The Acorn Song

Preschool Halloween Celebration

Waiting in line to pin the nose on the pumpkin

All the boys and girls gathered to listen to their teacher talk about the parade

Class photo

At home before the party

Silly guys showing off their bellies

I love days like these. These are the days I've been dreaming of for as long as I can remember. Thoughts of days like today are what would send me into a dark tailspin during the two year struggle we had to bring Anderson and Jake into our family. My heart skips a beat when I think that days like today almost didn't happen, because I was so consumed with grief that at times I wanted to give up on this dream...my heart couldn't take anymore.

Today was the boys very first Halloween party and costume parade. The boys had Halloween costumes picked out for this year, but in the final hour Anderson decided he wanted to wear his monkey costume from two years ago. Then Jake changed his mind as well and decided he wanted to be a witch. So we did our best to throw together a witch costume for Jake and we squeezed little Anders into his old monkey costume.

The boys were bursting with excitement for their Halloween party at school. Poor Anderson woke up with dark circles under his eyes from not sleeping well due to the party anticipation. The boys paraded around the school with their class as well as the other 5-6 preschool classes. All the little ones were adorable! After the parade, the boys made monster hands, ghost suckers and played with their friends.

When the festivities were over, the four of us went out to lunch. The boys chatted about their parties and inhaled their food. I guess a Halloween parade will do that to you.

Landscape and Hardscape complete

This week we had the landscaping done. We had three companies draw up a design based on the type of look we like. We're both big on clean lines, and I love me some hedges and hate clutter (even in the garden) so the simplicity of what we got was exactly what I wanted. The kinda empty area where there are some random rocks is reserved for my annuals. It's too late in the year for that so it's looking a bit sparse. The river birch in front of the bay window is also looking a bit sad so late in the season, but I'm hoping it will fill in nicely this Spring. The sprinklers go in on Monday and hopefully we'll have some grass by the end of the week.

The Pumpkin Festival

The most beautiful time of the year.

Van Hoosen Dairy Farm

The backyard of the Van Hoosen Home

The pumpkin we carved.

Today we took the boys to the Pumpkin Festival at the Van Hoosen Estate. It is a historic home and farm right down the road from our house. The boys did pumpkin bowling, games, carved pumpkins and went on a hayride. Everyone is encouraged to carve a pumpkin, because tonight from 7-9 p.m. they will light the nearly 1,000 jack'o'lanterns and set them on the old stone wall that lines the street. We will take a bike ride later tonight to see the display.

Historic Houses at Van Hoosen Farm

Love this old stone wall on the original part of the Vanhoosen Estate circa 1840 The Van Hoosen Estate is about a mile from our house.

This barn is actually an art store. It had beautiful pieces of original art of all kinds. Pottery, craftsy type stuff, woodworking, etc. It's difficult to imagine, but the inside was magical. The original wood beams and floors and the most quait fireplace all decorated with the Halloween art for sale. It was gorgeous.

This home belongs to the owner of the art barn store.

Apple Picking on a Friday afternoon

Today we went apple picking. I just absolutely loved our experience last year with the boys and this year was just as fulfilling. The boys were pros this year and got right to work as soon as we arrived at the orchard. They filled their bags with Empires, Mutsus, Granny Smiths and Fujis.

We stopped for awhile and lounged in the grass, not a soul around, and held them tightly talking about how lucky we all were to have such a nice family. We set the camera up on a ladder to take this family pic.

Here they are stopping for just a brief moment to let me take a pic. They were all business, even examining the apples they picked for bruises or bugs. They each managed to eat two apples before we left.

This house was across the road from the orchard. I thought the hanging laundry was precious. I'm envious of those old farmhouses and families that still hold onto the simple ways of life.

If only I could freeze this afternoon in my mind...for now I'll tuck it away in my heart.

A little life lesson

Excuse me while I sweep away the cobwebs. What's been keeping me away from the blog you ask? Well, besides my wonderful, perfect, couldn't be any cuter bubbies, I've been sweeping my floors non-stop and spending money. There is the never ending entertainment wall unit saga, you know the one that's been going on since a year ago when we ordered one from PB and it was delivered twice and damaged twice. That left us with nothing, then we moved and held off but never stopped shopping around for one. Since we've moved in the house, I ordered another and sent it back (not from PB) and now I've reordered one that won't be in till December. Lovely.

Then there is the landscaping that needs to be done stat. I'd love to wait till Spring, but to make a long story short, it really needs to get done this month due wanting to refinancing our construction loan into a conventional loan. So we've had three yahoos out here to give us quotes, all of which make me reach for the anxiety meds I don't own. We would love to do it ourselves and save money, but ledgestone needs to be brought in with large machinery and who are we kidding. I don't even have time to wash my face at the end of the night let alone plant 100 yews in my free time. So hopefully by next week I'll be able to show some pictures of our pretty front yard and zero balance bank statement.

Admist all the chaos we leased a new car and got quotes for plantation shutters and frosted glass. We've since had the plantation shutters installed and they are gorgeous. But the important things in life are covered. We've been enjoying nightly bike rides with the boys. They love these, I make them milkshakes that they drink in the trailer while we ride through the beautiful trails around our house. I love riding my bike through the crispy fall leaves. We've been to the cidermill a bazillion times already and this weekend we are going to a pumpkin festival right around the corner from our house. The pumpkin festival is at a historic farm turned museum that is just beautiful in the fall as are all the historic homes that surround it. Pictures to follow.

A moment from last week that I don't want to EVER forget....right before I put the boys to bed, Jake told me "Mom, after I go to bed just don't look in the toilet." I said, "what are you talking about Jake?". He said, "Mom, just don't do it, don't look in the toilet after you put me in my bed." So the two of us went into the bathroom and opened the lid. It was clean and empty. Jake exclaimed "YES! It went down!". I asked him what went down and he told me lots of paper. So I said, "Jake, were you afraid I was going to be mad at you?" His reply? "Mommy, I just want you to be proud of me.". OMG, he is just three years old but I tell you it never ceases to amaze me just how deep the emotional well runs in these little guys. Makes me acutely aware of how my words and actions can affect them either positively or negatively. And isn't that what we all want, to make our parents proud.

Finally, my funny Anderson story. Anderson asked me the other day if the the weather was shitty. I asked him to repeat himself because I thought maybe I had misheard him. He said again with a little annoyance in his voice, "Is the weather shitty out today?" My dad has a habit of using that word and has no filter around the boys so I can't say I was too surprised. I told Anderson that I didn't know what that word meant. He said, "MOM! It means cold outside!" The poor thing was saying CHILLY. Here I was giving him disapproving looks and making him feel bad about asking if it was "chilly outside". I apologized to the little guy and in true Anderson fashion he was very understanding and forgiving. He has really moved into that peaceful period they tell you comes after the threes. He is so cooperative, inquisitive and just a joy for 99% of the day. We are still patiently waiting for Jakey to move out of the threes :).