Thankful - Part 1

Thanksgiving Day, Derek, Michelyn and Joseph headed down to San Clemente for a day of feasting with family.

Joseph keeps himself busy on the long car ride

2010 First Snow - 11/21/10

Time for the annual first snow pictures! Seems like the snow came early this year :)
Another winter wonderland scene!

Joseph Turns 10!!! - Part 3 - Big Bear

Birthday weekend continued up at Big Bear! Another great visit to the cabin and Joseph's first.
He was stoked to have a visit from my folks waiting for him. He could barely wait until we brought in all of our stuff and then he ripped into the present and proceeded to play with the Legos for the next 2 hours!

Joseph and I (Michelyn) decided to go for a horseback ride - Joseph had never actually ridden a horse before, so he started off a bit nervous but by the end thought it was fabulous :)

Joseph and DeeDee his horse (mine was named Bebe)

Joseph Turns 10!!! - Part 2 - The Party

Party day finally came!

Joseph's friend, Jonathan, came over and Joseph was so happy to have a good friend from school at the house.

Present time :)

Joseph was so glad that Peter & Araceli could come to the party. They also brought one of their daughters, Paola, and a cousin Pablo. Peter and Ara are wonderful people who Joseph lived with before coming to our home. We have enjoyed beginning to get to know them! They have done wonders for Joseph and are very easy to talk with and spend time with.

Joseph Turns 10!!! - Part 1

Joseph's 10th birthday was really more of a 4-day event. It was off to a great start with a birthday present in the mail from Nicole, Mark, Aubrey & Garrett.

I'd never seen Magnetix before but they are really cool! Lots of little parts, but that they are magnetic actually helps keep them near each other :)

Joseph had a blast and of course wanted to open it immediately and play with them right away! Thank you to the Perez's!!!!!!

Foxy Sightings

At first glance, a beautiful large oak tree in the field across the street from us.

Zoom in closer and today we got a treat! 2 beautiful gray foxes who found a perch!
They watched us as we watched them -and they were incredibly wonderful!

Interesting trivia -- the gray fox is monogomous
Wikipedia says the following: "The gray fox's ability to climb trees is shared only with the Asian raccoon dog among canids. Its strong hooked claws allow it to scramble up trees to escape many predators such as the domestic dog or the coyote, or to reach tree-bound or arboreal food sources. ...The gray fox is nocturnal or crepuscular and dens in hollow trees, stumps or appropriated burrows during the day."

Dog Pumpkins

I decided to experiment with pumpkin carving and found some dog stencils online to use.
Here the pups are checking out the pumpkins - I don't know that we ever carved any since having them...

Joseph's look says everything....slimy!

And here are my masterpieces!!!!!!!

The Mongoose is Alive

Joseph has done an awesome job this first quarter at school. We got confirmation from his teacher that he got all A's and B's and has perfect attendance and good conduct.....and we know what that means!!!!!!!!...............THE MONGOOSE (his new bike)

This is one excited young man! He came home and hopped on it right away and this morning was up at 7:30 am riding it again as Derek walked Shasta!

We are very proud of his school effort and it's a joy to reward his hard work!

Well Look At That!

This is why I love gardening - it's never boring!!!!
The other day I walked out and noticed plants growing out of my compost bin! Just amazing!!!! Who knows if they'll make it, but it will be cool to wait and see -- like an experiment :)

This one looks like a green pepper - totally possible since we use them a lot in our cooking


P.S. - I love how Joseph was watching me upload these pictures and he exclaimed, "You took a picture of a trash can?!" (Oh no, my boy - that's no garbage that's black gold!!!)