Wack-o-ween

Last year we got together with the Wiens family to carve pumpkins (actually we made gourd people...click here to see that old post). And this year we decided to continue the tradition...thus naming it our Wack (Wiens-Mack) holiday! Violet and Christa...starting the day making our pumpkin chocolate cake. Randy and Isaac starting out the pumpkin carving process. Audrey's on the ground, cleaning seeds out of her pumpkin! Charlotte's more interested in her bubbles. Aaaah, seeds! Isaac and Aaron trying to find a cool design to carve. Audrey's tracing her design on her pumpkin. Levi having his own fun with toys on the floor! Violet and I helping carve and clean pumpkins! The night's not over until we eat our cake! Happy Wack-o-ween!

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we went to Harvest Acres Pumpkin Patch out in Kerman. Fresno does have pumpkin patches...in the form of a fenced-off street corner, with straw laid down over the dirt, a bunch of pumpkins hauled in and set in pretty rows or piles, maybe some extra "attractions" like a bounce house, face painting, or pony rides. But in my attempt to teach my kids about where foods come from (and how they're grown or raised), I wanted to take them somewhere they could see an actual pumpkin patch. It was neat to see the different size vines of the baby, medium, and huge pumpkins (like the ones Violet's standing in front of), and also to see squash blossoms on the vines...a reminder that pumpkins are a type of squash! I realize Cobb's Farm is right around the corner from us, but Isaac's kindergarten class is going there this week. Plus, there is an entrance fee (none @ Harvest Acres), and the pumpkins are more expensive too. The pumpkins are grown on-site of this small family farm. For their first year, they did a great job creating a fun, family experience! The kids had a great time...here's some pictures from the day. A picnic lunch on some hay bales to start our afternoon. Audrey and Isaac both got their face painted...Violet did NOT want to! A tractor-pulled ride around the entire patch. The tractor was a John Deere, and the driver had on his green JD hat. Isaac made sure the man knew that his Grandpa has a John Deere tractor, and Isaac got to keep the green hat, just like his! The kids enjoyed themselves in the straw bale "I-Spy" maze. There were five items hidden in the maze that they had to match off the stamp on their arm (Violet's looking at her stamp in the picture above). Pretty creative! You can also tell the kids are squinting in most of the pictures...it was bright and hot out there! High 80s is quite warm for this time of year, even Fresno. Inside the Aztec corn maze. Also, due to the heat, this maze was quite dry. Violet picked her pumpkin! Audrey's got hers. Here's my pick! And I'll take these home too please!

A Taste of Italy

Last night, our mom's group from church had it's monthly "Mom's Night Out", but with a twist. We got out of our houses, but got into someone's kitchen and prepared four meals together! In a little over three hours, we made ricotta cheese, hand-rolled some meatballs, stuffed three-cheese shells, assembled both a lasagna and an Italian seasoned chicken dish! WOW! Not to mention the great time we had chatting, tasting some Italian cheeses, meats and drinks, and finishing our night with an amazing chocolate layer cake made by our hostess, Julie McNeely! We had a great evening "out" and went home with four freezer meals for our families.

A "grazie mille" goes out to Julie for hosting all 10 of us in her kitchen, Christa for inspiring us with this idea and helping me organize, and to Sam's Italian Deli (located @ First/Clinton) for their great service and selection (not to mention making our sausage and marinara from scratch the morning of)!

Fingers crossed

"The Yankees toured out last year!" Isaac runs into the room to tell me (he's watching the pre-game show before the Dodgers-Phillies game yesterday afternoon).

"They toured out?" I ask. "You mean they tore out their stadium?" thinking they were showing pictures of the old stadium.

"No! They toured it out...messed up the Angels!" he says with an emphatic swatting move of his right hand.

"What do you mean? Are they showing the Yankees winning on the TV?" I have no idea what he's watching or trying to say. But he tries again.

"Yeah, like we want the Dodgers to do today. The Yankees, last year, they toured out!"

I think I have it. "You mean they tore it up?"

Isaac's face changes...he's confused, no, thinking.

"You know," I say, "They took it to 'em. Tore it up. Did the Yankees tear up the Angels last year?"

His eyes sparkle. "Yeah. And the Dodgers are gonna tore it up today."

Well, so sad, funny story of the day, but fingers need to stay crossed for Sunday!

Carnival weekend

This past Friday was the Robinson Elementary school carnival. It was a super-fun family event that helped raise money for the school at the same time. Besides the good food, bounce houses, carnival games, and the temporary tatoos, the kids love making a cake for the cake walk. This year, you could make a cake or cookies, so we chose to make a family favorite...fall cookies! Here we are cutting out all our fun shapes! Unfortunately, I forgot that the dough needs to chill. So we made the dough in the afternoon but couldn't cut them out and bake them until right before bedtime. I had fun decorating after the kids were in bed though! The finished product!

Of course, the first game the kids wanted to play when we got to the carnival was the cake walk. Audrey won the first round (although our odds were pretty good considering there were only 7 kids total that round)! Last year Audrey refused to leave until she won a cake...Grandma Arlene graciously bought a whole other sheet of tickets so Audrey could keep playing. Here is Audrey with her cake, as well as Randy, Isaac, Violet, and Christa, Charlotte, and Levi Wiens who joined us for the festivities.
Saturday we attending a second carnival in Reedley at Palm Village. Randy's grandma lives there, so we went to visit her, eat some cinnamon rolls and other good food, and jump in more bounce houses, all while supporting their Living Legacy fund (a fund that helps pay the living expenses at Palm Village after a resident has outlived all their own funds). Unfortunately, we forgot our camera, and Arlene's was out of batteries. But all the same, we had a great time! Violet ran, climbed, slid down and jumped to her heart's content for over an hour! And the other two had a blast as well...what a weekend!

New skills

This is the first year that our three kids are in three different places in the morning! Each of them is doing and learning different and new things...here are some of the highlights!

Audrey...as promised, a video of her riding her bicycle on two wheels. She's always been our most tentative child. Slowest to crawl, walk, jump, etc. She's always taken things little by little to get them just right and cause the least amount of hurt/risk along the way! So without any scrapes at all, not on her knees, elbows, hands or head, we have a two-wheel bike-riding girl in our house...finally! Take a look.



Isaac...is loving school. He has a male teacher that is FABULOUS! He is fun but stern, lovable but demanding. Isaac just loves him! He was one of only three kids in his class to learn (recognize and write) all his letters (upper and lower case) in the first month of school! He has been learning something new every day it seems. He is reading and writing 2/3 letter words no problem, and is sounding out the bigger ones! Here's a paper he just did (seriously, while I'm typing this post). I had to fill in the A and the E, but he managed to get all the consonants!

Violet is enjoying her times at home with me; we drop off Audrey and Isaac at 8 a.m. and don't go back to pick up Isaac until 12:30. Mondays and Tuesdays are flexible, running errands, catching up on housework, or just relaxing at home. Wednesdays are babysitting days, so Violet has two other little buddies to play with (neighborhood friends). Thursday morning is Mom's group, so we have fun visiting a local park, someone's backyard, or our church nursery so I can visit with other moms and she gets to play with more friends! Friday morning Violet is at the Bergen's house so that I can volunteer at Robinson all morning (two hours in Isaac's class, one in Audrey's). Violet is improving her speaking skills so much recently. She talks non-stop (she's probably just so excited to have no one else to talk over, or wants to fill the empty space)! Recently, her favorite things to do by herself are (1) puzzles, (2) playing with Little People, or (3) read. However, as you can see, she's found a buddy that loves to listen!