Word on the Streets

Christmas came early and with four large feet. . .

someone's toenails are clicking around the house again. we found our second weimaraner at the local weim rescue organization. we brought her home today and it has been very promising! 

 

 

 

we didn't really pick her--she sort of picked jack and morgan! she plays with them with great control and yet so happily. she is 1 1/2 years old and slightly (very slightly) bigger than our tessa was. she is lanky and like velcro already! we are considering naming her natasha--and calling her tasha. the name has a great meaning: russian and originally a pet name for the female name natalia. it means birthday referring to the birth of Jesus. so in general sense it means child of Christmas. 

oh and the white mark on her face? well she had clorox bleach spilled on her when she was young. it bleached her coat white. she was lucky to have had it miss her eye! we feel it marks her like no other and we will always know our weimie by it!

 
 
 

 

sky at 4:54 pm . . .

driving home tonight from running errands on this road and i noticed the sky was beyond words. the light at that time of day is barely there and yet the colors are incredible.

 

when grandpa sits down to teach you how to read. . .

my parents are so great with my boys--especially my dad. but he is a man's man or a guy's guy or a fett's fett (star wars). he sat down to read with the boys and get them to read a little of the book too. he encouraged them by wearing one of their costume helmets (jango or boba fett--i can never remember who is whom!) he is the best grandpa ever! how he could read the words through that helmet, i'll never know but he had them fully concentrating on the book!

 

12 days of Christmas auction. . .helping a family in need

So each Christmas we look for a family to help out. So does my sister's family. This year we didn't have to look very far. 
On Thanksgiving we heard on the news about this young husband and med student, John Jones, who got stuck while cave exploring. So many of us had been in those same caves while at university (and I actually turned around and went out because I was so incredibly freaked out by them!) It was just so tragic and sad to hear of this story. 1/2 of me was befuddled as to why a young father would be so seemingly careless but then 1/2 of me was reminded (from my own sister's experience of losing her 1 year old last year) that no one can or should judge what happened. It happened and was horrible and his wife is left to pull life together for her child and the one on the way. 
You can read more about his story here: http://news.aol.com/main/nc/article/john-j...stuck-in/786236

My sister felt it was a good opportunity to give back in some way all the kindness she was shown when her baby passed away. She has set up a huge 12 days of Christmas auction on her now very popular blog. All of the money earned from the auctions will be donated to Emily Jones, John's wife. She has a little girl and one on the way to support. Supporting my sister, Stephanie's auctions will be a way to help this young mom cope with life without her husband. 

My sister has something like 75 auctions running right now and over 50 people donating their items.
My photography friend Jenny M is one of those donating! Good on ya Jenny! Anyone living in OC or traveling to the OC coast this spring might wanna bid on her photo shoot. She rocks the camera!
You can go see my sister's blog here: http://adailyscoop.blogspot.com/

If you are a family who looks for something to do at Christmas to help others this might be something you'd be interested in. You can either donate or you can even bid on any of these donated items (maybe some good Christmas gifts to snatch up and help someone at the same time?). There are some cool things for auction--scroll down to see them ALL!

Just wanting to spread the word on this in case anyone was interested. 

Cheers, Lesli

sometimes he just melts me. . .

so much to catch up on and so many things to write. i sat down today with every intention of getting all caught up and something interrupted me. then we ran errands and coming back from them i noticed the neighbors trees all changing colors. its yellow all down my street. in most places around the country the fall colors are long gone but here in vegas we get them nearer to christmas! seeing this made me run and grab my camera and i asked if any little boy would let me take his photo. my morgan was quick to jump at the chance and he threw me one of these morgan faces. sometimes he just makes me melt into a puddle of motherly mess on the pavement with these looks--i cherish his dear face and personality. 

 

still have lots to get caught up on but not letting it keep me from living in the moment day to day. i want to enjoy december and not stress about having everything done by the end of the year that i had hoped to have done. life is too short for that.

dallas in november. . .

with my children off school for all of november we stole away to visit family in dallas, texas for eight days. it was a dream of a vacation. 100% of the time we spent with family that we don't get to see very often. we had dreamy weather--seriously, heavenly weather! we ate great food as always when the harris family gets together. and the cousins played together long and creatively each day. it was full of so much beauty in so many ways. 

one of the obvious beauties was the changing of the seasons. it was in your face and absolutely everywhere you went. i was in heaven!!! i have always missed the vancouver, b.c. fall seasons and being in vegas can leave one craving color changes. neither i nor my boys could not get enough of the fallen leaves. on each walk or trip to the park, the boys would return with a pile of "favorite leaves". 

there were so many homes that i coveted! from the street i longed to pack one up and taken it home to vegas for me and my little family of boys to call home. the charm and the quaint tree-lined streets with every home displaying something about it i had to have--a red door, lanterns in the front, wisteria draping the entry. i could just go back and do a photo tour of homes in the park cities of dallas.

for now i love the inside of my vegas home. it was "home" when i walked into it after the plane ride home from dallas. it may not have the "look" i want on the outside but i had the best feeling late last night sitting on my couch realizing how much this home boosts my spirit and comforts me. [it also helped that my husband had cleaned it meticulously before my arriving home! thanks, rod.]

a few homes and colors to enjoy: 

 

 

 

 

 

my brother's dear little family. . .

i absolutely heart this photo!

 

and because she was at school we got to walk over and pick up our cousin blanche from kindergarten!

 
 

a day at the dallas arboretum. . .

one of the best things to do in dallas is to visit the arboretum. they had their pumpkin decor still out so we got to see the pumpkin house and all of the other little story book homes scattered across the grounds. the children could run and play and feel free! i was in awe of the colors and fascinated with natural shapes in the foliage. when one lives in the desert it is impossible not be in heaven in a place like the arboretum. i have a flood of photos from this day. the cousins joined us for part of the day and the boys and i stayed on to cover all of the grounds together. they followed their maps and took us to every nook there was to see. it was a ton of walking and i was so happy with their willingness to see it all because i was really enjoying myself as well!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
  

me while i sat and watched jack and morgan run around--taken by jack while he caught his breath.

 

 

 

rachel with her new baby boy bowen in the sling and her two boys, bunker and hugh with jack and morgan. i could not love this photo more. she is the best mother of little children ever!

 

and just some of the details of the gardens:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and a few of the storybook houses where my boys played pirates and hunted for mythical creatures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

if i lived in dallas, i would have a season's pass to these gardens! they overlook the lake and each season must bring different joys. i was so thrilled to have an entire day to relax and enjoy their beauty. and my boys fell asleep hard when they hit their beds that night! heaven. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 

 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

the perfect time to be in dallas!

i have think we had all the luck in the world the first two weeks of november because our trip to dallas, texas to visit stephen and rachel's family was blessed with the finest weather i've almost ever experienced! the fine weather made it extra easy to walk everywhere and hit the park and outdoor gardens. with the fall colors in abundance we could enjoy each outing to its fullest! it is usually a good chance that dallas is either muggy and hot or raining. but we caught the best two weeks of weather possible! what a treat.

the four boys between the two families! when jack and morgan grow out of their clothes they come tell me, "mom, this is too small for me now--we need to send it to bunks!" good thing their cousins bunker and hugh can use their clothing. it is fun to see their littler boys clothes getting good use. when i look at bunker in something of my boys i think to myself, "can my boys really have been that size?" and i huge bunker all that much harder!

 

just check out what cute kiddos my brother and his darling wife create!

 

just walking from the park to the house i was ga-ga over the textures of the fences and walls of the homes and alley ways. oh to have something other than pink or dirt-colored stucco!

my boys travelled so well! they switched very easily to the time change and rode on the plane like champs. in fact, three people made it a point to tell them how good they were on the airplane! that had to make them feel good! i know it did me. oh and by the way, those three people were from texas--texans are so friendly!

 
 
 

boo! from the fett boys. . .

i took jack and morgan to target to get star wars costumes. their lives used to be full of thomas the train (though they were never that for halloween). now it is all about star wars. so they chose to be jango and boba fett. and in their own explanation it was because they were like brothers but different. they explained on and on about how the fetts were sort of like twins but not. 

funny. i keep thinking they want to be different from each other but it ends up that they choose to be similar in so many ways. so we are the fett boys this year. and i have to say i do like those costumes. we are gonna get some serious mileage after halloween out of these. i can tell that already!

we had the missionaries show up at our door yesterday evening. they came to say hi and we invited them in for dinner and pumpkin carving. they were happy to join! they are such hard-working, pleasant young men. i love when they come! rod carved one pumpkin with jack and morgan into what else? a star wars clone figure. each missionary got his own pumpkin all to himself and was given free reign on the carving. they did such a great job! it is great to be a missionary and one of them showed just how much he likes his work by carving a missionary in his pumpkin--badge and all! it was a fun evening, spontaneous and casual fun. we lit them up and put them out for the evening.