Recently ...

Recently my husband and I joined the decade we're in and got smart phones. We love them and can't imagine going back. We looked around quite a bit and got a great deal and are really pleased with our company, AND we're saving a ton of money on them! Ask me if you want more information.

So, seeing that it's 2012 (almost 2013--heart attack!), I'm finally on Instagram! Can you believe that's one of the reasons I wanted a smart phone in the first place? It is. And I try to post a picture or two every day. You can follow me: I'm gibsongirl726.

Josiah, stylin' in Mommy's boots while tasting a toy. In jammies.

Unfortunately, I've been really lazy with my real camera. I have excuses--three kids and a smart phone are enough to keep track of, for one. Another reason is that our temporary housing is so dark and ugly I can't get good pictures no matter how hard I try! Life has been pretty normal but busy... So I've just let my real camera have a month off! 

So here are some stories from our life the last few weeks. Except this first one. It's from October.

My dad and his wife, Jan, have opened a winery! It's really cool and I love the atmosphere, even though wine isn't my thing! (Love you, Dad!) I'm super proud of my dad for following a dream and seeing it to fruition-and if you're ever in Ventura, CA, look up Plan B Winery and you can taste the fruition of their labor! (ha ha!)

If you know us at all, you probably know we don't do Santa. We've chosen to not tell our kids fairytales and other stories with characters that aren't real because we don't want them to think Bible stories and Jesus and all of that aren't real either. But this glitter Santa snowglobe showed up in our lives in a rather nice manner, so here's the story: We went out to lunch on our way south for Thanksgiving. A lady a couple tables away kept watching us and she wasn't smiling. I knew my boys weren't being naughty or loud, per se, but some people think restaurants are for grown-ups. Well, we were finishing up our lunch and she comes over and announces that she had something she just wanted to give our boys because she was so impressed with their manners, and that they were so well-behaved! She pulls out this Santa and thanks us profusely for raising kids with manners! How nice! Words like that go a long way, because this parenting gig is HARD. Some days I feel like a complete failure and I need sparkly Santa snowglobes to remind me that it's all worthwhile. Thanks, random stranger!

Later that day, Josiah decided he had had enough of his car seat and it was his turn in the driver's seat! Of course we were parked and the car was off. Everyone else gets to go inside and walk around (Gary takes the older boys and I go by myself--love that!), so I try to let Josiah at least wiggle around the car after his diaper has been changed. #roadtripsurvivaltip

On Black Friday we avoided the stores and took the kids to the zoo! Above are the backsides of my older boys and my nephew and niece. They were watching a crocodile.

Here are the backsides of my spouse and our three kiddos, engrossed by rattlesnakes. Glad they were behind glass. Growing up in CA I had too many real-life encounters with rattlers!

Jojo looks perturbed, but really he was blinking. A quality camera is not a feature of my smart phone! Anyhoo, this was to show how much love and attention my littlest got from his three cousins. Aren't they all adorable in their matching red holiday outfits!

  

No, Josiah is not my favorite child! He's just usually the closest when I want to capture the moment! Here we are lunching on the patio at my bro/sis-in-law's place in LA(ish). This is Saturday after Thanksgiving, but we also ate Thanksgiving dinner out here. Love So. Cal!

That night after we put the six kids to bed (ages 1-8), we parents had another piece of pie and played Cranium. We laughed so hard it hurt! So fun!

Sunday after Thanksgiving, coming back to the Sacramento area. 400 miles.

Lunch was a bright spot. Or maybe this was supper. Anyway, it had to do with a certain Panda and it really kicked off a chow mein craving for me! I think I had some 4 or 5 times that week! Randomly--I promise I did not eat at Panda Express 5 times last week. Once Gary's class went to dinner, another time I grabbed some at a supermarket while I was on an errand (without kids!), and there was even some very yummy chow mein at the church potluck. Yum!

I went to Target on November 26 and was bombarded by Christmas. I'm not ok with that! Christmas belongs firmly in December, thank you!

My big boy decidedly loved his first taste of pomegranate! 

I've forgotten in my 13 years away that California has two seasons-hot and dry followed by rainy and cool. We've been having LOTS of rain. Sometimes we get a little stir-crazy, but this day these three were entertained by a laundry basket-turned sail boat. I think it morphed into a jail a few minutes later.

We made a couple of these. Super cute, super easy. Will be posting about this soon! 

The graduate!!! My husband graduated on Friday! He's exhausted and washed out in this picture, but still so proud! So am I. Another real post coming soon with real pictures.

We went to dinner in historic downtown Auburn on Saturday night. We had Thai which is a family favorite, right up there with Indian. We had to park a few blocks down and my boys were mesmerized with a store front with a train running around these giant packages! Turns out they were having an open house/party, so we spent a few minutes inside watching a live band play jazz. Love that small town atmosphere!

Ok, friends, if you're on Instagram come follow me! (gibsongirl726) I'd love to follow you too, so give me a shout out as to your name on IG. 

Have a groovy Tuesday!