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!

Just a glimpse

We had such a great time on our almost 3 week trip back to Oregon! The kids and I spent some time with all the grandparents, some aunts and uncles and cousins... and even some friends! This week as we get back into a routine until Mexico (!), I will share some of the special moments we had.
Our driving was pretty uneventful... Kellen cut his first tooth within a couple of hours of leaving the house! He was amazingly calm throughout the whole bit, too!


Thank you everyone for your hospitality and awesomeness on this trip.... you know who you are!