Girls night

Tonight was a fun night out, or should I say in with the girls. My wonderful friend Alyssa hosted a girls night in just so she could say thank you to all of us that helped her through the craziness of her wedding! It was a fun night of wine and appetizers, girly TV shows, and just plain old great girl talk. It's nice to get out with the girls every once in a while, so thanks Alyssa for having me over.....we deserved it after this crazy week we have had!

Pumpkin patch

I can do it mommy.....

We took our annual trip to Tanaka Farms and loved it. I enjoy this pumpkin patch because well, it's a REAL pumpkin patch! The kids love running around through the mazes, picking up pumpkins, looking at the animals and the scarecrows, taking the tractor ride around the farm, watching the pumpkin cannon go off and most of all just having a great time! I love this place and I look forward to this tradition every year!

Fall Time.....Halloween Time

Yeah it's fall time!

My fall decoration

Thumb tacks for a monogramed W


Fall ribbon to decorate a pumpkin

I painted a face on my pumpkin! (Saul thinks it looks like Scream)

These are painted with chalkboard paint and drawn with chalk

We have colored lots of Halloween pictures

We painted

We painted pumpkins all kinds of colors

Painting pumpkins

Yes it is my favorite time of the year... FALL! And this past week has been the best, raining for a whole week straight!! I don't remember the last time it rained and was gloomy for that long! I like it, no I LOVE IT!!! I love to see the rain, I love a gloomy day, I love to snuggle on the couch, have a cup of tea, watch movies, do crafts, I love to just be cozy!! So in getting ready for Halloween I decided this year that I was opting out on the pumpkin carving, for a few reasons, my kids really don't get it and it's just way to messy. So instead I got a few great ideas from this blog and I decided to do some "crafty ideas" and paint pumpkins instead and let me tell you my kids enjoyed this so much and it kept them busy for 2 hours!

San Diego Zoo

I love the San Diego Zoo and I am so excited that we have a yearly pass. The kids love it, they love to see all the animals. Taelor's favorite animal is a giraffe and Ethan's is a lion. The San Diego zoo is very big and in order to see every animal you would have to be there all day. The last time we went we were there for 4 hours and only did half the zoo so the next time we go we will do the other half. My favorite part is the Elephant Odyssey. You get to see a lion up close, and all the elephants too! The kids loved this part! This time of year is our favorite time to go when the weather cools down, so we will be going lots this fall and winter, you can never get bored of looking at animals, or at least we can't!

VBS

I know this is a very overdue post. Back in August our church had VBS and it was so much fun because it was Taelor's first year she could attend. She had such a blast!! The singing and dancing and crafts was lots of fun! Taelor invited a few of her friends, Hailey, the Meador girls, and Brody and they all had a great time together. It is so awesome to see all these little young hearts learning about Jesus! I look forward to this week every year and I am sure Taelor will be too! It was an exhausting week, working, then being with 25 pre-k kids at the end of the day from 6-8pm but it was so worth every moment!!!

Family from England

A month ago back in September, Saul's cousin Natalie and her friend Lisa were out from England for 2 weeks (yes the Brits actually get LOTS of vacation time.....mandatory 4 weeks, but most get 5-6 weeks!!!) This was Natalie's 4th trip out here to the states and it is always so nice to see her. Her and I get along great, we are the same age and she is such a sweetheart. We didn't get to spend every day with them, but we saw them every few days. We went to Disneyland, shopping at the Spectrum, dinners out and dinners in. They spent lots of time at the beach which I am sure to them is such a treat! Lisa was such a joy to be around, Ethan took a liking to her right away and of course she felt right at home with all of us. Seeing family from another country is always so nice for Saul, he has grown up most of his life living away from family so he really enjoys when he can see his cousins and get to actually know them! In November, Natalie's mum, Auntie Sue gets to come visit for 2 weeks and we cannot wait to see her too!! And next year will be our turn to "Jump the pond" and spend lots of time with family!

Alyssa's Wedding

I was so happy to attend the wedding of Scott and Alyssa, they are such a dear couple to me and couldn't be any happier for the two of them. Their wedding was beautiful at Begonia Park in Corona Del Mar, and the reception was cocktail style and was an absolute blast! Amanda at Creative Nest Designs helped coordinate the wedding and did an absolutely wonderful job! Now for the next 2 weeks I will be missing Alyssa everyday while she is on her honeymoon! I wish this couple all the very best that life has to offer them and a wonderful and loving marriage!

Dance Class

Taelor started dance class and after the drama of not stepping foot into her first class, she decided the second class she was going to give it a try and she LOVED it and mommy loved watching the joy on her face! Can't wait to see her grow into bella ballerina (as she calls herself!). Now she can't wait to go back!

2 Favorite Movies this week

This past week we rented both of these movies and will now be purchasing, Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue and Nanny McPhee, and I LOVED them or should I say WE LOVED them. The kids enjoyed both of these movies. Of course we own and watch the first Tinkerbell so when this one came out we watched it and it was super cute! I love the Tinkerbell movies because there really is no scary good vs evil in them. They are cute with a good story behind them.

I know I may be a bit behind on the Nanny McPhee movie, but I LOVED this movie, it reminded me of Mary Poppins which the kids really enjoy too. At first I wasn't sure if it was right for the kids, if it was too old and if the story would be ok, well it turned out they loved it and they got the story of how the kids needed to learn to be polite and not so naughty. Very cute and I can't wait to see the next one.

Preschool

Taelor started preschool this past month and I lots of mixed feelings, sad, happy, excited and nervous. Well the first day went pretty good, she did not cry (or at least not while we were there). I thought I had it all put together, I was happy my little girl was entering a new season in her life, it's a big part of growing up, but on the other hand, SHE WAS GROWING UP! I mean really can life just slow down a bit. As I was walking away all calm and composed I turned back one more time to see my little girl and I saw her precious, almost sad but happy face just waving to me and I waved back, blew a kiss, put my sunglasses on and tears started coming! As I walked to the car where daddy and Ethan were I just kept crying. I don't know if it was tears of joy, sadness or what, but all I knew was that for the first time in Taelor's life, she was being left with someone we didn't even know. That was hard for me, and not to mention the fact that Ethan had a meltdown because he couldn't stay at school with sissy and that for the first time they were being separated, it was a hard but good day, I guess. After picking her up I wasn't sure if she liked it or not, she did say she cried for me during snack time but her teacher held her and then she was ok.

The second day was not as good, Daddy had to drop her off due to my work schedule and he said it did not go well when he had to leave, it was so hard on him to see her crying, but eventually she stopped and went on with her day. But last week an opportunity came up for us to send her to a preschool we looked into a few months back, Miss Jodi's Learning Garden, they just revamped their programs and a new session of preschool is starting on Tuesday, so once again Taelor will have another 1st "1st day". I hate to make such changes in a 3 year olds routine, but I feel this school will be a better fit for her and us. So I will have to post about her first day again!