Catching up...

There are three seasons I decorate for. I decorate for fall with all the fall colors on the inside of our house and in the front patio area. I then decorate for Christmas and then after Christmas I put everything back to fall and then when it feels springy outside, I decorate for spring. It is a many hour process as I have to drag everything out from under the stairs (remember, we live in California where we do not have attics or basements so most homes lack storage) and then begin the long process of un-decorating from the previous season and then decorating for the new season. I don't hate the process but I do not like it. I am always on my own and then after the process is over, everything needs to be put back under the stairs and then a good cleaning must take place. Once decorated, I love it!!! I love each season but our home decor works best with fall. Our colors in our house are fallish and I adore the warm tones and the warm pumpkin type scents. Fall for us is cozy and I always love the beginning stages of our minimal fall cool down. Remember, we live in Southern CA and here we get hardly any fall-- usually just starts cooling down in November but we don't get really cold till February, so our fall is the holiday times. Anyway, this past weekend I was pulling out the vacuum from under the stairs and decided to jump into the fall decorating. It went pretty smooth as the boys were at my brothers farm with Kevin building a shed so it was only Mia and I so things went well. Now my home looks like a fall festival complete with pumpkins and all the fallish decor-- but it is still 95+ degrees outside. At least it looks and feels like fall in my air conditioned house.

Kevin and I are going away for a few days so I will be gone for a while. I have a ton of pictures to post but I'm on the wrong computer and don't have the energy to go out in my car to get my little computer to post the pics. I will try to do so before we leave on our trip. I have some cute Mia in her Halloween costume, some pictures of the kids together and some pictures from the Ducks Hockey game the other night. I will try to post soon.

All is going well around here. The kids are finally into their new schedule which is a full hour earlier than last years schedule so we are officially out the door by 7:15am--uggg!!! I think that makes us an early morning family-- never thought I would say those words. The boys are loving the private school. It amazes me how much both boys have grown in their relationship with the Lord. It is wonderful and the school nurtures it so beautifully. We started hockey tonight and Ethan still has a couple weeks left before Football is over so we have a crammed schedule for a couple weeks until hockey is their only sport (looking forward to that). The boys love love love hockey and are so excited to be starting again. Mia is great-- a pain much of the time-- but great. She is such a big personality in that tiny little body. She knows what she wants and will make sure you know what that is-- and if you don't give it to her-- she will protest for hours (don't worry, we don't give in). She is so smart and just learning away. Tonight she was actually rhyming cat and bat and hat. Rhyming is a pre reading skill--- wow!!! Anyway, we are all good. Sorry for the long boring post but I thought I would catch you up with what we are up to.

I will try to post before we leave on our little trip.