Season Snapshots

I got an iPhone a few months back. I swore I would never get a smart phone, but I caved. I also promised I would still take pictures with my "real" camera we spent a fortune on, but sadly I pull out my phone more often. And no matter what everyone has told me, in my opinion the pictures aren't that great. But I got a lot of them.

So without further ado, here are some of our fall happenings captured on my phone....

Playing outside on the swings!

 No matter how hard I tried, Aubri would not agree to any Halloween costume but Cinderella. I thought  if she was going to be a princess, Belle would be more fitting with the brown hair.

 This is my second fall on Pinterest. It has changed my life. I've made so many yummy recipes already including this "apple salsa" (creative way of saying apply pie filling so you don't feel that bad eating it) and cinnamon sugar chips.

 Aubri has already been asking to make crafts. Here it is proudly displayed at Jose's work. I drew the tree trunk, but  the rest is Aubri. I am so impressed how fast kids grow up in a year! Last year we had leaves all over the place, but this year she can line them up and even drew purple and orange pumpkins on the ground.

 We've had about 3 days of chilly fall weather, and I busted out the Uggs for Ezra.

 I took Aubri on a "nature walk" as we learned about Fall. She was suppossed to collect leaves, but instead picked a bunch of flowers and found a ball. We walked about half a mile in 45 minutes if that tells you anything about the pace she set. She discovered dirt clods and the entire walk way of our neighborhood has little dirt piles! We also made a stop to say hi to her friend Ella, and to watch a butterfly that she thought was playing with her. It was seriously one the neatest things ever, and I almost wondered if she was right! This big monarch butterfly would let her get really close then fly away, circle her head then land near her again. Over and over.

 Hoodies

 All things football. Doesn't get much better than Oreos.

 Monday Night Football/ Family Nights. It's been fun coming up with meals!

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 More art that Aubri has done. I don't know what other kids her age  do, but I'm so proud she is trying to color inside the lines with (almost) the correct colors.

 Little Mister is loving his new food! A lot of fall favorites like butternut squash.

 Family photos. Can't wait to share them all when we get our images back!

 A few little decorating projects.

 You can't really see, but the banner says Give Thanks. My  mantle has changed a little since this.

Arroyo Grande Harvest Festival was fun! Clearly Ezra enjoyed the festivities too.

 And finally my sunburn. Ouch! I didn't burn once in the summer, but this gorgeous sunny, fall weather  got me. I'm still peeling!

Pumpkin Season

Seasonally, there isn't much I like better than Fall and pumpkins (except Christmas and peppermint!).  We may not have lots of trees changing colors in our area, but fall is apparent! For one, our weather actually gets hotter in October. A lot of people seem to forget that and act surprised that it is in the 80's (one day almost 100!) in the fall. Not me. I have come to expect sweating more at the pumpkin patch than any summer day at the beach.

Also, it is clear it is fall with pumpkins everywhere. We've already hit up several pumpkin patches and have quite the collection of mini pumpkins in all shades of orange, yellow and white.  Aubri has no interest in getting big pumpkins but instead requests the little ones wherever we go.  At 50 cents a piece, I have no problem saying ok. She has fun lining them up and moving them around. I've told Jose it is like a game everyday to see where she has placed them (today there are at least 4 little ones on the porch).

I'm so behind on blogging. These pictures were actually from the last weekend of September on our first trip to Avila Barn pumpkin patch.  Here you go--a ton of pictures of my little punkins with pumpkins.

My 6 months old little guy

I meant to publish this weeks ago....

Ezra is 6 (and a half) months old. I can't believe he has already been in our family for half a year. It is cliche, but true, that it has flown by yet hard to remember life without him!

At his 6 month check up (9 days late) he weighed 17lbs 7 oz (44th percentile) and was 26.8 inches (55%).

He is getting to such a fun age! He is rolling around the house, and starting to slowly (and wobbly) crawl. He sits up perfect, and even can even go from sitting to crawling position smoothly.

He started solid food and aside from the first two attempts (darn yucky brown rice cereal), eats like  champ! He loves everything I've given him. Either he is just a great eater, or I'm a great cook! Bananas, sweet potatoes (his favorite), applesauce, mango,oatmeal, peas and butternut squash! My baby bullet is getting put to great use. I love that I have a kid who likes to eat! He has eaten more in 3 weeks than Aubri did in 3 months (maybe even longer).

He continues to be E-Z, easy going, easy to laugh, easy to feed.... The only thing that he has a hard time with is when he has a runny nose. I can't blame him! He has already had a couple of colds, and the first night is miserable (for him and me). He freaks out when he can't breathe easily and every time he sniffles it scares him. His happy disposition disappears some.

He is always cooing and babbling, and is so easy to make laugh! He has the cutest little chuckle. And he is sooo ticklish! He loves when Jose plays rough with him, and laughs when he gets "pushed around." Thankfully he is a good sport to Aubri's attacks. She has been trying to carry him, and I'm constantly turning around to her pulling him into her lap on the ground or tipping him over ("so he can try to crawl.")

For almost 2 months he plays peek a boo. If you say it he will cover his face with whatever is nearest and pull it down quickly. So cute! He also waves "Hi".

When he is tired he starts humming or "singing" like I like to call it, and wants to nuzzle in. He grips my arms, face or hair so tight and I refer to him as my little Koala. Usually the nuzzling is paired with slobbery kisses and face eating.

We love our boy! His personality  is already evident and it is so sweet.

Aubri says that darnest things

Papa recently started teaching Aubri the difference between possibly and probably. She now uses both regularly.

Last week when we had a loooong work day at the church, Aubri was going to spend the day with my parents and the evening with Jose's mom. Her response?
"Yeah! I get to be with both my grandma's today! Nana and Papa are probably going to get me ice cream from the ice cream man, and Grammy is probably taking me to McDonalds for ice cream!"


She also started saying "actually". "I'm going to be a princess for Halloween. Actually, I probably going to be a butterfly."

I overheard her and Jose talking the other morning. Jose told her "I'm so happy I have a little girl named Aubri." Without skipping a beat she said, "I'm so happy I have a big boy named daddy!" They both giggled.

She has been looking forward to a playdate with her friend Ella today. Jose told me when she woke up this morning as soon as he got to her room she said, "Dad hurry! It's daytime, I need to get ready! Ella is coming!" He told her it was still early (before 7 am) and Ella would come later. Aubri looked out the window and said, "Oh, it's just a little daytime, let's go downstairs and watch Calliou."

While pretending to read her Bible to herself, "Jesus came down and died on the cross, and God said hallelujah to him, and Jesus loves me." 

You may have seen me post these on Facebook:

Naptimes can be the most stressful times with Aubri. Thankful I can usually get a chuckle out of her stalling. Todays attempt...."Mom....Can you do me a favor? Can you make me a new bed on the floor, with my new tinkerbell blanket from Tia Emma on the floor, and my flower blanket on top of me, with my big sister bear, and a little cup of milk next to me please?" Next she is going to ask that I get the pea out from under her mattress I'm sure....

I thought Aubri was taking a nap but she just ran out of her room to tell me, "mom. If I be a good girl I have a plan. After my nap we can go to 'Babies toys r us' and we can buy me a present for my pretend birthday party. And we can invite alll my friends  and cousins and they can bring me presents too!" well really this plan all hinges on her taking a nap easily so it probably won't happen.

First Tuesday night at home in 9 weeks! Pulled out the cookbook and made Rachel ray "veggie p-schetti" supposedly a kid tested recipe. Served it to Aubri and she asked "what are these yucky vegetables called?"

Aubri says so many things every day that makes us laugh. Many I forget! I'm trying to write them down (blog them) so we can look back and laugh!

Jr. High room

Our Jr. High ministry, J-Walk, is close to Jose's and my heart because when we started serving in children's ministry these kids were in our class! We taught them as they came into 4th grade, and have been their teachers ever since. Every Wednesday (except for the last 60 days) Jose and I meet with them, and have grown really close to them.  Since we spend a lot of time with our Jr. highers I wanted this room to be special and cool for them. I found some fun ideas on Pinterest and tried to cram them all in one room. The end result is perfect, and we have had the most compliments on it.

There is a crazy amount of pictures in case anyone wants a step by step how-to. Or if you don't want to DIY then you can just pay me and I'll get my dad to go out there and do it for you. ;-)

 Sadly I have no before pictures!! So bummed. It was used as the prior churches board room (at least that is my guess). It was painted a minty green color and had a nice verse stenciled on the wall. Not horrible, but not 2012.

Our high school pastor, Micah, applied some smooth putty to one wall and sanded it down nice and smooth. Jose covered it up with some chalkboard paint.

 Ok here is the fun part.
1. First find a really handy man who will help you out. I choose my dad.

2.Ask him to install a corrugated tin wainscotting.

3.Measure out your wall and buy 2x4s to span the length of it. Nail them to the wall at the bottom and at the top height of where it will end. Sit back and watch as your Dad measures and levels and nails.

 4. Throw in a sleeping baby for kicks.

 5. Ask your senior pastor and his wife to climb up on ladders to take the really sharp tin tiles from the old church ceiling (recycle, reuse...)
6.Line up your tin tiles against the wall for placement purposes.
6. Realize every single one is a different height.
7. Panic

 8. Stop panicking because your dad can trim them

 9. Start nailing them into the top and bottom board, overlapping them slightly.

 10. Throw in a very tired, almost asleep, two year old to make things exciting and keep you on your toes.

 11. Finish applying the tin tiles across the length of your wall. Cap with a 4 inch ledge (we choose MDF finished board- I think- and spray painted it glossy black.)

 12. Where the pieces meet, cut at 45 degree angles, and nail together. Touch up paint for a more seamless look.

 13. Have your cool dad nail through the top ledge into the top 2x4. Voila!

 14. If you are really awesome, beg, steal, borrow, find and buy some great art!

 15. Finish the room with a pool table, a couch you inherited from another room, of course a chalk wall and chairs. And when the budget allows, install some really cool lighting.

For the most part the younger kids didn't say much about the decor of their classrooms, but the Jr. High kids told us they loved their room! They were begging for us to have youth group meet again. They were so excited I had already stocked the room with some candy and popcorn, and wasted no time making their mark on the wall! Looking forward to them making memories in this room!

JAM City (2nd-5th grade)

JAM City (Jesus and ME), formerly known as KIDMO, is kinda still in progress. I'm waiting to purchase (remember: budget??) a skyline decal the full length of the blank wall. Oh yeah! It will be off the hook when it is done! But since this room is already the most drastically improved (in my opinion) I share it with you now....

In all its original glory:

The murals were cute, and a nice idea, but this 1990's peach was more than I could handle

This storage cabinet was a beast. With the help of my niece Savannah, we braved the spider webs inside and tossed the majority of what was left behind and kept the salvageable. (Side note: for all the schtuff they left behind, why couldn't it have been really great, much needed things? Like skyline decals and money? Instead it was glitter and foam stickers which we needed like a hole in the head.)

Thankfully we cleaned the walls because all the yellow bled off.

Farewell sweet murals!

 Once the room was painted I was itching (literally, dang spiderwebs) to start decorating. After 2 weeks of cleaning I was ready to see SOMETHING come together. The paint had barely dried and I was ready to hang signs. These signs were leftover from our previous location. I really love them, but they didn't work in the huge space we had before. Concentrated on one wall here, I think they look great! So week 3 or 4 and this room was coming together! The dark wall paint was actually left over from the room at our old church.

I ordered this sign and traffic  light as soon as we knew we were moving. We never had our discipline policy clearly stated, and it varied by teacher. I was able to personalize this on a OSHA state sign website.

This room may have been the first to start coming together, but it was also the last to be done. It houses our new storage cabinet and was the dumping ground for all the supplies. It took days to get it all organized and cleaned out. Much faster thanks to this beautiful helper! 

After we would get it cleaned up a bit, another load of boxes would make its way over. The night before our first service Jose and I were still scrambling to find homes for the final boxes of random junk.

My dad was kind enough to hang this first set of cabinets up!

 It is hard to see, but I love this mirror Debbie found for the room. Recycled magazines!

 An entire walk in closet of craft supplies was consolidated into this metal cabinet!!

Hopefully soon I can show off the finished final wall!