What time is it?

How was your weekend? Here is a peek into mine...

This weekend the dog woke me at 3:45am to be let outside. I let him out and I crawled back into bed. Moments later I hear "Moooooom I need to go to the bathroom." I get out of bed and the bed is already WET! Once you change a child and remake a bed at 4am you know you're not going back to sleep. I laid in bed till 5am waiting for the sandman. He never showed up. So at 5 I slipped out of the house in search of coffee. I left in such a rush that I didn't grab my phone or camera. I hung out at a Starbucks in silence till 6. I figured if I was awake this early I might as well make the most of it. I drove to the Pacific ocean for the sunrise. It was really strange for me to be awake that early on a Saturday. However it was really peaceful. The birds were awake. The sea lions were already making lots of noise. I kept wishing I had my camera!! The sunrise was beautiful because there were a few clouds. I don't want to get woken up again that early anytime soon but it was really nice me time...next time I'll remember my camera!

Read to me

There is a chill in the air. Fall makes me feel like drinking a latte and reading a good book. I am having a hard time finding a book of fiction that I want to read. I just finished Peg Tyre's book The Trouble with Boys: A Surprising Report Card on our Sons, Their Problems at School and What Parents Can Do. If you have sons I highly recommend this book. It helped me to not feel alone as a parent...that other boys are struggling in school. However it also made me feel like the school system is going to the dogs. Peg Tyre's new book The Good School: How Smart Parents get Their Kids the Education They Deserve sounds good. I want to read that book but I need some brian candy before I start it. I've been looking at the best seller list and nothing has caught my eye. Are there any must reads out there?

Oma's Pumpkin Patch

You know you are at a California pumpkin patch when there are palm trees and it's 80 outside!

The kids really enjoyed moving the rubber ducks using a water pump.

Hey Cowboy

Having a son means having to take a lot of butt pictures.

Every year we go to the pumpkin patch with my friend Karen and her family. We went to kindergarten together and we've been friends ever since. Karen is the Mom of 3 lovely girls. We don't live super close to each other but we try to get the families together seasonally. This year we went to Oma's pumpkin patch in Lakeside. They do not grow pumpkins at Oma's but it is a working self sustaining dairy farm. Very interesting for my city boys.

Great Beginner Bag!

Great beginner bag!

This is the Lauretta bag from www.ithinksew.com. The pattern comes with VERY easy to follow instructions. The only thing that I had a little trouble with was the handles because they are made with bias tape. I've only worked with bias tape once before this. It is a great size bag and only takes 2 yards of fabric total. If you don't want to make this bag yourself I have seen some already made Lauretta bags on etsy.com

Fabric

Here is a tease of the new fabric I using. I got the pattern from www.ithinksew.com I can't wait to share the finished product. I am hoping to finish by Friday.

Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

How many of you are craving Angry Bird pumpkins this year?

You really can't escape Angry Birds
Minnie Mouse scarecrow

D and I went on a field trip to Bate's Nut Farm in Valley Center, CA. (near the Wild Animal Park). It is a great pumpkin patch because they actually grow a lot of the pumpkins there. We took a tractor ride and got lost in the hay maze. A fun Fall day!

BOCC

the other day i made some yummy cookies. i used a recipe from the cookbook the joy of cooking. i changed the recipe a little by adding butterscotch chips and chocolate chips. they were gobbled up before i could get any pictures. however here is the recipe if you want to try them at home.

butterscotch oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

preheat over to 350

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

2 pinches of salt

sift these dry ingredients together and set aside.

in a large bowl mix together 1cup softened butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

after that is creamed together stir in the dry ingredients €and 3 cups quick oats blend well now stir in 3/4 cup chocolate chips and 1/3 cup butterscotch.

bake for 12-14 min or until golden brown.

I did not want to leave the pool, however did I mention the hotel has bikes you can use?

This is how we roll.

Some great houses to check out.

Roadrunner

It was a wonderful stay and I would love to go back to the Del Marco hotel with the hubby!

Palm Springs...PS I love you!

It was a kid free weekend! My Mom and 2 of my sisters stayed here.

I felt pretty good when we pulled up to check in and there was another bug there.

I am doing me best Bing Crosby...I don't think they ever actually stayed at the Del Marco.

Ice buckets in the room.

I am just sitting at the bottom of the pool. I missed the family but I did not want to leave that pool.

A Cherry Coke+ a book+ a pool= Happy lady

My one sister loves Palm Springs! I grouped Palm Springs in with Las Vegas and the state of Arizona assuming I would hate it because of the heat. My wise sister showed me this picture of a cute hotel built in 1947 in the heart of Palm Springs. I was intrigued and willing to give the city a try. We stayed at the Del Marco Hotel. It has 16 rooms with great AC! The pool is salt water. Sinatra and the Rat Pack play in the background as you swim or soak up the sun. I really love this little hotel. You can check in, park your car and not have to drive until you check out.

On our way to Palm Springs...

In the belly of the beast

Frolicking with dinosaurs

On our way to Palm Springs we stopped to check out the Dinos. If you've seen Pee Wee's Big Adventure then you know where we're at.