From the mouths of Babes.... OR 7 year olds!

I just wanted to post a couple of things today.

First I have a couple of Dylan stories.  The other day at school, his teacher approached me and said she had a story to tell me.  I braced myself and listened.  She said Dylan asked another 1st grade teacher if she knew that Obama was the new President.  She said, "Yes!  Are you just so excited that he is our new President?"  Without hesitation, Dylan responded with, "NO!!  I am a Republican!"  I have to tell you that is a pretty proud moment in a parent's life!  :)  He may not always be conservative, but at least he claims it now and is telling the masses.

Story #2:  Last night, Dylan was telling me about the songs he sang in worship at sunday school.  I told him that I recognized them and we sang those songs in church too.  He went on to share that he doesn't sit down during worship, but stands up and sings to Jesus as loud as he can.  I found that to be so sweet.  After baths, he and Garth broke out the guitar and had a worship session.  I actually caught a bit on tape.  It is so sweet to hear worship from your child's mouth.  I hope the video works and you can hear him sing too, it will do your heart good.

I just posted a picture of Jaydon with some ice cream.  Little kids and ice cream cones are so darn cute. 

Till next time - Blessings!

The Last Republican

Rated "R" for Republican - Read at your own risk!

This time change has thrown us for a loop.  Jaydon especially.  He goes to bed at his regular bedtime, but wakes up at 6 a.m. instead of 7 a.m.  I say that to explain why I can be blogging this morning.  We're all up an hour too early.

I don't have much time because I do have to actually get dressed this morning to go to MOPS, but I wanted to share something.

Today is election day.  (I just thought I would share in case someone has been out of the loop the last couple of years.)  And I'm anxious about it.  The Bible says be anxious about nothing, so I keep telling myself, "God is in control.  God is in control."  Even if he turns his back to this nation, he will not turn his back on me.   Thank you God.

Garth and I were talking about the election last night as we were going to bed.  He is at peace (by no means likes it) with everything because he resolved early on that Obama will probably win and has been mentally preparing for that fate.  I, on the other hand, am more of an optimist and refuse to resign to that outcome until all votes are counted.  At least until today - I still have hope - hope in the place I live, the nation I call great, the nation I love and, most of all, hope in the citizens of American.  My hope is diminishing though.  I am in disbelief at the number of Americans that can cast a vote for Obama and what he stands for.  McCain is by no means perfect and I don't agree with everything he says or says he will do, but Obama is in a whole other league.  His views and ideas are so skewed from anything this country has ever stood for.

I finally said, "Where are the normal people?  Are there no more conservative, God fearing, Republicans (people) in the world today?  That is why we have no friends.  How can so many people vote for Obama and what he brings to the table?  How come so many people in CA can vote No on 8 which allows the state to recognize same-sex marriages?"  Thats when it hit me!!!  Sadly, we are THE LAST REPUBLICANS.   We had a good laugh coming up with ideas for our feature film with that title.  So be on the look out for the next major film accomplishment called THE LAST REPUBLICAN!!  (Not to be confused with THE LAST MOHICAN.)  I'm sure a few will be able to identify.

Have a blessed election day!

McCain for President!  (Just not ready to let go yet.)  ;)

Grandparent visit, Birthday, Pumpkin Carving!!

Lots to catch up on.

My parents came for a visit last weekend.  It was great to see them (and Puppy) and spend time with them.  There was really no down time while they were here.  They came in Thursday and we spent the day at Legoland on Friday, Saturday was Dylan's b-day party, and Sunday we went to church and then to Julian, and Monday it was back to the airport.  

We had a great time at Legoland.  It is the perfect place to go for those with kiddos in elementary school or younger.  The park was filled with young families 

and grandparents.  It was great.  Dylan had a fun time.  He rode his first roller coaster!! I hope to go back when Jaydon is a bit older.

Dylan celebrated his birthday with a Motocross party.  He had a few boys from his class come over to help celebrate.  His favorite gifts that day were his TX longhorn jersey, R/C motocross bike, and his tons of dollars from Blake and Nissy.  His creative uncle and aunt taped $20 together and Dylan thinks he is rolling in the dough.  :)  Grammy made the coolest cake with some direction, of course, from Dylan.  It was so fun for me to have the little boys over and watch them interact together.  We played games and had pizza and cake.  We missed having so many of our loved ones here to help us celebrate, but thank you all for your gifts and sweet birthday wishes.

After church Sunday, we went to Julian, CA.  It is known for its apples.  For the next couple of months it has an apple festival on the weekends.  It is a cute, quaint town.  It was really busy, but still so fun to experience.  We had apple pie and bought a couple of carmel apples.  It was so fun watching Jaydon eat the carmel apple.

The time came quickly to say goodbye to my parents, as it always does.  We hope to see them again soon.

Yesterday, we took Dylan out to Lake Elsinore to ride his bike.  He started on his Honda, but thankfully, it got a flat and he had to get on his KTM to continue riding.  He went from a bit timid on the bike, to having more confidence and wanting to ride the KTM.  We just need to make a point to get him more seat time.  He is too good and enjoys it to much, not too.  

We (really Garth) carved our pumpkins last night.  He is so creative.  One is just a traditional jack-o-lantern, but the other Dylan wanted to be a FOX pumpkin.  So, daddy came though and we now have a FOX pumpkin.  Too cool!!  I even roasted the pumpkin seeds.  Yummy!

I think that gets you caught up on our lives.  There are so many little details like - I got a haircut for the first time in 5 months, we had sushi last night, and someone had the nerve to take my McCain/Palin sign (don't get me started on that one!).

Well, thats it for now.  We are still missing our family and dear friends, but know we are adjusting and doing well.  Blessings to you all.

Pumpkin Patch

Dishwasher Uses

There have been many times I have wanted to sit down and blog about something, but I just couldn't get myself to sit down and do it!!!  So because of that I will give you a snapshot of what you have missed because of my laziness.

1.  I am now a coffee drinker.  I know - I can't believe it either.  I like those iced coffees. Especially the iced vanilla coffee from McDonald's of all places.  I have started making a version of them at the house to save Garth's hard earned $.  I also enjoy mochas.  We even bought an espresso maker, so we could make them ourselves.  If it ever gets below 90 degrees around here, I think I will enjoy using it.

2.  I enjoy a good walk or jog.  I used to hate working out.  Something about our coach dropping us off 2 miles from the school and then driving behind us telling us to pick it up - that just steals the joy.  Now I get joy in a good 2-3 mile walk or jog.  Maybe it has something to do with my health.  I don't know how long I have to be active, so I may as well enjoy it now.  I also think I am a better wife and mom because I take a few minutes out of the day to do something for myself.

3.  I can't believe the nature of our dinner conversations now.  I never thought I would be at a point in my life where I was truly concerned with a presidential election and the state of the economy.  I obviously have always wanted the best for the country and the economy, but I never imagined that I would be discussing the topics of the day.  On that note - we have a McCain/Palin sign in our yard.  I'm really not that type of in your face, let everyone know what I think person, but I just feel this election is too important.  Unless things change, it appears Obama is the winner, but I am at peace (I never said I liked it or wouldn't do my share of complaining) because of the following:

Psalm 2:10-12

Now then, you kings, act wisely!

Be warned, you rulers of the earth!

Serve the Lord with reverent fear,

and rejoice with trembling.

Submit to God's royal son, or he will become angry, 

and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities-

for his anger flares up in an instant.

But what joy for all who take refuge in him!

The words to cling to are - But what joy for all who take refuge in him!  No matter what happens in this old world, we are called to cling to him - Jesus Christ!

Enough of the catch up blogging.  There were many other topics and thoughts, but I will save those for another day.

My real reason for this post is how the uses of your dishwasher change when you have a toddler.  Today my dishwasher has been a dishwasher, a zoo for a giraffe, a landing strip for an airplane and a race track for a car.  Oh the joys!!!  These pics show the dishwasher play and Jaydon using a tape recorder as a camera to take a pic of me.  Cheese, Mom!!

 

Mission Accomplished

We went camping this weekend!!

I know it is hard to believe, so I will give you a few moments to digest that little bit of information.

Times up!!!  

Saturday we traveled about 45 minutes to La Jolla Indian Campground.  It was so neat to drive such a short distance, but feel like we were in a different part of the country.  We went with a couple who live on our street - Eryn and Josh.  We arrived around 11:30 am and got everything set up.  Our campsite was right on the river.  Everything looked so cute set up in the trees with the river flowing behind it.  The boys loved playing in the water, and it was refreshing to listen to it go by.  After a bite of lunch, we rented a couple of tubes and Dylan had a blast tubing 

down the river.  Jaydon enjoyed throwing rocks and sticks in the "wa-wa".  For the rest of the afternoon we sat around and talked and Dylan rode his bike and played with Eryn.  Thankfully Jaydon got in a nap.  As evening approached we lit up Josh's  gas grill and our camp stove and had steak and mac-n-cheese for dinner.  It was very tasty, except these little bugs were attracted to our light and they kept falling in our food.  So, we just ate very quickly and I'm sure got a little extra protein.  As it began to get dark, we realized the showers just up from us had no lights, so we decided we could rough it for one night and passed on showers.  We were all filthy, especially the boys.  Dirty faces and dirty feet.  (They got a quick baby wipe bath.)

Finally, the part of the trip everyone was looking forward too.  The campfire.  We broke out the glow sticks.  Glow sticks are a favorite of Dylan's.  They work out great though because we can totally see where he is in the dark when he is playing with them.  We roasted a few marshmallows and had some s'mores, of course.  Dylan and Jaydon began fading, so we put out the fire and got everyone tucked in for a good nights sleep.

WRONG!!  Dylan and Jaydon were out all night, which was great.  They were snug in our cold weather sleeping bags.  We thought the sound of the flowing river would be good white noise, but it turned out to be a bit too loud.  I had to get up twice to pee.  (Its the pits being a woman sometimes.)  The worst part though was that I could not get warm.  I had on long sleeves and flannel pants with a sheet and a blanket, but I was freezing.  My feet were freezing and I could not get warm.  Finally I decided I would put Garth's lounge pants on too.  That didn't help much.  Then I thought I would try to steal Garth's body heat by snuggling, but that didn't help much either and for some reason he wasn't too excited about my freezing feet on his warm body. :)  

Finally morning arrived (about 7:00 am).  Garth cooked us up some bacon and I fixed some eggs.  That was the end of the trip.  We got everything broke down and packed up and made the short drive home.

After unloading everything, starting laundry (had to wash the blankie, for sure), and washing so

me dishes - everyone headed for the showers!!!  AAAHHHHH!!!  Nice hot showers.  Clean bodies, hair, and teeth.  This is the life!!!

Camping was a blast, even with the filth and sleeplessness.  We hope to go again soon, maybe even for two nights!!  Enjoy the pictures.

Well......

It has been a while since I last blogged, so I thought I should get something down before I get harassed.  

Not too much exciting new to report with the Aldrich family.  All the boys have been dealing with croup.  Dylan got it last week and then Jaydon and Garth both had it over the weekend.  We were hoping to go on our first camping trip, but obviously that was postponed due to sick boys.  Hopefully, we can go this weekend.  It should be interesting since the most camping I have done is in an RV. And I consider roughing it if my dad doesn't turn the heater on in the RV.  I'm sure I can brave the elements for a couple of days.  Besides Dylan is so excited about the thought of camping.  I will definitely post pictures and details later if we get the chance to go.

Garth is well.  His only complaint really right now is his commute to and from work.  He has to get up at least by 5 am every morning and then it takes him about an hour to get home in the evening.  He doesn't like it, but we appreciate him making the sacrifice so we can live here in Temecula and allow Dylan to go to one of the best schools.  Thanks, honey.

Dylan is still adjusting to school.  This week he is Student of the Week.  He gets to be line leader, take up attendance, etc.  Mon. and Tues. were no cry days, but today I left him with a few tears.  I was hoping things were better.  He has made a new friend named Louie.  That has to help things a bit.   He still loves riding his bike, skateboard, and scooter.  He has found a new love for drawing and coloring.  It is really neat to watch it develop.  It has been too hot to ride MX, but hopefully we will return to that soon.  We love watching him ride.  

Jaydon is two now.  I took him for his 2 year check up and he was 31 lbs. and 35 1/2 in.  He is still a big boy - in the 80%.  He enjoys playing with his toys and going to the park.  He really likes to read books.  He will bring me a book and say "Iwanttoread".  He will run in the other room and sit down and we enjoy some book time.  He is also becoming a parrot.  He repeats alot that is said.  For instance, this morning he was watching Dora the Explorer and at the end they sing "We did it."  He chimed right in singing and dancing.  He also loves watching Sesame Street.  We love Elmo.  It is so fun watching him grow and develop.  It needs to be though, because it has to make up for the times he can be just a nasty 2 year old.  :)

Well that is all I have to report for now.  The weather is beginning to cool off now.  You almost need a jacket most evenings, but the days are still nice, sunny, and warm.   On that note, I do want to mention my pals in Corpus.  IKE is headed their way and they are getting ready to evacuate at I type.  We are praying for them and their safety.  You are all in our thoughts and prayers.

Till next time.....