London is thankful for dancing. I am thankful for dentists. Although I hate my dentist at the moment (I can switch this month! Yay!) I’m thankful to be able to go to a dentist if I have problems. You know how in Castaway, Tom Hanks has to knock out his tooth with an ice skate? Yeah, I’m thankful I don’t have to do that.
I’m thankful for my car. I’m thankful to have a car that runs well. Now if only the A/C worked . . .
With her lips, London says she’s thankful for counting. With her actions, she says she’s thankful for candy. Me too. I need to get rid of it.
This was the first year that Ashton has really been able to go trick-or-treating. Of course, the kids were excited to get dressed up again. London was dressed as Princess Tiana, her third costume this year. I didn’t mind. It was fun for her to be something different for every activity. Ashton, of course, was a jack-o-lantern again. They had a fun time going door to do with their friends and they scored TONS of candy.
Personally, I think Halloween is a pretty dumb holiday and it’s too bad I’m stuck eating all this junk food now. But the kids had fun. Dressing up is their favorite thing to do. And I’m glad Ashton wasn’t a princess. Last week in church, Andrea asked him what he was going to be and he said, “Snow White.” It’s a good thing he liked a different costume. And, for the record, I tried to convince him to be Superman. No way.
These boys were TUCKERED out by the end of the block!
London informed me this morning that her A word really was avalanche. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know. Today I’m thankful for beauty. I’m thankful to live in such a beautiful world. This morning I went on a run up the hill behind my house (6 times). Down here at the bottom, it was all foggy, but once we got to the top, it was as clear as can be. We could see lots of stars and as we were going back down the hill, we could see the fog settled down in the valley. It was gorgeous.
When I got home, I grabbed Ashton and drove back up so that he could see it (and so that I could take my camera for some photo-ops, but it wasn’t as beautiful as it was while we were running.
On our run, we were able to watch the colors change as the sun started to rise. The stars went away and light filled the sky, with the fog still settled down in the box. We also saw an owl circling overhead, looking for mice. It was a beautiful morning and I’m so thankful for the beauty that surrounds me (and thankful that I could get up early enough to experience it).
London is thankful for ballerinas. Need I say more?
We started a November tradition a few years back. If you want to read posts from years past, you can find them here, here and here. I think I would have forgotten about it this year if it wasn’t for London. We have declared the month of November “Thankful Month.” Each day (until the 26th) we use a different letter of the alphabet and document something we are thankful for. I try not to repeat things that I have said in previous years, but it’s getting more and more difficult so we’ll see how it goes this year. I was reminded today that we also make a turkey. This turkey gets a new feather every day and we write on that feather the thing we are thankful for. We didn’t get the turkey made today, but I have strict orders to make it tomorrow. Without further ado, we start with the letter A. London told me that she is thankful for apples, specifically caramel apples. We ate one today and it was sure yummy. I am thankful for aprons. Yes, I love my aprons. And I wear them all the time. And, of course, we’re thankful for Ashton. That kid is one funny guy.
Have a happy Halloween! Here are the kids from the last two parties. I wonder what they’ll decide to be tomorrow . . .
Oh yeah. This is us: Steve Jobs and Flo
We went to the pumpkin patch today. I’m not going to give you a rundown. I already did that here, but I am going to let you see this series of photos I took. Why can’t they both just look at the camera AT THE SAME TIME?!! Is that too much to ask? Apparently.
And for more entertainment, here are some recent quotes:
While drying off after a bath this morning, London said, “I wish I was in front of myself. Then I could do everything!” Um, okay.
Singing himself to sleep tonight, I heard this coming from Ashton’s room (sung to We are a Happy Family), “I love Goofy so you see, we are a happy family . . . Lightening McQueen loves us so you se, we are a happy family.”
And because I’m on a roll of funny stuff, I want to mention a few more things that have been cracking me up lately. Ashton thinks that saying “boogers” is just funny. So he’ll look at me totally straight-faced and say, “boogers,” and then get a big ole grin on his face. I try not to laugh, but I think it’s hilarious. He also has Mickey Mouse Clubhouse seek and find book. One of the things to find is a dog. I don’t know the dog’s name, but Ashton named him. Poop. That’s what he calls him. And every time I tell him to find the dog, he says, “Where’s the dog? Poop. That’s what I call him.” Where he comes up with these things, I’ll never know.
We had a nice 4th of July this year. I started off the day with a nice run. Then we went over to the church for our annual Independence Day breakfast. We had a great time.
The kids especially loved the crafts and the donut-on-a-string game. They were hilarious.
I spent most of the rest of the day getting ready for our dinner guests. We had a barbecue with some friends and the missionaries. Everything turned out great, especially the pie!
I love the festive-looking strawberry/blueberry pie. I took the picture before I glazed it. It just looked so pretty! And, of course it tasted fantastic, as did the apple pie.
You can’t go wrong with Aunt Julie’s recipe. I’m bummed, though, that I forgot to put out the potato salad! Now we have a big bowl of it that we have to eat by ourselves. Anybody want to come help?
Later, we drove up the hill (just a half mile but we didn’t want to walk up) behind out house to watch the fireworks. We live in a great spot. We could see 2 1/2 shows! One was halfway hidden behind a mountain, but it was fun to have such a good view and definitely nice to only have to go up the street to see them.
We had a great day. Hopefully next year we’ll be able to add swimming to our 4th of July agenda.
This Memorial Day, I thought it would be a good idea to teach the kids what the holiday is actually about. Taylor had a rehearsal this morning so we couldn’t leave until after lunch. We spent the morning hanging out and reading books. I love it when my kids get along so well. London loves reading and Ashton loves being read to. Once Taylor got home, we headed out to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. Living in a military town, I’m often reminded how many people really give up so much so that the rest of us can have freedom. I feel so blessed to live in a country that honors that freedom. Since my kids are still quite young, it was hard to explain to them the reasons behind Memorial Day, but I think going to the cemetery helped.
It was awesome to see each grave marker with a flag in front of it (but don’t tell anybody that Ashton kept stealing flags. Don’t worry, I put them back). I also think this particular cemetery is just incredible. One side overlooks the San Diego bay and the other side looks over the Pacific Ocean. It’s quite a sight. I think these service men and women deserve to be honored in such a beautiful way.
After we left the cemetery, we drove downtown and spent a couple of hours at the New Children’s Museum.
We haven’t been for a while and things have changed a bit. We had a great time!
Ashton wasn't so sure about the chariot
The place wasn’t busy at all so the kids were able to really enjoy themselves. I’m pretty sure everybody else in the city was at the beach. It looked like that’s where all the traffic was headed.
When the museum closed, we had a couple of hours to kill before my appointment at the Apple Store (my iPod was having charging issues) so we went to El Torito for dinner.
We scored a great deal on food, as I had a coupon (0f course) and we shared meals. Oh, and the food was taking a bit longer than normal so they brought us some free soup. But more than the great deal, El Torito was the perfect place to go on an American holiday because the place was empty! It was quiet (except for us) and we were able to enjoy our food without a lot of noise. Maybe we’ll go Mexican for the 4th of July this year!
Next, we hit up the Apple Store where I got a new (probably refurbished) iPod and we went home. My kids love the Apple Store since they get to sit on ball-like chairs and play on the computer while we have our gadgets worked on. I was realizing today that even though we’re Apple people, I don’t think we’ve ever bought anything at their retail store. Kind of strange. Anyway, Ashton crashed in the car on our way home. It was a long, but fun day. It makes me excited for the summer!
We spent Easter in Hemet again this year. It seems to be the way it works out every year and I don’t mind. We were on our way home from our vacation the day before and stopped in Northridge at Taylor’s aunt’s house where they were having a family party. We had lots and lots of yummy food and the kids had a blast in the pool (but not Ashton. I didn’t let him get in.). We even had an Easter egg hunt.
I can NOT believe how many eggs were hidden in that yard. I’m sure Paul and Kristi will still be finding them for months.
My kids came home with tons of candy. It didn’t take long for Ashton to get right in there with the big kids and load his bag full. What a fun time!
After the family party in the valley, we went to Hemet to spend the night. Denver gave his last talk in church on Sunday before he leaves on his mission to India. He did a great job. I’m so excited for him! He’ll be a fabulous missionary. Taylor and London also sang in church. I loved it, as did everybody else there. I think I need to do a better job of teaching my children what Easter is all about. We talk so much about the Savior at Christmas time, but for some reason, the build-up to Easter isn’t as Christ-focused as it should be. Really, the resurrection of Christ is the most important event. Ever. We did have a family home evening about it the next day so I think that helped. I’ll do better next year, I hope.
It was obviously not possible for me to get a good picture of both of my kids together in their Easter outfits. But they did look cute!
I spent the day at church with Ashton in the nursery. I think he would have been okay, but somehow he hurt his foot and wouldn’t walk all day. Poor guy. And when that happens with him, it’s tough because he is not small at all. Carrying that kid around is not easy to do. It’s a good thing Papa was around to take the brunt of the work. We had a nice time, but we’re so glad to be home.