Dana Point Boo Cruise!

Alright, back to catching up!

On October 26th, the kids and I made a last minute decision to head down to Dana Point to go on the Dana Point Boo Cruise.  Yes, "Boo" not "booze"!  The Dana Warf Sport Fishing Company was offering a short cruise in the harbor for kids and adults for $5.00 each.  It included a treat bag filled with candy and fun things, a water bottle, treats and crafts on the boat and the fun little boat ride!  A pretty good deal I think!

All the kids were dressed in costume and it was such a gorgeous night!  We got there right before sunset, so it was such a beautiful time to be on the water.

Watching our ship come in...

...doing crafts on board...

...Wes checking out his treat bag...

...posing for pics...

...and of course more treats!

Such a fun time, love it when last minute plans work out perfectly!

Goodby Little House!

I'm back!!! Did you miss me?? It's been quite a month and a half for the Meacham family, but I'm finally at a point where I think I can attempt (daunting of a task as it is) to catch up.  On December 26th escrow (finally!) closed and we said goodbye to our first home.  I thought I'd start here with pictures of our old house and then go back to where I left off in October (sorry, but you'll have to put up with the holiday's all over again!) and work my way forward from there.  So here we go:

2442 Elden Ave #B7

Costa Mesa, Ca  92627

Cora's Room

 

 Cora's bathroom

 Master bedroom

 Master bath

Living Room

 Dining Room

 Kitchen

 

Down stairs bathroom

Garage

Backyard

(And for some reason I'm missing the pics of Wes' room, but if I find them I'll add them later)

It's hard not to be sentimental (and if you know me, you know that's an understatement) when I see these pictures, but we are excited to see what God has in store for us in this next chapter of our lives.  Thanks to everyone for their support and prayers and for your patience during my break from blogging :)  It's good to be back!

Hiatus

My blog is going on hiatus...and I have a very good reason.  We sold our house!  And it's been a whirlwind. We've owned this home for nine years and we've been talking about selling it for seven, well at least seriously for two.  We had been praying about it it earnest and finally felt a peace about the timing.  

 So on November 1st, we listed it...

and on November 2nd we sold it!

We asked that if it was the Lord's will for us to move, that he bring us the buyers and pave the way.  And he certainly did just that.  It sold for and appraised for our full asking price and we should close Escrow on the 7th.  We are currently in a mad rush to pack up the last nine years of our lives and will be heading to Grammy and Grandpa's house while we wait for the Lord to show us the perfect house for our family (we are praying for a big yard!)  So I promise I'll get back to blogging just as soon as the dust settles, and it's certainly been busy with Halloween, Thanksgiving and Cora's 1st birthday.  See you soon :)

Peanut Fun!

Sometimes the simplest (and longest lasting) form of fun is delivered right to your door step!  In this case it was a giant cardboard box filled with vitamins for me and packing peanuts for the kids.

What a blast these kids had and what a HUGE mess they made.  And I'm praying packing peanuts aren't toxic, because I could not keep Cora from trying to eat them!

11 Months Old!

On October 24th, Cora turned 11 months old!  Here she is in her Snow White Halloween costume Grammy made especially for her!

I couldn't resist this picture..made me think of "teenage Cora" rolling her eyes.  But I know this sweet munchkin will never roll her eyes at me :)

You're growing up so fast Cora girl!  As always we love you so much!

"I didn't know you were going to kill it!"

Can you remember where you heard this classic Halloween line?  Think Charlie Brown and Halloween and you should think of The Great Pumpkin.  I'm a sucker for nostalgia and remember watching The Great Pumpkin when I was a kid, so I got Wes hooked and we've watched it several times this season.  In case you live under a rock and haven't seen this 30 minute classic, in the opening scene, Linus helps Lucy pick a pumpkin from the patch, rolls it home for her and then she proceeds to hack it up with a huge kitchen knife.  After seeing this Linus cries, "I didn't know you were going to kill it!"  And since Wes is Mr. Super Observant, he had many, many questions about why Lucy was "killing a pumpkin."  But he didn't seem to mind this carnage in our garage :)   

Getting a carving lesson from Dad...

...Mike trying to convince Wes to remove the innards (notice his hands firmly placed behind his back), appeasing Dad by touching it, and finally getting a spoon so he could do the scooping cleanly.  (he loves getting dirty, but he hates "slimy" things!)

Cora on the other hand, had no problem with the slime and was happy to offer Daddy a hand!

Wes told Mike he wanted a Mickey Mouse pumpkin, so we found this template on the Disney website.  And since Cora was dressing as Snow White for Halloween, he also decided she needed a Snow White pumpkin, also compliments of Disney.  Great carving Daddy!

And after the carving, we enjoyed another of my favorite Halloween treats, electric orange stuffed Oreo's.

I remember hearing Mike say something like, "Cora's tried more treats at this age than Wes ever did, but I draw the line at orange Oreo's."  But when I turned around, this is what I saw!  Cora can be very convincing...I think she may also have the upper hand on her Daddy :)

Tanaka Farms

On October 23th we made our annual trip to the Tanaka Farms pumpkin patch.  It was late in the month and it was (and had been) really warm, so the pumpkin patch was looking  little sad but we still had fun together checking everything out.

Hanging out in the "land of giants"

Wes trying to pick up this pumpkin reminded me of these pics from 2010!

We found the center of the corn maze...

...and Daddy and Wes had fun hiding from me and Cora.

After eating a quick lunch on some hay bales...

...we took a tractor ride around the farm.

Then Wes climbed the sad and pretty much rotten "pile of pumpkins" though he didn't seem to care.  I've got to remember to get to Tanaka farms in the beginning of October. But despite all that I still love visiting the pumpkin patch and look forward to this each year!