our most heroric guest, Buzz Lightyear (more commonly known as Corbin).

Our youngest guest, Noah Schauer (4 days old)

Our guest who had never carved a pumpkin before.  Doing good for a first-timer, Ed!

No big surprise that Natalie's pumpkin turned out great.

Daddy teaching son how to carve, Corbin giving all artistic direction.  Their pumpkin had cheeks and ears by the time it was done.

Julia and Skylar preferring to play with toys than pumpkins. 

Oli carved his and Julia's pumpkin all by himself this year...showing how much he has grown in one year since a year ago he was definitely 2nd fiddle to dad's carving expertise.

The final products...well done, friends!

Flag Football - Off to the Playoff's

Oli has been absolutely loving his flag football games on Sunday's.  The focus, determination and effort he puts forth make us proud!

His team is off to the playoff's this weekend.  Below is a compilation of his team's action shots from this season.  Enjoy!  (btw, there is no sound).

5 Fall Goals

Leave it to Natalie to give me ideas and even assignments for my own blog.  She, as many of you know is the most dear of friends and the most creative person I know.  If you don't read her blog, you should: http://www.gossettgirl.com/.

Her challenge to me and a few other bloggers was to describe my 5 goals for fall.  Here they are:

Goal #1: Decorate our house...get the right furniture in the right places with the right colors on the wall.  What a fun project!   

Goal #2: . Organize our house.  Started last weekend with putting up shelves in the laundry room closet.  Let the organizing begin!

Goal #3: Try new recipes.  I love to tear out recipes from magazines.  I have quite a collection.  Now, I just have to try them. 

Goal #4: Find a new fitness passion.  Eight months ago, I had a back injury and still dealing with the limitations of that. I want to do bootcamp, but my body says no.  I want to do hot yoga, but my body says no.  I tried pilates and I say no (boring!).  I am going to try swimming next...

Goal #5: Eliminate the nagging, 'mean voice', and stress of getting Oli off to school. This was a goal I set for the first day of school. We are doing pretty well so far. The key has been: lunches made the night before, daycare bag packed the night before, when you come downstairs, you never go back upstairs (it is like a vortex that sucks Oli and then Julia follows).


Thanks, Natalie for challenging me to think about my goals for this season.

She's a Runner!

Pumpkin Patch 2011

We have a tradition to get pick pumpkins at the local South 47 Farm.  We lucked out with a sunny fall day to go pick our pumpkins today. 

Are you supposed to sit on them?

Roll on them?

Ah, you're supposed to pick them up!

Dad says, "if you can carry it, you can have it."

I love the serious expressions on their faces ... "next year, we will be stronger"

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Fun in the Sun

Final post from our fun in CA  (somehow wound up with no photos from the wonderful 3 days Brett and I spent in Palm Desert....but just imagine, poolside, massages, books and movies).

Nana and Grandpa had fun teaching Oli and Julia how to swing a club

Oli's highlight was going to the driving range.  He kept asking, "how much do professional golfers make?"

He was less interested in becoming professional once learning you had to wear a collared shirt on the course.

One of our highlights was visiting my step brother, Ronn and his family.  Never enough time with them but the time spent is 100% quality. 

Swimming just about everyday was one of my highlights.  Infact once we returned home, Julia picked out her swim suit from the drawer and asked to go swimming.  Not the same here, sweetie.

Paddleboarding

Water biking..

kayaking...

Only a face a grandparent could love...

Harvesting one of Ron's beloved pineapples.  It was delicious!  Only problem was there wasn't nearly enough.

Sailing in San Diego

My parents' gift to Brett for his birthday was an afternoon of sailing in San Diego.  A simply perfect gift! 

Brett and Oli arrived in San Diego on Sunday and the next day, we took advantage of the sunshine and breezy afternoon to sail around San Diego's harbor. 

Comforts of Home

Is there anything more comforting than being at 'home'...and I mean 'home', like back with your parents.  The place that you can once again become a dependent and someone else takes care of you, does the cooking and the laundry and those same people find as much enjoyment, if not more in your own children.  Well, that is where I got to spend the last 12 days.  Ahhh...

A few blog posts to follow...but one of the constants was playing outside in the consistently pleasant and sunny San Diego weather.