Pumpkin Patch Tradition

Madelyn, 8 months old

One of our favorite family traditions in October is our annual trip to the Old Homestead Farm to pick pumpkins. Every year since Madelyn was a wee 8 months old, we have taken pictures of the girls sitting on the pumpkin cart in the field!

From left to right: Sophia, Isabella, Madelyn, Grace, Lana

This year, due to rain and other circumstances, we decided to take a day trip instead of staying the entire weekend. The weather was perfectly Autumnal and we had a fantastic day!

Here are some photos:

What Autumn traditions have you been enjoying this month?

Fantastic Friday Finds

Here is a list of great finds I discovered this week:

Love these two spooky Steampunk designs!

Cosmic Owl Necklace from CosmicFirefly
Beetle Ring from 19Moons

*Looking for some crafty ideas for Halloween parties? Check out these printables:

• Candy Bar Covers from Skip To My Lou

• A Jack of All Trades giftbox from Jinjerup
  

• Where The Wild Things Are 3D paper toys from Toy-A-Day! Download Max, Moishe and Sipi!

* Let the Wild Rumpus Start!

Download a Wild Thing activity booklet at the National Wildlife Federation! Activities include: drawing an island map, Wild Thing Bingo and tips on organizing your own Wild Rumpus Day!


* Also, Seventh Generation, maker of naturally safe and effective household products, has partnered with Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families to host The Million Baby Crawl!

Click to support Isabella and Grace in their crawl to Washington to say "no" to toxic chemicals and demand reform from Congress!

Hope your weekend is full of more sunshine than clouds!

Wordless Wednesday - Our Day

This delicious creation was dinner tonight! Chicken Pot Pie! Yum!

Mike hung the orange lights around the deck rail.

TWO babies in a box?

Even Gracie can't believe it!

And...Lana said she was in charge of drawing the unicorns!

Hope your day was full of magic as well!

We Love Colors!

Just peeking in for a moment to mention this great website, WeLoveColors! I recently ordered tights for all the girls and a dancewear leotard for Madelyn as additions to their Halloween costumes.


After searching through one too many Halloween Adventure stores, I decided to scour the internet instead. From placing my order until arriving at my front door, it only took 4 days! So quick!

There is still time left for anyone searching for just the right color tights or leotard to complete a costume!



The WeLoveColors site states:

You will find the perfect colored tights, fishnets, or other hosiery items, to match any outfit or occasion here at We Love Colors. Also, leotards, unitards, and other dancewear. Kids to plus sizes. Now offering 51 Solid Colors opaque tights and over 13 Unique Splash Colors.

10 year anniversary!

Today marks my 10th wedding anniversary! I met my husband 13 years ago; our first date on February 16th, 1996, just days after a Valentine's Day we both spent alone.

He proposed to me 3 years later on that very day, overlooking the Main Falls in Bushkill. It was snowy and the spray from the waterfalls left the walkways icy.

We snuck inside the closed park and only dared go as far as the Main Falls. We clung to the railing, watching the falling water. Almost completely frozen and worried of slipping to my untimely death, I turned to him to mention we should most definitely retreat to our hotel now.

And, in that moment, he proposed to me. Presenting me with a beautiful heart diamond ring.

With only the snowy forest and the rushing sound of water as my witness, I cried "Yes!"

I love you, honey! If I could hit pause, rewind and repeat a thousand times over... I would play it the same every time. I hope for as many more decades together as our lifetimes will hold.

Oh, and if you are wondering what I gave him for an anniversary present that particular year? I gave him a red heart Pez dispenser. Yup. That's one story I will never hear the end of, for sure.

Wordless Wednesday - Playground!

We love living within walking distance of the nearest playground!

A Spooky Banner and A Pirate Costume

I finished working on my "Spooky" Banner! It is made the same way as the Autumn Banner but the flags and lettering are smaller. This size works better with the fireplace mantle.

The mantle is still a work in progress. I just threw some decorations up there. It may change in the upcoming weeks.


As I was completing the banner, I made an extra skull and bones for Sophia's pirate costume. Using double-sided Heat n Bond adhesive, I ironed on the skull to an existing black shirt. I plan on putting some lace around the cuffs to match the bottom of her pirate skirt!

Arrrggggh! Sophia is almost ready for Halloween!

Are you?

Have You Hugged Your iMac Today?

For days I worried, wringing my hands and waiting for his unharmed return. I hoped for a safe trip; concerned that he would be sleeping overnight in a strange place. Broken and alone.

I was anxious for the news! Would we lose all that we have saved over the past 3 years? What would we do?? How would we recover??

O.k., so I'm being just a bit overdramatic.

Three days ago I had commented on Twitter that I thought my iMac had caught the swine flu. I was attempting to be funny but my computer was definitely not it's usually perky self. It was lethargic and the screen saver was continuously freezing, forcing me to shut down and reboot the computer. The images were sputtering and lines would show up, distorting the picture.

Just after making that prophetic comment on Twitter, I left the room and the screen saver unfortunately froze, once again. On reboot this time, I was greeted by a huge vertical lined pink and white screen with little dancing green horizontal lines.

Not the kind of art display I ever want to see.

My computer just curled up, pulled the blanket over its screen and settled in for a long winter's nap. It wouldn't load past the Apple logo screen.

After taking it away to be fixed, (And, yes... they really ARE Mac Geniuses) my iMac is back in place with all its data intact!

(*insert me hugging my computer then clapping uncontrollably here!)

Apparently, the video card was busted and still under warranty, so it was replaced with no cost to us! Unless you consider the cost of us worrying we had lost all the photos we had saved from baby Sophia on. Ugh!

My first order of business is to buy an external hard drive to store all of our photos and important documents for the future. Probably a purchase that is long overdue.

Second, order pizza in and start catching up on a couple days worth of blogs. ;)

October 1st - Lunch

It was barely 60 degrees on this first day of October! For some that may seem terribly chilly, but I find it just about perfect!

We put on our long sleeves and slipper socks and grabbed a few blankets to spend lunch outside.

As usual, the girls were more than willing to goof around for Mama's camera.

Isabella's trademark smile


Gracie with a mouthful of cheesy pasta


Sweet Sophia


Isabella showing off her lunch


Slipper socks! What would I do without them?


...and a big session of after-lunch art!

How did you spend your 1st day of October? I hope it was as delicious as ours!