17 months (tomorrow).

Just getting an early jump on this post since I have some catch-up to do.  17 months and as independent as ever... Little man insisted that he put his beanie on all by himself, can you tell?  We were heading to the park yesterday and he was SO tickled when he got it on.

and of course big brother wanted his pic taken

Boys will be boys.

Why sit when you can stand...

Reminds me of someone.

The last couple of weeks.

Two of my favorite holligans stayed the night with us.

and this guy couldn't have been happier.

We snuck in a little more of this.

And then the snow came.

So the kids have been up to all kinds of crazy antics around the house.

Cal & I went on a date to see Lo in Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat (it was awesome).

Oh, and can't forget that my girlfriends & I carried on the tradition of going to the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn on opening night (in a theater where I'm pretty sure we were the oldest).

pic from here

And last but not least... a couple pics of my two other loves.

Love my kids.

Hands down, Cal's the best little Coug fan I know. He sings the fight song all day & when he's not singing it, he's making Ian and I sing it to him while he's playing 'Cougar football Saturday.' He lives & breathes football. We have a WSU vs. UW checkers game (pieces are helmets) and Cal will play with it for hours.  HOURS! Amazing. (I have no idea why this video is cut off, it's not when you double click and watch on YouTube)

And this little guy has a new favorite word, "tatu" (translation: tractor!). Another little dude that loooovvvvessss him some tractors.

A love for all things pumpkin.

Last week it was pumpkin apple streusel muffins. This week, pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies. I'm such a sucker for anything pumpkin.  Tis' the season!

On a side note, I get pretty much all my receipes from THIS blog. Love it. Check it out.

So long fall.

I was clearing pics off the cameras the other night and found these of one of our favorite fall (get out of the house cause we're going stir crazy) activities... taking a little stroll around the block.

So long wagon riding days. You helped us keep our late afternoon sanity and we look forward to resuming again in the Spring.

It's back!

We thought it was long gone... After logging thousands of miles with us, countless nights tucked into bed with Cal, several frantic searches retracing our steps around town in search of it and lots of love by a little boy, it was gone. We thought purple truck had left us for good and our hearts broke a little. But it turns out that it was just hibernating during the summer. Last weekend Cal put on his winter coat, and low-and-beyond he found beloved 'pur truck' in his pocket. To say he was overjoyed would be a BIG understatement.

"The days are long, but the years are short."

The last couple months I feel like I been hearing/reading/learning of some pretty unfortunate things happening to some really good people… and they’ve been weighing heavily on me.  Not only has my heart been touched by these people, but I've also found myself more worried, uptight, scaried… scared that something a little closer to home could happen.  And these scared thoughts began to consume me. Then a swtich flipped, and I decided to change my way of thinking and replace my fears, worries, etc. with gratitude, appreciation & faith. Each and every day I need to be more appreciative of all that I have and grateful for my beautiful, healthy & happy boys, my amazing husband, our health, our family and friends and overall just the life we live.

Then the other night I read the most amazing chapter that couldn't have been more appropriately timed in a book I'm reading, The Happiness Project (a must read in my opinion). A couple thoughts from this chapter that have really stuck with me and reinforced my attempt at my new way of thinking.

A common theme in religion and philosophy, as well as in catastrophe memoirs, is the admonition to live fully and thankfully in the present. So often, it's only after some calamity strikes that we appreciate what we had. "There are times in the lives of most of us," observed William Edward Hartpole Lecky, "when we would have given all the world to be as we were yesterday, though that yesterday had passed over us unappreciated and unenjoyed."

AND, “The days are long, but the years are short.” Reminding myself of this short and sweet sentence has done wonders for my patience on my ‘trying’ days with the kids.

pic by MKC Photography

Elk Hunting Success!!

It's not every year that I get to gloat about elk hunting, but it was a great year this year.  My guide (Jim Smith) was well worth the three Coors Lights that he charges for a full week of hunting.
Opening day was very exciting.  We took the 81 Ford, got it stuck, put chains on, got it stuck again, unstuck it, parked it, walked two miles, and than starting hunting (two hours later than planned). At 9:15am Jim and I were sitting on log bs-ing when a group of cows came walking out of the trees at about 75 yards.  Shortly after, a nice looking "true" spike walked out and gave a near-perfect presentation....kabooom!
The hanging weight was 259 lbs and the spikes are just over 21 inches.

We ended up seeing a nice herd of elk all four days I went hunting, very unusual for this spot.  Hunting this year was a blast and I owe Jim and big thank you for letting me go with him.  I would also like to thank Grandpa Jack for the truck, Papa Joe for the rifle, and my lovely wife for the new scope and for watching kids while I was out hunting.

trick-or-treat...

Poor Cal's having a hard time accepting that Halloween has come and gone for the year. He woke up this morning wanting to know what time the trick-or-treaters were coming over for candy. Then this evening when I was packing up all our Halloween decor, I put everything on the dining room table and went out to garbage to get the storage tote. I came back in to find everything neatly set back where I originally had it all throughout the house.

first up, trick-or-treating at Oma's

Candy corn, Tigger & Woody/Bullseye

an outfit change to hand our candy

And we ended the night with my sweet little Woody/Bullseye/fireman falling asleep in my arms sitting on the couch waiting for the last of the trick-or-treaters. Until next year...