Happy Halloween!

...from our goblins to yours. (We did actually have a pumpkin for each family member, but Bob's got moldy). Charlie wanted his to be a cat, pictured in the forefront. He also gave it two extra eyes in the back.

Fascinated with fire, great...just great.

Adventures in babysitting

This was my evening a couple weeks back. Among the challenges of hosting five kids-- sippy cup swapping. Needless to say, I think they all ended up with fairly similar germ-iage by the end of the night. We started a new deal with a few of our friends recently. We've entitled this group "Freedom Frenzy." On a pre-designated Saturday night once monthly, one of four couples takes all the (6) kids at once. Then, said couple receives one night out a month for the next three months. It's a pretty sweet deal and, to be honest, the high-energy chaos of the frenzy is almost as much fun as the freedom!

Oh, incidentally, this arrangement has worked out especially well for my husband who coincidentally had to WORK the evening that I had all the kids. Luckily, my mom was in town and she came over to assist...although she did bring two additional guests under the age of 3.

An orchard-inspired recitation

As Charlie led all of us on a romp through the apple orchard at Excelsior Farms today, I was thinking that apples and orchards must have inspired a lot of poetry over the annals of time. Something about the sunshine, the brilliant colors and, of course, the crispness of a ripe red apple--combine to make you feel so carefree and happy. Googled and aha! This one made me laugh out loud and seemed fitting since Great Grandma B cautioned Charlie not to eat the ones on the ground until she checked them first!

The cow in apple time --Robert Frost

Something inspires the only cow of late
To make no more of a wall than an open gate,
And think no more of wall-builders than fools.
Her face is flecked with pomace and she drools
A cider syrup. Having tasted fruit,
She scorns a pasture withering to the root.
She runs from tree to tree where lie and sweeten.
The windfalls spiked with stubble and worm-eaten.
She leaves them bitten when she has to fly.
She bellows on a knoll against the sky.
Her udder shrivels and the milk goes dry.

Stokoe Farms

We had so much fun celebrating buddy Mallory's 2nd b-day out at Stokoe Farms. It's one of those duded up pumpkin patches with tons of stuff to do. The kids and adults loved it! Here's Moo and daddy-o surveying the scene.

There's the b-day girl, Mallory, in green. Charlie and Hayden on the right. Charlie wore his baseball cap that day because it was raining. I guess we must have said something about him needing to wear the hat when it was raining one day because now, anytime we're headed out into soggy weather he says, "I need my hat Mom." And...if it's fair weather, he doesn't really see any reason to put it on.

Violet in pink with M & D.

Charlie liked that this wheel was "John Deere." Anything yellow and green is John Deere and, as a result, cool with Charlie.

Mia was checking out the baby chicks and, of course, growling. Growling is her go-to animal sound for all creatures although she does moo occasionally.

Violet taking Mom for a walk. She, like Charlie, loves tractors! Violet, that is.

Adams fam rockin' the caboose.

I'm not sure why the kids became so sullen in this shot! It reminded me of the expressions of that old couple with the pitchfork (shown below).

Charlie and Violet discussing the mechanics of the water pump.

This was Bob's favorite spot, the corn pit. We've been finding kernels around the house for weeks!

This is an unrelated picture of Charlie's loader hauling some cornflakes. During breakfast, I notice that Charlie was spooning the cereal into the scoop and then trying to pour it into his mouth from there. The world is a construction site to Charlie!

Another reason to love Fall...

Thanks for making this oh-so-cute hat for me Gramma! I (ahem) just love wearing it!