Handsome STUD!

Caden got his school pictures back today and they were so good! He showed them to me and I was really impressed. Doesn't he look handsome and all grown up? How is my baby 6 already? The next time I turn around he's going to be driving!

Apple Hill- one of our favorite things about Fall

Every year we go to Apple Hill and have the best time. Everything is apple related and since we love apples at our house you can understand why we love it. Apple Hill is East of Sacramento near Placerville.

Caden rode a horse and Jillian and Madelyn got to ride on ponies. This was Maddie's first pony ride and she loved it. She even gave the pony a hug after the ride.

They got to pick out apples for us to buy and loved tasting them too. Jillian was really good about picking the "good" ones and throwing them in her bag. Maddie liked sitting on the apples until she started throwing them.

We rode The Apple Hill Express around the lake. Caden was so excited for the train ride. He's loved trains since he was one and would have been devastated to miss this.

Then we went to one of our favorite spots for apple donuts. My dad bought a million donuts and the kids loved them. Caden had 3 there and then asked for donuts for dinner. Thankfully my dad sent the extras home with us. They sure were yummy this morning for breakfast!

Finally, we let the kids play in the apple orchards. They love climbing the trees and acting like monkeys.

Our Fall Feast

To celebrate the first day of Fall we had a little feast. Fall is my favorite time of year and even though it's 90 degrees here in CA we still wanted to celebrate. The kids were so excited to do this and helped every step of the way. Caden and Jillian made the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins while Madelyn was sleeping.

Madelyn woke up and they they all worked together to decorate the table. They were so cute with their silk leaves, table cloth and plates! Gotta love the Target $1 bins!

Mom made the yummy Tortilla Soup and we all devoured our little feast. We haven't had soup or pumpkin muffins in so long and everyone was really excited. I think Jillian had 4 muffins and was tring to steal more every chance she got. Maddie even tried to shove a whole muffin in her mouth.

I've decided to try to make more of an effort to celebrate the little things in life and to make the most of every day. My friend, Sadie, is amazing at this and has inspired me to be a better Mom. Thanks again for the delicious recipes Sadie!

Maddie's Got PIGGIES!

Today was the first time I tried to do pig tails for Madelyn. She stood relatively still and let me do them. Then I was shocked by how adorable they were! I thought there was nothing I could do to make her more adorable than she already was. She tried to take them out a few times, but eventually forgot about them. She looked so cute at church in her little piggies!

Twilight

Alright, first of all I just need to vent for a minute. I thought you all were my friends and how is it possible that NO ONE told me about Twilight? I swear I must live in some alternate universe because up until a few weeks ago I had no idea it existed. My sister, Amanda, told me about the books and I said, "Vampires, I don't think so." She gave me the first two books and told me to just try them. I used every excuse possible to ignore them. Finally, one day, Caden was at school, Maddie was down for a 3 hour nap and Jillian was at a friends house. I figured I might as well open the first book so I could tell my sister I tried. Well, twelve hours later I finished it. The next day I finished the second book. The next day I drove 2 hours to Amanda's house and got books 3 and 4 from her. They were done 2 days later. Needless to say, I'm HOOKED! Now I'm going through withdrawals because I NEED MORE! Amanda told me about the Midnight Sun chapters and they too are finished. So until November, when the movie comes out, I'll be sad and missing my favorite vampires.

So this post is for all my friends and family that I do like so they too can know about these books. If you live under a rock like I apparently had been and didn't know about them, GO FIND THEM NOW! You'll love them and even if your kids are hungry, your house gets dirty or you miss a few appointments it'll all be worth it.

Fantastic First Grader AWARD!

Caden was so excited when he came home from school this week. He said he got an award for being really, really good. He pulled out his award and was so proud of himself. School's only been going for a month and he was picked from the whole first grade to earn the first award. He even got his name in the school newsletter sent home. Congratulations Caden!

Tragedy for family

My good friend emailed me about her 2nd cousin who was in a plane crash with her husband last month. Their plane went down shortly after taking off and the pilot was killed, she has 80% burns and her husband has 30% burns. They live in Arizona and are in a burn unit there, but her 4 small children are in Utah with her sister. Stephanie Nielsen was an avid blogger and had a following around the world. Here's a link to her blog.

http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/

People have set up many opportunities to raise money for them and I wanted to share one. This photographer, Jonathan Canlas, is based in Utah, but is traveling to Sacramento, Yuba City, San Francisco, Denver and more. For the month of September he's doing a special and hoping to raise $10,000 for her family. If you're interested check out his site.

http://canlasphotography.blogspot.com/2008/08/nei-nei-benefit-for-month-of-sept.html

Here's a link to the site where you can see other opportunities to donate.

http://www.designmom.com/2008/08/nie-nie-day-is-here.html