Only two holidays behind...

October:

Pumpkin patch

Corn maze

Pumpkin cookies

Games and treats with Granny

Work, school, and ballet

Pumpkin carving

Roasting Peeps ghosts in the wood stove

Werewolf children

Too much candy

Yep. That pretty much sums it up. 

Green's Peak Day 2013

The last few years, we've spent a day in the forest around Green's Peak for my birthday. This year was EXTRA fun, because we had just gotten our new Subaru and we got to see what she was made of on some of the crazy lumpy dirt roads. (I'll just say, all-wheel drive is going to make our adventures way more doable.)

We had a great picnic, hiked around, caught a critter, set up a flagpole, and loved the leaves and chilly weather. I can't wait till Green's Peak Day 2014. :)

Green's Peak from our picnic spot. 

Someone was eager to get the party started. 

Goof. Ball.

Our regal family mascot 

I see a monkey in that tree.

Just your typical father-son flagpole project.

"Is THIS smile big enough for you mom?!?"

This killer bench also had cupholders carved into the ends! Someone is clever and crafty.

View from the bottom...

...and view from the top.

Our little dangler.

Any guesses what daddy caught for them to hold?...

Looky looky!

We stopped to explore the ruins of an old saw mill too. 

This boy, his curls, and his adult-sized teeth... {swoon}

August

We are enjoying the beautiful August weather, here in the mountains. Griz is glad to be back in his big yard, and does his run-laps-then-dig-a-hole-in-the-garden routine daily. 

Britt is his usual critter-magnet self.

We went for one of our Sunday walks around Woodland Lake and got stuck in a thunderstorm. Lucky for us, we had a picturesque place to wait out the storm. 

We spent one day exploring the Mogollon Rim, Tonto Creek, and Willow Springs Lake. It was so pretty! We were happy to have some of our good friends come up from Phoenix to enjoy it with us.

This crazy kid started second grade! As he put it, it's a pretty big whoop. His teacher is the same one I had in first grade. She was actually Justin's teacher for a short time too, before his family moved to Texas. We're so excited to have him in her class. 

It made me laugh that even though we got Britt a bunch of new clothes for school, he just wanted to wear his old cut-off shorts and Toms he's been wearing for over a year. He gets hooked on his favorite things and doesn't want to stop wearing them until he can't get them on anymore. 

This girl won't start kindergarten until next year, so we asked if she'd like to go to pre-school this year. She said, "no thanks. I already know all that school stuff. I would like to take a ballet class though." So she is taking a tap/ballet class, and while she loves the dance part, she has her issues with the class part. She is awfully attached to me, and struggles with being apart. As time goes by, I hope she relaxes and lets herself enjoy it more.

We took the kids to Mt Baldy last weekend. It was beautiful! A storm was passing through, so we got to hear thunder echo through the valleys and had a chilly sprinkling of rain as we wandered. I just wish the kids had been in the mood to hike more. We decided we'll go back this fall to see the changing leaves on the aspens (my favorite!). 

Squirrels errrrywhere.

This view is twice as nice. ;)

I sure like those ^ 3 people.

Can you find Justin and Britt down in that valley? 

my sidekicks

Britt 7 1/2   +++   Marnie 4 1/2

How cute are these two?

They're currently spending all day playing in the closet under our stairs. It hasn't been empty since we moved in, and they're loving it. We started boxing stuff up yesterday. Did I mention we're moving? If I didn't, it's only because we don't really want to think about it. The hassles, the backaches, yadayadayada. We have a million feelings about moving back to our own house, and they're all over the place. I'm just glad that I have these two (and their daddy) to keep me smiling through it all.

everyday happenings

mani-pedis...constantly

"Mom, can I text someone?"
(So if you ever get a text from me that simply says "hi" then you know it's not really from me.)