Pumpkin Patch

Every year, we go to a free, local pumpkin patch.

They make a few changes every year. This year the slide was a little bigger and they added some fun barrel and tire swings.

The little man was big enough to do some of the same things that the others did. When I plopped him into the corn, he was so happy and didn't want to leave.
Ever.

I didn't even take a picture of the pumpkin we brought home. It was probably the smallest pumpkin in the whole patch.

While the older kiddos were let loose into the maze, our 4 year old climbed up on Daddy's shoulders and together they went in search of the perfect pumpkin.

She spotted it in the next patch over and directed Daddy to where it was. The little pumpkin clearly needed a home.

What are your favorite things to do in the fall?

It's Strawberry Picking Time

We went to a local u-pick strawberry patch, Jester Creek Farm, on Monday to go treasure hunting for red, juicy yumminess. My brother and sister-in-law own the patch and this is the first year that they are in business.




Once we brought the strawberries home, we had to decide what to do with them. I was hoping to make jam, but the kiddos had other ideas. . .

and their ideas were pretty yummy too.

I tried a new recipe and it was amazing.
You can find the recipe here
It was truly the best strawberry pie I have ever had.

Oh, and you should check out what Beki is doing with strawberries: S'mores with strawberries??? Oh yes please. Those ginormous "campfire" marshmallows jumped into my cart while grocery shopping so I'm all set for that fantastic idea.

Family Portraits

A couple weekends ago, we got together with a photographer from our church and had some pictures taken.

It means so much to me to be able to have a family portrait. Usually, I am the one who takes the pictures in our family which means we don't have many with all of us together.

We took one of the family portraits and using picnik.com , which is a free photo editing site, transformed it into our Christmas card. Walgreens was having a special deal last week with 50 prints for $5. So we are getting a great deal on our cards this year.

If you missed getting pictures developed last week, don't worry. I noticed they are doing 10¢ photos this week also which is essentially the same deal, but you don't have to buy 50.

My husband also writes a Christmas letter every year, but he hasn't done it yet. He is a lot more witty than I am so that job falls to him every year. He did put up the tree this weekend so hopefully that will get decorated soon.

Christmas is all of a sudden right around the corner and there is so very much to do.

Do you send out cards or letters during the holiday season?

Kansas State Fair 2010

We love going to our state fair every September and are very fortunate to live only a short drive away. I was a little worried about how our 7 week old would handle being gone all day, but he actually did much better than I expected.

The KU booth has already started recruiting our handsome little guy.

I don't what it is, but every year I wish I could buy a pink cowboy hat. Then I saw a old lady wearing a bright turquoise cowboy hat with lots of feathers and the dream died. It wasn't good. I did admire her spunk though.

My husband was determined to try a fried Twinkie this year. He also wanted to try a Krispy Kreme burger, but fortunately for me he didn't find one. That just sounds gross.

This sign makes me laugh. I don't know why.

Our state fair always has a butter sculpture. This year it was a butter sheep which makes no sense. Ah well. . .it was still fun for the kids to see.

My 10 year old has started calling me Mom. What happened to me being Mommy?

What is your favorite thing to do at the state fair?

Too busy

I know I've neglected blogging all week, but we've been busy:

cuddling
eating cake (just because I can☺)
snuggling
nursing
changing diapers
recuperating
and loving.

I'll try and get back to posting more regularly as soon as I can, but for now I wanted to share that he has arrived and I have fallen in love.

Craziness

I don't have any pictures for this post. I'm sorry about that as I generally like a picture even if it is unrelated, but today I've got nothin'.

Yesterday, I went in for a non-stress test for the baby. I have those about twice a week because of the gestational diabetes. Anyhoo, they decided that the baby was "non-reactive" meaning that the heart rate didn't show enough accelerations and had some decelerations which I guess is worrisome. My doctor shipped me off to the hospital with plans of inducing me immediately. She wouldn't even let me go home to give the kiddos car seats to my husband so that my parents could use them. Poor man had to figure out a way of getting the car seats and the kiddos packed for an overnight stay and all sorts of crazy things like that.

My first thought was, I can't be induced! I don't have the diaper bag done! Now, I ask you, who thinks like that???? I know. . . I'm crazy. I was completely in shock that they planned on inducing me right then and there.

But after I got to the hospital, and they hooked me up to all their monitoring stuff the baby appeared to be quite happy right where he was. So my doctor came in and said that I could go home after all. I was glad and sad all at the same time about that piece of news.

See???? Craziness, I tell you. Absolute craziness.

How can one little guy cause so much trouble????

Now, I better hurry and finish that diaper bag. And maybe we should get the crib set up. Oh, and I should maybe pack for the hospital. . .

Trying to stay cool

Our town recently built a free splash park in a local housing development. This weekend was the first time we were able to find time to go and the kids had soooo much fun.

Gotta love free entertainment. ☺

Even Super P. enjoyed it. We just wrapped up his arm in a french bread bag and sent him in to get wet. (That's the fashion now at all the splash parks you know. If you aren't wearing a french bread bag you just aren't styling. ☺)

I wasn't sure Pumpkin would enjoy it as she doesn't even like our hand-held shower, but she loved it.



This was the kid's favorite feature. Once you got under the "mushroom" of water the water didn't touch you in the very middle so they would hang out in there for a long time.




With our temps being in the low 100's it is great to have a place where the kids can go to cool off and have fun.

Hooligans

That's what I've got you know. Absolutely crazy children.

We have had a lot of rain lately so our shady backyard is muddy and the children were getting a little tired of being inside. Yesterday they were racing around the house rough housing with each other.

Super P. is always the one to get hurt. I don't know why. All the kids were being naughty, but only P. got hurt. He apparently fell down the steps banging his elbow on the wall causing his bone just above his elbow to be fractured.

The doctor said he had never seen anything quite like it. Trust P. to be creative when it comes to fracturing his arm. Because the fracture was headed toward the elbow, the doctor decided that making sure it couldn't get worse was the best course of action so P. also has the distinct honor of being the first of our children to get a cast.

All the children had to come with me to the doctor's office where we spend a lot of time waiting:
waiting to see the doctor, being sent to get x-rays and waiting for those, back to the doctor and waiting for him to analyze the x-rays, and then finally waiting for the cast.

Pumpkin does NOT enjoy waiting. It didn't help that she was expected to wait during her nap time.

Finally about 2 hours later, we were finished and P. was the proud owner a brand new glow-in-the-dark cast. He will get to keep it for about 4 weeks.

Fortunately we didn't miss Happy Hour at Sonic and it was right on our way home.

Hopefully today will have a little less excitement. I'm not sure how much more this Mama can take.