Five things I'm loving

I am taking a note from SouleMomma's blog here and showing you the things I am loving right now.







1. This is actually a picture from last week. We had a very warm day and had taken the kids to the park. This is one of my favorite parks in the area. Isabella was finally allowed to play on the structure. She really loves going upstairs lately and we figured this would be a very good place for it. She would crawl up the stairs and then go down the slide. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of her going down the slide. I was catching her instead.








2. A salamander or a newt... we weren't sure. Which is probably a sign that we should have paid more attention in biology growing up. We found this little guy under the recycling bin as we were cleaning up after a windy storm yesterday. We tried showing Adrien but he just kept asking us "What's that?" repeatedly.






3. Wood piles. This is more of a love hate relationship actually. I love to have the wood heat, I love the way a neatly stacked wood pile works, but I hate when they fall over. Scott and I had just moved our wood and built a new holder for it, and it broke the very next day. The screws we used were not strong enough. We have rebuilt and now Scott is on his way home with more wood.






4. Accidental forts. I was actually trying to get this blanket to dry today and threw it over Adrien's table in the living room. He hid in there and decided to take a nap. Very cute. I was able to coax him out for some lunch though.

5. My babies. Isabella's first birthday is coming up next week and I am excited to make her a little cupcake. Adrien is going to be two the week after. It is just so amazing to me that these two tiny people are in my life. They are hard work but fun.

**as a side note, I have a phone meeting with the admissions department for the Art Institute of Seattle. I am looking into their culinary program. They have night classes and I so want to go back to school next semester.

Where I'm At

Right now, I am sitting upstairs listening to the quiet that is my house sleeping. Isabella is down for a nap, Adrien and Scott are downstairs working on one. I am smelling dinner in the oven, a wonderful piece of meat... a roast I got at Safeway for $8.37 a few weeks ago. I froze it and have now defrosted it because Scott and I are in the mood for something tasty tonight. I put a rub of rosemary, pepper, salt, sage, garlic, garlic and oh.. garlic, with some "all purpose" seasoning on it. Then I stuffed a few more cloves of garlic and rosemary twigs on the inside just to make sure it tasted fantastic. Have I mentioned that I love garlic? I do. Scott is learning, but I want our kids to know what fantastic things you can do with it.

We went out in the "weather" today. Really it was only just windy, but the weather channel said it was supposed to storm quite badly this weekend. I think we got hit with it last night because our trash cans flew across the yard and hit the slides. We were feeling really thankful that they were empty this morning.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

...right?

First of all let me say I am sorry to my Dad and my Aunt Enes. I think they are the only two people who read this somewhat often. And, of course thank you as well for loving our little family so much that you want to read about us.

Then, let me say that I have been incredibly busy. We went to Dad's house in Oregon on September 19th and stayed for a few days. A very nice visit. It felt so good to see you Dad! I really have missed you and am so excited that you now live closer. I have one picture of that visit on my camera and the rest are on his, so he is going to email me when he can get a new camera cord. But I am not posting pictures today, my camera is downstairs and I am feeling a bit lazy.

Scott was laid off from his job due to a lack of work, he has been at home. I have been trying to keep us busy and out of each others hair with little projects and rearranging the house, doing yard work, etc. Unfortunately I do not think it's working as well as I'd hoped. I was also hoping that he would have been at training or back to work for someone by now. However, he is going to be in training on the 13th of this month through the 17th and then again the 20th through the 24th. His wonderful Grandmother Marcia is going to be here with us the second week to make sure I don't go crazy with just two kids to talk to. Thank God for her! I am really not looking forward to it, as I never am of course. This time it is going to be particularly hard on the kids because he has been home for a month with them now. I don't know how Adrien is going to handle it. As Dad and anyone else who has seen Adrien and Scott together can attest to, that kid is really, really attached. I think that after a few days he'll be fine, he has adjusted well in the past... excluding that awful fit on the street. I'm thinking that having the yard right outside is going to help this time.

I have a few recipes to share later in the week and of course pictures coming soon. We have been hitting up a few parks and doing a few things out and about amongst the fall cleaning. I am hoping to get out on a hike tomorrow before it gets too cold again. Have a good night everyone!