You learn something new everyday

This is an Osage Hedge Ball.

Or a Monkey Ball.  Or Monkey Brains.  Or a Mock Orange.

We found it on a walk the other day and had so much fun figuring out what it was!!

People sometimes think they ward off spiders. Interesting, huh?

what is it about kids and small spaces?

The boys have an entire house to play in, and where do they choose to spend the better part of an hour?

Under the coffee table, of course!!



And when there's an entire playroom and box of toys in the living room, where do 4 children want to play?

 In the little 3x3 entry way! 

we love friends. and pumpkins.

Yesterday was just as gorgeous, if not more so, than Monday.  Perfect fall-time temps.  Air that smelled like sunshine (so says Evan).  Leaves that are past their peak, but still gracing us with a multitude of colors.  A morning spent with fun friends.  An afternoon chatting with a special friend who is back from Egypt.  And a surprise visit (for the boys) to the fruit farm to pick out our pumpkins.

They had a blast.  I treated them to a fresh donut, we got to run and play, and they each got to pick out a pumpkin.  And all this with their favorite Miss Manda!

We're so glad she's back, and elated she was able to spend all afternoon and evening with us!

near-perfect

I know full well that this side of heaven, we will not find perfection in a day.  But this afternoon came pretty close.  I didn't clean the bathroom like I'd planned.  Or the kitchen floor.  I didn't start that load of laundry, and we ate dinner late,  but the boys went to bed tired, happy, and feeling well-loved.  Oh, and we spent over 3 hours outside on a totally gorgeous day.

 They played outside, in the dirt, with sticks and cars, and discovered the joys of tree-climbing/swinging.

 And what's a good fall day with out some leaf-pile-jumping?

 We went on three long walks -- we just couldn't get enough

 Puddle-jumping is a must.  Always.

(unless, of course, it's right before church)

 There's this great little hill the boys had a blast rolling down.  Again and again and again.

I've grown to love our little neighborhood. 

A fabulous visit

 For the last week, we've had the pleasure of having my grandmother stay with us from FL.  It's been a little on the chilly side for her at times, but we've had fun none-the-less.  She went with us where ever we wanted to go, we went out to dinner, we played games, and we had lots of laughs.

 

 We went to the Farmpark for their annual Corn and Pumpkin Festival.  It was so much fun.  It was freezing and we all very happily went home early, but we enjoyed the time we did have.

 

 The boys got to run through a corn maze, play on a play ground, ride the tractor, see the cows, and we all enjoyed a vegetable pumpkin harvest soup.  YUM!

 

 And what's better to do on cold and rainy days but read through books.  And more books...and one book in particular so many times that Evan was able to read the entire book to me almost word for word today.  We were also able to watch and enjoy God's creation through the filming of BBC's Frozen Planet.

Oh.  And we watched both the debates and "2016: Obama's America".  Good political times.

I'm so thankful to have both my grandmother's alive and able to enjoy our boys like they do. 

Coming to a REDBOX near YOU!

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In 3 short days, REDBOX will be carrying the movie "2016: Obama's America". 

If you have not heard about this movie, let me give you just a short synopsis.  Don't worry, I won't spoil anything for you.

Dinesh D'Souza questions his own ideas about President Obama, going to professionals to work out his theory.  He then operates under the theory that President Obama is anti-colonial (backed by facts he brings out and that we all probably already know), and fleshes out what life could look like if he remains in office for the next 4 years.  He brings to light things i was unaware of and connects dots I wish I didn't know existed.

It's nerve wracking to watch.  But you should watch it.  You should be educated this election.

The movie is not biased until the last 5 minutes when he starts going through a bullet point list and ends the movie with the very thought-provoking questions: which dream do you want to live?  America's or Obama's?

And to find out what that dream could be, you need to watch the movie.

Rent it for the buck and change, and invite friends and neighbors over to watch it with you.

And may I just add, that this election is a HUGE one.  But please don't look at it as an election between 2 individuals, or even 2 different parties, but as an elections where WE get to decide between 2 very different paths set forth by these men.

Please just be educated, no matter who you vote for.

Happy Birthday/Merry Christmas

...and probably happy Mother's Day 2013, too.

2 new heart charms to go on my bracelet.  Each with the boy's monogram on them.

I've wanted a Mother's bracelet since we had Drew, but I couldn't imagine giving up my standard Tiffany's bracelet that I wear almost every day.

Witht he addition of these 2 new charms...I get my cake, and eat it, too.

Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, and happy Mother's Day to me!!

(Now I have to wait until my birthday to open, but it's ok.  I know they're there!)

A Plug

Last year, we got the boys stick horses for Christmas.  They have loved them and played with them all year long.  They named them Chocolate and Vanilla and they are cowboys when they get on their trusty steads.  They save damsels in distress and storm through the town with their horses.  We love them.

The horses are solid and sturdy and have a genius wheel on the bottom to not scratch the floors.  The hair even comes in 4 different colors!  Black, Brown, Yellow and White. 

The reason I'm telling you all this is in case you, too, want a horse for your kids or grandkids. :D

You can easily get one (for an extremely reasonable price for the quality) right here. It's the Temple of Tools facebook page, and if you look on it, you'll also see you can get other items, like:

• cutting boards and loooong stew spoons
• stepping stools for little feet or tall cupboards
• collapsible roasting sticks (great for camping)
• and...NUTCRACKERS!!!  Let me tell you about these Nutcrackers.  Nowhere else can you get 3 foot nutcrackers made in the USA.  If you order them, they're made in China.  And to get hand-carved, non-China-made Nutcrackers, you have to buy them from/in Germany for triple the price.

Anyway, that's my plug.  Have fun birthday/Christmas shopping!

Fun Fest

We have a great little playgroup.  We get together twice a month for us moms to fellowship and the kiddos to play.  When weather is nice, we attempt to be outdoors as much as possible.  This past Friday, we were scheduled to go to a local fruit farm's Fun Fest.  Rain threatened and only 2 of us moms went, but it was still a blast. 






Long slides, hay bales, tractor rides and races, tire swings, the smell of fall int he air, and donuts as a treat after a lunch eaten under the color changing trees.  It was a wonderful morning.

And the rain, thank the Lord, held off until we were driving home!!

Our New York Adventure

Since we live this close to the east coast, Scot and I thought it would be a pity to leave next summer without visiting.  Scot had never seen a true east-coast autumn, so we figured we'd go at that time and stay with family in both up-state NY and in the city.

In short, it was great fun.  It was 10 days of pure family time.  What's not to love?  Add to that the gorgeous colors of the trees, sigh-seeing in the country and city, and belly-laughs and we had ourselves a grand ole time.  The boys did great: they obeyed, they ate and slept well, and with over 25 hours in the car for 3 different longer car trips, they didn't fuss one bit!

All the pictures are here, but here's a bullet point list of the highlights since there's just too much that actually happened to tell it all.

•  My grandmother had 7 of her grand kids around for a short time.  3 of my cousins drove up to see us, it was all quite fun and I enjoyed seeing them.
• Most everyone got to meet Drew for the first time, which was a treat to see
• My folks were also up for the week and it was great to see them!
• My aunt/uncle and my grandmother have dogs.  my used-to-be-scared-of-dogs boys LOVED them.  Drew loved throwing balls to Sasha (golden retriever), and Evan loved walking Toby (Yorkie-poo)

•  Peru, NY is small-town-America at its finest and Scot and I enjoyed runs on country roads
• Being small-town, we walked to the football game my cousin Blake played in (as star quarterback)
• We went to a little fall-fest and got to pet horses, ride in a stagecoach, have a potato-sack race, bob for apples, and sit on tractors

•  Mom, Dad and us all rode the ferry (1 hr) over to Burlington, VT to walk, window-shop, and have lunch at the oldest brew pub in VT (mom and dad loved that!)
• We also enjoyed maple "creamies" VT's version of a soft serve - delish!
• The boys loved the ferry-ride from both above and below, where they could watch the waves crash into the ferry at eye level through a window

•  Rulf's is a place I've been going to forever.  It used to just be a little vegetable stand, but now it's a full orchard and store (what I've always known it as)
• We played in the pumpkin patch, picked apples, ate apple cider donuts, and ran around.  We even had a chance to talk to Bob Rulf who was best friends (and best man) with my grandfather
• I have a picture of me at about 2 or 3 in this very pumpkin patch.  I should pull it out and show you all...

•  Sam (far left) and I have known eachother since infancy.  It was so fun to get together with him,and his little family.
• Sam's parent's, my parents, and another couple have all known eachother for over 30 years.  They were also all able to get together and it was fun to all have a picnic together

•  We drove up to Saranac Lake and witnessed the beautiful color on the trees.  It was their peak DAY and boy could we tell!!
• We also were able to all ride the Adirondack Carousel, which was quite the treat.

•  In NYC the first morning we were out to this amazing market called Fairway.  I was in foodie-heaven.
• At the back of this market there were still-warm fresh bagels which we feasted on.  There's nothing like a NYC bagel.  Nothing.  We ate all of this out on a patio, on the harbor, looking at Lady Liberty.
• Since we're talking food, lunch was NY style pizza from this little pizzeria.  We had he Sophia Loren, fresh mozzarella, fresh garlic sauce, fresh tomatoes, sweet basil & sharp romano cheese: YUM.  Best pizza we ever tasted.  And dinner was fabulous at SriPraPhai - the best Thai in the area. (And since my aunt is Thai herself, that's saying something!)  We got there at 6, were seated right away, and when we left at 7:30 there were over 30 people just waiting to get in.  

•  My grandfather was able to come and see us, too.  He lives on Long Island, so it was a short drive for him and we really enjoyed spending the day with him.

• We went to this neighborhood playground 3 blocks from my uncle's apartment.  It was quite the experience.  Over 60 kids. 10 different nationalities.  Many different accents or languages. And I was the hovering parent.

• I haven't  been to NYC as a tourist a lot.  I've visited, but not sight-seen a whole lot.  One of the places I wanted to go was Times Square at night.  You may not be able to tell in the pictures, but it's after the boy's bedtime in these pictures!  
• We didn't spend long there, but it was enough to feel the energy and see the lights.  Literally.
• On our way to the center of the square, Scot was asked to play chess, but being the good tourist he was, he waved his hand, said no, and kept walking.  But on our way back, he told me he really wanted to play.  For only $2, he took on the timed challenge and WON with 12 seconds left!!

• Sunday we spent in the city for the majority of the day.
• Subway ride from my uncle's garage in the city to Central Park.  The boys thought it was the coolest thing ever.
• We walked over 20 blocks down 5th Ave from Central Park (after walking around and climbing rocks there) back to my uncle's garage.
• We stopped into FAO, Tiffany's (happy birthday, merry Christmas, and happy mother's day to me!), Nike, admired the Apple store from outside, and stood on the steps of the public library.
• While walking down the avenue, I noticed one predominant color on all the mannequins: purple.  Just a heads up.

• On our way home through PA we got to see lots of changing leaves, talk about our fabulous trip, and get psyched out about the crazy month we have ahead of us!

Some Funnies

It's been a while since I've done a post on the hilarious comments the boys make.  So here you go.

Drew was playing with a toy motorcycle and Evan came up and said this:
"Drew, you know donorcycles are bad, right? (Drew: no) Yes, they are. Men get on them and they zoom very fast, and if they're not wearing a helmet and they crash into a car, they will fall down on the street and they will die."

Near the end of a long walk, Evan told us his feet were asleep. I told him that wasn't possible since he was walking. He very emphatically told me his legs were so tired that his feet had finally fallen asleep.

At bed time after prayers, I turned to hear Drew reciting The Lord's Prayer (almost every word), and then in turn sing "Glory Be" (the doxology), fold his little hands, and end it all with a short prayer.

My cell phone started to beep mid-day, signaling its near-death.  I said "oh man..."
Drew:  wrong mom?  wrong?  
me: oh, my phones just about to die
drew: die?
evan: not really die, drew. not really.  it's just running out of juice.
drew: (looking curiously at the phone) juice?

Drew, very commonly, will pretend to be an odd animal.  His newest favorite is an octopus, which he pronounces "oc'pus", and which he enacts by squirming around and flapping his arms.  Other animals commonly seen:  frog, snake, sheep, cow

The boys were playing ice cream shop. Evan was the scooper and we could pick which ever flavor we wanted. This is what I hear:
Drew: chocolate ice cream. cone.
Evan: Oh, I wouldn't get that one. It has chemicals in it. You should get the strawberry one instead, it's better for you.
Drew: Noooo.....choooooocholate. cone!!!

Evan was watching me straiten my hair one morning and asked me "why".  I told him I liked the way it looked better.  I asked him which way he preferred.  He answered "I like it strait, too.  It's just prettier.  When you don't do it strait, your hair is cranky, and it's just not as pretty."

At breakfast:
Drew: MOOO!!!! I'ma cow! moooo!
Evan: You're not a cow, silly boy -- you don't have an udder OR teats!!

Evan's pet names for Drew: Chip-monkey-boy and Goofer.