Colorful Saturday

East of Grand Junction, there is a mountain called "The Grand Mesa." It is the largest flattop mountain in the world (at least that's what people around here tell me). The last two Sundays in September are called Color Sunday on the Mesa. We wanted to get out and enjoy the fresh air and beautiful colors, so we drove up to the ski resort and hiked along the cat trails (I'm not sure if that's a technical term, but that's what Jackson calls them). My favorite picture of the day is below.

Water baby

Estella really likes water. From the first time I gave her a bath, I could just tell she enjoyed the water. A few days ago, I was taking a quick shower. I was kind of in a zone, just hurrying to finish when I realized I was not alone. How she snuck in with me without me realizing it, I don't know, but when I did realize it, she was completely soaked. She just smiled up at me and started clapping her hands with the water rushing down onto her face. I hopped out and ran to grab the camera, hoping to get back in time to get some pictures of her in there. I wasn't fast enough, though...she had already crawled out after me. What a silly girl!


Sorry the pictures are blurry...I was lucky to even get these shots.

Something New

I was at Goodwill a few weeks ago just browsing around. Whenever I get the itch to go shopping, I like to go there, because I usually find good bargains and if I make an impulse buy, it doesn't do very much damage to the wallet. That said, I gave in to an impulse and bought three yards of this butterfly fabric for a dollar. I thought I would give it a try as a background even though it is really busy. If I tried it again, I would choose a clothing color other than brown and get that basket out of the way. It was fun to try something different.

Wonderful Weather

I love fall weather! It is so refreshing to have a cool breeze. I have been trying to get the kids outside as much as possible. I think we would spend the entire day outside if we could. Estella is at a difficult stage to be outside. She crawls everywhere (which ruins all her clothes) and she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. I very quickly tire of pulling rocks, dirt clods, cat food, bark chips, poop...you name it...out of her mouth. I am not trying to complain...just trying to tell it how it is. Here are a few random pictures of us enjoying the good weather and great yard.

This is what happens to your garden if you plant the tomatoes too close together and don't use tomato cages...it is a JUNGLE! We are loving the harvest. I have been canning whole tomatoes and also peaches. If you have never had a Palisade, Colorado peach, you are missing something. It is worth a trip to come see us just to taste one!

Explorer Journal

Thomas got a very cool Explorer book from his Grandma Chelle this weekend for his birthday. It has intricate pop-ups, mini books, real letters to open and unfold to read, and many more fun things for a little boy to explore. Somewhere in the book it said that to be a good explorer you need to keep a journal. Thomas decided that he would do just that. He has been sounding out different words and writing them in his explorer journal. You can tell by his lips that he is saying different sounds in each picture. I love seeing him learn new things!

Big Pictures

I have had a few people ask how I get the pictures big on my blog. I did some searching a few months ago and found an easy way to do it. It doesn't make the pictures the correct resolution so they don't look as good as they could, but it is so easy I don't really care. If you want to know how to do it so your pictures look the best they can, here are some instructions I came across recently... http://rebekahwestover.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to.html

This is how I do it...Upload pictures as usual, but use the Medium size.

When your pictures are finished uploading, click on "Edit Html" which is just left of the compose tab.

When you get into the Html it is a foreign language, but don't be scared...just look for this... s320...When you find it (one of these for each picture) change s320 to s640 and it will double the size of your picture.

You can upload large pictures and double whatever number comes with that, but I tried that and it made the pictures too big, I thought. There is a number that is s1600 and that is the resolution for if the picture is clicked on, so that doesn't need to be changed. I hope that makes sense!

"School Pictures"

I mentioned before that I wanted to take "School Pictures" of my kids every year around the beginning of school. These are the ones I chose from our last weekend photo-taking adventure. Thanks Aunt Diana and Uncle Alvin for letting us use your yard (even though you were gone and we didn't have permission)!

Kittens!

My sweet sister in law gave us two kittens. They were strays that decided to stick around her house. She is allergic, so it wasn't a good idea for her to keep them. We have a mouse problem, especially in the winter, so we have REALLY been wanting some cats. I had no idea how much I would enjoy having these little pets. We love them so much. They are so sweet and patient with the kids picking them up and carrying them all over. I have tried to teach the boys how to pick them up so it won't hurt them. We are still working on names for them. So far Thomas wants Tom and Jerry and Jackson likes Dodge and Pip. We will see.

Tried and...

...failed to get a good picture of all three kids together. It was worth it just for these memories, though!


"Nicholas, put your arm around Estella. No..not so tight!"
"Thomas let go of her and scoot over a little bit."
"Not that far Thomas."
"AAAAA!!!"
I want to make it a tradition to take portraits of the kids at the beginning of each school year. I tried this past weekend, but I'm not super happy with them. I think I will try again. I'll post a few of my favorites from this first try soon.

One cute thing that Nicholas has been saying lately that I don't want to forget is, "I want to sit be-next ya." or "Put that cup be-next to me." I love the age of language exploration!

FIRE!!!

Nicholas LOVES starting fires. Ever since we went camping this summer he has been talking about making fires. He frequently gathers little sticks and pretends to build fires with them.

Jackson and I are over the cub scouts at church. For our last pack meeting, among other things, we had a fire in this fire pit and made smores. Jackson's dad made this pit years ago out of an old washing machine drum. It works great! The only thing I would change about it is to have it a bit lower to the ground, so you could see into it while you were sitting down. We haven't returned it to Jackson's dad yet. Every night Nicholas asks to start a fire. He gets so excited. I am a bit worried what this fascination of fire will hold for us in the future. Hopefully we can teach him the power and danger of fire and how to be responsible with it.

How much is Thomas' old drawing worth?

It is worth 3 dollars to Nicholas. This is an old drawing...as you can see by the sun faded corner. Nicholas found it last night and started admiring it. Thomas noticed him, and an old forgotten piece of paper instantly became VERY valuable to him. Soon, both boys were screaming hysterically. Jackson intervened and a very interesting thing happened. I'm not sure how it came about, but he told Nicholas if he really wanted it, he would have to pay Thomas for it. Nicholas quickly ran off to find his birthday money. Jackson said, "Nicholas, how much will you pay Thomas for it?" "Three dollars." "Are you sure you want to pay three dollars...I would pay one quarter." "Three dollars."

Then Jackson brings Thomas into the bartering. "Thomas will you sell this picture to Thomas for three dollars?" "No...Ten dollars." (I am holding back laughter at this point) Nicholas quickly responds with a firm "Three dollars." Thomas hesitates and then says, "Okay...seven dollars." (Who taught them this?) Nicholas sticks with his "Three dollars." This went on for some time with the deal almost vanishing before Thomas consented to three dollars.

Nicholas is now the proud owner of Thomas's artwork. It has since been turned into an airplane.

Rain, Rain!

Sunday was a cool rainy day. We were so happy for the change in temperature. After church and naps the clouds parted and the sun came out. We decided we would go for a family walk. We figured we might get sprinkled on, but we wanted to go anyway. It was so glorious...bright green leaves and a cool breeze carrying the smell of rain. Then, when we were about a mile away from home, things turned wet. It started with a sprinkle, but quickly turned to a downpour. Jackson was pushing the double stroller with Nicholas and Essie and Thomas was riding his bike. As soon as it started raining, Thomas started riding really fast trying to get home and out of the rain. After a little while he jumped off his bike, looked at me and said, "I give up...I'm SOAKED." It was so funny the way he said it. I still laugh thinking about it. Needless to say, after a mile of walking home in pouring rain we were all soaked. It was so fun, though. Everyone was happy, even Estella. When we got home we decided to keep playing in the rain since we were wet already. Here are a few pictures from that.



The umbrellas quikly went from being protection from the rain to being water toys.