Thanksgiving 2012. Yeah that's right, two months ago.

You know how when you say you're going to start a blog, then you do and you do ok, then you stop? And then you want to start again but time just keeps passing and you feel like it's been too long to just jump back in it without feeling like you have to catch up on the last two months? Yeah? Me too.

My life is busy. I stay at home with my three children. One goes to Kindergarten for 3 hours a day and three days out of the week I have two extra kids that I watch. That's about it. But my life is busy.

Last time (*ahem, end of Nov) I wrote about our neighbor who hates us. Welp, she probably loved us during December cause we weren't here! Haven't really seen or heard her since the encounter though. Thanksgiving was super. The weather was beautiful. You'll have to excuse me for always rubbing in your face how beautiful and awesome the weather is in California. Don't be jealous. Just come and visit us....

Anywho, it was my first Thanksgiving cooking for my family. Jake and I made a delicious turkey and had our friends, the Browns, over to share Thanksgiving with us. Lots of food, pie, friends and games.

I know it's late but believe me when I say that we had (and still have) so much to be thankful for that day. We moved to this unknown part of our lives and became grown-ups. (Shouldn't that have happened already having three kids?!) You know what I mean though, right?

We found our own house. We made our own friends. Cooper has never, not ONCE, been late for school. (I know right?!) We bought a lot of furniture (I can't wait to tell you about those adventures one of these days.) It feels so right to be doing this whole school thing here in California. It was scary to leave our families and move to a place where we were basically starting over. But boy oh boy did the Lord guide us right to our own front doorstep. Every door has opened so clearly for us and we have been so blessed by Heavenly Father with the assurance that what we're doing is right. That the sacrifices we're making now are worth it. Although, it really doesn't feel like we're having so sacrifice anything at all.

Sure it'd be nice to have jobs and all the security that comes with that kind of thing. Sure it'd be nice to have nicer, newer things. Furniture from a store and not from some crazy person on craigslist. Sure it'd be nice to go out to dinner every once in a while instead of feeling guilty about the fancy steak we splurged on that one weekend. Sure it'd be nice to take the kids to Disneyland since it's literally an hour away instead of trying to change the subject every time it comes up. But you know what? We have each other. We're growing together. We're helping each other and finding creative ways to enjoy our lives RIGHT NOW. My new years resolution for 2012 was to enjoy the ride and quit looking ahead to the next step. I feel like the last couple of years I've just been waiting to move on and I haven't been able to see the blessings happening right in front of my face. We have so much to be thankful for and love this part of our lives.

Hope you enjoyed my Thanksgiving post, now that it's almost groundhogs day. Here's to catching up this week!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

In the wise words of Mr. Rogers--

"It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,

A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?...

It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood,
A neighborly day for a beauty.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?...

I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.
I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.

So, let's make the most of this beautiful day.
Since we're together we might as well say:
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won't you be my neighbor?
Won't you please,
Won't you please?
Please won't you be my neighbor?"

You’d think I’d fallen off the blogging horse but we moved. That’s a legit excuse for taking a month off in my book. I guess the best way to get back into it would be to tell the story of the day (today) I met my next door neighbor and learned that she hates us.

Aren’t you so excited to hear this story?! Well let me set the scene for you a bit. We’ve now lived here for 24 days. I watch two extra kids 3 or 4 days a week. The weather is perfect and sunny so they’re all outside a lot, most of the time in our fenced back yard. Oh, and we have thin old windows which offer the neighbors on every single side of us a little peak into our daily chaotic and loud voice lifestyle.

The lady next door was out front talking to a guy working on her roof today. Last week Jack threw Cooper’s shirt over the fence into her back yard. I went out to introduce ourselves and apologize ahead of time for all the noise we brought with us to this very desirable and quiet neighborhood. I can’t transcribe the conversation in its entirety but here are a few golden lines from the woman next door:

(about the t-shirt) “Oh yeah, along with a bunch of rocks and apple cores your kids have thrown over the fence too.”

“I wrote you a long letter already but haven’t had the chance to meet you and hand deliver it. I wrote the letter so I wouldn’t come off so bluntly. But there you go!”

“I moved here because it was so quiet and you guys have totally ruined that!!! (while laughing)”

“A few of the neighbors have called me to ask if I like the preschool that moved in next door.”

She went on and on and also told me she’s an insomniac and she sleeps until ten in the morning because she goes to bed so late. I really didn’t know what to say other than, “So I should get you a sleep mask and some earplugs for Christmas then?!”

In all fairness she was laughing the whole time. She met the kids and said they were really cute and she feels buttered up already. And she came to apologize about 30 minutes later for being so rude and unwelcoming. She showed me what the different trees and bushes were out in the back. We have a fig tree, two plum bushes, grapes and a meyer lemon bush.

And also, for the record, I made it clear to her that we’re good people who take care of our things, who are raising our children right and have an outstanding record of being good neighbors. I jokingly asked if she’d like a list of references. 

Foot snack

This little girl of mine. Where do I even start? 

Adele is just about 16 months old.

....yet....she started chewing on her toes just last week.

says the following words: Mom, Dada, Ow, Wow, Car, Cracker/Cooper (they sound the same), thank you, snack, no, rawr.

signs: more, please, milk

Copies just about every little thing we do. She particularly lives for the daily routine with each of us; brushing teeth, going potty, taking dish towels and wiping various things, emptying the dishwasher clean or dirty, "sweeping".

She is oh so sweet and loves loves loves her brothers whom she shares a room with and falls asleep with every night. They love her too. They help her and are gentle with her. They especially enjoy (and she does too) making her laugh and giggle. 

So thankful for this adorable bundle of pink who giggles and rawrs with us every day!

Weekends in Ramona

We have been down to Paige and Danny's twice and love it there. It was a nice getaway both times. They have lived there since May but they're back to Utah for Danny to finish school in a couple of days. We sure will miss seeing them as much as we do!

Megan's birthday

Megan's birthday was a couple of weeks ago. We had a group of friends gather at a local park up in the canyon in Oak Glen tucked in between all the apple orchards. Our friend Melanie baked a beautiful and even more delicious cake for Meg.

Daddy and Adele

Megan and her scrumptious cake

Sweet Adele

Lindsey and Jennie

Katie, Melanie, Brandon, Kim, Cutie lil' June

The cake creator, Melanie and Cadence

Meg and Adele

The whole gang

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN!

Cooper's HUGS award

Cooper's teacher called me a couple of weeks ago to inform me that Coop was receiving the first HUGS award for the kindergarteners. HUGS at the school stands for Huge Undertakings Great Successes. They recognize a different grade each Friday at an assembly and there are two boys and two girls from each class in that grade who receive the award. Cooper was recognized for his leadership, kindness and responsibility. (My mom just so happened to be here for it too!!) Just a few days ago a mother came up to me when we were dropping kids off at school and told me that her son told her about a time he fell down at recess and was crying and Cooper came to make him feel better. My heart just about burst when she told me. We tell him every day as he goes to school to be a good boy for his teacher and a good friend to his classmates.What a sweet boy he is! So glad he was recognized for his efforts.

The Day My Sister Became A Mother

This is the only pic I got of Quinn on my camera. I don't know how that happened.

I have to say a little about Paige and Danny and their new little girl Quinn! To make a long story (that's not even mine) short and sweet Paige was in early stages of labor for over 30 hours. And I use the technical term "early stage" because of how much she dilated in that amount of time but boy oh boy it was a long day and a half for her. When I got the go ahead to make the drive to be with her early Monday morning I packed quickly, got Cooper off to school and headed for San Diego to meet my friend Joni who would be keeping Jack and Adele for the next day or so. I ended up at Paige's around 11:30 that morning. She made a sandwich, we went for a walk outside and she showed me around. All the while she had regular contractions that I could tell were very uncomfortable. At around 12:15 when we were back inside and she was sitting, her water broke. We jumped into our cars and headed for the hospital. A long and painful 15 hours later Quinn was born! I saw Paige go through every long (2-3min) contraction with an epidural that never really worked for her completely. She had to push for a long time and that little girl's head just didn't want to come out. She almost had to go for a c-section but the vacuum, some serious pushing from Paige and clever maneuvering from the Dr did the trick. 

There was so much more that she went through but I'll let her tell the story :)

I was so thankful to be there. Thankful to sit back and watch her and her husband, Danny, do it all together. He was a great support for her. I remember at one point, when things were a little intense, seeing her looking at him to just get through it and I could tell that he was a rock for her. I was thankful to somewhat (barely) fill the shoes of my mother who I knew desperately wanted to be there with Paige. I was also very thankful to be one of the first people to lay eyes on the perfect baby that Paige grew in her tan belly. (You would laugh if you actually heard how many times Paige said how much all that hard work at the pool paid off this summer.) Paige and Danny are in love with Quinn. Paige is a proud momma and I love seeing her that way. She was meant for it. And that little girl, she's pretty dang cute. I guess making cute babies just runs in the family. I think Adele should be a little scared of her competition but I know in the end they'll be bffs.

Speaking of beautiful babies, here are a few recent pictures of my darling children: