A few things we have been up to...

We went to Collie Rescue Day

 Jack, Tessa and I competed in dog relay races...

 We went to Williamsburg to visit Lala who started graduate school at William & Mary this fall. I miss her so much!

We have been going to art class which also has an indoor playground...

Jack asks to go "Art Cass" all of the time and he will tell you he is a good artist. 

On Saturday we went to St. John's fall fest, Jack will tell you all about riding Hazel.

On Sunday we to Cox's Farm...

It was a last minute decision after church to go. I was a little skeptical as we pulled into the huge parking lot and could barely find a space but the farm was huge so it didn't seem crowded. It was worth the admissions price including a scary tractor ride, tons of slides, animals, free apple cider, free apples, free small pumpkins, gourds and much more. 

 "Blue doggy came back from Nana and Papa Jay house!"-Jack exclaimed this morning

Bella came back from Aiti's house-Jack explaining how Bella used to live at Aiti's house. 

Then Bella ran away again today. She was probably only gone for 10 minutes she came home once she heard my mom shake her dog food bag. Thanks to my mom for watching Jack as I bathed Bella outside  in the dark then had to go back to work! It was raining this afternoon so I did not rake leaves like yesterday. Gabe's morning raking skills put mine to shame anyways. 

I am trying to get back into blogging. Most of these pictures are from my new camera that my in laws bought me for my birthday, it is finally back from the repair shop where it lived for 2 months!

I have to upload the rest of the pictures from my mom's camera too. I will probably start a picasa album so i don't take over facebook with my honeymoon pictures from Santa Fe, New Mexico :)

And dog makes four...

Late afternoon scene at my house:

Thanks Dad for the pictures and watching Jack for me! 

Bella is back and stinkier then ever!

Good thing Jack's turtle pool can double as a dog bath.

Bella is back living with me and my little family of three.

My mom has been working long hours so it is easier if Bella rejoins me in my life circa 2011.

Life is a bit more exhausting now then when she joined me as a college student circa 2007, making me feel slightly pathetic as I struggle to adjust to adding a dog to our family.

Bella ran away today.

"Bellwah run away to darden(garden)!"-Jack

"Tweat Bellwah! Tweat!"-Jack trying to call for her to come back

"Where'd are'd you Bellwah dog?"-Jack

This isn't the first time she has run away and she always comes back.

She comes back VERY STINKY.

She always runs behind our house into the woods and creek and gets very dirty.

I used to get concerned but now I know she will come back, the other week when she was gone I went to the gym-Gabe might have thought my priorities were off.

Jack gets very upset when Bella runs aways and says, "I MISS HER!"

He likes to repeat the story of Bella running away to the garden, how we look for her, calling her name and how we are glad that she came back!

I was happy it was a beautiful day so I could wash Bella outside. It was so beautiful I even raked leaves! Neither jobs do I enjoy after a stressful day at work but at least it wasn't cold out. 

After a visit with Granny and Bopa, Jack and I came home exhausted. 

I put on his favorite movie:

And I failed to notice when he fell asleep a few minutes into the movie at 6pm with a dirty diaper and no dinner.

I changed his diaper as he slept, but I had to wake him up to eat. He had a second wind after his 30 minute nap. Which brings us to the next missing doggy:

Blue Doggy had been at Gabe's parents house since Sunday. Jack was surviving ok until last night when he woke up in the middle of night screaming for Blue Doggy. 

I'll just say bedtime didn't go well. Even his favorite book, The Little Engine that Could, couldn't do the trick. Gabe picked up Blue dog on his way home and put him in his crib so he will wake up to Blue Doggy back again! 

Sweet Dreams. 

I want this:

I want(read need) to cook more. I feel disorganized about my spices. I always buy the small size spice jars or fresh spices. I even have a dill and rosemary plant (I hate rosemary by the way, Gabe bought the plant and does the gardening in our family.) But that is the problem I ALWAYS forget to buy the spices on the occasion of when I go to the grocery store. Gabe is a saint and often goes grocery shopping when he gets off of work. Today I went to the gym instead of grocery store.

I know spices don't keep well, even though everyone always seems to keep them forever. Once in college when my friends where moving I inherited a large amount of spices in large quantity jars and felt guilty a few years later when my mom insisted I throw them out.

Anyways I want this:

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/kitchen-and-food/food-containers-storage/15-jar-tiered-spice-rack/s539708

• Powdercoated steel rack
• Glass jars with tin spice caps
• Comes filled with spices (free refills available for five years to in-store, online and catalogue customers in the U.S. only)
• Jars are dishwasher-safe
• Made in China

See the part I enlarged, that is a bonus. I can attempt to keep my spices fresh for free?

This may be the lamest post ever. But I need to get back to blogging again. Jack is two. Work is overwhelming. Gabe is an amazing husband, he does so much(laundry, cooking, painting, writing, working, daddying, cleaning, grocery shopping & much more).

Jack didn't want me to per him in his crib tonight (per usual) and he begged me to sing the ABC song to him over and over. 

His favorite book is The Little Engine that Could we read it everynight. 

He repeats everything you say. In church the priest was talking about the wedding garments that were worn in biblical times, and Jack repeated the phrase "wed-ding  gar-ments, wed-ding, gar-ments"

His listening skills better then mine. 

Blue doggy seems to go everywhere he goes now. He went to preschool today, Nana & Papa Jay's house & backyard, gym day care, etc. 

I collapse after I put him to bed and waste time until Gabe gets home from work/grocery store. 

I am just going to stop right here before this post gets any worse. I finally have my new camera back from Penn Camera where it was held hostage for 2 months after breaking after a windy/sandy day in Taos, New Mexico after owning it for less then a week (it was an early bday present from my in-laws-thanks!). 

I'll update soon.

Tomorrow I will attempt to cook with the guacamole I made with 6 habanaro peppers in it. I even added more avocado and tomatoes to dilute the heat.

The peppers came from our garden I followed Gabe's instructions to put ALL 6 of them in the guac its way too spicy. Now I will attempt to cook a chicken and avocado casserole with it? (not very many recipes out there for how to cook with way too spicy guac)

We have all kinds of different peppers in our garden, which brings me back to starting to cook more and the spices I want so I can follow the recipes I google.

Christmas seems so far away, do I buy the spice rack now? I cook up all the food from this latest grocery trip then decide.