Lily Turns 6!

Our dear, sweet Lily Bean turned 6 on the 26th. I think she was most excited about not being the only 5 year old in her 1st grade class anymore:) This is the first year we didn't do something "big" and it took me awhile but I ended up feeling okay about it. We decided that we could make her day just as special without having a big party or going somewhere expensive. Instead, she got to celebrate in her class at school and got lots of visits and phone calls from family and friends that day. She requested spaghetti and meatballs, asparagus, and "yummy" bread for dinner and I let her decorate her own cake. At the end of the night her and Jackson watched "Where the Wild Things Are" and we had two happy kiddos:) Who could ask for more than that?

We also thought it would be nice to do something nice as a family for someone who is not as lucky as we are to be with their family everyday so we Adopted a US Soldier. Her name is Jamie and she is in a remote part of Afghanistan. Lily was so happy that we got a girls name! Apparently takes awhile to get mail where she is and there is little or no internet available. So, we are gathering more things and getting another package together for her. We don't know a whole lot about her at this point but we look forward to some contact from her. I can't imagine how hard it would be to be so far away from home and to not have much contact with the outside world. We hope we can bring a smile to her face and let her know that she has support back home.

Here are some pictures from  Lil's special day:

Things I Never Want to Forget

There are plenty of things about this year that I DO want to forget but also some special things that I want to remember forever. Most of them have to do with the kids but I have to be selfish for a minute and remember this moment today when I got the call that I think is going to change my life...I FINALLY got into nursing school! It has been a tough road and I know it is only going to get tougher but I am beyond excited to start this new journey and give my kids a better future. Leave it to Jennie to make it even sweeter:

I love that girl and cannot wait until she marries my brother:)

On with the important stuff-
I need to store some memories here of the silliness of the kiddos. They are at such fun ages and I can't get over some of the things they say and do. Here's a few...

The other night at dinner Jackson says to us out of the blue "I'm pretty amazing hu?"  Yes our Dear Jackson, you ARE amazing:)

Jackson and Tilly are buds but he can't stand when Tilly gets in his face and a few nights ago he says to Tilly, "That's some serious breathing in my face Tilly"  Ha! Coming out of a 3 1/2 year old was pretty funny.

Jackson's favorite things right now (and for the last I don't know how many months) are: his Madagascar shirt ( I literally have to hide it from him to not wear it days on end), his Buzz Lightyear hat (that we got two years ago at Disneyland), and his stuffed dog Boone (who goes EVERYWHERE with us).

The kids ask each other all the time if the other wants to be "BFF's" and of course the other one agrees. Lily tells Jackson that if he isn't nice then she won't be his BFF or sleep in his top bunk that night. I hope they are always BFF's!!

My sweet Lily Bean drops EVERYTHING and is always tripping or hurting herself. It is an ongoing joke in the house when she spills something because we call it before it even happens. I guess if that's one of her few flaws...

Lily is the first to volunteer to sweep, do dishes, fold laundry, water the garden, you name it. She's on it. What a helper she is!

My girl brings a bag with her on our walks to pick up trash so that "our streets look pretty". Really?? And she thinks of it all on her own, that's what's so special.

Jackson has the BEST LAUGH EVER!!!

I love my kids beyond words and am so blessed to have such a great family. As much as I don't want  them to grow up, I can't wait to see what the future holds for the four of us:)

Fall

Have I mentioned that I love fall? This is my favorite time of the year for many reasons. I love the cooler weather (well, we did have some cooler weather and then it heated back up to the 90's), the changing leaves, the cool nights, and the feel of the holidays upon us. I feel like once fall arrives we are outside more (after being forced to stay where it is cool when it is in the 100's outside), and can enjoy our family hikes again and the kids will have more play dates at the park, etc.
So, we have managed to squeeze in a few fall festivities so far and plan to do LOTS more. We took a nice hike in Santa Ysabel followed by some apple picking in Julian . The kids had a great time!

 

We also planted our fall garden. I am not confident that everything is going to grow because I think we started a bit late but it was fun and hopefully we will get to enjoy some fresh veggies in a month or two. We planted lettuce, peas, beans, carrots and radishes. I wrote the names of each veggie on popsicle sticks and the kids planted the seeds and marked them w/the sticks. Lily has promised to take full responsibility of the watering and I have no doubt she will follow through:)

 

Yesterday my sweet Loni and her sweet Dylan drove up and we went to the pumpkin patch. I told the kids they could only pick baby pumpkins that day to take home and decorate because we needed to wait for Daddy to come with us to pick out our carving pumpkins. They seemed fine with that and had a great time checking out all their is to look at around the farm. Lily tried out her photography skills and got multiple pictures of each animal and one of Loni and I (which I will post even though I look like I weigh 200 lbs!). Jackson and Dylan liked the tractors and the zebra was a hit w/all of us. It was a good day:)

My Little Dude

Jackson is definitely 3 and definitely a boy! And I mean that in the nicest way. He is completely opposite of his sister and I love it. He is is own kid and such a goofball. He will do anything to make us laugh and has a mischievous side to him. We found out a few months ago that he was a "midnight snacker", getting up in the  middle of the night and helping himself to whatever he could find in the pantry. We would wake in the morning to crumbs all over the couch. He is unfairly academically compared to his sister at this age but is much more mechanically inclined and is already much stronger than her physically.
He is a mama's boy but loves daddy time too, wrestling and playing rough. He has grown up so much this past year, mostly when it comes to school. Last year he cried every time I left him at preschool. From his very first day back at school this year, he has been happy when I dropped him off. No tears, just a wave and a smile good bye. His teachers enjoy having him in class, as he would never think to misbehave at school...so far!
My Little Dude makes me laugh everyday and challenges me as a mom. I love him to pieces.

My Girl

From the time she was born, my Lily Bean has been what others call an "easy" child. She always wants to do the right thing and cares so much about other people even at such a young age. We have always said she is an old soul in a little girls body:) She is sensitive, intelligent, and an over achiever. Is it fair to label her as an  over achiever at age 5? I don't know, but so far, she has been.
The first month of 1st grade has been a joy for her and she loves her teacher and classmates. She came home the first week saying that they were "building up their reading stamina" and some of the other kids got in trouble for using "inappropriate language". It is still funny to me to hear these big words come out of her mouth but she does absorb everything she hears. She enjoys "walk/jog around the perimeter of the blacktop" in the mornings and says she is the only one in class that sits at her table during silent reading because it hurts her elbows to lay on the carpet. Mrs Kakacek announced to the class that she would be reading with the 3rd graders. She was thrilled about this! She made a list at home of all the chapter books that she has read since June and she came up with 16! My girl loves to read.
My girl also loved her kitty, Rocky. This past Thursday was the saddest night of Lily's life when she had to say goodbye to her beloved Rocky Boy. He let her snuggle with him for a good hour in her bed as she cried herself to sleep. She was such a huge help in taking care of him the last couple of weeks. We were syringe feeding him several times a day, she would brush him and love him, and Auntie Erin came over several times to help w/the fluids. I guess it is the risk we take when bringing a pet into the home, losing them is such a tough thing but it is also a life lesson for the kids.I always imagined having Rocky when the kids went off to college, he was such a special kitty and we will miss him dearly.

Lily is the best big sister that any little brother could ask for. She treats Jackson so well and spends so much time teaching him and playing silly little games with him. She does have her limits, as any big sis does, and showed this with this note on her door a few weeks ago:

Ha! Ha!
A few more pictures of our special girl:

An Angel named Tara

On September 7th this world lost a beautiful soul. Tara was a daughter, fiance, granddaughter, sister, cousin, student, and writer. She is greatly missed by everyone who knew her and I can only hope that she is finally at peace.

This is one of the last pictures of Tara and it is at one of our families' favorite places, the beach house. I love to see her and her parents smiling, not knowing that these were going to be some of their last precious moments together. I am deeply saddened for my Aunt and Uncle and hope that they can somehow find a way to cope with their loss.