More Pumpkin Patch Photos

Look what we found in the pumpkin patch this week....

A lot of these....



Several of these.....



Many of these, old friends like Harvey, who is 84 yrs young....




But definately, only ONE of these....a Grandpa with 5 of his 7 grandkids...

Going Solo???

Calling all parents of 1st graders.....
Opinion,.....do you drop your 6 yr old at a birthday party, where you don't know the parents?

I think we are getting to the age of drop off birthday parties. Lindsi was invited to one of her classmates birthday parties. I think probably the whole calss, or at least all of the girls were invited, since the invite came home in her school folder.

At daycare, we routinely skipped the class invite parties & opted only to go to the parties of the kids we knew well.

Lindsi was excited about being invited to this party. I want to help her foster good friendships with the kids at school. I like that she was included. We don't live in the same school zone ( Lindsi attends her current school because the deaf / HOH services are based there), & it is hard to socialize with the kids outside of school.

I guess when I RSVP, I'll see what the party plan is.....
I don't think I have any concerns about her safety, just whether or not she can successfully navigate the social situation, on her own, with her language skills.

I sound like a way too over protective mom...lol....

So folks, what age do / did you just drop kids off at birthday parties where you don't know the other family????

A Few Friday Bullets

* Ha! To all who thought I'd have a third cat by now, I am happy to report that after feeding young mommy cat one time.....she hasn't come back. Maybe she doesn't care for our brand of cat food....=)

* We should finally feel some fall like 70 degree weather this weekend...Yea!!

* We have a dance performance, a birthday party, & old family friends visiting from Germany this weekend. We should be sufficiently busy!

* Jami has had a cold, which settled right into her eyes. I thought at first she was getting pink eye, but she didn't. However, every morning this week, I've had to bathe her eyes with warm water in order to remove the gunk enough so she can open them. So every morning I hear her call me...Mom..I can't see..come get my eye gunk.....Lovely...

* Finally...I don't know how to upload this (& maybe it's not even possible), but if you want to see the BEST video clip of the week, click here:
(You might need to copy it to your Browser)

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/27236549#27236549

October Pumpkins!

If it's Oct, we must be at the beach! We went to the beach on Sat & met a BLOG friend, Amy & her daughter Amelia. They were visiting the Mouse House for Amelia's 4th birthday.

We had a very nice visit until Jami hit her 3 yr old wall. It wasn't a pleasant departure. On the up side, Jami slept all the way home!

On Sun we spent part of the afternoon at the pumpkin patch. Since our church does the patch as a fundraiser, we are there A LOT in Oct.

These are probably just the first in a series of Pumpkin Pathch pics this year.

A little stroll down Memory Lane...

This pic was taken in 2006, about 10 days after Jami came home from China!


Pumpkin Patch 2007


Pumpkin Patch 2008


Jami in 2008..3.5 yrs old


Lindsi in 2008 6.5 yrs old


More to come, I promise....=)

I Was TAGGED

My new blog friend, Lisa, Tagged me. Do you know what that means? It means I need to come up with an unusual or weird fact X 7(!!!) to share with my Blog readers. But, first, be sure to go by & read her very funny blog postings. Just this week she covered topics as diverse as semi-large families to how to tell if your dog is obese (which was hilarious & you have to read the comments on that because it gets even funnier).

OK..so 7 (Boring) and Weird or Unusual facts about me.......

1. Since Lisa wrote that she sort of learned some German off a CD, I will reveal that I was actually born in Germany. Frankfurt to be in exact. So, in my immediate little family, NONE of us were born in the Good Ole USA & yet we are all now USA citizens.

2. I graduated in the top 10% of my high school class. Of 332 students, I was #32.
Before you think I was SMART, just know that I took a few AP classes, but I was not considered National Honor Society material.

3. When I was in China & could not communicate with the Chinese, I would habitually try to use ASL (American Sign Language) to emphasize my message. I looked ridiculous. Most Americans don't understand ASL.....how come I thought that would just clear up my message with the Chinese?

4. This past Wed, I helped our church unload 2500 (felt like most were GI-NORMOUS) pumpkins, for our annual pumpkin patch. In the pouring rain. Then I came home, parked the girls in front of a Disney movie, took a shower, climbed into my PJs, took a few Advil, sent the girls to bed & fell alseep on the couch by 9:30.

5. I like to cook when I have time. When I have to bring food anywhere, I very rarely bring something routine. I always use potluck occasions to make something new & have other people try out, while I anonymously listen to their comments. If it's getting good reviews, I'll own up that its mine. If it's bad, I can just agree...Oh yeah...what silly person thought mayo jello would go over well at a kids birthday party??? NOTE: I have NEVER made Mayo Jello!!!!

6. Fact #6...I don't even LIKE mayonnaise!

7. My 6 yr old is very neat & organized. Her room puts the rest of the house to shame. She uses something & automatically puts it right away. I'm hoping her good habits will rub off on me, but so far, nothing....nadda...

This is so much harder than it seems.....

I am going to tag:

Valerie from (D)rivvel Supp Martin Family

Amy from Cherishing the Chunster

Donna from Lena and Macey

Jenna from The Life Of A Working Mom

Pam (my sister, who is really funny, but hardly ever blogs) from Inside the life of a PTO mom

Anyone Want A Cat??

I know better....I spent some growing up time on some acreage with chickens, horses and dogs.

Last week, Jami & I were sitting on the front porch step, waiting for Lindsi's bus to arrive. A couple hundred feet away, I saw a young tabby cat stalking through the yard. I pointed her out to Jami. Jami immediately wanted to go pet the cat & I told her to go ahead. We have quite a few feral cats around here that won't let you get within 10 ft of them, so I figured she would race across the yard & the cat would take off.

I was wrong. The young cat greeted her like she was a long lost friend. She was rolling in the grass & rubbing up on Jami's legs. This was one affectionate kitty. The cat wandered over to the neighbors yard as the bus pulled in & I could tell that the cat either was going to have kittens or had recently had kittens. I did not get up close enough to check her out.

So, today as Jami & I sat on the porch, the little cat showed up again. Wow! She is a young kitty, very skinny, & she has kittens somewhere because she is full of milk. She's very affectionate. A sweet tabby. Jami was making plans to keep her, but I explained that she must have kittens somewhere and BESIDES, we already have two well loved INDOOR cats. Then Lindsi got off the bus and started to pet her. The cat is looking so much like the family pet that the bus driver commented on our new cat.

I remind everyone AGAIN that we have two cats....we don't need another, not even one this friendly. As we walk towards the house, she is right there with us. Even tried to make a beeline into the house when the door was opened.

She is extremely young & tiny, so I did take pity on her & brought out a dish of food & water. The girls stayed glued to the screen door reporting her every move. I didn't want to overfeed her, but she inhaled the food that I took out to her.

I'm betting I will see her again tomorrow. I hope someone is missing her, but with the cat population around here, I sort of doubt it. She looked like she had not eaten in quite awhile.

Repeating as I walk to the cat food bags...We DO NOT need another cat & I will NOT become a cat lady!!!.....

September to October

It seems like September just flew by & now we are looking forward to getting in the pumpkins & having a very busy October. I think we have plans every weekend for the next 5 weeks or so.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from September that I did not yet share. Between the beach trips & starting school, starting dance, getting (unexpected) haircuts...ect...it has been hectic. Life with kids is a series of wonderful moments & I am so glad to have a place to share them & record them. It's a nice reminder when the moments are a little less than wonderful.


A stop at our favorite park.....
An evening stroll on the beach....

Fun with balloons.......

A Princess Pottery Party

I'm behind in my blogging....=)

On Sat our local, young couple owned, pottery painting place, hosted a Princess Party. The girls went, in full costume & each got to paint a pottery version of The Glass Slipper. It was a good time. We had spread the word, so quite a few of the girls' friends were there as well.

Unfortunately, my girls were bent on their tasks & were not very good visitors with their friends also in attendance. Oh well, some of us ended up at Chick-*-A afterwards & the girls all had fun playing together there.

Then, because it is still summer like, all the kids went swimming at Grandma & Grandpa's house, followed by hamburgers on the grill.

It was, in fact, a great Saturday!!