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Pumpkin Pelisheks

Here is an update to our post about our Pelishek Pumpkin Plan. We thought our pumpkin plan was prepared, but turns out it was most definitely pending. :)

The day didn't allow us enough time to buy more spray paint, so Zoe opted out of silver spray paint and decided to do a kitty stencil instead. She was very happy with it. Maybe next year we'll have to try the paint & scratch method.

Sophia did indeed paint her pumpkin. And she was way into it, too! She covered the whole thing and made it very colorful!!

Becky stuck with her plan, too. After mod podging leaves onto her pumpkin, she carved out a "P" and drilled holes in it with her dremel tool. (highly recommend drilling... not only is it pretty, especially with light shining through, but it was a heck of a lot of fun!)

Matt, after helping Zoe carve her kitty, ran out of time to do much more than use his Yoda accents. Still, looks good!

And then to finish our Pelishek Pumpkin Plan, we created a pumpkin tower... very festive, decorative and fun!




Here's our people at the pumpkin patch. :) (Dang we have cute people!)



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Pelishek Precautionary Pumpkin Plan


I'm sure you were just sitting at home, dying to know what we will do with our pumpkins this year. Well thankfully, we are producing our plan right here, right now. Let the party begin! :) 

Here is our 2011 pumpkin-carving plan. We had fun searching  and collecting ideas and plotting how we wanted to decorate pumpkins for this fall. Watch for photos later! 

  • Matt is going with the old school free hand carve. I’m sure he will come with something masterful. Of course, someone’s gotta use those Yoda accessories he bought.
  • Becky modpodged leaves on her pumpkin this afternoon and will be use her dremel tool to hand drill the letter “P” into her pumpkin as well as other holes for the candle light to shine through.
  • Zoe is going to try the scratch a Design method. First, we will spray-paint the rind and let dry. Tonight, we will use a spoon handle to scratch away paint to create stars, moons, and spirals.
  • Sophia is going to go nuts with painting. She is too young to carve, so I’m just hooking her up with paints & brushes. It’s going to be colorful and beautiful.


ALL AFTER Our different DECORATING Methods we will be creating a Pumpkin Tower. To Make a tower, use a knife to make holes in the tops and bottoms of the large- and medium-size pumpkins. Insert the dowel completely through the pumpkins (largest to smallest).


We also considered these other options, (the first 2 also great for young kids): 

  • Permanent Marker FACE: freehand the features with washable markers (just wipe off and restart if you're not satisfied with the design), then finalize the sketch with a black permanent marker
  • Designs: Use painter's tape and self-adhesive paper to mark off designs (stripes and circles). Spray with glossy black and white paint.
  • Score: creating designs by scoring the skin of a pumpkin using a linoleum cutter

Winter Garden

In Southern California, the growing season is different. To us, anyways! Growing up in the Midwest, we had one growing season and it was pretty short. Here, though, there is two growing seasons, summer and winter.

This is our first year trying a winter garden. As you can see we've planted a few root crops: carrot, beats & garlic (unpictured). We also planted sweet peas, romaine lettuce and broccoli. Wish us luck! We're hoping for lots of yummy veggies starting in 8 weeks.

And we're still waiting on a few treats to ripen from our summer growing season. Our watermelon plant has two melons! MMM! Come on watermelon babies, grow!

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We're counting down...

to EVERYthing!



What do you have to look forward to this season?
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Green Smoothies and Pain

Since the birth of our first baby, I began to have some different neurological symptoms come up in my body. At first, i would see just sporadic numbness and tingling throughout my body. It was strange, but there was no pain or anything. Still I sought it out. 5 MRIs later, spinal taps, EMGs, many other tests and 6 1/2 years, they still don't know the source or cause. Shortly after the birth of our second daughter, my neurological issues got worse. A change from sporadic numbness and tingling, my hands and feet continue to grow more and more numb and lost strength. Also new this Spring, pins and needles headaches with pressure in the front. I also am extraordinarily tired each day, have cognitive delays and some other issues which may or may not be related.

And though my symptoms have progressed, I choose to not be afraid. For one, they cannot find a single thing wrong with me. Yes the way my body is communicating is saying something is going on, but through the many tests, nothing has come up irregular. But for two, I am making a choice to do something instead of sitting and waiting for my symptoms to take over me. And they still might get worse. In fact, my neurologist strongly encouraged me to consider not having any more children. There is a rule of thumb with symptoms like this and pregnancy, with 1/3 of cases symptoms get worse, 1/3 get better and 1/3 stay the same with pregnancy. And for me with each pregnancy, my symptoms have gotten worse. So, for us, choosing to welcome another baby into this word was a risk. BUT a good risk!

Anyways, here are the choices I've been making not to let the fear and pain of health concerns dictate my life:

  • Choosing life despite my symptoms (that means welcoming this baby, but also living life to the fullest every day)
  • Choosing hope (I will not give into fear, especially knowing nothing solid has been found wrong with me. I choose belief and faith)
  • Green Smoothies (For a long time, I've known things about eating well that I've chose to ignore. Not anymore. More below)


Starting last Spring when i was feeling my worst, another friend told me about how their life had changed doing Green Smoothies. I have heard this many times over, but for some reason remained skeptical. Then one day it occurred to me that nothing should be stopping me from at least trying green smoothies. It is not a scam, I'm just blending veggies... The worst it could do is that I could see no difference, but the best is that I could see some improvement.

There is a ton of evidence that you are what you eat and that what you consume does affect your body. Seems like such a simple principle but yet we think so often that it will take some complicated to eat well or we just want to continue to eat junk because we like it. I am not a health nut, i will never be a health nut... but what this has done for me is given me something I can do. And truthfully, I haven't noticed any significant difference. I do seem to have more energy and my attitude is definitely better... but it's all about choices!! You can always do something!

I am happy to continue to do Green Smoothies and feeling like I'm doing something. And after baby 3 is born, I'm going to continue to seek out what is going on with my body. Pray for me, too, that my symptoms would indeed improve and not continue to progress. And if you are interested in the world of Green Smoothies, check out greensmoothierevolution.com.

Names we COULD go with... but should we?



We promise not to hold out forever on the baby's gender. :)

Since this will likely be our last addition to our family, we have been having a little more intentional fun with this pregnancy. I'm all about celebrating everyday; Since the days of pregnancy are here for their last season, I'm all about celebrating this season right here and right now.

Matt & I spent some time thinking of creative names we could (but won't) go with-- regardless of the baby's gender, whether  boy or girl, just to have a little fun.
  • Anni Moe
  • Bailey Tyranus
  • Blake Coco
  • Cameron Evan
  • Drew Artica
  • Harley Dooku
  • Jean Grey
  • Jordan Lightning
  • Katana Gluten
  • Kelly Joe
  • Kris Plotwist
  • Mathmatica Dystopia
  • Morgan Crix
  • Parker Anklesaurus
  • Pat Adi
  • Skyler Tracy

Inspiring Redcloud/ Becky's BD Song


RedCloud to me
               Oct 7 (1 day ago)
Happy 30th Becky! Very few times in my life am I inspired by someone elses idea, but the act of writing and recording that song inspired me to do my "own" birthday song! And its one of the most downloaded songs off of my new album, (mcredcloud.bandcamp.com) "birthday suit" ... I perform it at every show- so I'd like to thank YOU!
Matt was amazing for my 30th. One of the things he did was commission one of the most talented MC's out there, Redcloud, to co-write & record a song for me for my birthday. Redcloud liked the way the song turned out so much that my song actually inspired the song "Birthday Suit" on his most recent album. You can listen at the link above... but do note, it will make you blush. My version, below, still has a few blush-worthy notes, but nothing like the song on his album. My song is super fun... Matt & Redcloud included many fantastic memories. LOVE IT!!


Memories:
"said you wanted a Kitten Farm one day when you grew up"
  • Matt knows when i was a little girl, i dreamed of one day being a farmer... a kitten farmer.


"you surprise me like the corn inside y bowl of Ramen noodles"
  • When we were first married, I made dinner called "Ramen Surprise." Still one of Matt's favorites to this day. The surprise? Corn.


"Manchild is rolling inside his pendleton"
  • For matt's 30th, I commissioned Manchild, another AMAZING artist to write & record a personalized song for Matt


"since i pulled a table and two chairs out of my GMC van"
  • As friends before we started dating, I used to meet matt for lunch on break from work. One day, we just ate lunch in a parking lot. I thought it was so cute when he pulled out chairs from his van for seating. i thought he thought of everything, really he just had chairs he acquired in his van!


"like driving in New Zealand... now we're stuck at the top..."
  • In 2004, we took a missions trip to Australia & New Zealand. We ended up driving  15-passenger vans throughout New Zealand. On the first day driving, we drove to the top of a park to sight-see. It was so windy and the driving experience scary, we didn't want to drive back down EVER!!


"I'll break the law to walk behind a frozen waterfall"
  • In 2006 on a date, we had an incredible experience to see Minnehaha Falls frozen. We did hop the fence, and went behind teh frozen waterfall-- an experience we'll never forget!




Thank you Matt again for blessing me with an AMAZING birthday & many wonderful years together! 

Long Beach!

Matt & I had the joy of a little weekend away a few weeks ago. We were blessed with a free hotel room & decided to celebrate our anniversary the weekend after Becky's big 3-0. We had SUCH a sweet weekend together. There was a good mix of the practical (we spent half the day on Saturday at a financial workshop), discovery (found a great $1 bookstore) & adventure (rode a tandem bike!!). Extra thanks to Jenn who spent time with our babes so we could get refreshed. It was lovely!

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Kern County Fair 2011



It has become a yearly tradition for us to attend the Kern County Fair. Usually Matt has to work for the radio station at the fair, so the girls & I head out to the fair when Matt is already out there.

The highlights this year was the rides & the petting zoo. Sophia had the time of her life on the boat ride. She was so happy and almost broke into a tantrum when she was the ride was over. But the petting zoo was even better! We spent awhile in there petting deer, llamas, goats, and a donkey... there was even a kangaroo!! The girls loved it & would've stayed there forever. My highlight was the kettle corn, mm! And Matt was excited to try the deep fried Kool-Aid... his review: not amazing, but worth trying!
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