November News

Some of these pictures are from early November. A very tumultuous election for sure. Bottom line, I want was best for this great country and I am so thankful to God that He heard our prayers and the right candidate won. Amen to that!!

Missing Reagan has not subsided. I believe grief stays for a lifetime. Maybe the grief bouts become less frequent but when they do arise I believe they're just as profound. Sometimes it's a song that will get to me, other times are seeing pregnant women, other times is just watching Riley play that will make my eyes water. I have a strong feeling that Reagan would have looked a lot like Riley. I can still remember Reagan's little body on my hand. I stared at him for a long time. He's so precious.

I had not been getting good sleep probably because I'm going to bed too late. I like to read at night in bed and even though I do have a nightlight it's still somewhat dim so lately my eyes especially my left eye had been hurting. I can tell it's the nerve. I had been having eye pain for about a week so I finally scheduled an eye appt.
Everything came back good. I have 20/20 vision, eye pressure normal, I'm not seeing spots however the eye doctor did tell me that the bottom of my left eye appeared dry. I asked her if excessive crying could be the cause of it and she said that it was likely that crying was the reason. I gave her a brief explanation of what happened. As for the nerve pain she said that's caused by sinus and that I should go see my primary care doctor about it. Ugh! I've known I have allergies but I have never discussed them with my doctor. I guess I should now. I was also going through a lot of stress and I believe that could have contribute to how I was feeling at the time. Thankful that I haven't had eye pain for several weeks now.

A month after Riley came down with croup he still had a nagging cough but he would mostly start coughing in the middle of the night by this point, which was a bit irritating because his coughing would wake me up. His coughing bouts would last about fifteen minutes.

At this point things seemed to finally start to calm down. I ordered Riley several Christian activity books. A few of them we use as part of our advent family activity time. Riley is actually enjoying this new tradition.

I made my own advent calendar. Got some bible verses printed then glued them onto pretty Christmas card stock paper. I constantly try to make my home cozy. I like to light candles in pretty votives and brew fresh coffee while a Hallmark Christmas movie is on tv.

Riley painted a couple of Christmas tree ornaments to put on his little Christmas tree in his playroom. Right now he's very much into Spiderman so his color choices are red and blue. He insisted he wanted to paint one of his trees blue. Ok then.

Sophie also seeks being cozy. I know she doesn't look happy next to Riley but she also didn't try to run away. She likes to stay near me so sometimes she sacrifices her fear for Riley and stays put in order to sit right next to me and fall asleep.

I think she's so cute. When I talk to her in my high voice she tends to meow talk to me nonstop. I ask her if she wants treats and she'll meow. I ask her, do you like your treats? Are you cute? Are you fat? and she'll meow after each question. She's funny. Everyone here thinks I'm a goof but I don't care. I like talking to my cats. lol.

I've been watching nonstop Hallmark holiday movies. I've recorded so many movies that I missed from last year, it's actually getting out of control, lol!! I still love to watch the ones I do have on dvd like The Christmas Ornament and The Christmas Wish. Candace Cameron Bure's new Christmas movie, Journey Back to Christmas is such a good movie. I believe it's her best one yet. I liked it a lot and can't wait to buy it.

Riley made these two Thanksgiving crafts at school. So cute! Glad he brought them home just in time so I can decorate my home with that colorful turkey.

Have patience with all things,

but first of all, yourself.

-St. Francis de Sales

I gotta remember this for myself sometimes.

Family Current Events

During another visit to the mall Riley and I indulged in some ice cream. I usually don't crave ice cream but I had been craving mint chocolate ice cream for a while. What's funny was that Riley also wanted some mint chocolate when he usually always gets either vanilla or chocolate.
He was so into it, hardly talking, lol. When he finished it he said, "Mmm, it was so good!" I also, always text Jacob pictures of us often. I texted him a similar picture and Jacob began babying him. He's still such a push-over and is all mush when it comes to this little guy.

I really love having this space where I can document certain things that happened in our lives. I know that my kids will come back to this blog and get a kick about the silly things they did when they were little/young.
A couple of weeks ago I began smelling plastic burning. It was very faint the first time I smelled it. I thought it was a string of lights hanging near the kitchen since I kept them plugged in 24/7. Then as the day went on I could smell it more. It wasn't until the late evening after getting home from picking up Sydna from work that the smell of plastic was really strong. We began to follow our noses but we couldn't see anything of concern. Then, Sydna looked in Riley's playroom and she could see smoke coming from the chandelier. Jacob turned off the lights and reached in one of the glass shades and found a melted foam block. Oh my gosh! So relieved Sydna discovered where the smell was coming from. Things could have been a lot worse.
I remember Riley playing in his playroom the night before, throwing up blocks ... having fun making a mess but it never crossed my mind that one could end up inside one of the light glass shades. Phew!

Riley and I enjoy crafting so we continued with Christmas craft making almost every week in December. Aside from the bonding time we get when crafting it also helps to forget your worries or other pending chores for a while and makes time go by a bit faster and that's wonderful.

I'm not really into make-up. I'm a simple girl that likes the natural look overall. I only wear eyeliner and lipstick and every now and then apply some mascara. I've had a red lipstick for a while so several weeks ago I decided to change my look a little. Jacob likes how red lipstick looks on me. I like it but I don't think I would want to use red lipstick year round. I prefer the mocha tones better, the softer chocolate hues. Anyway, apparently my sister also likes the way red lipstick looks on me. I received a package in the mail with a red lipstick inside. At first I thought it was lipgloss. I applied some on and it shocked me a little because this lipstick went on super deep red and at first it went on wet but it quickly dried up and had a nice matte red look to it. Wow! But I have to be careful when I apply this lipstick because once it goes on and dries it's almost impossible to remove/correct if you accidentally apply it uneven.
See, my sister is super sweet. I went to the Lime Crime website to check out more shades and saw how much these cost. I about fainted to see that these lipsticks cost $20. I would never buy a lipstick worth that much. When it comes to make-up I'm a tight wad.  I really liked the inside of the box though. It's pretty.

I sometimes wonder if there's anyone out there that likes to change their routes when it comes to driving. I become bored of always doing something the same way over and over and that also goes with the roads I take on a regular basis. The route I take to Sydna's work had started to bore me so I changed my route. I took the steep hill down which passes through crop fields. Just looking at this scene helped brighten my mood. The cloudy blue/gray sky and the brown of the naked trees was really a sight. I think it looks very pretty.

For the past month Riley's pretend play has really become apparent. He does it more often. It's really cute to see. Although I have to say that pretend play is my least favorite kind of play. My sister had mailed him a couple of gauze packages so he could use on his stuffed animals. I remember just staring at him and watch him gauze up arms and legs.

He was really taking the role of Doctor very seriously. That sparked an idea on what to get him for Christmas. Whenever we would call him Doctor Riley he would smile and give us a look of pride. I think he liked the way that sounded.

And whenever I can I like to take pictures with this old lady. I know she doesn't like to take pictures. She always turns away when I'm about to take one so I found a way to keep her from looking away ... scratching under her chin. She loves that! and she kept her gaze on my phone, lol.

Every time I show Jacob a picture of Libby he rolls his eyes and says not to waste his time. Lol! He's so mean!!

Simple Pleasures

Well, Fall has arrived. I really like to see the changing leaves. I've come to the conclusion that my favorite Fall leaf color are the yellow ones even though the reds are gorgeous too but the yellow seem gentler and just speak hope to me.
I can't believe Fall is here though. I can't believe that in three months the year will be over. At the end of November it'll be a year since I came down with anxiety & depression ... this part went by a little slow for me. I'm still on medication for it but I am hoping to wean off it in the near future. God willing.

The days are crisp and at times chilly. Occasionally, we've had days in the low 70's but the temps quickly drop back into the 60's which feels nice. Crisp weather has us craving more coffee; a peppermint white chocolate mocha for me and a pumpkin spice latte for Jacob ... oh, and upon Riley's request he wanted me to also say that he likes a kids hot chocolate, lol.

Like I posted several weeks back, the milk chocolate from Seattle Chocolates brand is so darn good, very creamy. I'm assuming that they change their chocolate wrappers often. Once Labor Day past I noticed halloween wrappers on their chocolates. I bought myself one and got Jacob the milk chocolate with pumpkin spice. You guys should really give these a try, just go to Seattle chocolates.com online and order.

My sister loves Riley's crafts so knowing we would be making halloween crafts she asked us if we could send a few of his crafts to her. Riley loves to work on crafts so it was easy to get him to do several crafts at once.

Not sure how Riley can play the Wii laying like this let alone be comfortable, and Jacob didn't seemed to mind either.

It occurred to me that we hadn't been to the farmers market yet so two weekends ago we finally went. I was bummed that the mexican food stand wasn't there. We went to the information stand and asked about it and we were told that they hadn't been to the market all summer long. Oh well. Jacob got me caramel kettle korn and we headed over to the pier. So pretty. I love to stare out at the water.

Since our initial plan to eat at the farmers market didn't work out we then went to a BBQ joint that Jacob had been wanting to go to for some time. Unfortunately, we both agreed that even Famous Dave's pulled pork and brisket sandwiches were tastier. We did notice that most people here were getting their pork ribs so maybe that's their specialty.

Riley enjoyed the complimentary ice cream cone he got. It was actually pretty good. On to continue our search for good BBQ.

Delightful Happenings

The week of July 20th was a lot cooler and mostly cloudy ... what a welcoming break from the heat. The entire week I was in the mood to listen to Christmas music. I love that feeling we get when we listen to Christmas carols. That's a sure way to feel happy. I love that. It's like a free prescription we get from our Healer. That is amazing to me.

You're all aware that my sister and parents constantly spoil the kids especially Riley since he's the baby of the family. Several years ago when we vacationed back home my dad loaned Riley his binoculars. Well, Riley thought they were so cool. Since I'm not big on toys I always seem to forget to buy him any ... or at least every now and then. My sister Claudia ordered a pair for him. He was so happy when he opened the package. They are toy binoculars so they don't zoom or focus but it doesn't matter ... he immediately wanted to go outside to look for birds. He was so excited!

This is how I like to eat my oatmeal. The raspberries were a little tart but the blueberries were so sweet, so good! I'll just stick to the blueberries from now on.

Doesn't Libby look super comfortable? Since it was chilly this week she decided to hop on Sydna's bed. She had been spending her time sleeping on the cool floor since it's been so hot but once the weather changes her poor brittle bones can't handle the cold anymore. Aw, my girl is old.

And when there's a chill in the air what's the best kind of food? Comfort food, Mexican style!! So I made pozole! Ever since I learned how to make it, I've been making it every three months. We all love it but Nathan asks for it the most. I don't make it often because I don't want to get burned out of it. It is too delicious for that to happen.

For our Wednesday evening date we walked a different part of W Seattle. Still along the water though, how can I not?!

We decided that it would be fun to go tidepooling. It is such a relaxing activity to engage in.

We came across this little guy ....

... and this little guy.

These two were trying to catch a baby crab. These decapods are quick!

I love to expose Riley to all types of living creatures. It helps a child to be responsible, caring and smart plus interacting with animals is fun even if sometimes we only get to enjoy them from afar {like at the zoo}.

To add a bit of variety to his never ending self-imposed routine we engaged in a home activity, crafting. I chose to do a craft that represents the season we're in, Summer. So upon looking online and finally coming across a craft that I knew we had all the materials for I chose to do this sun craft. The smile was supposed to have been done with a black marker but I used black beans for a smile instead. It sure kept him busy a little longer {that was the idea, Ha!}

It turned out pretty cool. Riley helped cut the triangles to make the sun rays and he painted the entire plate by himself.

Every once in a while we eat whatever leftovers we have in the fridge and when that happens we usually have a lot of leftover food but, I wasn't craving any so I was gonna make myself oatmeal for dinner. Well, when Jacob got home he pulled out a plastic bag from his lunch bag and told me to open it. I was all weirded out because this hardly ever happens so I opened it and saw two cooked crabs in there. I smiled SO big I was a bit embarrassed. What an awesome surprise! I broke it apart and steamed it for a while to warm it up. Boy, I sure enjoyed it! I sure LOVE crab!!!

Ok, so we've made several dishes from recipes I've gotten from Pinterest. Thankfully the several dishes we've made have turned out super good. The other day I wanted to make something to hold us over while dinner was cooking so I made cheesy bacon oven chips. I cut up two russet potatoes into rounds. Boiled them for five minutes. Then I placed them on a baking sheet. Sprinkled salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkled cheddar and jack cheese {next time I'm adding more cheese} and cooked bacon. Baked for 12-14 minutes {375 degrees} until the cheese is melted and bubbly. The recipe calls for chipotle ranch dipping sauce but I'm not a big fan of chipotle flavor so we ate these with ranch dressing and we also tried them with sour cream, they taste good either way. I can't decide which one I like best, sour cream or ranch. Anyway, this is a quick appetizer to make and I was so proud of myself that it looked decent and tasted yummy!

Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving, 

turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.

A Woman Resolved

I love air mail.
You know what it really means: that someone took a few minutes of their time from their sometimes "busy" schedule to let you know you're thought of. That is truly a great gift to give someone. So when we began to get Thanksgiving cards from loved ones in the mail that made my heart extra happy.

Back, sometime in the Spring I began reading The Resolution for Women. Well, I finally finished it. Yep, it took me this long. I was actually reading three books at the time so whenever I could I read a couple of paragraphs and up to a couple of pages. I like to underline things that stand out to me then I write them down in my devotional binder. I've got a lot of writing to do.

When I first became a mom I never envisioned myself as the "cool" mom and most definitely didn't want to be a friend to my children ... at least not yet, once they were older {as in young adult} then yes.
Even though I believed in God and tried to do the right thing, I wasn't religious/spiritual when I first became a mother. But, now for the past maybe five years my way of thinking changed rapidly and I knew how important it is to raise our children in a Christian home ... to not only know that God exist but to know about God and to live a life that honors Him. Boy, my thinking has changed a lot. Of course, for the better. I believe I'm a better person because I chose to open my mind to His teachings.

The section that I highlighted resonated with how I strive to live my life. Every day I tell myself not to complain too much about petty stuff. Some days I do better than others ... I guess it depends if I'm being hormonal and have a short fuse but I'm slowly getting better. I know I've written before about my household responsibilities. In the beginning of my married life I did complain. My mentality was, everything should be 50/50 with things to do around the house ... but that kind of thinking is wrong.

Now, I do things because of love and because I want my husband and kids to have a comfortable, clean, humble, beautiful home to come home to. Even on days that there's toys all over the floor the house is still clean. I never let the dishes pile up or let the dirty laundry pile up either. I split up my chores. There's days when I do two of my responsibilities {not including dinner}, then there's other days where I don't do anything. I get to do whatever I want like read a book, crochet or just watch a movie. I try to change it up a little so I wont get bored and that really helps me to do my responsibilities with a happy grateful heart.
I'm not known to sugar coat things or to paint a pretty picture of the way my real life is. Of course, I don't share every personal thing on this blog but I do share a lot and it is all honest. So when I say that I enjoy doing laundry, or reading and even making dinner -I truly mean it.

I want my kids to enjoy doing housework or anything honorable they set their minds to ... that with hard work they will enjoy the fruits of their labor. A woman resolved should want to have a clean cozy home their family comes home to.


Kids love paint. I gave Riley several white pieces of paper and had him paint them how ever he wanted. He patiently waited for them to dry and once they did I traced both his hands for a project I had in mind.

With the left over painted paper I drew different shapes and had him cut them out. I was so amazed at how good he cut the circle. I didn't help him at all. I praised him the entire time. You should have seen his face, he was smiling from cheek to cheek.

The project I wanted to do with him was to make a turkey hand print art. He was cracking up while we were working on these. He probably thought they were funny looking.

Do you have a least favorite meal time? Mine is lunch. I am NOT a fan of lunch. A couple of weeks ago I bought a variety of nuts. I had been eating walnuts like crazy which is weird because I'm really not a huge fan of nuts. So for like three days in a row this was my lunch ... walnuts and apple slices. The honey crisp apple is so delicious, my goodness, it's super sweet!!! {breakfast is too delicious to not like ... and if it includes bacon then I'm in heaven}

oh, look. Isn't this cute?!

Live into this season, accepting the limitations and learn to see each season as something God designed for a purpose. Don't try to rush life or push your children to develop or be independent too early. 

This season is from God to slow you down, to train you to be more humble, more in the moment, more patient -- to build the very character of Christ into the deep places of your heart. Learn and don't resist what He has built into this season and even though you will always feel exhausted, your heart will be more at peace, happier, if you know it has a purpose.

Each season requires a different kind of energy for us as moms. Learning to see God's design in all the stages, gives meaning to the journey. 

Learn to see each day as a gift.

Riley Lately

When it comes to crafts I am the worst procrastinator ever. I'm constantly looking up crafts for Riley and me to do but getting the supplies and sitting down to actually do them is the part I'm not giddy about ... but once I have all the supplies and everything is set out and we begin to work on our project it is actually quite fun. That's when I get probably even more excited than Riley and even during those times when Riley would rather paint his hands instead of what he's suppose to do I still continue to work on my project until it is finished.

Riley is so very active and doing crafts is a perfect way to slow him down which allows me to take in a breather, even if I'm doing crafts too. It's a win win.

Since the weather got cold Libby is more than likely to be found laying on someone's bed. She prefers Sydna's bed but the other day I found her in Nathan's room.
One day last week as I was coming out of my bathroom and I was almost out of my bedroom I took a double glance at my bed and noticed she was laying there. We talk to her all the time so I asked her, "what are you doing here?" ... she just looked at me and squinted her little eyes at me and laid her head down. Pets are too cute. They think they're human.

Sydna's school has lots of Fally trees. Most of them are in full color except a handful of them. It's a good thing because that means I get to enjoy Fall a little longer while the lingering ones take their time in turning.
Riley will constantly say, "I see Fall", meaning the changing of the leaves. I love the way he expresses himself. I am always telling him that mommy loves Fall and how beautiful the trees look. He'll then say, "yes, they are beautiful". Then he begins to name all the colors that he sees.

I had to go to Wal-mart one day last week and Sydna and Riley wanted to check out the Halloween isle. When I came by I found them with ugly masks on.

We were watching Gremlins one day and Riley began laughing hard on the scene where Gizmo is driving a toy car. It cracked me up too.

Asleep for the night. Even though he's not looking much like a toddler these days he sometimes still likes falling asleep while being held. That's so sweet!

I went to Kohls and even though we should always expect rain here I still don't always carry an umbrella with me whenever it is cloudy. When we were about to walk out I could see that it was raining pretty hard. We waited a couple of minutes but then decided to give it a go. I told Riley that we needed to walk very fast. Oh, he was more than happy to please his momma. He thought it was a game and was laughing all the way to my truck.

Can't really tell but we got pretty wet.

After we were done running errands we had lunch at Panda Express. Again, Riley will only eat noodles so this time I brought him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from home so he could get full. I tried my best to remove all of the bean sprouts, cabbage and onion but I missed some small pieces. Well, next thing I know Riley had a serious look on his face and I saw him gag once. I told him it was ok and to spit his food onto the side of the plate. He got grossed out from a tiny piece of cabbage that I missed. Geez Louise!! He drank some water and was fine and after I meticulously removed all the veggies from his noodles he continued to eat like nothing happened.
*I took this picture before the gagging incident.

I just can't believe my kid ate a pb&j sandwich at a chinese food restaurant.
It is what it is. My kids gotta eat. But oh, he's missing out on some delicious orange chicken!

I was in search of those white tiny pumpkins so I went to a local farm stand to get some. We walked around the store and came across some pretty big pumpkins. They were selling them for .30 cents a lbs. We've never carved a huge pumpkin like the ones here. I would like to try it one time but I'm sure it's gotta be ten times more tedious to work on than the medium size pumpkins we always get. I definitely will need the right tools for such a big job. Maybe we'll try it at some point.

I am SO glad Riley likes beans. Given we're hispanic and we're constantly eating mexican food it would have really been a bummer if he didn't like beans or tortillas. I cook my beans from scratch. No can pinto beans here. He has eaten two bean burritos before. Happy because beans are so good for you.

I hate that this picture is blurry but I wanted to post it anyway because Riley LOVES to pretend. We were watching the first Percy Jackson and Riley loves to pretend he's him. Just before this scene came on Riley ran to his playroom to retrieve his sword. He's got the stance perfect too! I actually like this movie a lot. I like it better than the second one.

Here he is again ... acting like Percy when he was controlling the water {because that's his power. He's Poseidon's son} with his mind.

It's a lot of fun to watch him pretend play.