Pumpkin Patch

We had a great time at Carleton Farm. I attached a video at the end if you want to see more pictures.


Erin Joy always chooses unique pumpkins. The one that she selected this year was long and skinny. It is starting to rot near the stem, but Erin Joy didn't mind. I hope it makes it long enough to enjoy on Halloween.
Erin Joy always quickly finds her perfect pumpkin. Rachel, on the other hand, must look at EVERY pumpkin and find just the perfect pumpkin. After a long search, she happily posed with her selection.
Well, she thought she had the perfect pumpkin until she saw this little cute pumpkin. I tried to convince her to get a big pumpkin. It's hard to carve a teeny pumpkin!! She insists she is going to decorate it with sharpie markers and glue on googly eyes. Silly girl. Oh well. Her selection was certainly cheap. My pumpkin was $9.00, Erin Joy's pumpkin was $8.00, but Rachel's was only $0.50. That was nice for my budget!

I chose a pumpkin that looks like a "Veggie Tales" pumpkin. It is the pumpkin with the big stem at the back of the wheelbarrow. Notice how dirty Erin Joy's jacket is. She certainly enjoyed herself:)

I didn't include the following pictures on the video because my children aren't in them, but I thought the daytime moon shining through the corn maze was really pretty.

And finally....the movie of our fun adventure:

Better than Last Year's H1N1/Swine Flu Fun

We have been dealing with a nasty bug at our house for over a month. I finally went to the doctor and learned I had walking pneumonia, a sinus infection, and an ear infection. Erin Joy has had similar symptoms. When a coughing fit at school led to her throwing up in her classroom, I figured it was time to take her to the doctor too.

They told her to smile pretty for her chest x-ray so I took a picture too:)

The doctor and I were both surprised and relieved that she does NOT have pneumonia. She had it last year after she was really sick with the Swine Flu. I am so grateful her chest x-ray showed that her lungs were as beautiful and clear as her beautiful toothless grin.

We are both taking antibiotics and we should both be up and running soon. (Actually, she'll be up and running...I'll just be up and walking...running might kill me....)


After our doctor visit, we came home to a surprise package from our cousins. Check out these cute bears:
Erin Joy quickly chose the pink one and named it either "Pinkie Pie" or "Glimmer." She can't quite decide yet.
Rachel chose the purple one and named it "Shine." I get the blue one by default, but it is my favorite so I lucked out! I named mine "YongYo" which is the name it came with. "YongYo" means "Forever Friend." Very sweet:) My bear will be my forever friend.

The girls arranged the bears on a chair and gave them headbands. The bears are watching a movie on the computer.

To Rake or Not to Rake

I remember Robert Fulghum discussing in one of his books about the science experiment with his lawn. His wife felt that an unraked lawn was not only unattractive but it wasn't good for the lawn. She also implied that an unraked lawn was a sign of laziness. He decided to make a science project out of their lawn. His wife raked half and he allowed his half to collect leaves.

I often think about Robert Fulghum and his science experiment as I mow over the leaves in my yard without raking first. I used to rake. I used to care about my lawn. I don't care so much anymore. There are too many trees. Too many big leaf maples. Too many leaves. Raking is no fun.

Last night, as I started to mow, Rachel came out and insisted on raking before I mowed. She is more of a perfectionist than I am. I really wanted to get the lawn mowed so I told her to rake one area and I would mow the rest. It will be our little experiment. Will the lawn she raked produce the best grass or will the unraked-just-mulch-the-leaves-as-you-mow lawn produce the best grass? Time will tell. I love science experiments.

Here is a close up view of the grass after being raked by Rachel and mowed by me. It certainly is nice and green. I wonder if Rachel's nicely raked lawn will produce the best grass??
Here is a picture of the part of the lawn that I mowed without raking....mowed part on the right and unmowed on the left. I think it mulches rather nicely:)
Here is a close up view of the before and after mulching and mowing job. It will be a great science experiment to see which area of grass grows the best.

I'm sure she really wanted to rake just so she could jump in the pile of leaves...

(not sure why this is underlined and can't figure out how to get rid of it...)

The sunset was beautiful so after mowing the lawn, Erin Joy and I walked to the river to enjoy it. (Rachel was too tired after all that raking. Erin Joy didn't rake. She played. She wasn't tired.)



Just because they are cute, here is a video I took the other day of the girls playing on the neighbor's trampoline.

Educator's Free Day at the Pacific Science Center

We usually end up at the Pacific Science Center once a year when they have an open house for educators and two guests. My two guests are always my daughters. We love the science center and had fun yesterday even though we didn't have much time before we had to go to Chinese art/dance/language class. We didn't have time for my favorite...the butterfly house...but we did watch a great demonstration with liquid nitrogen. Fun!

Here are pictures from our favorite bathroom for your reading enjoyment:

Seven Years Old!!!!

Erin Joy's birthday is tomorrow, but we celebrated tonight because tomorrow we will be too busy. Busy having fun, but busy nonetheless. My baby is no longer a baby. She'll always be my baby though no matter how big she grows!!I love the seven pumpkin balloons she chose for her birthday.


Present time! Rachel was close at hand...


We made ice cream in a bag...



Dinner and fun at Chuck E. Cheese's with Rachel and our neighbor friend was all Erin Joy wanted for her birthday...