Over the Mountain and through the Desert...

Because, yes, Washington does have a desert.

Heading to Spokane for Thanksgiving.

Not excited about the drive. But I am excited about the food. Mmmmm.
Not excited about the drive back.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so ready for Christmas Vacation…

THE MOVIE!

I can’t wait for Thanksgiving to come so we can finally start watching all of our Christmas movies. That is one of my most favorite traditions of ours. We have quite a few Christmas movies and we watch ALL OF THEM between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’m not going to lie…sometimes we watch a few after Christmas too. Hot Chocolate and a movie on Friday night? Yes, Please. I almost always fall asleep before the end of every single movie we watch. But NEVER during Christmas Vacation. Although, I think this year we are going to need to do some talking about the appropriateness of some of the movie…I still love it.

"...'lota sap in here..."

Really? really?

So, I'm picking T up from Girl Scouts.

They had a parent meeting at the end of the troop meeting so I'm sitting there trying to look 10 years older. Let me tell you, a Girl Scout meeting is no place for a Dad.

The leader is telling us about this program that the girls are doing in January. I'm listening attentively. T is going to work with another girl, let's call her "Emma" on this program. Emma's Mom comes up to me and says, "So, your Tayler's Mom?" I say, "I'm Tayler's step-mom." To which she says, "Oh, I see." And gets up walks across the room to sit with another Mom...

What does she "see"? Can someone tell me? I'm really curious.

Happy Birthday T!

We carved pumpkins...
with power tools.



















We painted pumpkins...



















We did rough drafts first....













We looked too darn cute....




















T also blew out some candles. Ate some chili. Ate some brownies. Opened some super thoughtful presents. Went trick-or-treating. And FELL into BED. Completely exhuasted. Great Birthday and Halloween all around. Thank you for helping make T's day special!

a few greenbluff pictures

T and Uncle Nick





















Could be my new favorite photo





















Cash register girl

Oh, man!

Fall is my FAVORITE season.
But, man, October is a busy month for us.
We have three weekends in a row with big plans. We are not weekend planners. I know, I know, most people are super busy on the weekend and I have nothing to complain about! We, intentionally, don't plan much on the weekends. We really believe in down time. Lazing around the house and getting bored! That way we are so much more relaxed for the week!

Last weekend we went to Spokane and it was one of our most fun trips!

Shane got to drive the tractor.
Enough said.

T got to run the cash register. The. Entire. Time. we were there.
I had to MAKE her take a break on Saturday to eat lunch. It cracks me up how much kids love to work. It reminds me of my first year of teaching when I thought I was the luckiest girl on the planet to have such a fun job. Live and learn. :)

Madi was as feisty and sassy as ever.
We LOVE Kaitlyn even more every time we see her.

What did not happen this weekend...and what did

We sure didn't get any photos taken for our Christmas cards. Which was the whole goal of the weekend. Maybe next weekend? Maybe.

I didn't get the house cleaned.

Didn't work on training the pooch.

NO lesson planning. That's gonna make for a tough Monday morning. Maybe I can Jedi Mind Trick the kids into thinking I've got AMAZING lessons planned?

No yardwork by me (some by Shane though).

Didn't get the list of "to-do's" done.

What we did do:
Drove around the Hood Canal. Beautiful Fall Leaves!

Pumpkin Muffins + Pumpkin Spice (soy) latte = one happy car.

7 Mile run with a good friend. I MISS fall runs along Lake Washington!

Rearranged some furniture. Put together a shelf.

Not. Too. Exciting. But our life nonetheless.