Family Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

Last week, we took a little family trip to the pumpkin patch. Anna's preschool had a field trip there. Dan took the day off and we brought Alex. The kids had a lot of fun.

It was pretty chilly in the morning. So the kids were bundled up.

Having fun on some big pumpkins. 

Cute little Alex on a pumpkin!

Is it Anna or a pumpkin?

The first thing Anna did was go on these swings. She loved them!

Alex, on the other hand, not so much. We weren't even going to put him on them, but he saw Anna on them and really wanted to go on them. So we did. The swings started spinning and Alex was kind of like, whoa, what's going on. Well, then the swings went faster and each time Alex came around, his facial expression just got more and more scared. The poor kid. Haha! He finally started crying and the guy stopped the swings, so we could get him off. 

This pumpkind patch had a lot of jumper type toys. 

Anna had a ton of fun on them.

This one was a really big slide, but it was really hard to get up. There were about 5 kids trying to all get up at once. There were these kind of handle things that Anna started to grab that helped her get up!

There was another smaller bouncer toy that we let Alex play on and he really enjoyed that.

After they played for a while, they gathered together on these hay bales. The kids all got a cowboy hat and the owner read them a story about a pumpkin farmer. It was really cute. The kids were so well behaved.

After, they got to pet some of the animals.

Overall, it was a really fun trip. They got a goodie bag at the end with a little pumpkin, a pencil and a coloring book. I'm glad we could all go together as a family.

My big boy Alex.

It's funny how fast time goes. I feel like Alex was just a little baby, and now he's such a big boy. He'll be 2 in less than two months!

I am so proud of Alex, though. The last few months, he's really developed a lot. He has a lot of big accomplishments. I'm very proud of the fact that he knows just about ALL the letters in the alphabet! I got some Sesame Street books about letters and colors. He's known his colors for a long time now, at least 5 months, if not more. But he didn't know his letters. Well, he knew a few. The very first letter he ever learned was B. I had a different alphabet book and he learned it there. One day we were at Winco, by the dairy section, and suddenly, he starts saying, B! B! B! I was trying to figure out what he was looking at. I looked up and saw the big 'ol BEER sign on the wall. He recognized the B!

Anyways, so Anna was a little prodigy child and actually taught herself the alphabet from a really great toy I got for 50 cents. So I know you're not supposed to compare your kids and their learning/development, but I felt that Alex needed to learn his letters, since Anna did it right before she turned two. So, he really liked the Sesame street book about letters and we read that a lot to him. That's what really spurred his learning. About a month ago, he really started pointing out different letters. We'd be at a stoplight and he'd look out the window  and call out a letter he recognized.

Here, he is playing with an alphabet puzzle. This is where I realized he really knew more letters than I was aware of. He'd pick up a piece and say the letter. I was very surprised, since in the past we'd point out letters, but he wouldn't really respond. Kids do that, they really are observing and learning, but just not telling you! Haha.

He and Anna really like to color. He likes for me to get a marker or crayon and write out letters. He'll say the letter, and I'll write it on the paper he's coloring on! It's really cute.

His other BIG accomplishment is speaking! The last few weeks, he's just exploded with two word phrases. His first one was "yellow bus." We were coming home from dropping Anna off at preschool and we usually see a few buses on the way there or back. I pointed one out, and he just said, "yellow bus!" And ever since then, he's just kept it up. He'll say things like read book, Anna's preschool, runny nose (he was sick this week), doggy park, ride bike, etc. He's getting really good at it. And last week, he had his first THREE word phrase. Ironically, it was "two yellow bus." Haha. We were coming back from preschool again, and we saw two yellow buses next to each other. I said that, and before I knew it, he was saying a 3 letter sentence.

I should add, that he also knows some of his shapes-sqaure, triangle, pentagon, and I think circle.

I just love this little guy!

Anna likes to play games on my phone, Alex decided to join her.

Alex, eating some bread, while watching a show on the couch. He pulled these pillows up around him!

He's getting better with his coloring. He's starting to actually color specific parts of a picture, instead of just scribbling all over it (however, he'll still eat crayons once in a while).

A Little Preschooler

 Well, it has happened. This cute, adorable, little baby has gone from this:

To this:

A Preschooler!

 I told her we needed to take a picture, and she responds, I want to be a zombie! I told her we could do one silly picture and one nice picture. Haha.

And of course, Alex wanted to have his picture taken. 

Anna started preschool last week. She goes everyday in the afternoon. She loves preschool! She didn't have any problems about me leaving, which I knew she wouldn't. This little girl has gone to the gym since she was 6 months old and is very used to us leaving her for an hour or so. 

She went and sat at the little table and instantly started making a tower out of some little blocks they had. I don't know if she even noticed I left. I said goodbye, but it didn't seem like she was paying attention. 

The only down side, is she gets kind of tired and cranky in the late afternoon/evening time. 

I drop her off, then come home and put Alex down for his nap. I then have to wake up him (which I hate doing, but gotta do it) and go pick her up. She's used to having down time and watching shows during his nap. So it's a long day for her, but she does have a lot of fun.

She's in a great preschool, the main teacher is great, very loving and very child oriented. I think she's going to have a great year. I just can't believe she's big enough to go to preschool!

Here are Anna and Alex riding in our neighbors little police car. They had a blast!

We had some gift cards and went out to dinner last week. I got a high chair for Alex, and Anna insisted she wanted one, even though I said she could sit at the table with us.

We went and got cupcakes afterward. She was so excited to get a cupcake!

Anna's hair is actually very curly. This is it, right after a shower. It's so thin and wispy, that it's hard to look nice.

Anna is ever improving her art skills. This is a train she drew, all by herself!

Summer Reflections

I can't believe it's already September. It sure doesn't feel like it, since it's still in the 90's around here. This past summer, has been quite the summer. I feel like it's been a real eye opener for me, in terms of life, family, relationships and I guess, really, my ideology of life.

My summer started off normal enough. Dan got done with work at the end of May, we hung out for a week or so, then headed out to Utah. We were there for about a week and a half, when I got a phone call from my mom, that my older brother had been shot in the head. It was quite shocking news. She didn't know what was going to happen to him. He was in the ICU on life support. I prayed really hard, that everything would be okay. After a couple of days, my other brother called me, and said things weren't looking good. And that basically, I need to come up to WA asap, if I wanted to say goodbye.

Luckily, my sister and 3rd brother live in Utah, and we were able to all get on the same flight to WA. I'm not going to give all the details, but man was it hard to see my brother for the first time. His head was all bandaged up, a machine was making his lungs breathe, which looked very abnormal, his right side was completely numb. It was a tough 3 days, trying to figure things out, decide if we should keep him on life support, etc. 

Plus, I was able to get a better glimpse of his life. He's struggled with drug use since he was about 15. The last year or two, he's been doing really well. He was working for my brother's company, going to church, had a calling, etc. Things seemed good for him. While I was in WA, I found out more information about his past and really his personal thoughts about his life and struggles. He was unhappy. He was still addicted to drugs, though it was an off and on again kind of thing. It really opened my eyes about how I viewed life and the gospel together. Just because you go to church, doesn't mean your life is great. Just because you have a calling, doesn't mean your testimony is solid. Writing this out, makes me go, duh, of course it doesn't. But I think we still think it does, in a way. I thought he was okay, I thought he was over drugs, I thought he had finally done it.

My brother is doing much better by the way. We really thought he was going to die, but he's actually walking now, and learning to use his right side. He still can't really talk, but he's making some progress.

Anyways, this experience just kind of changed the way I look at things. Things aren't exactly black and white anymore. More like differing shades of gray. It's not easy to say, if you do this, then you'll be happy. If you do that, things will work out. I guess I thought that way, and now I don't, at least to some degree. Everyone is different and so is their situation.

Then, a few weeks after I got back from WA, a close friend of mine told me that they didn't feel the church was true anymore and was even doubting the existence of God! That took me by surprise.

Then a month after that, another friend told me she was getting divorced because her husband was addicted to pornography and had been for years.

Then, last week a family member of mine, told me they and their wife, of 13 years were getting divorced. They have 4 kids.

I don't know, it just seems so much has happened to people I care about the last few months. You always hear of things like this happening and it makes you said, but it's never really happened to people I know personally.

I just feel like my ideology on life has been changed. It's hard to explain. Things that were a constant, aren't anymore. I know no one is immune to the challenges of life, but I sure wish they were. I obviously can't make choices for others, but it makes me sad and kind of shakes me when negative consequences occur to people I care about. 

I guess I'm done rambling. Here's to a Happy Fall!!!

Cardboard Letter decor (for free!)

I saw this idea online and have been wanting to do it for a while. Here is where I found this idea. She does a tutorial as well.

So all I did, was google the letter P. I found one that was just an outline. I printed it out. I didn't want to print a solid P, and waste a bunch of ink. I sized it a bit before I printed it to make it big. I didn't want it too huge, but figured the size of a piece of paper was a good size for where I wanted it.

Then I took a cereal box, cut it open and traced the P on the back, two times, and then cut them out. 

Then, I took the sides of the cereal box, and cut them to be about an 1 1/2 inches wide. I started taping it to the bottom of the P, to make the middle of the P. 

It was a little tricky, making the cardboard bend, but it got better as I went.

I then taped the second P on top of the outline I had.

In hindsight, I should have started with the top P to tape the middle to, and then added the bottom P last, instead of doing the top P last.

I noticed the P kind of bends ever so slightly, because the top P was harder to tape and make fit. I would have rather the bottom P not fit as well, so it wouldn't show.

Now, you are left with a cardboard P!

Next, I did a paper mache'. I had never done this, but it was really easy. You just take flour and water, a 2:1 ratio, and rip newspaper. I actually did phone book pages, since they are a little thinner than newspaper. Dip it in the mixture and spread it over the P. They lady's tutorial said to do it at an angle,  and to overlap a lot.

Let it dry 24 hours. 

I painted it the same blue as my TV stand.

If you look close, it has an aged, crackled look. That was just from the paper mache'. From far away you can't see it. I'm debating on glazing it to make the lines stand out. Not sure yet, if I will do that. 

I need to put something else on this shelf, to compliment my P. Maybe a candle or something...

Overall, a fairly easy project. And it was FREE! I had all materials already on hand. Most people do and the only thing you may not have is paint. You could easily use acrylic paint for $1 a bottle. 

Having fun with a Food Dehydrator

In my efforts to continue to keep up with our food storage, which is on and off again, I found out about the benefits of a food dehydrator. I decided that I REALLY wanted one. The main reason being, that we don't eat a lot of processed food. A lot of stuff that has a long shelf life, isn't always the best for you. We try to eat fresh fruit and vegetables. You can get canned fruits and veggies, but you miss a lot of nutrients and there is often added sodium and sugar. A dehydrator became a great solution for us to have food that we actually eat on a regular basis, stored in our food storage and have a healthy option, as well.

Dan got some extra income from classroom size overages. We put most of it in savings, and used some of it for things we wanted...like a dehydrator! I struggled with which one to get. I could have gotten a fairly cheap one and it probably would have worked fine. Or go for a nicer, more quality one. I decided to go for the gold and get a nicer one. From my research and in talking to people, you want to get one where the air flow is vertical, not going from bottom to top. You want one where the air goes from the back, where it can blow across the food evenly and have a better and even dehydration.

I got the Exaclibur 3500, five tray. I ordered it online from Harvest Essentials, though you can get it on Amazon, or other sites as well. You can get bigger ones with more trays, but I couldn't see myself needing to use 9 trays at a time. Right now the 5 tray one is working great for me. I usually use 3-4 trays, depending on what I'm doing.

Dehydrating is great and it's also a space saver! I did 3 pounds of carrots last week. Here is a picture of some carrots cut up (I forgot to take one myself).

Here they are after! They got so tiny!

This is 3 pounds of carrots. They all fit in a small ziploc bag!

Last Christmas, my brother got us a food saver, where you can seal your food in bags, to preserve them. This is an excellent way to preserve dried food. It vacuums seals it, thus protecting it from oxygen. I've read that dried food, if stored properly, can last up to 15 years!

So far I've done (in orders as you see them) carrots, strawberries, mangoes, apples, and peaches.

I did at least 5 lbs of strawberries, at least 12 mangoes, 10 apples, and 10 apples. These REALLY condense, especially with the food saver sucking out all the air. I've also done pineapple and tomatoes, but don't have enough to put in a bag yet.

I'm trying to take advantage of all the summer time fruits that I can get for cheap. I just got some nectarines yesterday for 33 cents a pound! 

Most stuff takes around 10 hours. It's great because I'll cut everything up before I go to bed, plug it in, it's about as loud as a box fan. Let it go all night and the food is usually done in the morning when I wake up. That way I don't have to hear a loud fan all day when I'm awake.

So far I am really enjoying my dehydrator. I still have A LOT more to do. But slow and steady wins the race, right? Haha.

I still need to experiment with rehydrating food and cooking with it, etc. For now though, my goal is to just build a up a large stockpile of dried foods.

Oh AND did I mention you can make your own fruit leathers (fruit roll ups) and beef jerky with a dehydrator? Yes, you can. I've made two fruit leathers and the kids absolutely LOVED them. I need to make more for my storage.

Homemade bead board frames

So many many moons ago, I saw a really cute idea, I believe on Pinterst. As soon as I saw it, I wanted to make it.


This is it:

So cute! This lady made all these bead board frames then attached them to the rod with ribbon. Sounds simple, right? Wellll, yeah. Here is the link to her blog, along with directions of what she did. 


I knew I could make this. I had a large section of beadboard left over from when I redid a bookshelf for Anna's room. 


I actually had a piece this size. I cut the piece into three pieces. 

I cut out a piece of paper to be the opening, traced around it, then started to cut. This bead board is actually like an extremely thick cardboard/pressboard. I had to take a utility knife and score out the middle piece. This took a long time. Like, longer than it should have. I think the blade was dull. And I have issues with my hand and gripping something for a prolonged time, so this took a few months to actually finish. As usual, my projects take FOREVER from start to finish.

I finally got out all the middle pieces and was left with this. 

The next step was to add some thickness to the frame. I took some extra MDF wood I used for the bathrooms and had Dan cut them to about 1/2 an inch thick. I got kind of sloppy here, because I was thinking the sides weren't really going to show. And I didn't plan ahead very well, with the placement of them, so they some of them don't look the best on the sides.

Next, was to put a smaller frame around the opening of the bead board frame, to cover the raw edges. This too, took a while. I bought some cheap, cheap trim at Lowes, then used my miter saw to angle them. Used wood glue and clamps to glue them in place, then filled in the corners with putty. 

Now, they were FINALLY done! Did I mention I started this project at the end of December and just got them up on the wall last week? 

When we were in Utah, we did family portraits with Dan's family. They sent me a CD of the pictures and I printed off a few to put in here. I got the background paper at Michaels, as well as the ribbon. I just hot glued the ribbon to the back of the frames.

The rod, is actually a curtain rod I got a few years ago at a garage sale for a few bucks. It was silver, and I spray painted it black. I had to go to Lowes to get the metal holders to attach the rod to the wall.

Overall, this was a pretty cheap project. It was probably about $10-12 total for everything.

Soon, I think I'll get the saying, "the most important things in life, aren't things," in vinyl to put above it.