October Happenings

October has been a fun month for the Calderwoods.

More than ever, I just love and adore being a mom, while at the same time feeling completely overwhelmed and inadequate.  I suppose that is Motherhood in a nutshell.

This photo is actually old, but I wanted to include it because I actually liked it of me, which is rare.

 It's fun to see my little girls become such good friends.  They are so very different, and their personalities really compliment one another.

 Ella continues to be very intense.  She's learning by leaps and bounds, and has started putting letters together to spell words, all on her own.

 Amelia is happy and fun loving.  She has so much to say, and it's pretty adorable to hear her talk, ramble, sing, play.  She's about as cute as cute can get.  In my unbiased opinion, she's the most adorable two year old ever!

 Ella's been excited about being a "real cowgirl."  She got boots and a cowgirl hat, and plans to dress up for Halloween.  She tells me this is for real though.  She will be a cowgirl when she grows up.

 Nana and papa took her to visit the horse down the street.  She fed him apples.  She thought she might get to ride him, but was still happy to spend time with him, ride or not.

 Bound and determined to get on his back...

 Amelia was more comfortable visiting the horse from the comfort of Papa's arms.  No fence climbing for her.  While she's more easy going and laid back, she's not quite as fearless as Ella (a little like Shaun and I- me being more like Amelia)

 Ella feeding the horse some apples.  I think he'd already snatched it at this point.

 I think he welcomes her return... as long as apples are in hand.

 The girls have been enjoying time with their nana and papa when Shaun and I are working.  Here they are with papa this morning before church.  Ella was performing in the primary program today, an extra special Sunday for her.

 Well, at least one of them was looking at the camera

My beauty queens with their adoring papa.

More to come on trick or treating, if we can get around to it with this hurricane coming.  We are ready to hunker down the next couple of days while Hurricane Sandy makes its way this direction.  Already schools and government are closed, so we'll enjoy some nesting time indoors I suppose and see how Halloween plays out.

S'More October Fun

Last weekend we "camped out" in our backyard.  And by campout, I mean Ella and Shaun slept in a tent for all of an hour before coming inside (Amelia and I knew better than to even try).  But it was a lot of fun.  We had a bonfire, s'mores, sang songs, and enjoyed seeing the girls loving their first campfire.  We have to give Ella credit for the idea.  I'm not sure where she got it, but she had been asking all week to have a campfire, so we decided to give it a try.  We had Emily and Riley over, and we really enjoyed an evening under the stars.  Maybe one day we'll work up to camping out away from home, but for now I think that's just about the perfect way to do it, with a kitchen and bathroom just feet away:)  It turned out to be the perfect evening for it.  The weather was just chilly enough.  The girls LOVED it!  I hope we can find time to do it again before the Autumn ends.

 Ella was so excited.  She helped Shaun collect firewood.  Amelia preferred to stay out of the woods.

 Ella loving the fire

 Amelia loved the fire too.  You can see the tent in the background.  We borrowed it from a friend, but I'd really like to get one of our own.  Maybe Santa can bring our family one?

 All the kids enjoying the fire.  They are so stinkin' cute!

My boy scout.  Okay, not really, but he did a really great job with the fire.  And he was very proud of his roasting sticks, although we called them roasting limbs.  They were rather large.

Definitely a great way to spend a Friday evening in October.  It's a wonderful thing to put on your

 "Autumn Bucket List."

Eight Year Anniversary!

To my dearest hubby:

Thank you for eight beautiful years.

They've been hard in many ways, 

but also very rewarding.

Even after all the ups, downs, and in betweens,

you still manage to make me laugh,

relieve my worries,

and remind me to have fun in life!
I look forward to whatever life
may bring us.
With you by my side, 
we will continue to weather the ups and downs... together!

Happy Anniversary!
Love,
Rebecca


This year we decided to go
horseback riding in the mountains
for our special day.

We had a great time.
For me this was a first.
For Shaun this was doing
one of his favorite activities.
Then we had a nice dinner
at our favorite local
restaurant, "Long Horn."

We're calling this one our
"Southwestern Cowboy"
Anniversary! 

Pumpkin Patch Pickins

We had a lovely time visiting the pumpkin patch yesterday.  Ella and Amelia enjoyed seeing the chickens and bunnies

 They enjoyed slides small and big

 Ella went on a tractor ride in a recycled barrel

 Amelia played in the tunnel (Elle too if you see her boots in the background)

 Ella awaiting the hayride.  She was so excited about it even though she looks more pensive in this photo.

 Amelia inspecting the pumpkin picking

 Me and my lil' pumpkin.  She is the most gorgeous little girl and every day gets more and more precious to me.

 Naptime on the hayride.  She was so sleepy, but she hung in there until we went home.

 We went with friends, Emily and Riley, and had a lovely time!

We love the fall and are so excited to go home and decorate with our pick of pumpkins.