Thanksgiving

My parents and my brother came out for Thanksgiving again this year, and we had such a great time with them. The kids relished all the attention they got all week from them. It was nice to have a change in our routine, although I am finding that I quickly get spoiled with all the help and it takes me several days to get back into the swing of things when they leave. Thanks Mom and Dad for coming out and for all the help you gave me and just for being here, I miss you tons and can't wait till we get to see you again.

My Aunt Ruth and Karl came down from Walnut Creek to join us for Thanksgiving day which has become a really nice tradition, we love their company.

We took my family to the Redwoods for a little walk which was refreshing and fun. The most amazingly huge leaves were falling to the ground, we considered using them as placemats for Thanksgiving!

The kids and I went to the park a couple weeks ago and gathered up a bunch of pretty leaves and berries, etc. and made a little fall garland out of them.

Monarch Migration

A couple weeks ago we went to see the Monarch Butterflies that are migrating south for the winter. They come to an area in Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz that is filled with Eucalyptus trees and milk weed, which they feed on. It was pretty cool to take the monarch trail back through the woods to the place where you look up and see hundreds of them all flitting around from tree to tree. I thought they'd be much closer up for us to see, and I think sometimes they are, but that day they were all up pretty high flying around. It still was really neat and I'm glad we got to see them. The kids had a great time hiking on the trail and finding cool sticks to play with.

Carson says...

Carson's been cracking us up lately.

I was eating my breakfast and reading my Real Simple magazine, and Carson came over and was looking at some of it with me, which didn't last long because he stated that "everything in this magazine is so girly!"....and off he ran.

Carson was putting one of Jason's old t-shirts on Livi as a paint shirt and he said, "Here Livi, put this on and you'll look like a princess." :-)

Last night I was reading the story of David and Goliath to him, and after we were done and had just read about how God had given David all the power he needed to slingshot that rock right at Goliath, Carson said, "I really want some of that power." So I told him that God will give us power if we ask him, like power to be patient and power to do the right thing when no one is looking, etc. So he wanted me to pray for some power for him, "cuz I'm a little embarrassed to ask for it," he said. Silly boy, I just love how honest he is and he's been so curious about spiritual things lately, it's been fun to have some really good conversations with him.

Chicken and White Bean Stew

I was going to email my friend this recipe, but I thought I may as well just put it on our blog so you all can try it if you want, too! It's a recipe from Rachael Ray's magazine, and it's warm, rich and hearty, a good fall dinner.

Chicken and White Bean Stew

4 slices bacon, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 lb. red potatoes, cut into cubes
32 oz. chicken broth
1 whole rotisserie chicken, pulled apart (I just boiled a couple chicken breasts and shredded them)
2 15.5-ounce cans small white beans, rinsed
5 oz. arugula (I used spinach)
Salt and pepper

In a lg. soup pot cook the bacon over medium heat until cooked but not crisp, about 5 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes and chicken broth and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
Add the chicken and beans to the stew and cook until heated through. Just before serving, stir in the arugula (or spinach) and season to taste with s&p.

Bon Appetit!

Fall in the Redwoods

I took the kids over to the redwoods for a little fall walk and we had such a great time. We only had enough time to be there for an hour, but it was perfect and they both walked the whole time! It was so pretty and the smell...oh, the smell...we all kept taking deep breaths in through our noses to savor the delicious sweet earthy smell of the damp and changing foliage. We collected some kind of nutty things that kept falling from the trees, and we threw them into the river just before we got to our car; it was great incentive to keep them going till the end! I think we'll be going back real soon. I'm thankful to live in such an incredibly gorgeous part of God's creation.

I just love this picture of them both trying to smile really big!

Trick-or-Treat!

We went over to our friend's camp and ate pizza out on the grass with a bunch of other families, and then we took the kids trick-or-treating to several different homes around there. Carson and Livi had a great time. Carson had been wearing the tail part of his costume a couple weeks before Halloween, he loves to dress up. I made his costume, which was fun, although he didn't end up liking the head part very much, I think it was itchy and hot. :-) Livi got a cheerleader's costume in a bag of hand-me-down clothes our neighbor gave her and it fit just right for this year. She had some little red pompoms and kept saying, "Go Team Go!" and "Go Dragon Go!" to cheer on Carson. And they've really been enjoying the candy from it all! So we've been brushing and flossing extra good this week. :-) Helps that Carson has to go get a cleaning at the dentist on Tuesday! Hope all's well in there.

We didn't get a very good picture of Carson's whole costume, but this is part of it. It looks cooler from behind. He really wanted fire-breath, and this is all I could come up with! He thought it was cool, though. :-)