September Give Thanks, Week 4

September 22:
     Thankful that I get to try a new paper piecing pattern and give it a review! Its so exciting.

September 23:
     Thankful that I get to start school today. Now I get to see if age helps or doesn't help me!

September 24:
     Thankful for a wonderful group of mommys that motivated me to get out of the house with the kids and send a afternoon at the pumpkin farm! Not only was it a ton of fun, but the kids passed out as soon as I put them in their car seats. It was a great adventure.

Tandem wearing for the first time. The boys loved it!

My oldest enjoyed the petting zoo area. It was a lot of fun.

September 25:
     We all need a little help every once in awhile, we all need someone to talk to, and we should always seek help when we know something isn't quite right. I am thankful that today I took just 30 minutes to talk with someone (not related and doesn't know me) and it really helped open my mind to so many fresh, clean, beautiful thoughts. I am a mom and I don't often take any time for me, so today was nice. 30 minutes may not seem like a lot, but it was probably the nicest 30 minutes I have had in weeks!

September 26:
     Thankful for such amazing group of growing friends! I am so happy that I can meet such wonderful moms here in California. Its always hard to find/meet friends, so when we do, its just a wonderful thing!

September 27:
     I am so thankful that I have time in my life to enjoy such a hobby as quilting. I find new and creative quilts to try and for the years that I have been doing it, I am still discovering new quilts to try! Its such a great hobby!

September 28:
     I just love a fun day at the park with my husband and kids, it really reminds me how thankful I am to have them in my life.

Give Thanks,
Sarah

October Brings Pumpkin Patches and Trick or Treating

October.

October, what does it mean to you?
For us, it means pumpkins, costumes, candy, and decorating. Well, thats what I hope my kids see it as. For me personally it means I have a few weeks to purchase material, make a costume (or two), and clean out and carve pumpkins as well as decorate the entire house. This year, since we just moved into this house I really didn't have a lot of energy to decorate, so our decorations consisted of a few carved pumpkins and a few big bags filled with packing paper that look like pumpkins. We seriously spent $3 on the plastic bag pumpkins and we had so much packing paper (free) which turned out pretty cute.

We spent about two hours at the local pumpkin patch here near Beale AFB. It was a lot more then we were expecting. It had about 3 different pumpkin patch areas, several food/dessert vender areas, a cute petting zoo, a small train, and so much more. We took our time and checked out the large pumpkin area. These pumpkins were the sizes of our oldest (almost 2 years old), and he had the time of his life running around touching all of them. A small family photo shoot was, of course, in order.

Once we attempted a few family photos, a-t-t-e-m-p-t-e-d; we went to check out the petting zoo area. The petting zoo was cute. You could feed the chickens and goats, and touch them as well. They had a stand where you could purchase the food and a large area with sinks and soap to clean up after you touch the animals. We didn't grab any of the food or try any of the pies or cookies, because the lines were outrageously long (not to mention the amount of money they wanted for the items). So instead we decided to walk over and pick out our pumpkins and head back home. Our oldest, Brian was having a serious melt down by this point and looked like he needed a nap.

We grabbed a few pumpkins and my husband purchased their "apple cider" to try. He liked it, but for me it just tasted like apple JUICE! It wasn't anything like I have had thats been called cider. I thought it was a waist of money, but my husband was happy with it.

After about a week or so of having our pumpkins we finally carved them, on Halloween! Yeah I know, we are so great with our time and know how to manage it so well (*sarcasm*)! Our oldest had a blast scooping the inside, but only with a spoon. We could NOT get him to stick his hand inside the pumpkin. Once the pumpkins were cleaned out, my husband and I of course carved them. We had one small pumpkin and I carved 2013 into it, and we painted the boys hand and foot and placed those on the pumpkin. Those tiny ones are to hard to carve, so we enjoyed the paint instead!

Of course I usually enjoy a few Halloween projects, but instead the day before Halloween I was in surgery. You can find that story over here and Ill update you all soon.

With that, I say Happy Halloween,
Sarah