Go Ags!

Some friends of ours who are also UCD alums invited us to join them for the UC Davis homecoming football game. It was a lot of fun! We hadn't been to a game on the new field yet and it was pretty impressive. We had grass seats, which are only $10 and the kids had a great time running and rolling up and down the hill, watching the Aggie Pack and cheerleaders and giving the mascot, Gunrock, a high five. To make things even better, the Aggies won! Go Ags!

It was a little strange though and made me feel slightly old to be there among all the very young college students, who are actually ADULTS, even though they look (and in some cases, act) like children. I wanted to tell them, hey, straighten up drunkies, I've got my kids with me, and believe it or not in 10 years you'll be bringing your kids back here too and will probably be appalled at the way these youngsters are acting. But I refrained, so as not to reveal my true old lady status. Strange how much life can change in just a few years. :)

Pumpkin Pies

Ava decided that she wanted to use her pumpkin from the pumpkin patch to make pumpkin pie. It ended up being a two day process. First she scooped the guts out (and saved the seeds so we could roast them). Then I baked the halves in the oven until the flesh was tender enough to scoop out. We pureed the pulp until it was smooth. Then the next day Ava helped me make a pie crust and we added all the ingredients to make the pumpkin pie filling. It was a success! Both kids loved the homemade pumpkin pie! And Ava is such a good helper in the kitchen. She is always wanting to help me cook. I love that girl!

Scooping out the guts

Ready to go in the oven

The finished pie

Ava ready to eat her pie!

Drew loves it too!

Ava's Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Today I went with Ava's preschool class to the Pumpkin Farm. It's very close to our house and has so many fun things for the kids to do. First there is a short presentation about the farm. Did you know that corn is in the grass family? Ava and her class do! After the presentation they got to go on a hayride around the farm. Ava loves the animals--she especially liked feeding the goats. We went through a corn maze (Ava ran ahead of us the whole time), then they got to go down a big, giant slide, and play on a hay pyramid. We decided to skip the haunted house. Too scary for preschoolers! Ava and I each picked out a sugar pie pumpkin to take home and she decided that she wanted to make hers into a pumpkin pie. Which is just what we did! 

Ava and Molly

Me and Ava on the hayride

Petting a goat

Ava and Keilani

Sweet girl

In the corn maze

Coming down one of the smaller slides

Me and my girl at the top of the pyramid

Ava and some classmates

Ava and her sugar pie pumpkin

Apple Hill Field Trip

Drew gets out of school early on Thursdays, so when Faye mentioned a fun homeschool field trip she was going on, I thought about taking Drew out at lunch time so we could go too! He only missed about an hour of school so we did it! We took the kids up to Apple Hill so they could pick their own apples and make apple pies out of them. It was a very warm day for apple picking, but still a neat experience.

Of course, first we had to pet and feed the farm animals. Both my kids love to see the animals when we go up to Apple Hill. These llamas and goats were very friendly and hungry!

When we went out into the orchard to pick apples, Ava had a hard time finding "perfect" apples. She didn't want to pick just any old apple and we were the last ones to finish picking. Drew on the other hand was pretty independant and just chose his apples on his own.

After we picked our apples, it was time to head back to the kitchen to start making our apple pies. This was such a fun project for the kids, and a good lesson in letting them have experiences, even messy ones, for me. I had to resist the urge to "help" roll out the dough and keep the flour from getting everywhere. And it got EVERYWHERE!

First, we rolled out the dough for the pie crust.

Then we filled the crust with the apples that we just picked.

Finally, we rolled another pie crust for the top. While the pies baked the kids also got to make cookies with the leftover dough. Overall it was a very fun experience, and educational as well! Thank you Faye for inviting us!

Ava with some apples

 

YUM! The kids with their finished pies. They were delicious!

It's our anniversary!

Today is our 9th wedding anniversary!

That seems like a big number to me, but it also doesn't seem like we've been married for very long at all. I guess that is a good thing?

We spent the day living our normal lives...I took Drew and Ava to school and volunteered in Drew's classroom, Dan worked from home. We had soccer practice for both kids in the evening and had no running water during the day due to some plumbing issues that we had someone working on. But, we did to get to go out to lunch (with Ava) and we put the kids to bed and had dinner by ourselves-I made Dan's favorite enchiladas. We also broke out our wedding album for the first time in years and showed the kids pictures from our wedding day. It was fun to look back at the photos with them. And even though the day was busy and there wasn't a whole lot of alone time, it was perfect. It's the stage of life that we're in and we love the family that we've created. We have a great marriage and I think part of that is choosing to live in the moment and enjoy the time we do get to spend together--even if it's on the soccer field!

I love my husband and I thank God for choosing me to be his wife. How did I get so lucky?

Soccer Girl

Last night was Ava's first soccer game. The team had their first game last weekend, but we missed it since we were at the beach. She looked so adorable in her uniform, I could hardly stand it! She was excited to play with her team, the Fruit Loops, and to see her friends Catie and Keilani. I made the girls matching soccer hair ribbons to wear and she could not wait to give them to her friends! She did a great job during the game. While she wasn't the most aggressive player on the field, she did stay near the action and got a few good kicks in. When she was playing defense there wasn't too much to do (our team is pretty good and spent most of the time near the goal) so she and another player just played in the grass. :)

We are looking forward to many more Friday night games this season!

Ava modeling her hair ribbon

Keilani and Ava-best friends

First Grade!

I can not believe I am the mother of a first grader!

My little boy is getting so big! Here he is on his first day of first grade:

Drew was so excited to start school again and see his friends. He was really looking forward to staying all day (kindergarten is a half day) and eating lunch in the cafeteria. I wasn't as worried about him starting first grade as I was with kidnergarten, but there was a little anxiety. It's hard to leave your child in the care of other people, especially if you haven't even met them yet! So I met with the principal before school started and gave him a letter about Drew and his medical history. It made me feel better. :) And he was very understanding and even forwarded the letter to Drew's teacher and PE teacher.

So this morning, as I was walking Drew to his classroom I got to meet his teacher. I introduced myself as Drew's mom and she told me that she got my letter and that her older sister has congenital heart defects and has had heart surgeries, so she's familiar with CHDs. We didn't have much time to talk since school was starting, but I felt such a relief! When am I going to learn to let go and trust God? Once again He provided the perfect teacher for Drew--probably the only one who has experience with children having heart surgery. Thank you God for always putting the right people in our lives and for gently reminding me who is in control.

Drew in his new classroom

After school I picked Drew up and took him and Ava out for ice cream--our first and last day of school tradition. He told me he had a good day, he liked his teacher, he liked his friends and that his favorite part of the day was recess. And that is about all I could get out of him! I pray that this is a great year for him, that he learns a lot, makes new friends, and continues to be a kind and compassionate friend.

After school-he made a hat!

Enjoying ice cream after school