2011 « Our Life and Times

Archive for 2011

Pre-Christmas Festivities

Posted Sunday, December 18th, 2011 by Mollie

We’ve been busy around here with all the Christmas activities that December brings. Hopefully some truly meaningful stuff is sinking in, along with all the fun traditions! Unfortunately my camera was broken/in the shop for a couple weeks, so I had to rely on my iPhone to document all the fun times! Thanks to Instagram they actually come out looking pretty cool and I ended up having a fun time with it… I might have to have these made into a little book! Here’s a sampling for you to enjoy:

A quote from Natalie as I was taking the picture above: “Daddy, I’m helping you by management!”

As soon as we got home, Ben dashed off to find his plastic saw… he knew exactly what to do.

An afternoon of painting salt dough ornaments with Grandma.

Posted in Family, Holidays, Life & Times | No Comments »

Halloween 2011

Posted Sunday, November 6th, 2011 by Mollie

Our kids were Violet and Dash from the movie “The Incredibles” this year. We are getting a lot of use out of these costumes, since the kids have been acting out the movie for weeks! They even introduce themselves to strangers and friends alike as Violet and Dash. Unfortunately Violet’s mask disappeared the week before Halloween…

Since our neighborhood isn’t great for trick-or-treating, we headed to Old Town Camarillo on Saturday, where the stores pass out candy. The kids were very excited to walk with Jessica!

Sad attempt at a family portrait:

Theirs turned out much better!

Posted in Family, Holidays, Life & Times | 1 Comment »

So Many Pumpkins!

Posted Thursday, October 27th, 2011 by Mollie

October means hitting every pumpkin patch in town, and I love it! I have a ton of pictures to share.

This is a foggy morning at the adorable McGrath Farms with Natalie’s preschool, Little Lights.

Ben had to be front and center (and asking questions) when the farmer was talking about organic farming. Maybe a future career for him?

There was a corn maze on the way to the pumpkin field. Natalie loved it and called it “aMAZEing”.

Later that week, we were at Underwood Farms with friends. We didn’t buy any pumpkins– it was all about the pony rides! That same day we went to Pete’s Pumpkin Patch with Andy when he got off work.

We had a great time at our church group’s Fall Festival: truck rides, games and cookie decorating at the Gerry’s blueberry ranch!

Then to Pete’s again for more family fun with Ted, Lennie and Jessica!

Lots of fun times! The kids are begging to make their pumpkins into pies, so that is our next project.

Posted in Family, Life & Times | 5 Comments »

A Light and Airy Living Room

Posted Monday, October 10th, 2011 by Mollie

I’ve never loved the wall color in our living room. In fact, the whole house used to be painted the same basic tan, and I’ve been slowly changing it to better reflect my taste. The problem with the living room was those high ceilings… I needed a lot of motivation to tackle those! Then I saw this picture and it inspired me:

(picture via a la mode)

Granted, it’s about 3 times the size of my living room with 5 times the natural light, and doesn’t have to do triple-duty as a dining room and office, but it was exactly the look I’d been wanting. The blue-green-gray paint in that room would leave my smaller, darker living room looking more cozy than airy, so I decided to go with a more true gray (Moonshine by Benjamin Moore). Plus the kids room is a very similar greenish gray, and I didn’t want it to look the same. I’m VERY pleased with the result!

BEFORE: warm tan (November 2010)

NOW: cool, bright, and gray

In my dream world I’d have a couple of these beautiful lamps in there, too. (Pottery Barn gift cards welcome for Christmas/Birthdays! :))

Still not sure what I want to do here. The dining area always stumps me.

Wouldn’t something like this be amazing??

(via blessedbeyondmeasure)

However my next project is decorating for Fall, which begins this week! (I don’t acknowledge the beginning of Fall until mid-October, so I’m not disapointed with California’s lack of fall weather.)

Posted in Decorating, Life & Times, Projects | 5 Comments »

Catching Up: The End of Summer

Posted Sunday, September 25th, 2011 by Mollie

I guess we have been enjoying life too much to blog lately! It has been a while. Thanks to Andy for the last post comparing our kids in the morning… that cracked me up, and I can vouch that it is a very accurate portrayal of our mornings! After our super busy June/July/early August, complete with family wedding and camping trip, the rest of the summer was pretty low key. Lots of hanging out with family, chasing lizards and snails, painting, playing dress up… We didn’t do as much, I didn’t take as many pictures, and definitely didn’t get any pictures into blog-able form. However, I am trying to stay organized with my photos for my ongoing photo album project, so here is my August/September photo dump with occasional captions… enjoy.

{Wine makes Little Caesar’s pizza totally fancy, try it!}

{We inherited all these tiny cars. What a great toy for endless fun!}

{I love our house and especially our covered patio. In summer, our living space doubles and I can host larger groups of people!}

{No, we did not get a super cute Labradoodle puppy this summer, though I’m sure nothing would thrill Ben more. She belongs to the cousins!}

{Natalie comes up with these outfits all on her own, she’s pretty good, right?}

{I was trying to get some photography practice, playing with light. Easier said than done!}

{Ben is my little chef. He begs to help me make coffee, bread, and pesto (“leaves” as he calls it), and takes it very seriously. He will eat anything as long as it has pesto on it (such as asparagus). I’ve made it so many times for so many years, I don’t use a recipe any more, but I recommend this one if you want to try it (which you should). Sometimes I leave out the pine nuts and it still tastes awesome.}