The Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday we had a free morning and decided to go visit a farm.  Brian wanted to go through a corn maze and Lizzie wanted to see animals.  I found a farm that had a corn maze nearby and off we went.  We found out that the farm had no animals, and that the maze was probably a little big for our little ones so we ended up taking a hay ride.

The hay ride went all around the farm and we were able to see all the apple trees and other things that they grow.

The ride ended at the pumpkin patch.

Where we each got to pick out a pumpkin.  Lizzie had to go all the way to the far side to find the perfect pumpkin.

Here we all are with our pumpkins, they are in there somewhere.

There was also a hay maze where Lizzie got lost,

and stuck in dead ends, but we had so much fun that when we found our way out we decided to go through it again.

Here is just a cute picture to finish with.

The Leaves Are Falling

Last Thursday Brian took the day off work and we spent the morning raking up the leaves in our yard.  It is amazing to me how many leaves can fall in our little yard.  This picture shows most of our back yard, it isn't that big but there are a lot of leaves.

So many that Brian decided to jump in them.

Even this small pile came up to Lizzie's waist, and we are not even done raking yet.

The kids had a fun time helping move the leaves and it was so much fun to watch them helping.

Finally we finished and just look at all of those leaves.  However they are still falling and there will be more to come.

The leaves made a great background for pictures, sadly this is the best one that I got of the kids.

This is a cute one of them, also.  Look the leaves are over Jamie's head.

After a fun morning of raking leaves we got to the real reason the Brian had taken the day off.  We went to go see what has been growing in my tummy, and this is what they found.

Yes, for all of you who do not know yet, I am pregnant.  I am due on March 17th (a little Irish baby) so this was the 20 week scan.  We choose not to find out the sex of the baby, so it is still being guessed, I asked the kids tonight and they told me it is a boy.  I guess we will see in a few months, for now we will call the baby little Patty.  The doctor seemed to think that all look well, even though Patty didn't want to cooperate.  He didn't really say much, perhaps my doctor will say more when I see her next week.

  

Jamie's Birthday

Last Sunday was Jaime's birthday.  Thanks to all the worry over Halloween, I didn't get him any present or think ahead of time what kind of cake I wanted to make.  However I did get a cake made before dinner, and this was it!!!

I bought the train muffin tin at the beginning of the year and this is the first time I have been able to use it.

Here is the happy boy with his cake.  You might notice the unusual candles.  This is the first birthday we really celebrated here and so we have yet to buy birthday cake candles.

And blowing out the candles.  He needed some help from dad and sister!!

It is a good thing that Jamie is still young and doesn't realize that he is suppose to get presents on his birthday.  Maybe next year I will be more able to focus on two big days in a row.

Halloween!!!

It was fun to actually celebrate Halloween this year.  England doesn't celebrate Halloween much, so this was my kids first real Halloween.  They seemed to really enjoy the time.

Here is a blurry picture of our Halloween decorations, it was the only one that I got.

Here are the kids in the costumes that I made them at the Ward Trunk or Treat.  Lizzie is a pumpkin which is the first one that I made.  We then decided to make an apple costume, but it ended up looking more like the kool-aid man.  They both really wanted to be the pumpkin, and neither one would put on the apple to even let me see how it looked until this night when we finally got Jamie into it.

On Halloween we finally found time to carve our pumpkins.  Brian did a great cat one for the kids.

 

For himself he made a dog face.  That left me to figure out what I should do.  I couldn't figure out how to do a bunny face so I ended up trying to do a face like me mom used to when I was growing up.  It didn't work out quite right.  Partly because I had only kitchen knives to use, and partly because I couldn't quite remember how she used to do them.

 

In the end this is what the pumpkins looked like.

Brian's

Mine

the kids

Later we went to our neighbors house for a Halloween party before going out trick-or-treating.  The kids really enjoyed the trick-or-treating.  Jamie wanted to keep going even as it started to rain.  Lizzie even enjoyed giving out the candy as people would come to our house.  It was really fun to see how much they enjoyed it.

Cousins Visiting!!

Shortly after arriving home from our trip we got a visit from one of Brian's sisters, her kids and grandma.  We were so excited to see them as it had been almost three years since we had seen them last.  The kids were so excited to have cousins to play with again.  Once they warmed up to them they had a great time playing together, before it was time for bed.

The kids were very sad when they woke up in the morning to find that their cousins were gone, but at least grandma was still around to play with for a while.

Butternut Squash Soup

I love Butternut Squash Soup.  My kids enjoyed it as well.

The recipe for this yummy soup can be found on foodnetwork.com if you search for "Squash Soup Jamie Oliver"