This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. Amanda SouleYes, he is asleep.
we are off to Mexico EARLY tomorrow morning! See you all in a week!

2010 family pics

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Things I am thinking about

There are some things that I have been contemplating. Some are completely random, while some have to do with the seasons. Don't question, just roll with it!

*what knitting project should I start/bring to Mexico with us?
option one:: vests for each kid (or see it here) so cute!
option two:: poorboy hat (not sure if this would be for me or ??)
option three:: cute toasty hat for Kellen (in Irish, his name means fierce warrior)
option four:: this cozy neck thing for moi
and there are other options, I just haven't narrowed it down enough!!

*I would like to get this or something of the sort for Colton and his lunches... not sure on the price though!

*which boots should I covet more? Rising Sun boots :: or :: Bucolic Fields boots? Someday, right?

*wondering if I should actually put extra effort into actually planning meals for the week that work together and just kind of stick to it. I know it would help with the panic feeling I get in the afternoon thinking "what is for dinner tonight?" and our weekly/monthly food budget.

*last night, I had my good friend and neighbor, Becca, over for a sewing class (if you can call it that!). We made a set of kid napkins, and they turned out so CUTE! I didn't get a picture of hers, but here are mine....I hope to have a couple more "classes" before Christmas with some of my favorite local ladies. It is actually my dream to own a fabric shop and have little "classes" for useful projects. So I am testing out my skills!

*Christmas. Hmmmm.... we have decided this year to try the ONE gift per kid (a really good one of course) and stocking stuffers. AND THAT IS IT! Maybe, just maybe we can convince the family to follow our lead. It is quality, not quantity. Remember that people.

*wigs do not belong on babies. But it is funny.*backyard ball is fun, especially at night.
*Ayla is becoming quite the photographer. She takes the camera every chance she gets and just snaps away. Cute, but a little scary, considering she has no regard for the $$ involved in the camera! Only money though, right?

Glacier in Fall

The weather has been beautiful in these parts the last couple days. The blue skies are inviting us to come out and play before the winter is here. But it has been COLD! Freezing at night, and pretty cold all day. Yesterday we did manage to get out and about. We headed to a place where Tyler goes fishing. And it was beautiful.
Tyler did a lot of fishing while the kids and I were gone a couple weeks ago. He says it has a major calming effect on him, and he just loves it. I don't see the draw, but I do love to eat most of the fish. I would love it if salmon were out here!
When we arrived there, we walked on the train tracks and heard a slow approaching train. we thought it was just being past, but we found out that they were waiting for the track to be fixed. Colton, Kellen and I walked up to the train and the female (!) conductor came out and talked to us. She was so nice and even gave Colton a special train pin... he loved it!
A rail scraper train went by with sparks coming out from under it, that was cool too.
We ended up seeing 7 trains.
The area Tyler fished had a nice little beach, and lots of rocks for the kids to climb on, so all was enjoyed.

Colton asked today "Can we go back to that place soon?"this is one Ayla took (below)

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. ~Amanda Soule

Pictures

Just a couple of the pictures taken by Alicia Brown. Couldn't love them more. I would say these are my favorites, but they aren't. I couldn't choose.

WIP... ?

I really haven't had much time to do any projects per say. But, I did cut this little one's hair. She wants to grow it long "like Mommy's", but in order to do that, the bangs had to catch up. I think it looks rather spectacular on her!

Some things we are up to around here:

*sorting through stuff and selling on Craigslist. So far, I have made $20, but today is the first day. I sorted out all my kids clothes into sizes and sex, then posted an ad listing each item in the group. We will see. We are also selling our kitchen table, hoping to replace it with a simple picnic table; our double jogging stroller, since we have a bike trailer/stroller combo too; a big bag of wooden toys for kid kitchen with puzzles and a really cute boy doll (we have too much stuff)!

I was inspired to do this by Rachel at LuSa Organics::Clean, that post really struck a cord with me; what about you?

*learning Spanish! Tyler gets access to Rosseta Stone, so we figured for our upcoming trip it may be useful. I am also brushing up on my Russian... it has been awhile!

*getting ready for our trip to Mexico! So excited to be there with our wonderful family (part of it, at least!)

*enjoying watching Colton change in front of our eyes with a love for school that I imagine I had when I was a kid. Every day when I pick him up, he asks when he gets to go back. And yesterday at storytime, him and Ayla both participated! They both used to stand there and watch, and it was SO good to see them dance around! We went and got a cookie afterward!

*I invited a couple friends to come over and make some napkins. I thought it would be a fun time to make something for Christmas, and teach some friends how to sew a little bit. If any of you are interested and live near, let me know.

*making due without Tyler for the next couple days. He headed to Las Vegas early this morning for a work thing. And he went golfing. Luckily he went to Vegas, because here, at 10:30 this morning, it was 37 degrees!!! Cold, cold, cold!!

Pumpkin Patch

This last weekend we went to the fabulous local pumpkin patch, Sweet Pickin's. The kids (and adults) had a wonderful time! We rode a little train, jumped on the bounce pillow, which was super fun! went through a corn maze, went on a tractor ride and picked out some great pumpkins! This was the second year we did this, and we were all so happy we did!

We also volunteered on Sunday, 10-10-10, with the Flathead Global work party. We helped at a community garden, filling beds with leaves and compost, and planting trees. It was a great time, and the kids really enjoyed helping out with their kid-sized tools!
"The “Flathead Global Work Party” will be one of more than 4,400 community-based work parties in 174 countries on Oct. 10, according to 350.org, the international climate action organization that initiated the worldwide campaign. In October 2009, 350.org coordinated 5,200 simultaneous climate action rallies and demonstrations in 181 countries."

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. ~Amanda Soule

More to come on this (and more!) amazing pictures by Alicia Brown soon!

...and another glimpse

And the trip continued. Here are a few more of my favorite images captured with some of my favorite people.

I just wanted to let you guys know that I think I am on the verge of a major change in the way we do things around here. Not everyone may like it, but seriously, we have to put an end to all this extra STUFF we have around here! Please understand that it is nothing against any one of you (if you are asked to limit gifts and whatnot) we just feel we are constantly gathering stuff for our lives, when really we need very little!