Helpers at the Winery

Harvest is drawing to a close and Tyler just had his first full weekend in months. The boys (and me, too) really miss him with his crazy long work weeks, so we're all glad to be returning to normal. During harvest we make up reasons to drive to Napa so we can visit Tyler.
Tyler is making some Syrah with our friend Jim who works at Stags Leap. In this picture they had just finished pressing the grapes and the boys look like they're considering jumping in the bin. A picture with purple feet would have been great.
One of the best parts of visiting Papa is getting to drive the forklift.
Anybody need us to move a few boxes?
A little dance party inside the winery when all the work is finished.

A Visit with Grandmere and Grandpere

After both my parents were gone, Tyler's parents came. It is so helpful during harvest when Tyler is working crazy hours to have all the grandparents around.
Moose loves trains, but is not to keen on the whistle.
This restaurant in Napa is the most kid-friendly place we've been that is not for kids. The boys ordered "Pizza per Bambinii". You should have seen their faces when their pizza arrived AND it had french fries on top! The adults got to enjoy risotto and homemade pasta, so everyone was content.

A Visit with Grandpa and Grandma

These are a few pictures from when my mom and dad were out in September. The boys were wildly spoiled with outings and lots of attention. Thank God for grandparents.
We took a trip to the San Fran Zoo and had a great time wandering around. It is pretty small compared to some zoos (ie. St. Louis or San Diego), but perfectly fine for our little guys. They loved the grizzly bears.

This is a super old video that Tyler made for our parents. It has been about 6 months since this was taken so BiggiE is completely different and would be singing along with Moose if we filmed it now. Actually, I am trying to think how to capture BiggiE singing. He is hilarious because he pretty much gets the tune and then throws in a word here and there. He reminds us of someone trying to sing along with the radio. It is amazing the difference 6 months makes for both Moose and BiggiE.

First Day of Preschool

This is an old video, but I now using Firefox which is making Mac posting so much easier, so I can finally post a video.

Gleaned Goodies

One thing I love about browsing other blogs is the insights and humorous escapades from other people's lives. I think I need to start a category of "Gleaned Goodies" that I snatch from other people's blogs.

This one is from Organized Chaos. Organized Chaos got this quote from the book "Train Up A Child".

"A child learns of the character of God through observing his parents. Parents don't have to be perfect, just a balanced representation of God's personality. Everything that God is in character and government, parents should display within the limits of their humanity. Parents need not be all-powerful, just the child's source of strength. They don't have to be all-wise, just wise enough to guide the child and warrant admiration. Parents need not be sinless, just demonstrate a commitment to goodness."

It is so reaffirming that parenting is all about God and His glory and all my failure is fine, part of the plan even, because I can use it to point my child to the Perfect Parent. Of course, being a source of my child's strength, wise enough to guide my child and demonstrate a commitment to goodness is enough to have me on my knees all day, everyday. But, the best place to live from is being wholly submitted to Christ anyway.

Hot Chocolate With Green Scum On Top

We just had a lovely morning field trip with Moose's preschool to the local pumpkin patch. It was drizzling so we arrived home a bit damp. In celebration of Fall and gray, rainy days I suggested we make hot chocolate. I like to make my own hot chocolate on the stove with milk, cocoa and sugar.

As I stirred and heated our treat I was inspired to toss in a scoop of Kidz SuperFood (Outrageous Chocolate Flavor, says the package.) Normally, I serve this cleverly disguised concoction of dehydrated fruits and vegetables in cold milk. I thought, why not warm? Well, as the title of this post declares: green scum. Something about the heat separated the chocolate color from the veggies and a nice green layer formed on top of the pot. I chuckled to myself and thanked my lucky stars that both my sons are still young enough that the promise of a "hot drink" is all they care about whether topped with whipped cream or, in this case, green scum. I did, however, decide to spare you a photograph.

Smell That Apple Pie?

While my dad was out for a visit we drove over to Sebastopol and went apple picking.

I had forgotton how much my dad loves orchards, so he was in his element searching for the best apples with his grandsons.

I told Moose how we lived on an apple orchard in New Zealand when he was a baby. He loves hearing stories about his life as a baby. After you tell him he repeats the story like he remembers it. "Yea, when I was a baby we lived on an orchard."
















BiggiE cracks up the whole family. He carried around this huge apple and would stop every few steps and put his whole self into a bite.

I am always amazed how such a simple outing is so much fun and I wonder why I don't do it more often.

Oh yes, we did make a delicious apple pie, but it didn't stay around long enough to take a picture.

Naboo Outback plays at the Coliseum

This is from my friend, Angie's, blog. Yes, totally pointless, but silly nonetheless. I'd try to do some deep, thought-provoking post, but right now, this is all I've got. I'm all out of deep.

Let me know if you do it on your blog... I'd love to take a peek!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
Naboo Outback

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Chocolate Chip Sugar

3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
RTho

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Blue Dolphin

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)
Byranie Kansas City

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
Thore

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put "The")
Green The Chai

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
Frank William

9.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names )
Sue Allan

Okay, Blue Dolphin is not a very creative detective name. Guess I'll have to give up all those secret capers.

The un-fairy tale me

I was writing in my journal the other day when I was blindsided by my own sin. I was detailing my feelings about a new group I joined where I like all the women, but many of them are not instant connects for me. I know it is a rare, special thing to meet someone and know that they are a potential bosom friend. Of course, knowing how uncommon that is and still expecting it is an ongoing occurance/problem for me.

As I journaled I was trying to describe how I felt about these women. I wrote, "...it's just not a glass slipper fit." Then so suddenly and forcefully I almost felt it physically, the thought came, "Or maybe it's just that I'm not Cinderella." I suspect the thought was from God because the conviction I felt as I burst into tears was that gentle, firm and deep ache that only the Spirit can bring. I confessed my self-centeredness and arrogance. I am usually so focused on myself that if the thought comes of how I could bless other people it is most certainly belated. May God open my eyes to how He sees people.

Cloth Diapers

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Originally uploaded by tybythomas

Save money while you help the environment!
I think I have a lot of soap boxes that I try not to spend much time on, but what is a blog if not the chance to spout my point of view. I want to put a plug out there for cloth diapers.
I grew up thinking I would use cloth diapers on my children and then lived in Davis, CA while I was pregnant the first time. Davis has a huge population of cloth diaper users and that helped me see the logistics of how I might actually do the cloth diaper thing.
I have used cloth diapers with both of my children and have been really happy with the experience. I made a conservative estimate that we save at least $500 a year using cloth diapers and washing them at home. This number uses 5 diapers per child per day with diapers purchased at Costco. I also subtracted the water and electricity required to clean the diapers. For us, $500 is a significant sum and well worth the two extra loads of laundry a week. Plus, I like to dry the diapers outside on the clothesline in the summer. I love looking outside and seeing the diapers on the line knowing that the sun is sanitizing the diapers even more. I feel connected to all the families before us that didn't have the disposable option.
I realize cloth diapers aren't for everyone, but if you are at all interested I strongly encourage you to explore the option. Happy diapering!