Eva and Mo at Bed Time

One Fine Day

A few days back the girls and I had a really good day.

It started with nest building for a pair of salt dough birds we made a couple of months back.

In the middle we went on a short (distance wise)/long (time wise) wander along a dirt road along the levy.

Then we went to the dollar store to buy marshmallow eggs for the nest we made. Eva spied PEEPs and they, of course, became the marshmallows of choice for our nest.

It was a mighty fine day.

A Puzzle

The other day we were out and about and on the way home we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the Sutter range - which happens to be the shortest mountain range in all North America. So we stopped to try and get a picture of it. I rarely take landscape photos, I know, I know. I'm trying to take more. This was a good place to start - it was gorgeous and I thought you all might enjoy something other than another photo of my beautiful girls.... ;)

This was the result.

The puzzling part happened after. Weston noticed something on a big rock just on the other side of the fence along the side of the road. He went to investigate.

This is what he found.

One fresh sparrow, one fresh wild turkey, and the remains of another wild turkey. You can see how close to the road we are - notice sky bus in photo. The road is moderately busy. The rock was about 5ft tall.

So we would like your guesses - or perhaps "me, me - choose me I know the answer" responses to what is going on here. Who - or what (dun dun dunnnn)- is caching this kill of birds?

Geocaching

We went on our first family geocaching expedition. The adventure took us out to Meridian. A small town located on the Sacramento River. What a nice little town it is. So that part in and of itself was enjoyable. As for geocaching... we're fans. Especially Eva. Those sunglasses were quite the geocaching find!.... when you are 3!

Texas

This is a long horn from Texas. Beautiful beast. As I recall, this particular beast was a little shy of me. I think it may have been the children wailing in the background..... We were on a long drive that was SUPPOSED to put them to sleep. Perhaps my friend here was just trying to tell me they were NOT asleep - as it may have seemed that I hadn't noticed.

Buttermilk Bridge

We found this wonderful place to go for hikes with the kids. There are several trails less than three miles - which is about our pace these days. The largest covered bridge in North America is also found there and is beautiful. I have to say - this part of our great country is gorgeous.

Well, I have lots of pictures - but the only ones ready to post tonight are black and white photos of Addie - doesn't show much of the landscape or bridge. Sorry. Check back later. You never know - I may actually get them posted. ;)

Addie Rose

There is nothing like an Addie Rose... nothing, nowhere....

My Favorites

Okay so this one is my favorite. The girl and the photo.

Do you want to see a whole series of them. I love the sun and my little girl. What a great combo they make!

I have a bunch of Addie by the slide.. but I haven't finished editing them. Soon...

Just playing around

I learned how to add textures in Photoshop... and then I also took one of my favorite pictures of all time. Can you guess which one?

Just a few new pictures

No events to report on ... just a few new photographs... to make you smile.

Black and White

Beauty is just as clear in black and white

Christmas 2010

A few Christmas pictures. It was so much fun to put together Christmas for kids who were actually old enough to be excited for it. Eva could hardly go to sleep on Christmas Eve and Adwen is excited over whatever Eva is excited over. It was good. We missed you all, especially on Christmas day, but it was still such a nice time. Now that the hubbub of preparation is over, it is hard to imagine that Christmas was just last week. That is what 70 degree weather will do for a transplanted northerner. December days at the park in t-shirts and no shoes are lovely, however.

Merry Christmas to you all and Happy New Year.

The Importance of Rear-Facing

About a month ago I decided to start the search for a new car seat for Adwen, as she was nearing 20 lbs and 1 year old. How excited I was to get her forward facing. Well, the result of my research did not end with a new car seat for Addie. Instead, Eva has a new car seat and she is again rear-facing. We actually bought a new car, one big enough for Eva to rear face in for at least another year- probably more, until she is four or five. And when Adwen grows out of her infant carrier, she'll get a seat just like Eva's and also face back for the next three or four years. Why? It came down to this for me, kids are 500% safer rear facing. In Sweden, they have almost 100% use of rear-facing car seats for kids until they are 4 and as a result their mortality rate for children under 4 in car accidents is nearly ZERO. Between 1992 and 1997 there were only 9 deaths in the whole country. I found most of my information on this Swedish website: http://www.carseat.se

Now, I am one to get on the bandwagon in my own head frequently, in conversation on occasion, but on my blog... well never. But this, well, watch the video. It speaks volumes.

And just so you know, Eva thinks it's cool to face backward again. She doesn't mind having her legs bent one little bit, even for long trips. That's only something old knees mind, it turns out.

Another note - we bought the Sunshine Kids Radian car seat for Eva. We bought this one because it has the longest back and the highest weight capacity - allowing for the longest time rear-facing of all American sold car seats. We chose this one for Eva because she is already three (and the base of her Britax was breaking). Because of the long back, it won't fit in most cars - fits great in a minivan, but wouldn't work in the Sub, by a long shot. However, a Britax seat would work. So I'm saying all this to let you know that buying a new car is not a part of the rear-facing package.

So, you can turn your kids around when they are 1 year old and 20lbs- OR you can keep them rear-facing. It's at least worth your consideration.

Aarrrrgh, Matey!

When deciding on a Halloween costume for Eva, we came across this adorable little pirate costume. Since Eva likes to take up pirate airs on a regular basis (just ask her to sing you the pirate song..), it seemed obvious this was the right choice. So we all joined in, and were a family of pirates... well, with one baby pumpkin in the lot. It was fun. Our night out was at a trunk-or-treat at the church and then she got to don her costume again at preschool.

Her pirate phrases were funny - though well said - with lots of good strong guttural exchanges. Things like, "swab the plank, matey", or "arrrgh, walk the deck!"

Addie was the cutest little pumpkin out there... now I know there were a lot of little pumpkins out there, but I stand by my own. Maybe I'm biased... but then again, maybe I'm not.