pumpkin time!

Linus: Ohh. You didn't tell me you were gonna kill it!

(It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!)

Hmmm….that looks interesting.  EWWWW!  It feels gross!

wordless Wednesday

Favorite girl, favorite park

A day with my favorite girl at her favorite park...one of MY favorite moments of the week so far.

Odd tip of the day

My grandmother recently emailed me a really great tip....(yes, my grandmother emails, surfs the web, checks blogs; she's pretty rockin and hip)...so I needed to pass along the wisdom.

We love strawberries. Berries of any kind, actually. I scored a bunch of strawberries at a great price. So how do you keep all those delish rubies of sweetness fresh?

• Wash them in 1 part vinegar and 10 parts water. Apparently it kills the fungal spores.
• Rinse if you want, but it isn't necessary.
• Drain and store. I store them in tupperware's fridgesmart containers.

It is working so well, I had to share.

adven-chures with my girl

I say adventures with my girl, some would say adventures with my mini-me.  Everywhere we go, “Wow, your daughter looks exactly like you!”  I take it as a huge compliment, because I think she’s friggin’ adorable….and pray that someday maybe people will think I’m her big sister.  Come on now, my mom and my grandmother have beautiful skin – a girl can hope, right? (enough with the tangent…forging onto the post!)

2 years ago, I did this same exact trip with big brother and his preschool class – and now it is little sister’s turn.  She’s a big preschooler, in case you forgot.  You know, she gets kinda indignant if you happen to forget that she is four now.

She was so excited knowing that this trip was in her near future and the day finally arrived.  Warm, clear and beautiful – the perfect morning for a hayride through the rolling hills farmland.  We boarded the wagon and headed out for apples (4 each), a pumpkin (1 each), and gourds (2 each). 

The apple station was first – we choose mostly golden delicious, because heck, that is what I like and the looked prettier. (Yes prettier.  No comments.)  After she politely refused to take a picture documenting our time together picking apples, we wagoned up again and headed to the pumpkin patch.  Personally, I think this picture is priceless.  My princess who is surely a girly girl but loves playing rough and tumble (and is very scrappy and picks up bugs and frogs and stomps in mud), was saying,

“It’s dirty! I don’t want a dirty one!  It’s making my hands dirty!”

Uh-huh.

We managed to find a fairly clean looking one; one that would be worthy of being turned into Cinderella’s coach and were treated to applesauce and apple cider!  Yum!  A field trip where they feed you?  My kinda trip!  My mini-me loved the cider too.  We had a good day.  A good day it was.

LIVE tonight…from ours to yours

Hudson was learning how to play “Fall Leaves” ~ a left handed song in his beginner piano book.  Chris and I take turns teaching him.  When the mood strikes and he sits down at the piano, we try to capitalize.

I caught her just looking in amazement at the pumpkin jack o lantern in our front window ~ I love the innocence in her eyes in the last one.

fall zoo day

We have been so blessed by the beauty of the early fall season ~ the warm sun has been abundant and has brought many great opportunities to let it flow into our souls….you know, those last moments of warmth from the fleeting summer that you wish to store deep within as to pull from when January comes and it feels so cold.

So yes, we’ve been taking advantage – trying to – and we took a family day to the zoo.  Our favorite east coast zoo, to be exact; clad in our Phillies garb as to send good vibes to the team cheer for.

Our family of four had a blast – we ate our lunch and then were able to fully enjoy the tour of the grounds.  One area we love is the Barnyard – a space where many hands on attractions and up close encounters are plentiful; Anna enjoys driving the pedal tractors.

This Arctic Fox mama was quite protective of her baby that was curled up in the log behind her.  She kept a quiet outlook upon her perch.

Anna chose to ride a banana – does that surprise you?

After a busy day, this is what happened on the ride home – fresh air from the open windows after an afternoon in the sun lulled us all to sleep – well, not Chris, he was driving!

What an excellent day!  Thank you, Lord!