Snow in October

This is what we woke up to this morning.

Simeon was so excited that he went and woke up Abbi so she wouldn't miss it.

They couldn't wait to play in it.

Out they went for a small snow ball fight. 10 minutes later they were ready to sit by the heater.

A happy first snow day!

More boots

So Abbi wanted to show off her boots too! Thanks to Gina, we now have 2 happy kids with boots. 1 kid with boots just didn't seem to work.

Warm, Cozy Moments

for just a moment...

all three kids are sitting at the table

2 coloring, 1 eating

cold and rainy outside

the smell of dinner cooking

the candlelight makes eyes sparkle

Norah Jones playing quietly in the back ground

and all is calm

at least for a moment

In the middle of fall and didn't even realize it

So fall came fast for me this year. I couldn't wait for it to get here and then didn't even notice when it came. I walked out back to find that all of our beautiful leaves are already on the ground.

And that of course means lots of raking!

It also means yummy apple butter. Our neighbor has been very generous and is allowing us to have apples from her tree. They make the best apple butter.

It seems like we are taking on a new tradition with fall as well. This is the second year that we have gone to a pumpkin patch. The kids loved it this year! I think they enjoyed digging through the weeds looking for the gourds that "Mommy just had to have."

And of course Simeon can make a sword out of anything! He picked this up instead of a pumpkin to protect us from anything that could be lurking in the field.

Any strays?

cups that is?

I had a few and decided to make them into candles. Very simple and fun. There are easy to follow instructions here. Don't go out and buy expensive wax to do this. You can buy paraffin wax like Gulf Wax that you would use for canning, at Walmart, in the baking aisle. I also have melted left-over wax from other candles and mixed them with the paraffin wax to make a yummy flavor.

Happy candle making!

These boots were made for walking...

and kicking, and stomping, and marching, and fighting, and dancing, and working, and running...

Simeon just wanted to show off his new boots.

Thanks for the boots "A", we are loving them!

Gettin' ready for fall

We got back from vacation in time for a birthday party. Can you guess the theme? You can read more about the party here.

Doing a little jig.

lovin' the camera

Our trip to the farmer's market on vacation inspired me to go to our local farmer's market. And guess what? Ours is small...notice that I am not even using quotation marks. It really is small. I was a little disappointed, but I did find one little treasure - a bag of peanuts. The whole family was excited about this. So, off we went to go home and roast peanuts.

You'll need 1-2 lbs of peanuts

1-2 T. of peanut oil

1-2 T. of kosher salt

And if you are like us, you might want a little more salt.

Rinse the peanuts and pat them dry. Coat them with oil and salt. Put them on a baking sheet and pop in the oven. Oven temp. should be 350 and cook about 20 minutes. Cool slightly and enjoy!

My kids asked if they could throw the shells on the floor. I think my answer went something like this - "ha, ha, hhha, hanha, gasp - NO" .

That didn't get their spirits down, they still enjoyed the peanuts for a very long time, and I got dinner done while they attempted cracking peanuts.

the Newport Aquarium - part 2

After my parents, we headed to Mark's parents. We spent a day at the park - which the kids loved! Simeon showed off his climbing skills, Abbi showed us how she could go through the tunnels and Abraham enjoyed the swing and slide!

The next day, we all loaded up in gramma and pappa's van and headed to the Newport Aquarium. It was very fun and educational. In fact, I can't wait to take a field trip there again when the kids get older. Simeon loved the sharks, going through the tunnel and petting them. Abbi....um..not so much. She and Abraham enjoyed the frogs. They had three frog statues for the kids to climb on as well as a maze for the kids to go wind themselves through and end up at a slide.

After gramma's and pappa's, Mark, the kids, and I went to a hotel just to relax and have our own little family time before our vacation was over. One last stop along the way (Chuck E. Cheese's) and then home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

Up to Colombus - Vacation part 1

Enjoying the ride...

and cool at the same time.

For our vacation this year we went several places and included all of the grandparents. Our first stop was to my sister's to see her family, my grandmother, and a close friend. From there, we picked up my parents and headed to the zoo. I didn't really take a lot of pictures at all - I just enjoyed the vacation. Honestly, I don't think I could have kept up with the camera anyway.

After the zoo we went to a nearby hotel and "vegged" for the evening. We left the hotel the next afternoon and headed back to my parents. Our one rule for our vacation was "to be relaxed and if we saw something interesting along the way, stop and enjoy it." So our first stop was The Santa Maria. The kids enjoyed touring the boat and learning how sailors lived. A "dream come true" for a four year old who spends a lot of time pretending to be a pirate.

Our next stop was Renick's farm. A cute "little" farmers market somewhere in OH. They had a hay maze for the kids to play in as well as this slide. Lot's of yummy local foods and root beer for the road.