Food for THE SOUL!

If you follow my blog... I am not sure if anyone follows my blog anymore because there haven't been any posts to follow...hehehe!

Anyway... one of my favorite bloggers is Kelle Hampton... she posted some really good things on her last post... things I want to reflect back on, so here they are:

...there is a part of me that recognizes the importance of being broken, of never knowing too much, of being so vulnerable that the possibility for transformation is breathtakingly real. I don't ever want to lose that-

It was her birthday yesterday so here are some things that she has learned... at least my favorite ones she listed:

4. There is nothing so time critical that you can't stop for ten minutes and play with your kids.

5. You can never ever say "I love you" too much.

6. I've learned not to push away uncomfortable feelings. Embrace them. Learn from them.

8. Find things that make you happy. Do them.

9. I like to travel. But I like coming home just as much.

11. It's okay to define the kind of mom you are as you go along. And it might look different than everyone else's definition.

12. Keep learning. Push yourself. Ask questions. Read books. Google topics. Try something new.

13. Family is everything. Family is everything. Family is everything.

14. Friendships get better with age. Every year, I sink into friendships a little more comfortably. I love my friends. I need them.

15. Admit your faults and embrace them. Never give up on changing, and be patient with the time it takes.

16. I've learned there are so many ways to be grateful and to express it.

Vertuccio Farms

We joined our friends Kim and Nina at Vertuccio Farms this year for a morning of fun! There is nothing like pictures of kids in a pumpkin patch... we took these last and Nina and her kids had to leave early as she had just had her wisdom teeth pulled and was needing to pop a few pain tablets:)

Daniel loves the "milk can" train ride:)

Katelyn and her girlfriend Keira:)

Katelyn our "Thumb Sucker" and "Silky" loving baby! We totally lost this silky at the pumpkin patch... at least that is the last place I remember seeing it. However, Katelyn has another one so we guard our last one very carefully:)

They had this huge bounce thing... we had so much fun!

I totally burned my calories for the day playing with the kids on all the fun toys!

Kim and I got on these bounce horses too... LOL!

The farm had a little playground and lots of animals too!

There was a little drama as Daniel was on these go karts and within seconds, he got hit by one and was about to be ran over but I ran in the middle of the track screaming like a complete crazy woman to get the kids attention that my son's head was about to be under his go kart and he barely stopped before it crushed Daniel's head! Kim had her cell phone in her hand getting ready to call 911 as she knew he had broken bone(s) but fortunately, he was just crying because he was very scared. Come to find out that the little boy who was driving the Go Kart was autistic and his mother was not watching him... it was very scary but I am so thankful that Daniel's guardian angels were watching out for him that day!

So, we bought our pumpkins, went home and decorated for the Fall and quickly joined in the Festive Spirit!

Happy Fall Y'All!

Cute Pictures!

I took Daniel to get his hair cut then to get his 4 year old pictures... while we were waiting on them, I picked up a few things from Target.... my kiddos love these carts!

Katelyn finds shopping carts very comfortable... for some reason, she has made a habit out of falling asleep in shopping carts recently:) Maybe I just have had her out past her nap time more but I have caught her asleep several times and it is just sooo cute!

The important thing in the below picture is to look at how much hair Katelyn WAS accumulating! As you know, I have been the cheer leader for every strand of Katelyn's hair as it has come in from her birth and it was starting to grow... until Daniel decided to cut it! Yes, I walked in on Daniel cutting Katelyn's hair... she was so content as she thought they were playing "beauty shop!" Daniel saw how upset I was and said, "Don't worry, Mom, I only cut a couple of hairs!" Meanwhile she was sitting in a pile of her hair and I grieved for a whole week after that and had to daily walk in forgiveness towards Daniel as I was so upset.

The other thing I wanted to point out is that as much as she is a little peanut (according to her percentiles), check out the rolls she has kept! They are just as delicious to sink my teeth into as the newborn days! I am sad to say, they are shrinking by the day though:( Yes, she is still our cuddle bug... she loves kissing and giving BIG hugs... she throws both hands around your neck and squeezes tight... it is so adorable!

Our 1st Family Vacation

... as a family of four!

Brendon and I decided we needed to plan a "family" vacation... as we were discussing it, we decided since our kids are so young and one still takes a long, daily nap (and desperately needs it!)... we decided to rent a cabin in Flagstaff.

One of our clients owns a franchise of Data Doctors and he asked us to do some marketing materials for his cabin in Flagstaff as he wanted to start renting it out.. as soon as we saw the pictures, we asked if we could book a week there:) It was BEAUTIFUL! Even had a theater room!

We had an AMAZING 1st Family Vacation... it was so relaxing... no pressure... we got to work around the kids schedule so they were in a great mood the whole time... they got to run around and just "be kids" so it was very successful! We plan on spending many more weeks in this cabin!

We loved walking to the lake!

Throwing rocks in... teaching Daniel to skip rocks across the pond:)

It was just BEAUTIFUL!

They had a great park that the kids loved playing at...

Every night we would make a fire, do smore's and hot chocolate! The property management team provided as much wood as we needed... there was a wood burning stove in the living room that we loved to light as well!

Of course... there was lots of hiking!

Katelyn thought she was quite the princess in her hiking backpack!

Big Birthday Week!

So, I am almost 2 months behind:)

Week of September 18 - 25th

This week got started with a breakfast playdate with my friend Kim and our kids at Chick-fil-a then it was off to the dermatologist for me. I had my first head to toe check up... these are highly recommeded here in Arizona because Arizona is #1 for skin cancer... yikes! Everything turned out fine!

We went back to Chick-fil-a on Wednesday morning for another breakfast playdate then Paris came over to do activities with both of the kids and work with them on working together, playing games together, taking turns, etc. It was very cute and it is something they do very well naturally... for right now:)

Then the weekend was full of AMAZING birthday parties...

Alexa's party... it was Mermaid themed... pool party, treasure hunt, shrinky dinks (remember those from when you were a kid????), and a lady that did the girl's hair and nails!

Saturday was Jacque's party... dinosaur themed! Tanya does such a great job making sure the kids have a great time! When they got there, the tables were filled with dinosaur coloring pages and crayons....

... and dinosaur toys which Katelyn didn't know what to think of it:)

... then they got to "dig" and "hammer" away to find dinosaur skeletons!

The party ended with a dinosaur egg hunt and a dinosaur pinata... what a fun party, huh?

Then Sunday was Keira's 1st Birthday party at Gymboree and they always do an AMAZING job on birthday parties!

Keira and Katelyn LOVED the Gymboree puppet!

After such a long weekend, Daddy and Daniel "chill-axed" and watched some football before we left for our 1st Family Vacation!

Arizona Science Museum

I was going through pictures and Brendon looked at my laptop screen and said, "Wow! You are THAT behind on your blog?!?!" I was like..."Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"

Anyway, let's get started with my princess! My aunt sent her some super cute headbands in the mail recently and I just had to grab my camera because she is just so stinkin' cute... if I do say so myself:)

One Saturday... a LONG time ago we went to the Arizona Science Center... it was such a great family day... bonding + building memories = perfect day!

This is a total rabbit trail but I was thinking the other day... if I was told I had 1 hour left to live, then who would I want to be with and what would I want to do? I would want to be with my beautiful family... so, since we are supposed to be living like we never know when the "end" could come then my priorities need to be on my amazing family... but oh! how the distractions of life can take us away from our priorities! I think because we take our families for granted.

I have to say that this place would probably be more better suited for an older child when you take into the account the Ticket prices... however, there was enough stuff to keep our kiddos entertained and it opened up some really conversations for us to have with Daniel! He is completely interested about the "inside" of our body now! LOL!

... and there was a LOT of stuff to keep the parents entertained (i.e. laying on a bed of nails!)

... playing with sand, dirt, mud, water = paradise for my babies!

More to come from the adventures that The Wilson Family have been on!