Back of the Bus

Rosie brought home this adorable 

school bus picture last week. 

She said, "That's YOU driving the bus, Mama! 

And, that's DAD riding in the back!"

Do you hear that, world? 

Finally.

Am I the only one that thinks "Ron" bears a striking resemblance to David Hasselhoff? 

Tanaka Farms

We ventured back, once again, to Tanaka Farms for CSA Day.

We fed some goats, took a hay ride, played some games, and picked some pumpkins. Never mind the fact that it was a nippy 89 degrees outside.

My dear husband with months of collected CSA boxes.

                                                  

The perfect pumpkins are found!

A Caleb Eckert in the making :)

Here we are at the loveliest organic farm, with amazing fresh produce, and my daughter is eating.... a Dorito. Sigh.

Home Help

I mentioned in our last post that we are rearranging the furniture in our living room. We have the blessing and curse of living in a bungalow in which the living room is basically also the family room, kitchen, dining room, laundry room, den, racetrack, and art room. Yes, a lot goes on in this space. We have lived here for 5 years and we've never been able to get this space to "work" for us. It's a journey in progress, to say the least. We took a big step in the right direction and said goodbye to our "beast" entertainment center and "baby beast" coffee table, but not before the girls put the empty space to good use.

 Can I just mention how grateful I am for the brawn of young men? I was so glad that Ron recruited some camp guys and I did not have to help move this thing. 

To quote my dad, "This thing is so heavy it makes me want to scream!"

So now we are slowly rearranging. I made all of these bold statements about not buying anything new...  using things that we can salvage or reuse. The next day I went out and bought a loveseat from Ikea.

 I digress.  

I do need your help with something. I found this little antique cart. I think this might have inspired my salvage decorating kick that lasted for a minute second. I had visions of blankets or games like I've seen on some of the blogs that I look at... but as of now, it looks like a homeless person dropped their belongings off here. That's not entirely bad! It's just not the look I was going for :)

So, what do I do? Erin mentioned keeping the contents monochromatic... Brieann mentioned painting it.. what do you think?

Insta-Fun

I jumped on the bandwagon and downloaded the instagram app on my phone. So the goal is these grainy, sort of blurry polaroid pictures? Yes? Alright then, here we go.

Here was our weekend (minus the Saturday morning bike ride. I left the phone at home where it belongs on Saturday mornings).

The Carousel on the Balboa Peninsula is closing after 75 years. We thought it would be fun for the girls to ride the horses one last time.

We also visited the candy shop...

..... rode the ferry and the ferris wheel

 

 ... and rode the carousel... at last.

 This guy waited patiently for his girls to get off of the horses.

 Sunday, we Skyped with Allison, our niece.

We are in the process of rearranging the furniture in our family room. The furniture there is temporary for now... Ron arranged his chair like a man with optimal Sunday afternoon nap and Vikings game in mind.

I made some pesto with some left over Basil from my farm box. Yes, I made it in a plastic bowl from Sea World. It's how I roll.

That's our weekend! How sweet it is!

First Day Fun

It's official. We are back to school. Rosie jumped feet first into her "Ladybug" class with Mrs. Langley and Mrs. Riley. We are also doing something fun this year and having her stay all day on Thursdays at preschool to attend the Owls class and do art, science and music with Mrs. Apin, her teacher from last year. I picked her up from the Owls class and as we were walking home she told me that they read a book about making chocolate and ketchup. 

Rosie: Mom, did you know that chocolate comes from Cocoa beans and that ketchup comes from tomatoes and that they are both grown in gardens? 

Me: I didn't know that. Tell me about it!

Rosie: Well, you mash up the cocoa beans and that makes chocolate and then you mix the tomatoes with milk and sugar and that makes ketchup.

Hmmmm... she may have the processes mixed up, but that's a lot for the first day, huh?

Rosie showed that she is a true Welch by requesting French Toast for her 1st day of school breakfast.

Rosie also started a little dance class at the community center. She LOVES it and asks me everyday if it's Wednesday and time for ballet and tap class!

Sadie and I are having fun hanging out just the two of us. I forget that she and I haven't spent much alone time together, so it's fun to have her all to myself. She's getting so big and her vocabulary is expanding by the minute!

Her first event for our day together involved one of her favorite pastimes.... dumping all of the crayons out of the crayon tub and then putting then back. Then, repeat.

We also did a little art project and then cleaned up in the sink. It's so fun to be fully present with this little one! She cracks me up!

Minnie- sooooo-ta

Sorry. I just haaaad to do it. I've spent the better part of 7 years trying to perfect my Midwest accent. My best material involves calling my husband by his official Minnesotan name, "Rhaaaaaaaan." 

Have I mentioned that I adore the Eckerts? I think I have. I was adopted into this amazing family, by marriage. Each has their own unique family and the truth is, I love them all. I wish we were close enough to see each other on a regular basis, but we do what we can with phone calls, texts and Skype. We soak up the times that we can be together face to face. Rumor has it that it might be a 5 brothers Eckerts Thanksgiving.... in California.... I'm already counting the days.... and also starting to collect blow up mattresses :)
Anyway, we got to spend 4 days with Steve and Lori and the kids and also had a fun visit with Dan and Barb and kids!



All of the cousins are so great when it comes to playing with Rosie and Sadie. They are so patient and willing to play! I think Rosie may have been putting chapstick in Kari's hair in the picture below.

Word on the street is that all Bethel gals think Marcus Eckert is an absolute catch. We Eckert women would have to agree.

Rosie persuaded Logan to try a piece of asparagus. Well, she tried anyway.

I got to meet my blog friend, Jenny, in real life.  If you haven't checked her blog out... you should. You can find it in my blog list. She's equal parts expert wife/mom, friend, baker, artist, decorator and barnbasher. Yes, that's a real word. Barnbasher. In her latest post she salvaged wood from a barn... that was still standing. She's awesome, and it was fun to meet her in person!

Allison is a family favorite. We all love her. Enough said.

Uncle Dan makes the best smores....I don't think they realize that the marshmallow is on fire.

My husband puts up with a lot when it comes to pink girl "stuff." Here is is with Barbie's lace petticoat over his eyes.

Visiting one of Ron's favorite childhood places, the Como Park Zoo. It was awesome.

 Bye, Uncle Steve. I love you. See you in November.

We smooshed 4 pairs of buns into 3 seats on the way home for optimal Elmo viewing on the DVD player.