Making good on promises

Back in the spring I did a "contest" on my blog. The first 3 people to respond and repost were promised something handmade by me with in the year. So since nothing else inspires me like fall it was easy to get to work.

For Kelda I made these stacker blocks. I'll be making some more for myself I think.

For Suzanne I made this Pumpkin plauque. I loved it soo much that I had to make on for myself. Then I went and made a 12x12" one with a big pumpkin on it. They are my favorite! I went and bought Michaels, and Joanns out of wooden pumpkin shapes.

And since Sarah moved (send me your address Sarah!) I made her some fall cards. They're super cute, and way lighter to mail;).

I also made a new wreath for my front door. I am feeling mighty particular about wreaths as of late. Since I have a glass door, and you can see both sides of the wreath I had to figure out a way to make the back side as pretty as the front. I wrapped the whole thing in ribbon, and hid the wire to attatch the vines under the ribbon. Looks great! I also made two mini matching ones for on top of the buffet right inside my front door.

I was a crafting maniac this last week, and there have been no signs of stopping.
Today I painted over the mural I did in the girls room. It's been up for about five months, and I'm done looking at it. I've been working on some new artwork for their room. I'm really pleased with how it's turning out. Tomorrow I will make an oversided memo board for over Payton's bed. The ceilings in their room are really high, and I am too lazy to paint a border around the top of the room. The memo board should take up some wall space and soften the area. Hopefully I'll like it, I havn't been pleased with much of anything I've done in their room since they decided to share.

Mount Scott

Today was labor day, and we decided to take advantage of the kids being out of school and Jason being off of work. We went up to Crater Lake National park to hike Mt Scott. Jason hiked it last year, so he was generous and stayed with the little kids, so that the big kids and I could get up the mountain. This was both Parker and Payton's first mountain hike, and they did awesome! I was really proud of both of them. Payton had a little trouble keeping up, and got a little discouraged but that didn't last long and she made it. Parker had no trouble, so that was great! Meanwhile, Jason was with Paxton, Phoebe, and Penny. He really got the short end of the stick. He was pushing the stroller up the path, that in and of it's self had to have been a workout. I figure they got about a mile and a half up the mountain before they had to turn back. Phoebe doesn't enjoy long amounts of walking.

Parker, Payton and I ascended in about an hour and 20 min. We descended in 45 minutes. Payton tripped coming down and scraped up her knee and hands, but she was a trooper and walked it off. I had to hold her hand most of the way down after that. The view of Crater Lake from the top is amazing. I don't think I'll ever get over how blue that lake is. It's fun to be up there and see Mt. Shasta, Mt. McLoughlin, and Mt. Theilson. You can see the Klamath Lake as well. We talked to two different couples, both from Seattle. We watched a chipmunk take a full on dirt bath, he went as far as to use his paws to rub the dirt on his arms like he was lathering up with soap, weird. It wasn't very cold up there, probably 50'. But in the shade of some of the bigger rocks next to the lookout station we found quite a few ice chips. We were back home by three, so it didn't feel like too long of a day. It was a great activity, and so fun to watch Parker and Payton be pleased with their accomplishment. I'm so sad school is back tomorrow:(

Pax Man

Happy 3rd Birthday Paxton! Some things about Paxton from the summer of 2009



*Rides a big boy bicycle with training wheels

*Loves playing the computer

*Is a little scary at how much he know about the computer

*Is talking more clearly than he was a couple of months ago

*Started pre-school this year. (Due to speech issues)

*Tells Penny to "Sit", "Lay down"& Penny actually listens

*Loves Parker more than anybody, he's an amazing big bro

*Say's to his daddy every morning "Hi Mommy", it just cracks me up.

*Loves Diego and Dora

*Loves going swimming

*Still want's to be carried a lot, he's the baby.

*Screams very high when he get's upset, we're working on that.

*Broke our Wii

*Is really great at all things mechanical (he is his father's son)

*Snores, (he is his Grandpa Jim's grandson)

*Is begining to say prayers, love it.

GO GIANTS!

Friday evening we met up with Nana & Papa for a ball game at Giants stadium. AT&T ball park is beautiful. It is very clean, and we have never had a bad seat there. The Giants played and beat the Colorado Rockies. It was a slow game until the 6th inning, when it finally picked up and got really fun. Friday night games are my favorite ones. They're usually full, and everyone is in good spirits. Parker and Payton had a really fun time. Grandpa Pat took them down to the field while practice was going on and they both caught fly balls! That was pretty cool. They were friendly and talkative with all of their neighbors, it was so cute to watch. Phoebe and Paxton had a really long day and were exhausted. The game didn't start until 7pm, so anticipating the meltdown we came prepared.













Before the game we walked all over the stadium. The kids got to go down the Coke a Cola bottle slide.













We walked down by the field, and ate lots of yummy ball park food. The little ones lasted until about the 4th inning. Jason brought in his mini laptap loaded up with cartoons for the little ones to watch. It worked like a charm. When they got too tired to handle the situation we took that out, and hooked them up. It made it so that we were able to sit and enjoy the game, and one of us wasn't out walking around with a screaming child.

The game was great, and since it was so hot during the day it didn't get cold at all that evening.

After the game got out, we left San Fransisco over the Bay Bridge and drove north.

























We stayed the night in Fairfield, and headed home the next morning. It was such a great week! We had a great time making memories, seeing new things, and spending time together.

Family Vacation 2009 Santa Cruz

This summer we were able to go on a family vacation to the Sonoma Valley in California. Jason's parents let us use their timeshare to stay at a wonderful condo just outside of Santa Rosa. It was such a fun week together!
Our first outing during our trip was a day down to Santa Cruz Beach. This was such a fun place. We were able to spend a couple of hours playing in the water. The kids did a lot of body surfing, and playing in the sand. The sand was nice and hot, and the water was pretty great.

After we got cleaned up and changed we headed up to the boardwalk. It has about a mile of rides and concessions. After a hot dog and some cotton candy we started the fun! Payton was super brave and did a big roller coaster with me right out of the gate! Parker is not too much of a thrill seeker. We couldn't get him to do a coaster. He would rather stick to the rides that don't go so far off of the ground. Paxton had a blast on all of the little kiddie rides. He loved the kiddie race cars. Phoebe lucked out. She was tall enough to do a lot of the big rides, which was good because she like Payton is pretty fearless! She was also within the height requirements to ride the kiddie rides.







Somehow I got suckered into going down the log chute with the kids, we got totally drenched!

Paxton got to do a ton of different rides! They really had a great variety for little kids.
They even had a pretty fast roller coaster he could ride on!

All of us loved Santa Cruz. It was the perfect size for our first amusement park family outing. Not overwhelming at all. It was a relaxed atmosphere, the weather was amazing, and the scenery was beautiful. We would love to go again next summer! It's definitely an Appah Family Favorite!

The City by the Bay

We wrapped up our California vacation by spending Friday in San Fransico. We started off early in the morning, and arrived in S.F around 10am. After driving over the golden gate bridge we headed down Lombard St. The kids got a real kick of of this street, and couldn't believe people actually lived on it.

We went up to Coit Tower on the top of Telegraph Hill. They have a beautiful view of the city.

After finding parking we headed down the "Embarcadero" towards fisherman's warf. We had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. The younger kids rode the big carosel on Pier 39. We walked around pier 39, and through some shops. We showed the kids Alcatraz Island from the pier, couldn't do a tour with the little kids.

After a long hot(92'and humid) day we hopped back on the street car and headed towards Giants stadium to meet up with Nana & Papa for the ball game. It was hard getting around such a big city with Phoebe and Paxton. We could have definitly seen and done a lot more if they had been older. We did a ton of things that day though, and they held up pretty good.