Happy Reformation Day!

No, we didn't actually celebrate the Reformation, although this is my plan when the kids get bigger. Actually, I finally gave in and let them dress up this year for the Hoe Down. They were very excited! Baylee was Strawberry Shortcake... or as she says, "Strawberry Shortpants." Which actually turned out to be true since the costume came with tights that were too big, and dress that was too small. She had to wear shorts underneath. I'm pretty sure it was supposed to go past her knees. Anyway, she was very cute.

Jaden was Indiana Jones and loved every minute of it. Since he had never seen the movie before, Tony let him watch one scene from it to get an idea who he was. He was VERY excited after that. We had to turn his whip into a belt for the party so that he didn't whack anyone with it. Not that it stops him from finding something else to use as a weapon, but at least we didn't actually give him something for that very purpose. :)

Hoe Down

The kids had so much fun in the tree house.

Baylee made a friend.

Taya was so cute on the trampoline.

Baylee liked the trampoline too, just layed there and held on for dear life.

The Pumpkin Patch

We had our fourth annual trip to Banducci's Pumpkin Patch tonight. We went with the Karrers and I couldn't believe how much all the kids had grown from last year. Actually, the first year we went, Baylee was a little baby and Jaden was 2! How time flies.

Bathtime!

Tangleweed Farm

We found this great little farm in Tehachapi today! It is called Tangleweed Farm and they sell all organic produce, grassfed beef, free range eggs, cheeses, jams, just about anything wonderful you might want. I loved it. The kids had fun too, mostly with the chickens. :)

It is run by a neat lady who started it as a fun project for her homeschooled kids. It has turned into a pretty neat little business. She sells all sorts of things and sells out very quickly. When we got there, all of the greens were gone, which is I guess why many people go to her. She told me she is best known for her berries and peonys. She had a lot of other great looking produce, but the main draw for me is the beef. She has J&J grassfed beef and you can order it through her. I was very excited to find a source for that! :)

She had the most wonderful garden... exactly like I would want it if I had the land to work on. Big, but not overwhelming. Well kept, but a little wild. It was so cute.

Aubrey liked the pumpkin patch even though it was pretty bare.

The biggest hit was the chickens. The kids loved them, they were huge and they even had roosters that were calling. Aubrey thought they were very funny! Apparently, chickens are quite fond of rose petals. She let the kids pick the petals and feed them to the chickens. =)

Aubrey was a little leary, he kept giving me petals and saying, "You do it, mommy."

We even got a little treat on our way back to Grandma's house... a sweet family of deer was hanging out right by the road.

Yes... that is a skunk. Not sure if it was alive or not, but I wasn't going to get close enough to find out. :)

Cousins

Quote of the Week

The family of God is ethnically and culturally diverse. As Christians we not only permit such diversity, but we cherish it. This is because God Himself cherishes ethnic diversity. He is not color-blind; He is colorful. At His throne God welcomes worshipers “from every nation, tribe, people and language” (Rev. 7:9). His plan of redemption is for the peoples of the world in all their rich variety.

Philip Graham Ryken

The Apple Orchard

We took the kids up to Pulford Apple Orchard in Tehachapi today for a field trip with their school. We had a great time! It was beautiful weather despite the rain in town. The kids loved picking their own apples and are looking forward to eating them. =)

Baylee had so much fun, but got filthy! I shouldn't have dressed her so cute.

Aubrey was his typical solemn self, not sure about all of the people. He warmed up after a little while.

Hudson loved the apples and kept trying to eat them. They did look rather delicious despite how dusty they were.

The Apple Orchard

This picture cracked me up. Reese and Baylee were trying to smuggle out as many apples as they could so that they could share them with their families. Our boxes were all full, so they had to come up with some other places to stash them. ;)

The Apple Orchard

Jaden, Reese, Luke, Baylee, Matt, Aubrey, Caleb and Hudson

Aubrey's typical reaction to new things

Loosening up a bit with his friend Caleb =)

Gratituesday

I have been reading this blog lately and she always does "Gratituesday" posts on Tuesdays. I thought it was a fun idea, and one that I would try to incorporate... at least as often as I remember. The idea is to blog about something that you are thankful for. Not a hard thing to do for a girl like me. I have so much to be thankful for! I started by looking at some of my favorite quotes about thanksgiving. One of my favs is from G.K. Chesterton who contends that:

"Thanks is the highest form of thought, and gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."

I just love that. A.W. Tozer offers this thought:

"Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God, and it is one that the poorest of us can make and not be poorer, but richer for having made it."

How true! I have found that being thankful, and offering gratitude and thanksgiving to God for the blessings he has so graciously allowed me to enjoy is not something that is a sacrifice for me to do... but a true blessing. My soul is fed by that attitude, my heart is at peace and I am truly my happiest when my mind is focused on the fact that I don't deserve anything but Hell, yet my gracious, merciful Savior has allowed me to enjoy SO MANY blessings, most importantly, the gift of salvation. One anonymous author said:

"The things we take for granted are dreams to many people."

I would change the many in that statement to "most". I truly believe that we are one of, if not the most materially blessed nations, not only today, but of all time. However, we are pretty spiritually impoverished. How many times I have wondered at the fact that not only was I born an American, with material blessings to spare and spiritual freedoms to enjoy... but also I was born into a Christian home, and have been blessed with eternal life and the ability and desire to grow in sanctification under the teaching of not only my own wonderful pastor, but pretty much anyone I desire to sit under whether it be online or from a book etc. Do I want to read some Luther today? Let me just pick one of my books up off of the shelf. Do I want to see what C.H. Spurgeon says about that passage? Let me just google it. In fact, maybe I'll check this verse out in my NASB, my ESV and my KJV just to see if there are any slight variations for me to ponder. I mean, it is absolutely amazing to me that God decided to place me in this country, in this home, in this time period in history where I am able to enjoy more blessings than most people in the history of the world could have ever concieved of in their wildest imaginations! This is a terrifyingly humbling thought! I want to say, "why me? I am not sure I want this responsibility. I certainly don't deserve it. There must be someone better!" But, for some reason, God has placed me here. I know this much, I think that I am here for a reason, and I don't think that reason is to glut myself with all of the greatest teaching the world has to offer, and not do anything with it for Christ.

Have you figured out yet that I don't actually have a solution to this problem? I'm just letting you in on some of the different thoughts swirling about in my head. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with learning. It is my favorite thing to do in my spare time, and I think that the more I can be in the Word, the better! I just think that there must be something more that God wants me to do with all of the tools He has graciously given me. What might that be? Well, at least for now I know that I am called to be a "worker at home" and I am to be raising up my children to love the Lord. They are my mission field. I do not want to neglect that for some other "mission" that seems to be more important. I know this is my primary responsibility. I LOVE this responsibility, my delight comes from caring for this family God has given to me. I can't think of anything I would rather do. I just have this feeling sometimes that God wants more from me. What do you think?

Rats!

Well, for those who didn't know, we have been waging war against the rats in our backyard. Yes, I believe a little family has taken up residence under our chicken coop and we've been on a mission to exterminate them. Of course, with small children running around in the yard, there are only so many ways to do this. One is sticky traps. So far, we have caught 3 of them. That is until today, we got the biggest one yet! Aubrey man found one of the traps Tony put in the bushes and was not a happy camper. Jaden came yelling, "Aubrey has been caught in the mouse trap!" I saw Aubrey limping across our yard, crying. I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. Thinking to myself, "How in the world will I ever get that stuff off of a bare foot?" Of course, I myself have been trapped in one of these before, so I knew how yucky it was. (We will come back to that!) He said, "mommy, I'm stuck!" I laughed some more. This time, unintentionally. Before I knew it, I was laughing uncontrollably, along with Jaden and Baylee, and snapping pictures of my poor little man. He just kept saying, "Dats not funny!" Well, little did he know, it was the best laugh I've had in a while. It took a good long scrub session, but it came off. Ahh, the adventures of motherhood.

So, back to MY story of being trapped... I was working one night at Dewars, where they also had major rat problems! They used these huge sticky traps under the counter where the cash register is. (Eye St. location) I was standing there on a very busy Friday night ringing someone up and noticed that I was stuck on something. I looked down and saw my very nice, new Nike tennis shoe stuck to a sticky trap along with a very good sized LIVE rat. Of course, I couldn't tell anyone. Nor could I move. It was a lovely combination. People began wondering why I was just standing there after a couple of minutes, lots of customers to be served and things to be done. Anyone who has been to Dewars knows that it is very tight behind the counter and there were quite a few of us squeezing by to do this or that. So, after what seemed like an eternity of standing still, keeping a sharp eye on the rat and trying to act happy and care free and busy (too busy to take an order which would involve walking down the narrow isle, dragging my little friend along with me), I pulled aside one of my co-workers to explain my delimma. He was able to kneel down and pretend to tie his shoe somehow freeing me as I took an order. The rat remained in it's spot until closing time when we were all very relieved to be rid of it. I really don't remember how difficult it was to clean my shoe, but after trying to clean Aubrey's foot, I imagine it was quite a task! Well... at least it makes for a good story. =)

Happy Birthday Grandma!

My kids definately have the world's greatest Grandma. We love you! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

We love you.

These are my favorite kinds of pictures. Tony doesn't particularly appreciate them... but I think they are adorable! =)

A day in the life of Jaden