Our Harvest Time Pumpkin

Our neighbor was kind enough to give us one of their pumpkins from their garden.

We don't usually do all the "Halloween" type stuff, minus the dressing up and consuming of yummy candy but we had a pumpkin so we thought we would make it a family time fun event-adventure and carve it up.

Gracie's first time seeing the inside of a pumpkin. 

Ewwww....girly girl would not touch the insides.

She wouldn't even help me get the seeds out.

Her face in this picture tells it all.

YUCK!  She yelled with enthusiasm.

And, the scent of the pumpkin didn't help our cause.

She thought it was a "disgusting smell." 

And, would not even sit in the same room with us.

She actually took her lunch in the kitchen to eat by herself.

Loren worked hard at carving the pumpkin.

He did an awesome job.

His first time doing a real pumpkin carving.

And, our finished product.

Grace picked out the pattern.

It's suppose to be a Jester but I think it looks like a.......well, I'll leave it up to you to decide what you think it looks like.  Grace's heart was innocent when she picked out the pattern and though it was cute so we are going with that.  

I believe, as with most things, it's what's in your heart that matters over what is perceived form the outside. So, GREAT JOB Grace picking out the pumpkin.  It will forever be our 1st real pumpkin carving adventure.  

And, in case you were wondering what happened to the poor innocent innards of the pumpkin, the  seeds were consumed by the hubby and I.

This was our first time baking seeds straight from the pumpkin and surprisingly they were quite tasty.

I think I left them in the oven too long, but all was well and they disappeared rather fast.

Happy Fall

Happy pumpkin carving, dressing up for fun, eating candy time of year.

Yellow Church Cafe and a Goodbye

What a special treat.

Thank you Mark and Erica for taking us to the Yellow Church Cafe for breakfast.

We were blessed by you in so many ways this weekend.

We hope you had a safe trip back.

We can't wait to come to Spokane and visit you next.  

Spokane Statemas & Eburg Statemas Unite

Today is the day.  The day we have been waiting for for a week now.  The day we get to spend some precious hours with our family.  Oh my gosh, the anticipation.  I know to most it's just another "thing" to do, but we do not live in close proximity to anyone in our family so when it happens we soak it all in, wind up the excitement button and GOOOOOOO......

Having family visit is like medicine for my soul.

And, seeing my girl at her happiest and giddiest is priceless.  

Mark, Ericka, Katie and Tyler drove to Ellensburg from Spokane late last night (3 hour drive).     

From 10ish-12:ish they came over to our house.  Ericka and I snuck out for some girl time while the kids and Mark stayed at the house.  They colored, played and took a walk. Ericka and I went to the Farmers Market and then swung into the Dakota Bakery for a treat.

Thank you Ericka

Then at around 5:30pm, they came over for some grub.  

Grace could barely eat she was so enamored with Katie.

She kept hugging and loving on her.  I am surprised Katie was able to eat, but she was so compassionate towards Grace and never complained or told Grace to stop. 

Thank you Katie.

I haven't seen Grace like this in a very long time.  I can tell she can feel their love for her.  We don't get to be around family very much so her entire body reacts to it when it happens. It's overwhelming for her on so many good levels.  Her joy for her family seeps out from every inch of her body.

They played princess and dinosaur (I think Katie was a dino).  And, then some "Poof" game with the wand.  Lots of running around, growling, freezing and a Mark Statema on the floor.....Hmmmm....not sure what was happening here but I know it must have been good times.

Thank you Mark

For dessert we had root beer floats followed by a good old fashion Pillow Fight.

This was hands down my favorite part of the evening (along with the great conversation we had with Mark and Ericka the entire time).

The kids played hard and rough and exhausted themselves.  It was hilarious to watch.

Thank you Tyler.

Eventually it was time to go.  Grace was on the brink of "crazy" as it was past her bedtime and they had to meet up with another family.  

Sigh.  Good byes can be hard and monkey does not like to have people leave.  But alas she is snoozing away, hubby's at a night time Starbucks training and for me, I have a glorious pile of dishes to tackle and I will do it with joy because they are a symbol of good times, good conversation, lots of laughter and love.  

And, tomorrow we will "Yellow Church Cafe" it for brunch with them.

More fun to come.

To Come

Just a preview of some fun to come.

We are visiting with the Spokane Statemas this weekend.

Mark, Erica, Katie and Tyler.

When things slow down a bit I'll write a proper post.

We hope you are enjoying this lovely fall weekend.  

Christmas Wish List

Loren,

This post is for you and I!

Tis the season.....

Time to plan out Christmas well before it gets here so that we don't over spend or put too much into the gift aspect of it. Yet, as much as it's not about the gift I can not express into words what it feels like to watch Grace open gifts Christmas morning.  It's truly astounding and joyful and I want to give her the world.....especially, since we don't buy her much toy-wise during the year.  It almost makes me glad we don't have tons of money just lying around to purchase everything I want and praise God for zero credit cards and only using cash.  Big-Old-Phew!!!!

Here is Gracie's Christmas Wish List

Well, we'll start with what she actually needs:

WINTER CLOTHES

WINTER CLOTHES

WINTER CLOTHES

did I mention winter clothes?????

-long sleeve shirts (5T)

-sweaters (5T)

-Fleece PJ's (5T)

-leggings (4T/5T)

(we already have a winter coat for her-Praise God)

Rain boots

Belt

I Can Read Books (Level 1 and 2).

They look like this.

Anything PreK related

What Gracie Wants:

Big Time Wants:

#1 Bullseye Toy (from Toy Story)

and #2 a Slinky Dog (from Toy Story)

They are completely out of them at the toy stores here so we aren't able to get them for her-sadness-she's been begging for about 5 months now for them.  

and, I know this is random, but she's been asking me for this for a few months now....

Unicorn Pillow Pet

Normal Wants:

Anything Toy Story

Games

Puzzles

Littlest Pet Shop

My Little Pony

Books

Baby Doll Clothes or items (she has a TON of baby dolls but not too many "accessories").

I mean, the girls list goes on forever (lol) but this is the main stuff.

Well, see what happens this year.  

Aside: Mom/Dad....if you plan on getting her anything from her list, please let me know so we don't get double....thanks!!!!  Love you.

My Christmas/Birthday (HOLY COW-I AM GOING TO BE 30 THIS YEAR) Wish List:

$Money$ so I can purchasing gardening tools for the spring.

I want to grow a vegetable garden and have zero, zilch, nada-garden tools.

I can't wait to pick out my own!

And this, is what I secretly want for my birthday-the BIG 30........

Alenta Spa Package (click on the link for info)

But of course they are wicked expensive, so it's a no go-but a girl can dream, right???

Oh yes, and a Red Robin dinner where I can cash in my free burger and maybe a night out with my best girl friends because hey, you only turn 30 once.

Loren's Christmas Wish List:

?????

He's a man of few ideas but loves being able buy things for himself since we never get to.

So, that's us in a nutshell.

I write this so we can look back in 10,20, 30 years and remember who we were, what we cared about and what we wanted for Christmas "back in the day".  Blogging makes remembering quite easy.

WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR CHRISTMAS?

HOW DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL WHEN YOU WATCH OR WATCHED YOUR KIDS OPEN CHRISTMAS GIFTS ON CHRISTMAS MORNING?

And, no, I am not yelling-just trying to make the sentences look different from the rest of the post ;)

It's Official......

.......fall has definitely arrived here in Washington.

One of my top 5 reasons for loving Fall:

Leaves!!!!!!

Especially when kiddos run, jump, lay in, throw and explore the ever changing, ever falling leaves.

Grace and her best friend got to spend half of Friday together.

We drove to Puyallup, left at 7am, so I could train the new Young Life Administrator.

While I did that Loren took Grace to the park and then to Jennifer's house where the girls just played.  When we left to go home, my girl had joy on her face.  She misses her best friend so much.  I am thankful and grateful we were able to make this trip, even if it was only for a few hours and we spent 5 hours in a car driving. It was very much worth it.

The anticipation of having leaves thrown on them 

Gracie's first time holding a lady bug

They found it in the pile of leaves.

Amazing it survived the crashing and smashing of their teeny bodies.

Right before it flew away.

Well fall, we are quite enjoying you.

I was very sad to say goodbye to Summer, but you are proving to be quite splendid yourself. 

And, a random photo I couldn't resist.

I love how my daughter eats raw carrots.

I just buy them whole, take off the "skin," clean it and hand it to her.....usually before dinner while her tummy is starting to grumble. That way she's eating something, but that something is a veggie and healthy and a good "tide-over-Gracie" food item.

Thank you Sonja Clark for the brilliant idea (raw veggies for a snack before dinner!!!)

Curtis Stone and YUM!

Love cup cakes like I do but don't want to eat a gazillion calories eating them?


Here is Curtis Stone's Low Calorie Vanilla Cup Cake recipe as seen on Biggest Loser


I am going to make them this week with Grace.  I can't wait!  I might never go back to normal, unhealthy cupcakes again.  SWEET!!!  


New International Version 
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
1 Corinthians 6:19

Curtis Stone's '100' Calorie Cupcakes

Source: NBC.com

Low Calorie Cupcake Icing

The recipe above features the ingredients for a banana frosting and the ones on the show had a raspberry frosting (substitute 1 cup of raspberries for the banana) but you can easily substitute just about any other kind of fruit. While both icings sound delicious, I think I will try adding a touch of Splenda to sweeten them up a bit.

To add a tropical twist to your cupcakes, puree some pineapple to mix with the cream cheese and garnish with toasted coconut.

Climb To Conquer Cancer

  My girl (and her mommy and daddy) volunteered her time at Climb To Conquer Cancer.

We passed out free Starbucks Coffee from 9am-12pm.

And, we gave away free VIA samples.

My girl knows her VIA.

By looking at the packaging, she can tell you what flavor it is and ended up being brilliant at talking things up and gave out all the free samples before we had to leave.

Way to go future entrepreneur. 

Our cozy little family.

Hubby doing his coffee thing.

Skipping and giggling back to serve more coffee.

Listening to someone play a song, just for Grace: Amazing Grace

Dancing 

What a wonderful event to raise money and awareness for Cancer.

Next year we want to run the Starbucks booth from 9-12 and then we want to do the actual hike.

Here are some stats:

The hike starts steep and continues steep for 2 miles on exposed desert terrain all the way to the top of the ridge at memorial point, gaining about 2000 ft. 

Ummmm..I'm thinking we will need to "train" in the spring and summer if we want to make it up. Then we will raise money towards the end of summer for Climb To Conquer Cancer and go for it the 2nd Saturday in October.

What are you doing to give back? 

I know our family could do a whole lot more.

What volunteer opportunities are in your area?

There are so many people in need and we are so blessed.

Let's take some time to give back!  

Pumpkin Patch, Ellensburg Style

Saturday, October 9th we hit up Dusty's Nursery for

  HarvestFest!

It's held the 2nd Saturday in October every year.

-Pony Rides, Face Painting, Balloon Man, Petting Zoo, Games & Prizes, and Corn Maze! Food available through 4-H Concessions. $2/child + food donation for KC Food Bank. 

Adults & kids under 1yr FREE.-

A Pumpkin Patch = one of the Top 5 reasons why I LOVE FALL!

Can you guess what the other 4 are????

So excited to go into her first ever Corn Maze

Words can not express how much I love these two.  

My heart hurts some times from bursting open with love.

The funniest photos goes to.......Grace & Loren exiting the corn maze.

Grace is clearly unhappy that we are at the "exit" and back at the pumpkin patch.  She thought when you exit you got dropped off somewhere "special."  

Sorry to disappoint you kiddo.  I guess it's my fault.  I let her mind be as creative as she wants it to be-I'm pretty sure she also thinks there are chocolate coins at the end of a rainbow that I know she'll  want to search for one day.....and, I'm totally going to along with it!

Her new buddy Ryan. 

They ran through the corn maze so fast it was hard to keep up.

They laughed hysterically the entire time.

I adore the hills in the background.

Can you see them?

They surround us on all four sides.

FABULOUS

Oh my-the joy she gained from holding a bunny was astounding.

For $2 and a canned good item, I think we scored big time.

What are you doing to celebrate fall? 

Are you going to a pumpkin patch?

Oh and crazy news.

A new friend of mine here in Eburg wants me to take photos of her kids this fall-when the leaves fully change. Holy Cow-I am super honored, humbled and a tad nervous.

I have never done this for any one other than myself before.  

Who knows, maybe this is the start of me fulfilling my dream of becoming a photographer.  Since I was little I always loved the idea, I just never thought it would be possible so I never really told anyone and I never explored it.

Although if I want to be serious about it I have a A LOT of work ahead of me.

For starters I should probably read the manual on my camera so I know how to use it besides just clicking and shooting.  Hmmmmm.....  Need to get my study on.

And, on that note,  make sure you are fulfilling your passions in life.

You only get one....life, that is.  

Don't waste a single breathe on laziness, junk, material things, bitterness, regret, dwelling on the past, etc. etc. 

Live for today.