u-pick pumpkin patch

decisions decisions.....

Fall haps

Last weekend was Fall break and the kids had a 4 day weekend. Thursday was a little rough and wasn't turning out to be the break I had been waiting for. I realized I like having a break from having to get them up and get them ready for school. I don't always need a break from them being gone all day and I also made the mistake of planning on cleaning my house on a day when they were home all day. So Friday I pulled it together and we went on a picnic at the park and then I decided to take them hiking to the Grotto, which is now my kids favorite hike. I stayed in the car for the hike because Charlotte was asleep but my mom said it was beautiful and the trees were raining yellow leaves all over. The weekends weather couldn't have been better.




We went to Hee Haws with Ryan's sister and his oldest brother and their kids. It's a fun tradition we have with his brother and the kids always love it. This year I attempted to make apple cider donuts. My friend gave me a recipe and they turned out pretty good. A little too good, I ate way too many. But I pictured us all taking a break form the activities of Hee Haws and enjoying apple cider donuts and maybe sipping some milk. It didn't happen, I think maybe 3 or 4 people that weren't from my immediate family had one as they happen to run past my stroller. I just pictured this wonderful fall magazine scene, oh well, I'm sure my scene I imagine of going Christmas caroling and sipping hot chocolate will come to fruition.


this is the only picture of about 10 that all 4 kids are looking

amazing woman

I am very interested in WW2 Europe and recently recievd an e-mail with some information about a WWII hero. I've never heard of her and I think there are a lot of war hero's that go unknown. Maybe this one pulled at my heart strings and I felt it neccessary to share is because it had to do with small children.

There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an 'ulterior motive' ... She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German.) Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids..) She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.. During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.

Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize ... She was not selected.


Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming.

Of course this is a breif summary of her and I found a website devoted to her
And there is a movie. I'll have to try to find it and maybe a book? If you've read a book about her, I'd love a recommendation. Or any other book about someone selfless and inspiring.

snowbird

Ryan's parents have a timeshare up at Snowbird so we had a little 2 night getaway with the Brown family. It was fun to get together with family and the kids loved every minute of it. From swimming in the over chlorinated hot tub on the balcony to playing in the snow. yes, it snowed!



The Arcade. Why are arcade's always so dark?

Grandpa teaching the girls about pool

is she pooping?


then they built a little snowkid

and it snowed Sunday mornig so they built a bigger snowman

then it broke

does it look cold?

broken snowmen make good snowballs

How could I forget their #1 fan who faithfully came to every game!!

Soccer

has come and gone and I loved it. All three kids were on different teams, games were Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and 3 on Saturday when they overlapped or where at the same time, and I honestly loved watching all of them. The kids loved to play and all played well and improved so much. Brody was out for 2 weeks because of his broken clavicle . At the beging of the season, when I didn't feel they were being aggressive enough, I offered $5 if the scored a goal. I ended up paying Cloe $15 and Abbey scored 2! Brody missed 4 games (that can be his excuse for not scoring) but sure was one good cherry picker, he wanted that five bucks so bad. (Cherry picker is when you hang out close to the goal/basket so your right there and ready when the ball comes).




the Scorpions

I have to brag, she was good at all the positions and had the ball for a good portion of the game.

nice goalie action shot


Abbey was shy at times out on the field. Not all that aggressive but wasn't afraid take or kick the ball when it came to her. I loved the look on her face she would get when she knew people were watching her or when she did something good.


The Tigers