Fall is here again

I smell it on the crisp wind, our pumpkins are round and orange and it's getting to be time to go to the big pumpkin patch in the East Mountains.

October is right around the corner and for our family that means it's Birthday time for a lot of us! 3 of my sister in laws as well as my sweet Mattie have birthday's this month.

We're getting ready and stocking up for Mat's 3rd birthday! We're planning on having a big bash at our friend Debdeb's house. Pizza, pumpkins, candy and dressing up, what more could a 3 year old ask for?

So if you can make it, don't forget to dress up! I hear the birthday boy is going as Peter Pan and Bella as well, Tinkerbell of course.

Update...finally!

So I finally have a few minutes to myself, I can sit down and update this poor neglected blog!

Things are going as they always do, the kids are growing, making messes and learning more and more every day. The garden is doing great, we harvested a good 5 pounds of our purple potatoes, plus numerous cucumbers, tomatoes, beans and bell peppers. We're still waiting on the pumpkins but that's ok!

I've been busy!

Man oh man have I been busy, LOL.

I've finished my first ever hand knitted sweater. I made it for my little cousin's baby shower. (She's not so little anymore, just seems like it to me!) I think it came out great and I'm super proud of it!

See? Isn't it spiffy? I just hope she likes it and that it fits the baby well. Guess we'll see next month!

Speaking of spiffy look at this! My sis in law Olivia and I bought 2 of these bad girls yesterday! The red one is mine all mine! I finally got my very own scooter! Not only is she mine, she's red and she's brand spanking new. The plastic isn't even off of the seat yet, sweet! Now if only I can figure out how to ride the thing, (Oh Levi, here's a job for you! Teach me how to ride, LOL)

My dad bought me a super nifty helmet to go with the scooter, it's black and red to match. I love it. And it will protect my little brain from becoming  more scrambled should/when I crash it up. 

I need to go register it this week, I want to get a custom vanity plate, ('cause I'm wicked spiffy that way). I have 7 spaces and I don't want to waste them, so I'm going to be thinking hard about what I want on there. Any ideas, anyone? Let me know if you come up with something cool. =D 

I need to find my camera. My knitting is finally starting to come along! :-)

My 24th Birthday and Mother's Day

My Family

What a fantastic weekend! I have so many pictures to post!

I turned 24 on the 7th! Levi had to work so we celebrated the next day when he had off. He took me to my fave local yarn shop and took care of the kiddos so I could shop to my hearts content! I got a 4 new skeins of yarn. 3 wool and 1 alpaca! I also got 4 sets of ne

edles, a pattern book and Knit kit! I know that sounds a bit boring but if you're a

 knitter you know I was in heaven.  In addition to the super awesome 

gift of 2 sets of Harmony needles and blackberry yarn my Aunt Jolene gave me, I should have quite a few projects to keep me busy for a while. Yay! (Here come the pics!) 

I spent the day with Levi and the kids, hanging out and going to the park. We went shopping, had a great lunch and then we took them to my Aunt for the evening. 

We went to Atomic Grill, the food was great the server was quick and my Fat Tire beer was yummy. We walked around downtown Santa Fe, enjoying the sunset and then called it a night. 

Today we went to Rio Rancho to celebrate Mother's Day with my  In Laws. What a great time! There was a ton of food, great company and the weather was

 the best.

Mat had a super spiffy time, he learned how to ride a bike (with training wheels but hey he's 2!) and he got to visit he girlfriend Nicolette. *wink, wink*. 

They had a romantic dinner together and Mat proudly proclaimed they were going to get married. Too cute.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend. I spent it with people I love and who love me. I couldn't of asked for more.

Grandma, Ella & Auntie Wendy

Grandma & Ella

Ella and Mama

Mama & Mathias

The start of my friend Theresa's scarf

Levi enjoying the ribs

What we've been up to

I've been trying to take a lot more pictures of the kids lately. I'm trying to keep as many photos around to help me remember their younger years. The other day I was looking at all of this pictures and I realized something. 

My kids, while sweet and cute, they're also nuts. Sort of like a walnut chocolate chip cookie! =D

Take my sweet, innocent looking Bella, she may look fluffy and cute but give her a "gun" and watch out! Especially if you're a zombie.

This girl is going to be a sharp shooter someday. *grin*. She'll rule paintball tournam

ents and be able to shoot the wings off a fly. 

Mat is pretty wild in his own right. He's just 2 years old and he rocks a 4 wheeler like a pro. I've never seen a kid do what he does. Every chance he gets he's outside playing, driving his mustang or riding his 4 wheeler. I am so impressed with him and all the things he's good at. 

Today Mathias and Bella helped Levi and I in our garden. It was a wonderful afternoon spent planting our plants, seeds and seedings. We got our red and yellow bell pepper, tomato,

 cucumber and pinto bean plants planted. As well as our blue potatoes, the green onions and last but not least the pumpkins Tomorrow we're putting in the strawberries, carrots, peas, radishes and the neat morning glories I got that are named Scarlett. =D

I'll take some pictures when I go out to water the cherry tree. I'm pretty proud of our little hobby garden!!

Speaking of hobbies. I've been at my knitting, both on the needles and on the looms. *sigh* It's all not going as well as I'd like it too. I'm trying to make Bella a hat from Robin McCoy's Sundae Delight pattern. It's supposed to look sweet and cute, like this....(left). Yeah mine looks like it melted. Time to frog it and call it a day I guess. =P

Homemade Yumminess

Is yumminess even a word? Huh, welll it's all I could think of when it came to the bread we made yesterday.

Now, if you know me, you know that cooking and I aren't close and dear friends. As a matter of fact cooking and I have an unspoken and long running animosity towards one another. No matter how hard I try, what cookbook or special gadget I use my dishes come out looking like dog food and usually tasting no better. Of all the cooking arts baking is the most formidable. I like to blame the altitude, the position of the stars and even little gremlins. But in the end I know that baking is just something that is beyond my mortal understanding. That and I ususally lose the directions. Eh all's well that ends well.

In any case I finally had a baking triumph! I made homemade bread that didn't look like it came from Purina. Yay! It's not perfect but it's not burned and didn't taste bad, pretty good actually. I guess the stars were lined up right for once, too bad I didn't buy a lottery ticket.

I'm not sure that I can bake bread like that again, but it's sure going to be fun to try.

A fishin' we will go...

There is nothing quite as cute as the first time your kid catches a fish. We went to Tingly Beach today and overall it was a nice experience.

Mat got a kick out of all the different types of birds that were there. Mallards, white ducks and Canadian Geese. Everytime he saw one he'd yell DUCKIE!! He really loves duckies. =D

He had an extremely eventful day at the lake, about 10 minutes after we got there Mat thought he could walk on water. It didn't work out well and he got soaked. Of course we forgot to bring extra pants, shoes and socks. Poor kiddo was sitting there wrapped up in a few of Bella's extra blankies. He was still pretty happy and excited to be there though.

It took a while but he finally hooked his first fish. We helped him reel it in and as he looked at it for the first time he exclaimed in excitement "Ew!". Ha my thoughts exactly 

Over all it was a really great afternoon with my family. We only caught one fish but we're happy with our haul.  I can't wait until later this season when we go camping and fishing for a week at a time.  Maybe next time Ella will catch the "big one". Guess we'll see.

Giggles at Midnight

Only my daughter would find the time and energy to learn how to giggle in the middle night. She was being burped after her late night feeding and I decided it would be productive to blow a raspberry at her. She giggled so hard and loud it shocked me! She's only 3 months old, her brother didn't giggle until 4 1/2!!! Ah, the sound of a baby's first giggle. Awesome.

So we're getting ready for a small fishing trip tomorrow. Mat is really excited! He got a new fishing rod and he won't let it out of his sight. I asked him, "Are you going to eat the fish you catch?". He looks at me and says "Nah, I'll give 'em to Sissy". *grin* At least he's learned how to share, right?

Levi and I are pretty excited to go fishing tomorrow. Fresh air, good food and time with our family. What more could we ask for?

 

Tattoos and strawberries

So my sister in law Olivia and I recently went and got new tattoos. She got a spiffy little chaos star on her foot and I got something I drew. I'm not sure what to call mine really, maybe a permanent version of a mother's ring? Anyways I made it to represent my family, the most important thing in my life. =)

I got it on the side of my right foot (Which by the way is super hard to photograph on your own.) The big red star on the bottom is for Scarlett so it's sort of a tribute to her. The next star, the purple one is for me, the blue for Levi, the green for Mathias and the little, sort of hard to see light pink one is for my Ella. 

I know a lot of people sometimes have ink remorse but I don't. I love this tattoo and everything it represents.  It's my second tattoo, the first being a gift from some very dear friends of mine. A beautiful red and black butterfly in memory of my sweet Scarlett. It means a lot to me too.

I don't know if I intend on getting anymore, I toy with the idea a lot and then I think.....nah. Lol, who knows though. 

So, that was the tattoo part of this blog here's the strawberries, Miss Ella has been growing at an insane rate. She's a whopping 16 pounds already and above 95% for her weight!! Not too shabby for a 100% breastfed baby! Go me! (Can you tell I'm proud yet?) In any case she's been outgrowing her clothes left and right, I went shopping a few weeks and ago and I bought this outfit, thinking "Hey it's 6-9 months, it should fit her around the hottest months of summer." 

Yeah my carefully laid out planning didn't work now did it? *grin*. It's ok though, it just gives me a lovely excuse to spend some time prowling my local Target in the pursuit of cute girly clothing. Although I won't try to for see the future again and by things she can grow into. Hey, it made sense at the time. =D ( You know thinking about it, too bad I don't have a picture of the back, it has polka dot ruffles on the bum.

Soon huh?

I started this blog in 2007 a few months after my first child was born. I guess I thought I'd have the time to write about all the things we'd do together. Yeah, that worked out great. 

So it's two years later, almost to the day from that first post. Oh so many things have changed. First off I'm older (and none the wiser) and so is Mat. He's a big strapping 2, soon to be 3 year old. Time flies and I don't like it. (Guess I learned something after all!)

We've had two additions to our little family in that time. Scarlett Janell was born  November 7th 2007. She was a sick little baby from the start and after a short but hard fought battle, Scarlett left us  February 15th, 2008. 

We've had a very hard time dealing with this loss, especially since we lost my mom and brother only the year before.  No matter how you look at it, death sucks.

Our sweet Isabella Olivia joined us December 16th, 2008. She was the best Christmas present we could've asked for. A bright point in a very dark year. As you can see 2008 was a very busy year for my family.

All in all we've been doing ok. A lot of ups and downs but every family experiences those.

Well since I've found this blog again I have it in my mind that I'll have the time to update it often, hopefully daily. I even think I'd like to start posting daily pictures. We'll see how it goes. As my mom used to say, man plans and God laughs. Let's see if he thinks I'm funny. 

-L