Love the Pumpkin Patch!

I love this time of year and hate the fact I haven't gone out and taken some nice pictures of Autumn.  It's been so great entering this season!  The air is crisp, the colors are vibrant, the leaves are falling gracefully and my hot drinks really hit the spot!

I love going to the Pumpkin Patch as much as my kids.  This year I looked at my calendar to see when a good time would be.  The weekends are not an option just because it's just not as great as it is during the week - less crowds and less expensive.  The only time the kids would be able to go as a family (minus Joe) was a Friday afternoon after a half-day of school.  The weather called for rain in the morning and clear for the rest of the day.  Yeh!

We made a McDonalds run first to fill our stomachs (and to see if we would get any new Monopoly pieces - no luck), and then raced to the Pumpkin Patch. As we drove up, it seemed crowded with so many little kids on field trips!  I wasn't too excited about the crowds and me being alone to steer my kids amongst them by myself.  Yikes.

We made our way to the long line for the hayride to the pumpkin patch.  In the line, we enjoyed apples that came with our admission!  They look like Golden Delicious to me.  My kids eat the apples in the most interesting ways.  I took a look at Eddie and he had eaten the whole top off the apple.  I guess he had eaten the stem, too!  More fiber ;-)

.
The other interesting thing I noticed is that they have no problem eating the skin of the apple when we're at the Patch!  At home, they make me peel it off! 

I forgot my camera, do you believe that?  Unbelievable.  I'm walking around the place with my iPhone using the Instagram application.  It takes too long - however, the pictures were cute.

I don't know if Bernadette remembers her time here at Butler's Orchard last year, but I know she seemed to enjoy it as if it was the first time!  She was really enjoying the hayride.

We made it to the pumpkin patch and quickly picked our pumpkins.  Didn't take long at all! 

Then we went to the slides, their favorite part!  This year, I didn't have to follow the kids to the slides, I could just let them loose and watch from the bottom of the hill!  Again, pictures aren't available :-(

I took the to the hayloft afterwards.  That place can be dangerous, especially if there are big boys that are not chaperoned jumping and wrestling around all the little ones.

I left that place with hay in my shoes and in my pockets.  Now the hay is on my living room floor.

The place had become less crowded due to all the schools having to get the kids home to their parents.  The crowds were perfect now that it was after 2pm.  It's actually the perfect time to go.  So, we continued to all the other attractions easily and then we called it a day!

Before we left, I went by their store where you can buy all sorts of stuff from their farm.  I ended buying some Mums for my porch and 3 carving pumpkins for Halloween.  Oh, and some of their delicious baked goods.  Anne and I love carving pumpkins!

The weather had called for no rain for the rest of the day, but it started to rain as soon as we left.  We saw a full rainbow on the way home.  It was the first time for my kids ;-)  It was the topic of conversation all the way home.  I'm just thankful that we didn't get rained on.

Overall, a good day.  This mama was tired!




My Little Scientist

Anne is now in 4th grade and I'm learning how smart she is.  She blows me away at how much information she can take in and how her logic is so advanced, in my opinion and compared to myself at her age, of course.  I don't worry about her when it comes to school work and grades.

She's very interested in a lot of things.  She wants to try it all.  She's more into stuff that are crafty, music based, fact finding, animals, etc...  However, once she tries it, she doesn't finish it.  She's got a lot of unfinished art projects.  She dives into something and then the interest sort of tapers off.  She's got a lot of unfinished projects.  I am beginning to tell her she needs to finish something before I give into her next fetish.

In the past year, she has received a bunch of gift cards and money.  She hasn't really spent it or should I say, hasn't found anything interesting enough to buy.  Her siblings, on the other hand, are always running out of money buying things they want.  Perhaps, she just forgets she has money to spend or she's naturally thrifty?  I'm not complaining.

We were in a Toys R' Us one day buying a birthday gift and we had time to walk up and down the isles and I reminded Anne that she had money to spend if she wanted to buy anything.  She ended up spotting a chemistry set that she thought would be so much fun to play with.  It was around $50 or so.  She bought it.

Once we got home, I sent her to the outside back porch to do her thing. 

She really loves those goggles ;-)  I thought it was so cute how they were on crooked and were fogging up on the inside.  She was having so much fun.

She is pacing herself through all the experiments.  I am not helping her at all.  I'm not too sure what sort of experiments she is doing, but it all seems pretty safe.  No disasters or explosions.  I'm just on her to clean up after herself, because I don't want to do it.

I hear smart people are messy.  True?  If that is the case, we have 7 very smart people living in this house!

Love my little scientist!

My 20th Reunion

I loved high school.  I don't know how many people can really say that.  I attended Mount Vernon High School in Alexandria, VA - class of 1992.  I loved being part of the MV music program which included chorus, symphonic band and marching band (I mainly spun rifles).  I loved the friends I made and the memories we created together.  The academics, I really don't remember too much.  Blocked it out of my memory, I guess!

It was an exciting time for me and I feel blessed to have had a positive experience.  Looking back, I remember looking forward to all the neat things that teenagers get to experience and how curious I was to do them.  I kept a diary when I was in high school (I actually started in 7th grade) and I religiously wrote in it every night.  This diary took form of a spiral notebook that fit into a blue durable plastic notebook cover.  I wrote only on the right side of the notebook and in only black ball point pen.  I had other rules too, just don't remember right now.  Point is, I always had something to write about.  I still have my 45+ notebooks tucked away in my storage space downstairs.  The ramblings of teenage kid - precious!

So, I missed my 10th reunion.  I remember being so excited to attend that reunion.  I am the kind of person who just loves people and curious as to why they are the way they are.  I love keeping up with people and where they end up in life.  They don't even have to be a close friend!  In high school, I remember finding so many people intriguing.  These people weren't necessarily my close friends, but perhaps someone who caught my attention from afar - totally random.  Not everyone is like me and ponder people the way I do.  In college I realized that Psychology was definitely the way to go!  I enjoyed studying it so much and also found a group of friends who delighted in people like I did!

I missed my 10th reunion mainly because that was the time in my life I got married and was pregnant with my first baby, Anne.  I suddenly had more important things to focus on and my 10th reunion didn't seem to be as exciting as it initially was.

Funny how time flies and my 20th reunion sort of creeped up on me.  Time has changed so much from when I was a teenager.  I wonder how my class of '92 would have operated in the year 2012?  I love Facebook!  It seems so obvious to me why.  Today, I am "friends" on Facebook with people from HS that I wasn't necessarily good friends with - simply because I'm on Facebook.  I love reading what people are up to and the things they experience and share.  LOVE IT.  For some people, it doesn't appeal to them at all.  My husband being one of them, my sister another.  But just wanted to let you people out there know - someone finds you interesting no matter who you are!  Even more, I love blogs.  Specially if it showcases who you are and your experiences.  If you write one - let me know!

So, I decided to go to my 20th reunion.  It's surreal just to think that I am attending one of these things - 20 years has past, really??  In the age of Facebook, I can keep in touch with most everyone anyway.  I was telling my husband how it was weird to attend a function when you know every one's business, but never really have "hung" out before.  I was pondering that for a while as the days passed by toward the big day.

The big day also fell on my husband's football game with Bishop O'Connell High School.  The game was changed from 2 to 3 pm and that would mean I would have to bring our change of clothes to the game, trade my car and my kids for my in-law's car so we could go straight to my reunion.  As we were sitting at the game watching the first half, I was happy because we were ahead 2 touch downs.  That would also mean my husband would be in better mood that evening.  However, by the second half of the game we were neck and neck till the very last play of the game...into OT!  Unbelievable!  I can't stand such intense games like that!  I was happy when it was over with an SJC win!  Go Cadets!!

So, I gather my stuff and change in O'Connell's student bathrooms getting ready for my HS reunion - funny!  I would have much preferred the comforts of my own house to get ready to see people I haven't seen in 20 years.  I also was going 31 weeks pregnant!  Not that it's horrible, it's just you don't want to feel fat and swollen on your reunion!

We arrived at the reunion and immediately were greeted by so many old friends!  Everyone looked really wonderful.  I'd have to say that the class of 92 aged pretty well.  Some people didn't even seem to have aged at all.  I saw my friend Carla!  We were great friends and shared so many precious memories together. 

She's one of one's I was talking about that hasn't aged a bit!  Both of us were missing our two other buddies, Renee and Theresa.  If I had the time and a scanner, I would of contributed the many pictures I had of the four of us on the MV slide show they had.  Good times!

I believe we had almost 350 in our graduating class and about only 70 came.  There was also a happy hour on the Friday night that I didn't attend.  Apparently, some more Majors showed up. 

As I was catching up with people, I had all these images and facts pop up into my head from Facebook.  I kept saying, "On Facebook..." all night long and I was almost embarrassed at how much I take in from my daily news feed. 

This is a picture of all the band members that showed up.

I wish I took more pictures! 

Not everyone took their spouses/significant others with them to reunion.  I definitely wanted my husband there since I did really enjoy this time in my life and wanted him to get a little glimpse of the people in my life before him.  I was definitely proud of him being by my side and wish people knew what a great guy he is.  He was a trooper while I went around and got caught up with friends. 

It was a lot of fun to visit the past and see how your old friends have grown up and see and hear about the lives they've lived since graduation.  I was so happy to see friends doing well.  It was nice to talk to some "friends" on Facebook in person that I didn't really know well in HS.  I even met someone who lives right around the corner from me! 

To all of the MVHS class of 1992, God bless you all and your families.  See you in at the 30th reunion.  Or...until then, on Facebook!!