I love FALL

Well Caymus had his turn for a pumpkin patch field trip! I got to ride the bus for this one….oh so fun! All the cute little preschoolers kept saying "this is soooo fun! I love riding the bus! Have you ever ridden on a bus before?" Oh man, have I ever!
We went to the coolest pumpkin patch ever. It’s huge, has so much stuff and is super clean and organized. We first went through a kid size hay maze (very cool, bales are staked two high so little ones can not see but grown ups can!), went to the petting zoo, fed goats, saw lots of farm animals, watched them make apple cider, got to try the apple cider, hay ride out to the pumpkin patch, then a hay ride right back to the bus! Perfect for 60+ preschoolers. Caymus had a blast for sure.
Once we picked up Lucy from school we did our pumpkin carving. I had the kids practice some faces on cardboard first…trying to by myself some time…..Then out to the yard. We had a bunch of pumpkins from my parents’ place that my brother brought down a few weeks ago so we each got to carve 2 pumpkins.
So I am learning how different our kids are from eachother. We cut into the tops of the pumpkins and pull them off, Caymus’ reaction is “ewwww gross! I am not going to touch that! Its dirty!” and Lucy’s reaction is “ooooooh I love this part! I can’t wait to get my hands in the squishy guts!”
So one of them is just like me and the other is just like Marshall…..can you guess?
After a few hours, a few tears, some frustration, one cut thumb (mine fortunately) we ended up with 6 fabulous pumpkins!
I was also able to collect a ton of pumpkin seeds and baked them for some yummy snacks.
I just love this time of year!

Busy

Well we have been super busy this last week. I have been working hard to get my office done! Marshall finished the drywall, taped it and then I went to work mudding, sanding, re-mudding and sanding, spayed the texture (NOT fun!), then finally painted it. We moved all our stuff in on Sunday......its no where near unpacked, but I am at least in!
I have also been trying to get our yard in good shape for the winter. We have had amazing weather the last few days and I am trying to take advantage of that. I have been hedging, weeding, trimming, moving plants, planting plants and cleaning up the stuff that is done for the year. It is looking good, but I still have some work to do.
This home ownership thing is hard work! But so worth it.
The kids have been a great help in all the work around the yard, I had them out raking the lawn "for fun". They loved it, trying to get a pile of leaves big enough to jump in. They are also really good at hauling loads in the wheel barrel! Nice.
Marshall built a chicken coop on Saturday. Our friends have some chicks that they are keeping for us until they are big enough to be out side. We used all recycled stuff we just had around the place, and also a neighbor gave us an old dog kennel for the run. It came our great, and will be a nice place for a few chickens! They should be coming home in the next few weeks. The kids are so excited! And so are we, fresh eggs in 6 months! Yummy.
Well off for now.....time to take the kids to school.......

Lucy's Pumpkin Patch

Lucy’s class had its first field trip today. They went to the pumpkin patch with one other class. There were so many chaperones that it was a 2 to 1 ratio. Pretty good I must say. I of course was one of them. I was paired up with Lucy, her friend Makylee and another little boy Mason.
We went on a hay ride first off, then into a corn field to play in a castle and go down the slide, then off to the HUGE hay fort, pony rides, petting zoo and finally to pick out the pumpkins!
Fortunately we did not have any rain, shocker here in Oregon. But it was quite cold and very foggy. All in all it was a great time and one that Lucy and I will remember for a long time.

My Boys

My boys have been working hard to build an office in one bay of our garage. Marshall has done all the sheet rock and insulation himself, this is something he has never done before and he was not sure how it was going to go, but I have to say I am way impressed! Not only is he doing a great job, he is doing it really fast! Caymus has been his little helper the whole time too. Caymus told me last night, "Mom, your going to be so warm in your office!" He keeps saying that to Marshall also because of all the insulation they have put in. Nice work boys!

The simple things

This morning as I am standing in my kitchen drinking my coffee, and look at what I get to enjoy! This incredible view! I am lucky enough to be up early each morning and enjoy the sunrises. Although they are at 7:45am right now, that is not very early, but I do usually get up early all year round.
Our view from our home faces the East, looking out over our Christmas trees. The fog is usually low this time of year and really adds to the whole feel of the sunrise. I just had to share; this morning was a great one.

Marshall's Gym

Well here it is folks.....the gym. This has been a much anticipated, highly talked about building. We were fortunate enough to buy a piece of property that had a large outbuilding (24x36) on it. Originally this was going to be partially gym, partially storage, boat parking and so on.....well plans change. It is now the Gym, with a little storage, but only because there were huge shelves built in.

Marshall has dreamed of this gym his whole life...and could not wait for it to be finished. I had to kick him out of it yesterday so I could finish hanging stuff on the walls, and today I finished cleaning it. So here it is......home of Roache Combat, Marshall Law, blood, sweat and tears. (and yes I know I am a total dork.....)

Go Ducks!

We have been season ticket holders for the University of Oregon Football for 6 seasons now. We have 6 games a year and that is our special family time. We pack up in the morning, head to Eugene, tail gate, then walk over to the game. We have had the same seats for 3 seasons now and are surrounded by other season ticket holders who have also been in the same seats. Its like a big family reunion every year when the season starts up again. Our first year, Lucy was 10 months old. She loved the games then and still does. Caymus' first game he was 3 months old, he slept through most of that first game and still falls asleep at some point during every game.

Its funny how traditions start.....

We had a night game on Saturday, we played UCLA. It was kinda cold for tailgating, so we ate our Subway in the car, then walked over. It was a great game, not to cold either. We actually stayed until the very end....we usually start walking back in the end of the 4th QTR. But this was such a fun, exciting game right to the very end. There was an injured UCLA player, a fight broke out in the stands and a guy fell over the side wall and they had to call in the fire dept to transport him, people were getting arrested....very exciting! And of course the Ducks won!