These days are filled with sweet sibling times that I know won't always last but rigth now Madison and Brayden seem to find humor and affection in one another. Sweet loving moments between the two seem to happen more than not.

Madison also has a sweet sweet friend that she calls "Lella" and we call Stella. She is a dear friend and neighbor and we just adore her. When Madison and Stella see each other, they scream with excitement.

Brayden's favorite drink right now is orange juice and thankfully we have an orange tree. Brayden often goes away and Batman appears in our home more days than not for hours and he often goes out with us too...silly superheroes!

Maddie's favorite pastime is playing with shoes...she picked out her shoes for the outfit with pink shoes. :) My kind of girl.

We've had ample rain this past week and cooler temperatures which made for some glorious viewings of snow on our mountains.

In spite of the kids and I battling colds, we've made an effort to get out in nature to breathe in some fresh air. After 2 days in the house fighting coughs this weekend, we ventured up to the ranch where we use to live today and took in the green fields, muddy roads and running streams. It was a healing day for me to be out in nature experiencing absolute peace and quiet. Brady was in heaven stomping in the creek and Maddie loved sitting on the rocks and splashing in the leaves.

We also made it to a park this week and did some swinging and sliding. Is this girl my daughter or what?

And lastly, last week we made it out to the carpinteria bluffs to see the seals. Beautiful days.

I sure miss this guy when he's gone. I guess that's the good part about the firefighter's schedule... absence makes the heart grow fonder. He's working 8 of the next 10 days and we miss him a lot when he's gone.

This photo was taken at the Postmas at the their Christmas Barn Party! Pretty special time.

Here's to my sweet girl, who loves her brother, loves books, is walking all over, loves music and officially can wear pigtails!!!! Brings joy to her mommy's soul. Happy 15 months!!!

(First time doing rockband at the Flemings!)

Oh how time flies when you are busy. I don't know if that's a good thing or not but looking through the photos from this Fall makes me realize time flies and kids grow up fast.

Maddie took her first 3 steps on Sunday and every day takes more and more. She hasn't said any words yet except for "mamamama" but every time we turn around, she's hugging or kissing something...a picture, a book, a stuffed animal or Brady! :) I think she'll be more into actions and Brayden will always be more into words.

Brady is loving school and discovering new things and also seems to always be getting into some kind of mischief! His latest thing is insisting that he is on Dad's team and Maddie is on my team.

We went tide pooling in search of a star fish and almost gave up hope but then on our walk back down the beach, Daddy discovered one! Brady didn't enjoy the star fish as much as the sea anemone.

We celebrated 7 years of marriage by heading down to LA for a getaway and lucky us, Eric's best friend Tim and wife Amy were in Palm Springs having a little Baby moon so we got to have an extra long double date with them. SO FUN! She's 35 weeks pregnant but WHO could tell!!??

Then there's the daily park visit and bath.

Then Halloween...these crazy nuts! Brady LOVED being Spider man for the day and sweet Maddie was a Ballerina girl!

Then one day, we wanted to get out of town so we headed up to Santa Maria where we went to the Children's museum there which was SO COOL! The kids had so much fun and it was our own personal playground because there was not ONE SINGLE person there the entire time we were there...I taught Brady how to rock climb! :/

We've had a couple fun dates...the first picture is from a favorite restaurant, The Palace, which is a New Orleans type restaurant where the atmosphere is splendid and the entire restaurant sings "It's a Wonderful World" while toasting once a night. Always a good evening! The next picture is from the U2 concert that we got to attend along with the other 98,000 fans which was quite an occasion to remember.

And sweet Maddie turned 1! Here are her friends: Ryder, (Maddie), Macy and Stella.
..and her cousin Sydney, Aunty Stephy and Brady.
And the last photo is of our dear friends the Lawlers who always offer a splendid time of friendship over dinner and usually a good margarita. Here's Stella, Phoebe, Brady, Macey, Maddie.
So there's what's kept us busy this Fall! Now onto the Holidays!

How could she be turning ONE!?!?!?

Brady's sweet little friend Carter turned 3 and Jess threw a fabulous party for him. Brady found a toy gun that I didn't know about til the end of the party but it showed up in this picture...see that finger...it's on the trigger! :/Maddie lounging watching Toy Story 2 with her bro while Mama cooks dinner.
BEACH DAY....I took the kids to the beach the day before Fall swooped in on us and it was glorious. Both kids loved the waves and it was perfect temps...

(as you can see, everything is now a gun...this is a vacuum cleaner part that made it's way to the beach as a toy gun)
So, I tend to let my kids feed themselves at a young age. This is what happens...yogurt art.
I didn't take too many photos in Tennessee, but here are two...good times.

I took Brady on a bike ride before dinner and he rode around the entire block without stopping or complaining. I did have crackers to keep him going.
Don't ask me what Maddie is doing in this photo...looks like she is trying to catch the sun.

Good times at Camp Eacker but it's always better when Daddy is around.

Mom and Dad came to celebrate all 4 of our birthdays that all fall in september and october and we had a fabulous time...double date out, cuddles, laughs and just good grandma and papa time.And this crazy kiddo turned 3 this month and I let him lick the spoon of something I made (can't remember what). He absolutely loves his new preschool where he spends more time outside than inside (very different than his last school). This was a classic moment...on his first day of school. I asked him if he wanted to take a picture with his buddy Jack. After I took the photo of the two of them, slowly ONE by ONE kids kept walking up, lingering to be in the photo. It was hilarious...so I have 5 pictures each with an additional kid. :) September has been such a busy month. We started a new service at our church on Saturday nights, Brady and I had birthdays, my parents were here and then I went away for 4 days to Nashville Tennessee, leaving Maddie for the first time.

When I got home from my trip, I went in and held each of them...smelled their skin, kissed their lips and felt their love and spirit anew. And it was sweet. She has grown up quite a bit though, even in just the 4 days I was gone. She can go from sweet to funny, then to spicy in the matter of seconds.

I was in Tennessee for a conference that was (hate to say) possibly life changing. I got to go with one of my best friends and it was a sweet sweet time of renewal, rest, fun and adventure. We attended the MOPS convention (mothers of preschoolers) and to be honest I didn't know quite what to expect. But after worshipping with Matt Redman and Christy Nockels and attending a Matt Redman and Plumb concert, I have to say it was a phenomenal experience. The vulnerability they shared from their own lives and the struggles that they have walked through spoke loudly of persverence in their faith ...and it spoke to me like nothing else has since Matt died.

And to be affirmed that being a mother of preschoolers is one of the hardest seasons of life to go through was so good to hear. So good to hear.