A Surprise and Pumpkin Farm Fun

Yesterday I received a huge surprise at work. OK it wasn't JUST my surprise...it was for me and LG from my wonderful DH! He had to be out of town for a few days upon her arrival and so he's been calling her and talking with her each night to try and make those important connections. Well...yesterday he decided to connect with both of us by surprising us with this:

Isn't he wonderful?? I know we were both beaming when we received this beautiful gift. She carried it so carefully to the car and we put it on the piano when we got home so that we could see it often.

Last night, DS 1 came home to meet LG. She loved meeting him and getting to know yet another person in our family. As I said before she comes from a rather large and very interconnected family. Her knowledge of her family tree absolutely astounds me. I am fairly confident she'll have our family tree down in no time!

She has connected with all the boys quite well. They have played frisbee with her, helped her with coloring, and watched TV with her. I think she enjoys the positive attention and they like doting on a little girl!

Today, DS 4, LG and I headed off to our local Pumpkin festival. We had a ball even though it was SO DARN HOT!

I love some of our pics from the festival! They enjoyed riding the ponies, painting pumpkins, looking at the baby animals and riding on the hayride. We'll have to go back later this week to get our big pumpkin. It was so hot when we were leaving that I didn't even want to head into the tent where they were. We'll go in the evening.

Last night we had a small group gathering at our house for church. It was fun for all of them to meet LG for the first time. She enjoyed being a hostess and helping prepare the food. She talked with people and made sure to hug them all as they left.

Tomorrow we will be "reverse trick or treating" here in our neighborhood and in two other neighborhoods in town. This is when we go door to door and hand neighbors bags of candy to use for Halloween. It's a great activity that catches people off guard and extends a surprising act of kindness all at the same time.

All's well here in our world. In so many ways it's almost as if it's always been. I love that.

My Weekend Window

Let me first say that I WISH this is what it looked like outside my windows! It doesn't look anything like this, though...only in my mind!



What a busy weekend! Friday night was the "FCAT Dance". This is the dance that my school does for kids who score well on FCAT. It's part of a huge incentive program. It's a fun time especially because our former fifth graders, now in middle school, come back for it.

There's my DS 4 and his friend K. I have to tell you her face tells it all in this picture. Most of the time I would look for him, he was surrounded by girls.


I knew there was trouble when one came out of the posse crying! So I asked him, "A, are you causing the girls trouble?" He said, "I'm not doing anything!" I rephrased the question: "Are they upset over you?" To which he replied, "Yeah, they're fighting over me. I don't get it. All I want to do is dance!" I think the writing is on the wall with this young man. I need to fasten my seatbelt for sure!


Saturday night we hosted our church's first "Partycipate"...a sort of membership party for about 20 people at our house. It was a great time to get to know some people who have been coming that we didn't know as well yet.

I made my first ever homemade salsa and guacamole. Both turned out pretty well...according to my DS 2. I think it's so funny how everyone hangs out in the kitchen even when you have other spaces for people to spread out!

We will host another one of these this coming Friday. Now I'm trying to decide if I should do a different menu, or keep the one we used on Saturday???

Yesterday DS 4 and I headed up to Tampa to see my family. My brother, Dan, is getting ready to head back to Texas next week. It was good to visit with him and the rest of the family just casually before the hectic holidays start up!

I LOVED watching Amazing Race last night. This is one show that I really enjoy. So that is how I ended my weekend last night!

Now, it's time for a new and very busy work, school, and church week and the beginning of October. I have to say that THIS is what signals to me that I can start putting up my Fall decor. We will be getting all that down tonight. My boys know this is one of the things that keeps "Mama happy"!

Have a great week, everyone!

Weekend Update...

What a busy, but fun, weekend!!

Friday was supposed to be our Fall Fun Fair at school. It rained, so I was able to come home and CRASHED.

Saturday was spent getting ready for Reverse Trick or Treat on Sunday AND our work Halloween Party Saturday night. We always have so much fun at this party. It's amazing the different costumes that people come up with! I didn't get a full picture of my costume, but here is one of me with my friend, Brenda. I love this picture of all the people that I work with who are on FACEBOOK! There are more people from my school on FB that weren't at the party. But I'd say it's a pretty large group!On Sunday we hosted our church family at our house for Reverse Trick or Treat. This was an AWESOME activity! There were ten adults and 5 kids who gave out candy at 80 homes in our neighborhood. The stickers on the candy read: "No Tricks, Just Treats from your friends at (our church name)!" People were blown away that we were out to GIVE something with no strings attached.

Afterward, everyone came back to our house for supper. It was great fun!

Now, Friday, we are hosting a party to give away more treats to adults and children in our neighborhood. So far, there are 20 people signed up to come over then. I am looking forward to more time with our church family while reaching out to the community.

You MIGHT be a TEACHER If....

This week I have to do our TV News at school. A few years ago, we created a "Jungle" set and had several wacky characters do a little "improv" about good reading and writing practices for elementary kids. The kids loved it, and I must confess, so did the adults. I will post a picture as soon as I can find one or scan one in. But I digress.

Back to THIS week....now we'll be on a FARM. I have a Pumpkin Wig and yesterday I bought a costume for this new character, "Reda, Reda, Pumpkin Reader". Some of the things I bought include: orange shirt, green "over shirt", black pants, orange and black striped socks, green mittens, orange earrings, and black "pumpkin shoes".

This week Reda Pumpkin will be teaching the whole school a lesson on how to select books. Sooooo I decided she needed books with pumpkins on them.


First I found this little board book to demonstrate a book that is TOO EASY.




Then I found these two to demonstrate a book that is JUST RIGHT. I got them both, knowing that I can use them in my classroom lessons. The Ugly Pumpkin is actually a Thanksgiving Story.

After these two finds, I found myself at the "help desk" asking the nice young man if he could do a subject search. When I told him I wanted him to search "Pumpkins", he looked at me like I have two heads. Trust me, I'm an Elementary School Teacher who has seen this look in stores before. Then I added to my "search" with these words, "I need you to find me the most difficult book you have in the store about pumpkins." Again, that familiar quizzical look.

He took me to the first prospect and it turned out to be a children's book that was shelved in the adult section. I thanked him and told him I'd wander in the "seasonal" section myself. Pretty soon he hurries back up to me with two books in his hands, both recipe books.

Let me just say that a recipe book is a perfect example of a book that is TOO HARD (especially for me)! So, in the absence of a better choice, and not wanting to walk every aisle at Barnes and Noble hoping to spot a pumpkin on the cover of a book, I took it.

After that, I headed to another of my favorite stores, Target. And, just on a whim I walked the book section. There, almost calling my name was Gregory Maguire's book, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister with a beautiful "Pumpkin Coach" on the front cover!

I think I saw the bright light and heard the Great Pumpkin singing because this is a MORE PERFECT example of a book that would be "too hard" for most kids. I mean there are no pictures to speak of and they'll see it as a "big book full of words".

Today I walked into school with my harvest of pumpkin books and my cute little pumpkin costume and I'm ready for this assignment. Hopefully I can get someone to take a picture of our costumes and set tomorrow.

And when I was talking to a friend (a non-educator) about it, she said, "WHY would you do all that for ONE lesson?" And again, I realized that some people just don't get it. But, if you are a teacher, or you know one personally, then you just might.

Fall Fun at the Farm...

I spent the day at a local farm's Pumpkin Festival with DS 4 and one of my nieces (Princess Piggie). She's visiting from Orlando this weekend and so we stoleOK, borrowed her for the day. Here are some of the pics showing the fun we had.

DS 2 was more than happy to pose as a scarecrow...the Princess doesn't "do scarecrows". Sooo...she sat this picture out. PLUS she had the map in hand and was focused on one thing, finding the petting area and thus...

PIGGIES! She absolutely adores pigs and has built quite a collection of her own. I'm fairly certain she'd have been a bit more excited if they were the cute "pink" variety, but the pot-bellied pigs seemed to make her happy as well. She and DS 4 enjoyed feeding the other animals in this area including goats, deer, llama, and donkeys!

After petting the animals and cleaning our hands, we went over to the games. These games were set up by local charitable organizations. The proceeds went to serve each charity. The kids won tickets then redeemed them later on (a la Chuck E. Cheese).

After we played games, there were rock climbing walls and bungee jumps to tackle! Since the Princess recently had rock climbing fun at her older sister's birthday party, she opted for the bungee which she told me after the fact was a "bit high".

Then it was time for the Cornfield Maze. This is an overhead view of last year's maze...trust me, it was just as detailed this year. They showed us a picture before we went in...but it didn't help. Princess decided they really should have given us a map to follow while were lost in the see of maize. I had to bribe the Princess to pose for my "Which Way do We Go?" picture below (just don't ask, Heather). After all, I think the bribe was worth it...don't they look cute? There were many other activities from our day on the farm...but two of my favorite were the butterfly encounter:

And who could NOT love sitting and posing in the "Pumpkin Patch?" And so I'll let these two photos one taken by DS 4 and the other by the Princess of us playing in the pumpkins:

Happy Fall, Ya'll!

Step into my world....

Things have been crazy around here. Of course that's not so far out of the norm, but it has made for an interesting week for certain.

DS 1 was supposed to ship out the 24th for basic training for the Army National Guard. He sustained a knee injury that is going to require surgery a couple of weeks ago. As a result, he had to get a letter from the surgeon and take it to the Guard. They have changed his "ship date" to April 28th.

DS 1 will have his surgery on the 30th of October. They are telling him it will be four weeks to recover.

DS 2 was injured in soccer practice this week and went to the doctor (same doc--we're certainly keeping him in business right now). He is on crutches. We are waiting to results from an MRI.

DS 4 has had strep throat this week and just went back to school today after two days on the antibiotic.

Thank goodness DH has been home to play "Mr. Mom". He does this with great finesse anyway even when everyone is "normal."

My new "Alice" quit this week. She's only been working here for two weeks. I knew it could be overwhelming, but didn't expect this. However, today she talked with DH and told him that she wanted to reconsider her decision. She was in an emotional state when she quit and told him that. Soooo...tomorrow he's going to tell her that we'd love to have her stay on. Believe me, I am doing the happy dance over this one!!

DS 3 went to work out with me tonight. My friend D had a stress test today and didn't do so well. With DS 2 out of commission, I had to find a new "backup partner". DS 3 did a great job as we worked chest and shoulders.

My niece is visiting from Orlando this weekend. She's staying at her Grandparents' house. She's going to go with DS 4 and me to a local pumpkin festival. I'm so excited to take them as they have a corn maze that should be great fun...and make for great photos.

Trust me, there's never a dull moment in this family!

Fall Fest: Florida Style!

My blogging friend, Jill of Who Could Ask For Anything More? is having Fall Fest this week over at her place. I've loved looking at all her Fall Decor! And I've been promising to share mine...so here it is:

This is my new pumpkin tablecloth. I forgot I bought this Yankee Candle topper last year. I was so excited to add it to one of my favorite Fall Yankee Candles: Harvest.

This is a bench that normally houses my bears and becomes a place for all my "Fall Friends" to sit in October. In November, some will go away and some pilgrims will be added.

I'm not sure where I got that cute little candy corn or the fall pillows that surround him, but they make me smile, so out they go:

And this is the pumpkin patch that gets added to my living room. Again, some of the pumpkins will go away or be turned for November and turkeys will be added to the patch.

There are some Fall Decorations out that I didn't show like my Fall Leaf Napkin Holder, another Yankee Candle Topper and outdoor pumpkins. Maybe I'll do that when I return from my FALL GETAWAY to SAVANNAH!!

I'm going up there to meet with several other bloggers, and I'm SO EXCITED! I don't know how much blogging time I'll have while I'm gone, but I'll try and post pictures when I can...

Until Wednesday, HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Halloween Fun!

Here's our slide show from the Block Party at our church tonight. By early numbers, it looks like nearly 1000 people joined in the fun. Here it is through my family's eyes.

And WHAT IS a Snapdragon?

Heather's post today made me realize I forgot what it even meant to "be" a snapdragon (or any other flower for that matter)! SO....I went to look up the definition, here it is according to that quiz:

"Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh."

I don't know quite how to take that mischief part....she said with a smile and a wink!!

I'm going to blog more later....and I think I'm off to see if I can figure out what Echinacea is on that quiz. Lynn said someone came out with that description...can't even picture it. It's a little Fall fun anyway.

As I pointed out to Heather, I'm awful glad there ARE more flowers in the garden!! It would be rather boring if we were all the same, wouldn't it???

Photographs and Memories

Do you remember that song?

I am finally home and want to share my week of memories in photos:

Here I am with Mary in front of California Dreamin. We had a WONDERFUL visit! I knew she was neat before I met her face to face, but now I am certain of it. She is a true bundle of JOY!
After I met Mary and Mom and I hung out in Charleston a bit, it was off to Greensboro, NC for work! This is the view from our hotel where we could see the leaves starting to show off their Fall colors for us. I LOVE Fall...so was thankful we got to see some color while there. It was a REAL treat. And then we were off to Savannah to meet Sandy (aka Flip Flop Floozie) at Lady and Sons. Mom and I are standing in the line at 9:30 to get a number at 10:00 only to come back at 11:00 for lunch! If you have not read about Paula Deen and her great restaurant, here's a link: Lady and Sons.

Here's the line...to the front door...and it got much longer than this!
And here's Sandy (on the left taking a picture) and Mom watching the lady that steps into the street and asks "Are ya'll ready to eat?" She doesn't ask once. Nope. She asks it until she's satisfied that the crowd is REALLY ready THEN she rings the dinner and says, "Come and get it!" (We obeyed!)

I had to add another post below to allow me to get all the pics in. Blogger wasn't cooperating...keep reading....