So apparently I've abandoned my blog. Luckily with a blog you can do that, not so much with your husband or children! Which is the main reason I haven't found the time to get in touch. But with all things in life you have to make it a priority, right? So for a brief catch up, here's what's been going on since hunting season started.

It literally took me a month to rid of all the bird feathers around the house from Josh's hunting excursions. I still have some left over breasts, wings and whole birds in the freezer. Josh "needs" them to train Gunner, our new pup (more on him soon!) with the dead, frozen birdies. Bleh. I only cooked the dove once, in a rice casserole type dish. It wasn't so bad at all, but still hard for me to bear being pregnant. I have no desire to cook up any more game for the time being. Here's a few pictures from hunting season:

Mason's First Field Trip

Mason had his first class field trip to Riley's Apple Farm in Oak Glen. I was able to go as a parent chaperone =) I was in charge of a group of 5 fun kindergartners, and we had a blast. I think the kids were most excited to ride the school bus though! At my age, I'm sorry to say the big yellow bus has lost it's novelty. We went on a hay ride and talked about different trees, berry bushes and vines. The kids got to help make their own apple cider in an old cider press, take a tour in an old log cabin and visit with some goats and turkeys.

Please won't you be my neighbor? 
We got a few new neighbors in September. Two families who we love! Our good friends the Gunns, we can literally see in their family room if their windows are open! Don't worry, we are NOT peeping toms, er balls. We don't want to scare away our friends! The other family happens to be the parents of another neighbor family, the Hackbarth's. Mark Hackbarth married Josh and I seven years ago, and we truly love their whole family like our own. I don't think any of us could have dreamed up having so many wonderful friends be neighbors! Sometimes I wonder what God's plan is for this little area we call home =)

Miramar Air Show

                                                                      

In the beginning of October we went to San Diego to visit Uncle B & Auntie Amber, and to see the Miramar Air Show. It was a fun little weekend of family, watching baseball and yummy food. Josh and I first went to that air show 5 years ago with a 2 month old baby Mason! We decided to see the 

Twilight Show, it starts at dusk and they show off 

the after burners of the jets. There was a huge robotic dinosaur that breathed fire, and a jet engine truck that blew out ginormous flames. Perfect entertainment for our pyro boys! They loved it and can't wait to go back to the "airport show". We finished off the weekend with a stop at Yogurt Mill- a must do on our San Diego visits if we have time!

We had three Super Mario Brothers for the Harvest Festival at church. 

Mason & Micah love playing the game on the Wii, 

Mitchell could care less so he didn't really have a say ;) 

All in all their outfits turned out good, they can wear them again 

and their mustaches were so fun on their little faces!

PUMPKINS!

I decided I wanted to try making my own pumpkin puree this year. I used three small pumpkins and one large pumpkin. It was a lot of work but it made a ton of puree. One small pumpkin made enough puree to make about one and a half pumpkin pies, just to give you an idea! Overall it was fun to do, and now I can say I've made my own pumpkin puree but nothing beats the conveniency of having canned pumpkin on hand. =)

Here are the recipes I used with the pumpkin puree:

Pumpkin Pie  .  Pumpkin Muffins  .  Pumpkin Butter

My sweet middle child (for now), Micah, just celebrated his 4th birthday! Can you believe it??

He has been counting down his birthday for the past month. Finally the day drew near and we took the whole family to Knott's Berry Farm to celebrate with Snoopy. He loved it. Grammy, Gramps and all three aunties joined in on the fun as well as cousin Braiden. There were no lines at all so the boys ran threw all their favorite rides over and over and over! They slept pretty good that night =) We had my parents over for pizza and cupcakes on his actual birthday. He opened all the toys he picked out at Toys R Us with my mom the day before, haha. It's sort of the birthday tradition with Nani for each boy's birthday, they love it!

I've taken on a few craft projects in the past months. Unfortunately I seem to have this problem where I start a project and cannot seem to finish it. It's so sad and depressing. I now have 4 unfinished projects. and they all have to do with decorating! I started with trying to make my own fall topiaries. Crafting is a little more challenging for me, I'm very visual and it takes me a while to get the whole idea together. So I only have one topiary finished, of a set of two..except the boys have knocked it over a few too many times and leaves and moss are everywhere. It's more of a half dead topiary. Plus I'm realizing it's not very puppy friendly either.

I also sewed pillow covers for some throw pillows for my couch. I wanted to make them removable so I can change the pillows for different seasons, but because of my lack of skill/knowledge/motivation they remain unfinished. I started sanding a window paned mirror to re-paint. It remains partially sanded. I bought a plain wreath just waiting to be decorated for fall. Maybe it'll be ready for Christmas. Or next Spring! I'm just awesome at not finishing projects. Someday I'll have pictures to post of my finished projects, but until then...life goes on! 

Our most recent family update is the addition of a new family member. His name is Gunner, he's 8 weeks, and he has the best puppy breath! I'll have a post about him in the near future, promise!