pumpkins!

preschool

Today has been a MUCH better day "after preschool"!

God is good!  

Thank you to all of my mom friends who have given me suggestions and advice and to those of you who have prayed!

Happy day. 

Kelly

Iceland

Because I don't know if I'm ever going to get around to posting about the rest of our Europe trip in order, I thought I'd go ahead and post this collage that Adrian made from the Iceland portion of our trip.

Have you ever been to Iceland? 

We kind of went on a whim.  While looking for flights Iceland Air was significantly cheaper than the other airlines and they allow you to stop over in Iceland to or from Europe/America without any extra fees or anything.

We are so, so glad we went!

It was gorgeous!!

Three of these four photos were taken at the Blue Lagoon.

It was amazing!!!

We rented a car and took a total of about a six hour road trip to see it and get back to our hotel but it was completely worth it.  

We saw some parking areas off the road after driving along the only real road that goes around the island of Iceland for several hours.  We realized we must have found it. 

We parked, climbed up a hill and once we reached the crest all of that ice and the blue, blue water was what we saw!  It was a neat sense of discovery.  

I would highly recommend it, the waterfalls, hiking, etc. if you ever get to go to Iceland!

Kelly

my first visit to the state I now live in

I didn't grow up coming to Colorado.  

We weren't a skiing family and our family vacations usually were to visit our family in California or to San Antonio.  

I didn't go on wilderness trek in high school although my brother did.

The very first time I made it to Colorado was October of 2006 to visit my friend Emily.  

This picture was taken at Garden of the Gods on a rainy day as we made a quick trip into Colorado Springs for me to meet up with a college friend.  

Among other things, we wanted to talk about our experiences on eharmony since we had both joined.  Little did I know that just a couple weeks after this trip that I would get matched with Adrian on eharmony (on this exact date actually) and that here, six years later we would be married and have moved to Colorado!  

Crazy!  Oh yeah, and have one child and another on the way.

You just never know how God is going to work do you?

I wonder what He has planned next for me and for you?

It will be exciting to see.

So, what about you, have you ever been to Colorado?

Kelly

anniversary dinner

Our anniversary was on an ordinary Thursday but I am so thankful for a husband who is a great cook and can even turn a family dinner on a Thursday into something extra special.  Yum!

spinach goat cheese risotto!

something new

This beauty came into our house recently and it is pretty neat!

Kelly

updated ten on ten

covers from taking a nap as soon as I got home from preschool drop off

Unfortunately I am not sleeping the greatest so far this pregnancy.  I wake up in the middle of the night a lot and have a hard time falling back to sleep.

My friend Sarah's wonderful pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe held up with washi tape in my kitchen.  I love these and I love washi tape!  

I have become a huge price per ounce shopper lately.  Is the store brand the better deal or something on sale or something with a coupon?  Kroger pumpkin won out and I like the packaging too.

Orange pumpkin and orange spatulas that were a wedding gift.  

The leaves around here this year are just gorgeous!  I love driving around town and seeing them all.

apple print painting made at preschool

I am so thankful my sweet boy is getting to have these types of experiences with other kids.  He is LOVING preschool and doesn't like to leave.  We just go once a week and it is perfect for us right now.  

Cookies ready to go into the oven.  

They turned out GREAT despite me remembering to make any changes for altitude.  

brewing tea for dinner with our neighbors

We got a new "fancy" thermostat to help save money on utilities.  I like the name.  You know the marketers were playing to the women with that one.  

So far these first two weeks of preschool, this little guy has NOT napped despite the fact that I think he really is tired.  My friend said that maybe he's just so stimulated that he's not ready to fall asleep.  

Any advice there?  Have your kids done something similar?

Well, not napping does not really produce a cheerful boy and late afternoons are ROUGH.  Particularly since we were in "getting ready for company" mode.  He got these sprinkles out of the baking drawer which he knows he's not supposed to do and then they spilled out all over the kitchen floor and he started eating them off the (not so clean) floor.  

I chose just to avert my eyes and pretend I didn't see it.  I didn't see what good one more time out was going to do for us that afternoon and he was happy and quiet for about 20 minutes eating those things off the floor.  Sometimes in choosing your battles you just choose peace I think.  

bowls stacked up for big people and little people

all ready for chili that I just *may* have gotten a bit over zealous with the cayenne in but I LOVED it.  

place setting ready to go (and pushed far back from the edge of the table till we were actually ready to sit down since that's the season of life we're in)

So there you have it, words and pictures from our October 10, 2012.

Kelly

ten on ten - October 2012

There really are words to go with these photos but it is late and I need to go to bed.  

I have had some iphoto trouble (freezing up, etc.) because of running some updates and doing a massive import trying to consolidate libraries and I've been trying to be intentional about staying off the computer more lately so . . . 

I leave you with a wordless and belated ten on ten with words possibly to be filled in later but I'd love to hear any thoughts you have about what went on in our day.  

Take care!  

Kelly

around our house today

It's his very first set of train tracks of his own and what a joy it was to be able to give them to him and see his delight!  

Don't tell him but I think someone's stocking may just be filled with a few more track pieces.

shh!

Kelly

sneak preview

photo op in Iceland

Iceland was a beautiful, beautiful country!

Kelly

four years!

photos by Rachel Debell Photography

day four part one

I'm finally writing another Europe post!  

We left off having just arrived in Brussels, Belgium, late at night tired and ready for a good night's sleep.

We got it and were ready for a new day.  

Sweet boy ready for the drizzle it looked like we might encounter (but thankfully didn't really), clutching the guidebook from the hotel lobby that he proclaimed "his".

climbing on more cubes, this time, outside the hotel

We walked through an antiques market and oh how I wished I could take some furniture home with me!  The pitfalls for traveling by plane . . . 

This man in his apron was carrying plentiful loaves of bread in his arms.  Such a fun sight to see.

We found a spot for some breakfast/lunch and one small boy was quite happy with his fruit!

isn't that beautiful?

After breakfast we were off again.  Adrian and I were interested in seeing different things and David was interested in playing with his cars and walking circles around trees or lampposts every ten feet or so.  It made for a pretty long trek.

At least there were fun things to look at along the way.

Why go to Belgium if you're not going to eat waffles, right?

We were so happy to find some dairy free waffles at a convenience store of all places so David could share in the fun too.

These were the wonderful Liege style waffles, yeast raised with pearl sugar caramelized throughout the dough.  Yum!  I'm getting so hungry just writing this!

day four to be continued . . . 

Kelly