In The Blink of an Eye

Well, what d'ya know?  It's mid December!  How the blazes did that happen?!  I want to catch you up, but I really am lacking time lately, like everyone else, I assume.  It's always such a delicate balance....living life and posting about it.

I don't like short-changing either one, but if I have to, it's gonna be the "posting about it" part that will have to fall short.

I am however, going to try to catch you up....a little at a time.

Here we go.

Halloween....it was a lot of fun!  It always is.  It's a favorite holiday of the kids (and John) for sure.

That's our rag doll, Darth Vader and Alice in Wonderland.

Thanksgiving was awesome!  It's my fave holiday for the mere fact that it's so chilled out.  It's family oriented and relaxed and cozy.  Did you know the word "cozy"is one of my favorite words in the universe? 

My mom was here.  I love that lady!  The food was great!  They say too many cooks spoil the broth (or something like that), well not here, baby!  We all pitched in and made a wonderful dinner and dessert.  Yum, yum, yummety yum!

Sky and Grandma Jo

Desserts were fantastic!  I love a good meal, but dessert has always been my favorite.  I am probably a horrible example to my children, with the amount of sugar I can consume.  But, I try to keep it in check.  ;)  It's hard, though, with this selection.

Smiley Face cookies brought from PA!  Yummaaaay

Sunday night, after a relaxing Thanksgiving weekend, we began our Advent with a festive drive through light show.

Everyone all cozy in the van?....yep!

It was a good way to start the Advent season, (along with Mass that we went to that Sunday morning) and it was wonderful to Grandma here with us!

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On Tuesday evening, Skylar had a karate belt ceremony and Grandma was here for that, too!

You wouldn't want to run into her in a dark alley.  She'd kick your butt!

Great job, Skylar!

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Then Grandma had to go home.  :(

It's always great to have her here....

Always hard to say goodbye.

Our Advent has been very busy, fun, exciting, full, interesting....etc. etc.

I hope to post more on that in the next few days.

Hope you are having a pleasant, peaceful, blessed Advent.

Have a great day!  Make it special!

TTFN

~Tina

No Matter What

Evan, Sky and Alexa had a blast last Fall when we made a trip to a local farm that really "does it up" for Halloween.  They have the "haunted hayride", the corn maze, tons of slides, haybales to climb on, animals of all kinds, goats to visit and feed, and tons of yummy food.  All kinds of cozy comfort foods like nachos with cheese, hot chili, hot apple cider, hot chocolate (noticing a theme here?....in the crisp Autumn air, you need all that "hot" to warm up from the inside out), hot soft pretzels, hot dogs, and Kettle Corn.  The food is a definite part of the charm of this place, at least for me.  The kids enjoy it, too, but they are there for the action! 

We had some things working against us this year.  We wanted to go on the Friday before Halloween, since that is when Skylar's friend was able to come with us.  But illnesses crept in at the beginning of the week.  Then the forecast called for rain.  Once we got through the brunt of the illnesses and were on the mend, we still had the issue of rain to deal with.  They close this place when it rains.  The weathermen eventually took rain out of that days weather predictions and put in chilly temps.....no, make that cold temps.  Not bitter cold, just around 50 degrees.  Those temps combined with Evan still having a little sinus issue, made me leary of this plan, but if we didn't go on this exact day, we wouldn't be able to go at all this year.  And Evan (and the girls) wanted to go.....no matter what.

So Friday morning, the sun was shining and I took that (along with Evan's begging and pleading) as a sign that we were meant to just go for it.

The day went well.  It was definitely cold, but we dressed in layers and had hats and gloves.  We were as prepared as we could be.

Alexa doing her best "Tarzan", then dropping into the soft foam pit.

It was truly a ton of fun.   We met some "locals"....  ;)

And got a little sillaaay.....

This was a day full of laughs.

And thrills.

And a hayride with lots to see along the way! (Actually, our dear sweet tractor driver informed us we were sitting on straw, not hay.  So technically it was a Straw Ride)

These guys don't look like they are from around here.  ;)

 It's especially exciting when it looks like it's just a bunch of "props" with some Star Wars music playing as the wagon rolls by.  But then out run a couple of aliens for some meet and greet and some high 5s! 

 There was so much to see.....The Creepy...

One of Evan's faves....the Invisible Man

The fun.....

Right at this point the tractor driver told us the train was coming and we might not make it across!.....Then, when we least expected it, he blew a pretty freakin' loud horn, scaring children and parents alike....

Yeah, we had loads of fun on that hay straw ride.

That's the troll on her troll bridge up there.....threatening to not let us pass under.  We had to promise her some apple cider on our next visit.  Little does she know she's going to have to wait a year.  Hope she's not too thirsty.

Look!  It's daddy!  Haha

And we got to visit some cute little animals.

 This little piggie went to market, this little piggie stayed home.....

And some BIG animals. 

This little piggie had some SERIOUS roast beef!

The goat pen is a part of this place we can never pass up.  Especially for Alexa (my future vet).  It's pretty cool that you can go inside the pen with a ton of goats all around you and just visit and play with them. (or for a dollar you can feed them an ice cream cone full of goat food)

I tell my kids this all the time.  :)

We made some fun memories.....

I get by with a little help from my friends.....

or standing in front of the haystack works too.

I guess it's good that Evan and the girls were determined to go.....no matter what.
Because it ended up being a pretty awesome day.  :)

The timing didn't work for Taylor joining us, since she had school.  Hopefully that works out better next year.

Hope you are enjoying some of the beautiful outdoors before it gets too cold.
TTFN
~Tina