Little Punkins

It had been a few years since we took the kids to the pumpkin patch. Nate and Chad had outgrown it somewhat but now we are back. Liam needs to have some good childhood experiences too!

We started out heading towards the Apple Barn. In years past we had always, always gone to Willow View Farm but decided to switch it up a little. Let's just say we were not impressed. The whole thing at the Apple Barn is very commercialized. You have to pay to do ANYTHING and it's not cheap ($28 per family!). The crowds were insane so we basically walked around for five minutes and decided to return to Willow View. What a good decision! There were no crowds and prices were more than fair. The only 'extra' you pay for is the tractor ride at $2 a head (minus Liam). You can enter the petting zoo for free and anything else you'd like to see and do.

Willow View still has that family feel there and we've learned our lesson about straying from it!

Liam enjoyed wandering about in the pumpkin display. He was overwhelmed (in a good way) with all the sights and sounds around him.
Trying to help Daddy pick up a pumpkin. Too heavy!

Liam loves animals and thought that feeding the billy goat was pretty cool!

My boys are growing like weeds!

I could hardly believe that Nathan is almost 5'4"! Won't be long before he shoots up past his parents.

Liam was beyond thrilled to get a ride on the hay wagon. Right now his favorite DVD at home is a 'Mighty Machines' show all about farms. He's pretty keen on tractors and being able to sit right behind one was exciting!

Bumpity bump bump...off we went on a s-l-o-w trip around the fields.

Of course one of the main purposes of the trip was to select some pumpkins for carving. Everyone was quite pleased with their finds.

Here Nathan is dreaming about pumpkin pie and roasted pumpkin seeds.

Keith and I sat up front on the wagon with Liam but N & C thought the back of the bus would be much more fun. I snuck in a picture of them when they weren't looking. Chad seems to be straining under the weight of his pumpkin!

Thankfully the rain held off and it was a great day out with the kids.

To Celebrate Mom

I had my parents in on Sunday to celebrate my mom's birthday. Aren't I a good daughter? Well, I'm her ONLY daughter so it's all up to me, it seems :)

I would have loved to have made something more exciting than chicken and potatoes BUT my mom is on a very restricted diet due to digestive issues and cannot do ANY dairy whatsoever. Add to that is that fact my dad doesn't eat red meat (due to kidney stones) and it becomes more challenging to make a meal! That being said it was tasty and she enjoyed it.

So in lieu of birthday dessert (name a dessert without dairy?!) she had a second helping of salad and we stuck a candle in it. One just had to make due with the present circumstances!

After dinner we all gathered 'round the TV to watch our beloved 'Amazing Race'. It was a great evening!

Since We're On the Topic

You can 'take me back' to Dundoan, Ireland while you are at it.

There is so much beauty in this world to see. I want to see it ALL!

Sometimes even twice :)

Ladies Who Lunch

We all had the half sammie and soup. I had yam and apple soup (so good) and they had the turkey chowder. We may or may not have had dessert. There is no evidence.

To celebrate K & K's birthday we ladies took a little trip out to Aldergrove to have lunch at Milsean. Have you been there? It's a cute little shoppe with all sorts of 'this and that' for sale along with great sweets made on the premises. They also have a small eating area in a lovely sunny solarium. We had a very nice leisurely lunch together. Thanks to you both for the date!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom

Lis

Busy Lizzy

Nana

Nathan, Chad, Mom, Oma

She's unique, quirky, one of a kind and we love her!

Thoughts on Pastry and Tweens

My parents brought us a huge box of lovely orchard fresh apples from Keremeos this past weekend. As much as I love to eat them fresh, I wanted to get some yummy baking done as well. I found a recipe on one of my favorite sites and thought it looked easy enough. Oh but no....it did not work out for me. I never seem to get pastry to turn out right. My apple pie in a pan turned out to be a regular apple pie.

It looks okay but we'll see after we eat it tonight for 'pudding'!

On another topic completely, Nathan arrived home from school yesterday asking me how he could earn some money. Apparently there is a book fair happening at his school and he's got his eye on a set of books he'd like to purchase. Of course there is never a shortage of work around here so I told him he could earn $10 by mowing the front and back lawns.

Nathan is a recent graduate of the lawn trainee program and it hasn't been his favorite chore but he does it well. Our mower is a heavy and cumbersome thing...poor kid gets quite the work-out on our sloped yard.

He already earned the other half of his desired sum by babysitting on Monday night so Keith and I could go and see a movie. By the way....'The Social Network' is a good one. We recommend!

I was pleased that Nathan asked me how he could earn money rather than asking for it straight out. It's good for kids to know the value of work and payment for a job well done.

Take Me Back...

...to Silver Strand. I will go back. I will!

Special Girls

Special in more way than one, you might say!

Happiest of Birthdays to Keri and Kori who I'm proud to have known for 24 years now. I wish you both the best year yet.

Thankful Heart

Oh Give Thanks to the Lord for He is Good, His Love Endures Forever!

Thanksgiving Encore

Thanksgiving with Keith's family.....was good! Liam was the centre of attention once again as he got his belated birthday gift from Auntie Suz and Tyler. A new starter bike!

He loved it from the start and zoomed around the house as much as he could. It's one of these modern bikes with no pedals. It basically teaches kids balance so from here they can go straight to a bike without training wheels. I'm all for that!

Liam enjoyed 'pinning' (no 's' in Liam's vocab yet) the wheels just as much as riding the bike!

Busy in the kitchen. Lois made us a full turkey dinner with all the trimmings. It was great!

Suz and Tyler. My kids look forward to calling him 'uncle' one day. Maybe soon you two?!?!?

I made two desserts for the evening. Triple Chocolate Treasure cake...first time I made it. Very good and very rich!

And Pumpkin Toffee tarts. Yummy!

If I want any photos with me in it, I've got to take them myself!

Grandma thought that the bike was just her size! As you can see it's not too far off :)

Because of the late hour Liam was getting really sensitive and clumsy. He kept falling off the bike and getting mad so we took it away. Then the crying really began in earnest.

But dessert makes everything better and soon he was happy again!

Whee-oo! Whee-oo!

A trip to the fire station is ALWAYS a highlight for Liam. He is very, VERY fond of all things 'fire truck'!

Bookworm in Training

At the moment we are just working on 'volume' control while we are visiting the local public library. Liam's exuberance can get rather noisy!

Towards Independence

Funny, how Liam's desire to do things 'all by myself' does not transfer over to his older brothers! Although Nathan willingly makes his and Chad's lunches each evening, I know he wishes mum still did it for him. And to be honest, I still do on occasion.

That Seventies Show

A typical family in the mid-seventies. We're a happening bunch, don't you think?

Early Bird

Yesterday we pretended it was Thanksgiving. As per tradition we spent most of the afternoon on a very long walk to work up a good appetite for the good eating to come. We were out for about 2.5 hours walking along Discovery Trail.

We made many stops and Liam was loving this fuzzy caterpillar.

And then after it pooped on Nathan's hand we let it go in the grass.


These kids are so good looking. Is it just me or does each generation just get better and better? Maybe all parents think this way.

After Liam's nap we head to my mom's to feast on a delicious turkey dinner with ALL the trimmings. It was very tasty.

My contribution was pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. We made sure Liam got the piece with the little finger prints :)

Even though we were full after dinner we found room for dessert. It was a nice evening and to show my appreciation I washed all the dishes so my mom could visit with my Oma.

I look forward to round number two later this week with Keith's family!

After dinner Liam had Keith read him from his children's Bible. It's currently his favorite book!

Pardon the freaky eyes...it's the best my program could do to get rid of his red eye.

40

And they got married on Oct 2, 1970. Today they celebrate 40 years together. Happy Anniversary to my parents!

Cake Design

I am definitely used to getting cracks in my cheesecakes but having wee finger indentations is a new look.
Oh Liam....who wasn't supervising you this morning?!