Dance, It's Friday!

A Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday we took the kids out to Connors Farm for a day at the pumpkin patch. The weather was warm and the skies were blue--perfect day for a few hours in the country! Connors Farm has a huge corn maze this year, but we decided to bypass the maze this trip for some of the other activities. If the weather holds out, hopefully we'll make it out before the end of the month for a walk through the maze.

For this trip the kids were content to run through the hay bale maze. Both kids had a blast and would have happily stayed to climb on the hay all day long.

Here's Daddy and the kids walking around the pond to the pumpkin patch.

This was the most picturesque farm we've visited--I guess we were saving the best for last!

Here's a shot of the pumpkin patch, complete with scary scarecrow man. There were still lots and lots to choose from and we had a good time picking out our pumpkins. It seemed like as soon as we saw one we liked and started carrying it around, there was another one just a little bit better! We did hold ourselves to three small pumpkins though! The prospect of walking around the lake carrying more than that, plus the kids wasn't too appealing!

It looks like Max had his eyes on greener pastures! He just wanted to run the whole day long. Sitting still for a picture is SO overrated!

Pokin' around the patch.

After we bought our pumpkins we got some fresh apple cider donuts and hot cider and ate them down by the pond. It was a perfect end to our trip!

Tomorrow we'll be heading up to New Hampshire for a little getaway with Anne and Ken Schmidt! We're so excited and plan to take lots of pictures! Hope you have a great weekend wherever you are!

The Scarlet Thread

Since I'm trying to put a bit more of "me" into this blog and not all just kid stuff, I thought I'd mention another great book I've read this last week. I'm totally hooked on Francine Rivers' books and really liked this one, The Scarlet Thread, more than most. I almost said I enjoyed it, but it isn't really an "enjoyable" story. It's one that really digs into problems that are common in marriages today. Too often, marriages are built on a foundation of passion or love alone. Alternatively, they can be relationships based on achieving a goal: children, a big house, etc. All of which are important parts of marriage, but will not hold a marriage together on their own.

In this story, Sierra and Alex Madrid marry young after having been high school sweethearts. As an interracial couple, both sets of parent were initially opposed to the marriage, but eventually came to accept their children as the family grew. Problems began for Alex and Sierra for several reasons, first, they were not rooted in a relationship with God and second, they didn't understand or know each other very well. The years that are recorded in the book are difficult to read about, but the way that God works is so touching and brings a lot of hope.

Jared and I are taking a marriage class at church this semester. It's been good, but tough. I think that as the kids grow and schedules get busy, it definitely becomes more difficult to put the time and effort into your relationship that you should. One of the things that our teachers have hammered home, though, is the importance of your foundation. You must be rooted together in your faith and you must agree that this marriage is until death do us part--no ifs, ands, or buts.

Anyone else read a great book lately? Have a comment on this one? I'd love to hear what you have to say!

Broccoli Salad

This salad is always, always, always a hit at any sort of gathering. There are lots of variations on this recipe out there, but this is our favorite. Oh, and for all those people that have been commenting on the photos, thank you, but I'm afraid I can't accept the compliment! All but one or two of the photos have been from various food websites. I just google my recipe and choose the picture that looks most like my version of the recipe!

Broccoli Salad

2 bunches of broccoli, cut into small florets

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1 c. raisins or dried cherries

2 c. grapes, halved

1 1/2 c. celery, chopped

1 lb. bacon, fried crisp and crumbled

1 c. sunflower seeds

1 c. mayonnaise

1/3 c. sugar

2 T. vinegar

1. Mix the dressing ingredients in a large bowl, mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar.
2. Gently toss salad ingredients, broccoli to sunflower seeds, to combine.
3. Refrigerate until ready to serve and enjoy!

Photo Friday

I had to capture this moment yesterday when Ruby and Max were quietly and happily coloring together. I'm not sure that's ever happened! Ruby said, "Come on, Buddy, we can color like friends. We are friends!" Max said nothing (as usual). Lately, Ruby's feelings have been hurt that her brother won't talk to her. Doesn't seem that she "gets it" that he just can't!

After swimming lessons today, we stopped by the local "blue hair salon" to see if they had space for a kid's cut. Miraculously, they were able to take her right away, so we seized the opportunity. Ruby has been asking for a while to get her haircut, so we finally took the plunge and got it trimmed to her shoulders. It sure is cute!

This is the best picture I was able to get of my very active little guy this afternoon. He's always on the move and always into everything. In fact, it's a little bit too quiet in here... I think I better go see what he's up to! (Oh, just eating glue sticks! No problem!) Seems he has an affinity for sticky today--lollipops at the salon and glue sticks at home. Good thing tonight is bath night to get all that sticky off!

Have a great weekend wherever you are!!

Singin' in the Rain

I wasn't quite sure what to title this video clip from our indoor weekend. I'm not sure if it should be called, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" or "Birth Control" since this was a 30 second sampling of about an hour of the same song, same banging rocking chair, and same fussy little brother in the background! I do love hearing the kids sing though, it (almost) always puts a smile on my face!

Ruby also loves to make up songs. If she can't come up with any words to her song she will resort to her own made up words. I clearly remember doing the same thing as a kid. For some reason I always felt like "coca cola" sounded like a really exotic word and it always played heavily into my pretend language! Sounds pretty silly now, but it made perfect sense to the preschool me!

Hope you enjoy your day, musical or otherwise!

Bowling Night

It's things like this that make me really appreciate my hubby and love him even more.  His lifelong motto is to "enjoy the journey" and he's constantly encouraging me to abandon my pessimistic tendencies and join him for the ride.  I'm sorry to say that I don't join him nearly as often as I should, but I really am trying to revise my ways.  

A perfect 

opportunity arose Monday night when I discovered that the neighbor who had volunteered to babysit so that Jared and I could go out for coffee for an hour had had to cancel for the third time in a row.  I was a bit annoyed that not only had I gotten MY hopes up, but once again, had gotten Ruby's hopes up for a playdate with her friend.  Instead of wallowing in frustration with me, my Super Hubby said, "Well, why don't we all go out bowling tomorrow night?" 

"Bowling?! On a week night?!"  This was my initial response.

 

After a little bit of cajoling, I was in.  We ditched the menu for the night and our bedtime routine and just took off.  First we stopped by a previously unknown pizza joint for some de-licious Chicken Ranch pizza--YUM (my tummy is growling again just thinking about how good it was).  Then we headed on to the bowling alley.  

This was actually Ruby's third time bowling, but the first that she's been able to get shoes in her size and heft her own four pound ball.  She had a great time bowling, though with her amazing backspin some of those balls took a loooong time making it down the alley.  All but two did make it though and she never really cared whether she hit one pin or five.  Every single turn after releasing the ball she would turn around and run to us saying, "I WON!!!"  And she had.

Max was absolutely torn up that there were no shoes in his size.  He took off his shoes when we all did and then tried to steal Jared's to put on.  Needless to say, they were a bit big!  I did let him help me roll the ball a few times, but his greatest joy was trying to get balls off of the ball return and racing up and down the length of the building! 

Apparently the owner enjoyed watching us as much as we enjoyed bowling because he ended up giving each of the kids a stuffed bear decked out in Patriots and Red Sox gear respectively.  

So, shake things up a little bit and go bowling on a week night with your kids.  It's a great workout and you'll all have a ball!