My kids

My friend Traci makes these cute hats and asked me to take a few pics of them, so I just thought I would share them.

Tea Time with the Girls

At the beginning of November I hosted a Holiday Tea for my girlfriends. It was such a wonderful afternoon filled with great food, desserts, lots of tea, relaxing and chatting. We all took some time out of our busy lives to enjoy great conversation with each other. Tea for me is like being a little girl again, it takes you back to when you had no worries, it's a few hours that I get to wind down, put all my stresses and worries and just plain old busyness behind you for a little while. The tea was provided by English Rose Tea by Sandie my mother in law, and let me tell you she is one of the best bakers I know! So delicious and everything is provided by her so I didn't have to stress about making anything but my house look pretty! It was a perfect way to start off the holidays. Sandie also blogged about this day, you can read her post here.

Halloween

Halloween was so much fun this year, the kids enjoyed dressing up and going to Papa and grandma's house. The kids looked forward to Halloween all month. We haven't been trick or treating at my parents house since Taelor's first Halloween so it was especially fun for my parents! It was so fun seeing the excitement on the kids faces, they loved being with their cousins Caleb and Callie. My Aunt Tami made Taelor's Cinderella costume and it was so beautiful and she sure played up being the princess! Ethan was the cutest sheriff in town as Woody from his favorite movie Toy Story!!! Yes we ended up with lots of candy that never got eaten all the way but it was all worth it!!!

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!