Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend Mom and Bobby accompanied us to the pumpkin patch down the road from their house. They had lots to do (playground, food, pumpkin launching, pumpkin picking, etc.).

Ben and Faith loved watching the pumpkins launch from the trebuchet. They flew about 400 ft. before smashing in the field.
Heh, heh...
B and Faith with the pumpkins they picked...
Bobby helped Ben to collect dry corn kernels. Ben carried them around in a plastic bag for a few days...
Since the pumpkins were "too heaby" for Faith to carry, Mike helped out :)
Me and my buddy. Rae is definitely in the "Mama's Girl" phase. I remember B did this around the same age. If I'm in the room, she wants me to hold her. Takes a long time to do anything, but I love holding her.

1st snow day of the season!

2 days ago it was in the 70's and today we got about 8" of snow! Ben has been looking forward to winter for weeks now and has just been so excited today to play in the snow with Faith. Since Mike's been extra busy at work lately, that left me in charge of helping them build a snowman this afternoon... notice there are no pictures of the snowman :) After continual snowfall for about 18 hours, it looks like we're done for this time. The temps are supposed to fall tonight, though, which I'm sure will add lots more falling tree limbs around here.Rae got her 1st tub bath last night. She doesn't sit up by herself too well yet, but she splashes around in her baby tub too much to use that anymore. Here's what she thinks about the "real" tub...
Saturday we took the kids to the pumpkin patch, so I'll post those pictures soon. The kids painted some of the pumpkins and tomorrow we're going to make a pumpkin pie from one of the pumpkins (Ben's idea).

Besides that, we're looking forward to the upcoming holidays and Mike's trip to PA for his grandfather's 80th birthday. Mike and I had fun last weekend refinishing a bookcase together. Well, that's all that's new with us. Have a great night, all!

Happy Birthday Dear Faith

Today we celebrated Faith's 3rd birthday!

She is really turning into such a wonderful girl. She is sweet, caring, and compassionate. She loves babies, her siblings, and all of her family so much. God tremendously blessed us when He added her to our family 3 years ago.

I have got to find a close up of the Hello Kitty cake pops our good family friend made and sent for Faith's birthday. They were pretty and VERY yummy. She is so talented.
Our happy little family...
The kids have played all day with Faith's new kitchen.
Sweet Rae must have thought it was her birthday with all of the things on the floor to chew on!

We had F's party at "brunch" with lots of yummy food and coffee drinks (Mike's specialty!).
The birthday girl requested a picture of herself sitting featuring her boots :)
Today was our coldest day so far this fall w/ temps in the 40's and rain all day. It was a perfect day for a fall birthday party inside with lots of good food and fun! Tonight: family movie night!

Again, we are SO blessed to have this sweet little girl in our family! We love you Faith!

Sweet love

It's hard to believe TOMORROW Rachel will be 7 months old! Don't you just love that chunky thigh?

The kiddos...

The kids have been enjoying their preschool curriculum so far. I intended for them to start in Sept., but realized I needed to do a little more planning and order a couple extra items online. Therefore, we just started this week :)

Ben said, "This is going to be GREAT!" referring to his preschool activities. They are really so cute and have been excited each day.

Day One:

Mostly their preschool curriculum focuses on character development with some scholastic elements. It's looking like we'll do 30 minutes - 1 hour each day with some extra, fun activities some days.

Mom invited the kids over yesterday to make some fall treats... owls made of moon pies, oreos, candy corn, and m&m's. It was a cute idea from Southern Living.

Notice B was sporting his Phillies shirt for the big game last night (which they won!)...

Sweet Baby Rae

Sweet baby Rae. Rae Rae. Rachel Rae. "Wachel."

Sweet Rae didn't get much face time in yesterday's post, so when Haley sent me this picture she took today when we were playing horseshoes I just had to share...

We love her SO much! She is my little buddy.

Orchard Trip

The preschool curriculum we're doing this year has a suggested field trip for each month. September's field trip was a visit to an apple orchard. There is an orchard about 30 minutes from us so we headed there this a.m. The place we went was really a farm and an orchard. The kids had a lot of fun feeding the donkeys and horses as well as watching all of the chickens.
Here Faith is holding a basket of carrots, ready to feed the animals. Faith called the place an "ouch-ard"... so precious!

Everyone enjoyed an apple cider donut. I hadn't had one in about 5 years and boy was it good!

Hayride time! The tractor-pulled hayride took us all around the newly planted area of the orchard.

For the last part of the trip, we made apple sauce at home. I have a really easy crock pot applesauce recipe, so as I type I'm smelling the wonderful aroma of apples, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. We put all of the ingredients in the crock pot right before the kids' bedtime and it will be ready in the morning. The kids had so much fun today and are tucked in their beds worn out! We all had a great day!