Random post

Ok, this really has nothing to do with anything but I just wanted to share with you a magazine I LOVE and I have loved it for probably at least 10 years now. It is called..... guesses anyone??? Taste of Home. I am going to put the website on too:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/

My mom used to get this magazine when I was growing up and when I got married, she has sent me a subscription ever since. Since we have been married for over 6 years, I have over six years worth of magazines stored under my television-holder-thing. They publish a magazine every two months and everything comes with complete directions and ratings and everything. Every issue has something delicious I want to make. Whenever I get into a slump with cooking, I pull them out and make some new things. This summer I made this 'meaty manicotti' and it was a big hit. Also I made these potato wedges as a side dish and they are one of our staples now. Whenever I do coffee hour at church I pull them out as well. We have coffee hour in a couple of weeks and I remember last year i made this cheese ball in the shape of a pumpkin with the middle of a celery stalk coming out of the center of the pumpkin as the stem. I wanted to find that recipe again because I want to make it for my Halloween party so I pulled out all the 'October/November' issues. I just fell in love with the magazine again and marked all these pages that I want to make. One was this stuffed flank steak, it looked so good, and another they took biscuits and cut them to look like Halloween faces and then put burger in the middle, pinched them to make little pockets and baked them. So clever! So if you are ever in a cooking or baking stump, I recommend this magazine. I use them more than cook books.

Pumpkin Party

I guess for the last 20 years or so (seems hard to believe) our local library puts on a 'Pumpkin Party'. It is usually the first weekend in October and there are lots of activities- a float contest every year, costume contests for the kids by age, baking contests, scarecrow and pumpkin contests. There are also lots of games and rides for kids and lots of food. A fun filled day for children and the parents always have a blast as well.

Each year there is a theme to the party. If you want to do a float you have to stick to the theme if you want to be in the contest. A few years ago it was 'get a treasure at your library', last year it was 'get a clue at your library' and this year it was 'catch the reading bug at your library'. Usually you know the theme by the summer. At first we were going to do something with Eric Carle because he has written so many bug books- Very hungry caterpillar, grouchy lady bug, busy spider, etc. But then we thought it would just be overkill. Somehow we decided to do bees. We thought of a lot of catchy BEE sayings but stuck with 'Bee on the lookout, take a book out'. My girlfriend was a beehive last year because her daughter was a bee, so we decided to hang that from a tree. Since we used to have bees on the farm, we had a bee hut or something if you want to call it that we actually kept bees in, and the whole bee keeper get up. I wore it and had a smoker which you smoke the bees out with. We had me doing that, the kids and adults as bees or flowers, cut out and real flowers, and I drew and cut out 50 bees and threw them around. There were a LOT of great floats. The thing that stinks is when you are in the parade, you can't SEE the parade. But I was very happy, we got third place which was awesome.

Chip wanted the boys to be Vikings this year. He always makes their costumes and he does a WONDERFUL job. You can see Adam in his but Van would not wear his at all. We actually had one of our relatives wear Van's costume and he and Adam both won prizes. I am anxious to see what Chip does next year.... We usually put the kids on the float as one thing, and then take them off and change into something else. I know, a little overboard right, but that's how we do it.

All in all it was a great day. The kids enjoyed painting pumpkins, looking at large trucks and riding rides. It was a beautiful day and we are already talking about next year... :)

My next focus now is the Halloween party we are doing here for approximately 20 kids 3 and under in a few weeks. I'll be sure to post about that.

Apple Picking

Yesterday we went apple picking with a bunch of people. My one friend called me up and asked if we wanted to go and she also rounded up a bunch of her other friends. We had a BLAST! We didn't need apples because every year this man comes and hunts on our farm, he gives us a HUGE box of apples. But I just didn't want to pass up the opportunity and I am glad we didn't. My mom said she would take the apples and the boys were happy to pick them.

We went to Hurd's Family Farm. Here is the link for you local people if you are interested:

http://www.hurdsfamilyfarm.com/

It is near New Paltz.

When we got there, we had a hayride booked for 11:00, they weren't exactly ready for us so they showed the kids a bunch of different vegs, fruits, roots and leaves. Then they let us go and pick a few raspberries to snack on. You can see Van doing that in the first picture. They were soooo yummy!

We went on our hayride and they dropped us off to get our apples. We walked back and then had our picnic lunches. There was a small petting zoo, a large play area, this big tube slide thing, a corn maze, and then more toys to play with inside the barn. We really had a wonderful day and I am so glad my friend asked us to tag along.

Oh, the highlight of the trip for Adam was the 'white' pumpkin. I should have gotten a picture. He was so amazed at the white pumpkins that were there, I let him bring home a small one. He wanted to sleep with it last night but we told him he had to keep it on is dresser.

The 'Road'

Before Adam was born, my husband said to me, 'All he really needs to play with is a rock and a stick.' I thought this was really mean of him, knowing that I wanted him to have all these lavish toys. Lots of fun things that every boy would love to play with. Now that I see the abundance of things we DO have, I kinda am on the same bandwagon that he is. But besides that, I have really come to realize the power of imagination. I love seeing him use things that weren't necessarily intended to be used that way. I remember as a kid playing Barbies at a friends house and I was all upset because the Barbie didn't have a bed. The girl said, 'that's alright, we'll use something else and pretend it's a bed.' It's all in the power of imagination. I love seeing that in action.

This week my nephew has been up staying with my in laws. He is 3 months younger than Adam and they LOVE playing together. I think if I can remember right, it rained a little on Sunday so on Monday we had some lovely puddles in the driveway- every 3 year olds dream. Joe and Adam (and Van too God love him) decided they were going to make a road. Now, this is not any simple road I tell you. This project has been worked on for an entire week, no exaggeration. And to say that they spend hours each day working on it, is no lie either. On Monday they started digging a hole basically. (You can kind of see it right before the stacks of boards, they are left overs from the pool fence.) They would go over to the puddles and pick up about an ounce of mud and carry it over to the hole. They used large shovels and sandbox shovels and sticks. Van was right there in the mix, following along. About 3 hours each day was spent on this road. By about Wednesday the puddles were dried up but that didn't stop them, they just got out more tools. Rakes, hoes, and picks came into the mix at this point. Each morning Adam would wake up he would tell me, I've got to go and work on my road.

Yesterday (Friday) I finally snagged a couple of pictures. As you can see they drug out a bunch of stuff I guess to complete the project? I am not really sure. There was a rope there at one point and they tied the four wheeler up to a cone. They found that piece of paper they are looking at, and they told me those are the directions to build the road. I am not sure if they really need them or not, it looks like they know what they are doing.

Watching them play just made me fall in love with them all over again. I am such a huge supporter of free play and imagination and this was it in the making. They needed nothing more than what they were provided with. They used their imaginations, and worked together. Being outside for as long as they wanted to be, not in a structured setting- they were just acting like 3 year old little boys- and I love it. I am sticking with my husband and saying, all little boys need to play with are two things- a rock and a stick. (And PS, Adam had to wear his work boots EVERY time because he was working.) :)

A Precious Moment

I haven't posted in a while but honestly, there hasn't been too much to report! Today I snagged this picture of the boys in the rocking chair hanging out in their pj's. Adam is reading Van, Red Hat, Blue Hat, one of our favorites. I just wanted to catch this special brotherly moment. And don't you love Van's crazy rooster hair?

Mid-Hudson Children's Museum

Yesterday the boys and I and our friends Cara and Jake went to the Mid Hudson Children's Museum in Poughkeepsie. This is the second time Adam has visited but it was the first for Van and our friends. The kids had a good time. Adam liked the firetruck the best as you can see in one of the pictures. In the bottom picture he is raising a big bubble around himself. We all packed picnic lunches and sat outside and ate them. Adam came home and told Grandma and Daddy all about the day and he wants to go back again soon. It was a fun day for everyone.

'Formal' pictures

My mom and I take the boys each summer to get their pictures taken at Sears. I like to do individual ones around their birthdays and then one of them together at their 'half' birthdays. Unfortunately, it didn't go so hot. This is the best one out of the bunch. I do like this one though. Van is just hard to 'pose.'