there's a first time for everything...

...and this year is the first official dress-up-in-a-costume halloween for our girls. You see, halloween has never been a huge deal for us. The girls play dress-up all the time so one more day in a costume was no big deal. Plus, they're still little. As long as they get some candy and pumpkin they're satisfied. Well, now that they are both a little older we agreed that this was the year! We didn't tell them. We didn't let them choose. It was all a surprise...and boy, were they thrilled! So what do you get when you have a stash of felt and fabrics in these colors? Well, you get a cute little brown mouse and a cute little gray cat.

Of course, they are better known as Tom & Jerry!

thankful thursday

I think I learned to appreciate and treasure each day, because you don't know how many you're going to be given. ~Sandra Day O'Connor, US Supreme Court Justice

If you know me, then you know that cold weather is not my favorite. However, I know when cold weather arrives there are many things to see, and do, and enjoy. And for these things, I am very thankful.

Playing in the leaves.

Playing in the snow.

Enjoying the beauty of the fall colors.

What are you thankful for this time of year?

apples in autumn

Last weekend Tim and I took the girls on a little morning trip to an apple orchard. Okay, so it was my first trip to an orchard, too. How did I live this long without ever going to an orchard? Yeah, I don't know either. It was a fun trip on a beautiful farm. The girls absolutely loved it. They could hardly wait to pick an apple right off of a tree. Miss O reached up high to get a beautiful red one, but to her surprise, it had a worm hole in it. Yuck! She got to pick another one and carry it in her pocket for the remainder of the day. Miss E reached up to get an apple, too but she couldn't pull it off. I helped her, then she carried it in her pocket, too. You know, that's what little sisters do, right? I had never seen so many rows of trees. I can only imagine how many bees were flying around there during the summer!

We went into the "shop" where all of the pre-picked apples were and it smelled like apple juice in there. The girls thought it was neat to see so many apples in the big wooden crates. They got to choose a few of their own apples out of the full boxes. Oh, there were so many different kinds to choose from....small ones, big ones, red ones, green ones, yellow ones...okay, so I can't remember any of the actual types of apples, but you get the point. Miss E is a little sad in the picture because her perfect little green apple was dropped and it rolled under the crate, never to be seen again. She chose another...then she was happy again! Oh, and the jams and jellies, and butters. So many choices and flavors...Mmmmmm! We ended up choosing pumpkin butter...like apple butter, but better!

After choosing our apples from the crates and the trees we headed down to the barn to visit all of the animals. There were goats, sheep, llamas, rabbits, peacocks, homing pigeons, turkeys, and pigs. It made me want to live on a farm right now! Well, except for the pig aroma. Man, I forgot how stinky pigs really are...I mean they're pigs!

The farm was just beautiful. We all enjoyed strolling around. Yeah, I'd like to have some land...a farm, chickens & goats, fruit trees, a big ol' garden. One day.

The girls had a great time. They were glad they wore their boots. They felt like real farm girls in their cowboy boots. Thanks, Kim, for the boots. Miss E has been wearing them ever since! What a great little trip that was!

the wild, wild mid-west???

As we were driving down the road the other day Tim and I were talking about what happened to the family of Jennifer Hudson...minus the horrific details because the kids were in the car, too. I love the Chicago airport, have been through there a few times, but evidently Chicago has some very dangerous areas. Our conversation ended like this:

Tim (talking to me): Chicago is a dangerous place. Highest homicide rate this year.
Miss O (from the back seat): What's that mean?
Tim: There are some very mean, bad people that live there that do bad things.
Miss O: Ohhhh. You mean like horse thieves and bandits?

*sigh*

another rainy 5K

(Here we are after the I Am Woman 5K race, soaking wet, still smiling.)

Saturday was my second 5K race. As the day got closer the weather forecast worsened. Oh man, not another race in the rain...and it's colder now, too. The night before the race I woke up several times, nerves I suppose, and every time I could hear the torrential downpour. I'm still going to run, I told myself every time I woke up, but prayed for clear skies by 9am. My alarm went off at 7am. I listened...no rain. No rain? no Rain! I stumbled out of bed and put on my running clothes, put my hair in a pony tail, washed my face...still sleepy, tied my running shoes so they would be just right. Ya know, tight...but not too tight, yet evenly tight. There's nothing worse or more distracting than having my shoes unevenly tight...ok, maybe it's just me. Race number -check... gum for me and my friends-check... mp3player with fast paced music-check... light breakfast-oh, I need to eat a little something before I wake up the family. I quietly go through my routine of opening all the blinds and curtains, I look out the window and... it. is. raining.
*blink*
*blink*
Raining? Raining. I.Will.Run. I am still going to run. I've run in the rain before and I'll do it again. I check the temperature and thankfully it is already 55 degrees! What a joy! It won't be that cold after all. So now, breakfast-check... hat-check... raincoat-check... no mp3 player now, the rain would kill it. Everyone is awake and wishing me well. Now, it's pouring! Oh well. Off to the race I go. Kim and Heather are all prepared for the rain, too. The race begins in the pouring rain but about a mile in the rain lets up, only sprinkling now and the raincoat comes off. It's not easy to run with a stupid coat tied around the waist. Looking back, I should have just tossed it off to the side of the course, I could have gone back to get it after the race, oh well, live run and learn. I kept a good pace, but not as fast as I would have liked. I really think that my fast music would have helped...again, oh well. I did beat my own time by 5 minutes! Yippee!! So I am thrilled about that. Both of my friends killed my time. They beat their own times from our first race and they surpassed what their new goal was for this race! Yay! All in all, I'm pleased with my run, but I'd like to do better. I'd like to run a race when it's not raining so I can have some music to keep me moving along faster. I wonder what it's like to run a race when it's not raining. Hmmmmm.

playing at the pumpkin patch

It's that time of year....our annual visit to the pumpkin patch. A lot of our friends came at the same time. Oh, the fun! They got to choose a small pumpkin and paint it. This year Miss E understood that when we said paint your pumpkin it meant paint a face or a picture on it...not actually the entire pumpkin. Last year we had an entirely purple painted pumpkin. There was also a ship playground, jumpy things, huge slides, tunnels, and a tee pee. Miss O was more brave this year. She was on full blast the whole time...not at all timid climbing up so high. Alas, they are growing, maturing, and turning into big kids. The morning warmed up nicely and there was very little wind, so it was a perfect day for the pumpkin patch. I'd say they were pretty worn out by the time we left.