Thanksgiving Visitors!

 We had my brother Matt and Reese's sister Cortnae's husband Mike here for Thanksgiving this year!  Matt had never visited us here before so he had planned to come up.  Then we asked if Mike wanted to come over on the ferry from Homer.  He's been on the Kenai Peninsula and hopefully the rest of his family will join him there shortly!  So he hopped on a "quick" 10 hr ferry ride to join us too.  It was a fun time and they got to stay for 3 nights and almost 4 days.

 Yesterday we drove up Pillar Mt but i was pretty foggy, couldn't see a whole lot.

 The kids loved having those guys here.  They always get excited about visitors!  We aren't going to WA for Christmas so it was nice to see some family members.  By the time we see Matt again, Ingrid will probably be walking!  I am very thankful for family this year!!

Halloween 2014

 Our annual pumpkin carving.  Lane does his own now, which I love.  Estelle chose a Tiana pumpkin.

 My dork and the lovely queen Elsa.  This is right before we went trick or treating, it snowed earlier in the day and then it poured, it was wonderful...

 A sweet little chili pepper.  I had another chili pepper once too (Link to Case the chili pepper)

 Reese's work had the Halloween party again the weekend before.  The kids had fun and Elsa even had her sister Anna there!!

Lane's Birthday

 Lane was super excited about his presents this year!  He is really into skateboarding so that was pretty much the theme of things.

 Lane got one of Tony Hawks biography books.  He really likes him, and he's met him so that's even cooler!  (Meeting Tony Hawk Link)

 Tech Decks are all the rage, pretty sure they had those when I was a kid.  He got a tech deck half pipe from us and another ramp from grandma.  He also got a trick scooter that he's been riding in garage, along with a new pogo stick!

 Later in the day he had 6 friends over.  I was a little worried about how these kids would be entertained, but it was a nice day and they played outside mostly.  They swung on the buoy swing, played in the woods and did the zip line.  Easiest party ever.

Lane wanted a skateboarding theme for his party.  So in true Natasha form, I decided to make a skateboard cake.  It was actually really easy, one more cake feat under my belt.

Love this 10 year old boy!!  I really like the kind friend he is and (usually) the kind big brother he is.  ;)

Ingrid 1 month and the First Day's of School

 I was looking at videos from when Lane was little last night after the kids went to bed.  I thought, when did this happen?  How is this kid almost 10?!  I feel like he went from 6 to 10 instantly.  He is such a nice kid and that's proven to me each year when all the kids in his class ask to have him over etc.  He's a fun kid to be around, what can I say!  He's busy with football right now,  just a few more weeks of that.  I think he really likes his teacher and his class, 4th grade will be an awesome year!

 Estelle is really a hands on kinda big sister!  Oh my, she loves to just swoop Ingrid up and walk around with her etc.  It drives me crazy!  But she's only fallen with her in her arms once, could be worse.... AHHHH!

 Ingrid is now almost 8 weeks old, but these are her one month pictures that I sooo professionally took.  She is such a sweet baby!  Doesn't cry much, sleeps a lot, and is really starting to smile.  I think she has quite a sweet personality and man do I love her snuggles!  She looks a lot like Case to us.  I think it's really sweet that she looks like her big brother.  Her hair is quite dark too, darker than the other kids was.

 A little grin as mommy is trying to figure out the poses :)

 Estelle started preschool a couple weeks ago.  She is having fun, some tears in the mornings when I drop her off though.  I think a lot of that has to do with going to bed too late and getting up too early.  This kid is a night owl and she doesn't require as much sleep as your average (almost) 4 year old.  She'll be in her room at 10:00 pm just talking away, reading books, doing her "work!"  As everyone else's eyes can't stay open she is wide awake!  She always talks about her teachers and her friends at Sunshine school.  And... I love that she is also learning about Jesus as she learns her ABC's!

Halloween Week 2013

Last weekend we had a fun Halloween party with all the families from Reese's work.  Me and 7 other ladies plan holiday parties etc for our small little group of 15 families.  

 Estelle crafting with daddy!

 I love watching Lane hit pinatas!  So much intensity!  You can see the candy about to fall out in the picture too.

 Estelle was trying to figure out what to do with all that stuff that fell out!

 On Monday we carved our pumpkins.  Lane did his own this year and did a great job!

 I helped Estelle with her pumpkin.  She insisted on wearing a Christmas shirt that day, it's really never too early...

 Our finished products....

 So yesterday right after school we got the kids dressed up (actually Lane was able to wear his costume to school here!), and we headed to downtown where they do a big trick or treating thing at all the businesses.  Then we went to some friends house who live in a really busy trick or treating neighborhood hung out there.  When we moved up here that was one thing I thought of, what do they do on Halloween there, it's too cold!!  The last few years haven't been very conducive to trick or treating but this year it was probably in the 40's and no rain!  Perfect!

Where to begin?

Where to begin?  I have a lot to catch up on.  I am not sure why I feel unmotivated to keep my blog up. I have always enjoyed doing it and I like having a place to keep memories and pictures.  I think it comes down to time.  What have I chosen to spend my time on lately?  I have spent a lot of time reflecting and reading God's word, something I have relied heavily on during my low times.  Reese is home now, Lane and Estelle need my attention, and I feel like I need to spend some of my time preparing for this move.  I said it again, a move to Alaska.  I am excited, fearful, happy, sad.  I feel the need to purge a lot of unneeded clutter.  So that is where my time has gone, and as you will see by my pictures we have spent a lot of time doing fun stuff too.  I am trying to really be present each day and enjoy these moments I have with my kids, family, friends.

So I will play a little catch up.  Starting with the middle of October when Reese's parents came to visit.
We went up to Julian and went on the Eagle Mine tour.  If you live in the San Diego area, that is a really cool thing to do.  The guys especially seem to love it.

 The drive up to Julian is awesome!

 Panning for gold at Eagle Mine.

The next day we headed up to San Pasqual Battlefield up near Escondido.  The guys seem to love that too, imagine that.

 The kids loved having Mop (Grandma) and Poopa (Grandpa) here.  A little side-note, Lane has called them that since he could talk, we have no idea where it came from.  I will continue my catch up soon!

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

 The day after Reese got home we kept Lane home from school and we headed up to Bate's Nut Farm on their opening day of pumpkin season!  The kids had fun feeding the animals.  Estelle held it just far enough away for the animal not to reach it.

 This was the biggest smile I got out of her all day.  She's more of a serious poser these days.

 Now that daddy's home, the rough housing has resumed.

 Looking for the perfect pumpkins.

 Our almost 2 year old!  I can't believe it.

 The hay maze.  We got about half way through before Estelle started melting down.  It is really beautiful up there toward the mountains.  It was a little hot for going to the pumpkin patch but we all had fun and it was great to do it with Daddy this year.