Day One Hundred and Thirteen

Here are the boys making lemonade for a Roots and Shoots fundraiser.  They seemed to be having fun cutting and squeezing the lemons.

Day One Hundred and Twelve

Apple Crisp!

Last night Sean helped me make apple crisp and tonight Jack helped me make another one.  (We're still working our way through all those apples I bought last week!)  I remember making apple crisp with my mom, and it being a special fall activity.  I am thrilled to share that experience with my boys, especially since they rarely join me in the kitchen.

Day One Hundred and Eleven

Pictures from my dad's life

I'm throwing a birthday party for my dad this weekend , since he turns 70 next month.  This feels pretty special to me because for a long time I wouldn't have even considered doing something like this for him.  I spent a lot of time in my 20's being pretty angry at him.  It feels so good to be free of that anger and now at a place where I want to celebrate his life with him.  For the party I made this poster with some of his old pictures.  It's been neat to think of him as a little boy, just like my sons. 

Day One Hundred and Ten

Rainy day

The rain and cool temperatures are such a relief around here.

Day One Hundred and Nine

Munchkin name ideas

These are names that we have considered naming the baby.  Chris and I couldn't agree on any of them, so I don't think we'll use any of them, although Jack liked a lot of them.  I wonder what his name will be!

Day One Hundred and Eight

Chris's lunch, that he prepared and shared with me.  Aesthetically pleasing and yummy!

Day One Hundred and Seven

The boys spent the night with their friends Alex and Eric, so Chris and I had an evening together.  At first we just sat and talked, enjoying the breeze move in and the evening light fill the room.  I liked how this corner of the room looked. 

Day One Hundred and Six

Fall Geese

There were gaggles of geese gently swimming upstream as we sat at Wildwood Park.  There were also lots of leaves falling around us.  If it hadn't been over 90 degrees it would have felt very fall-like.

Day One Hundred and Five

Apples!

I got 2 bushels of local apples for just $20 today.  It was a great deal, but now I'm not sure what to do with all of them!  I was able to get most of them into one of the 2 refrigerators, but not all of them would fit.  I do plan to make apple crisp and apple sauce.  I'm hoping to get to that this weekend. 

Day One Hundred and Four

Hayride at Hess Farm

It was a beautiful day at Hess Farm.  Here we are all loaded up for the hayride.  The kids also enjoyed the carousel, an haystack volleyball game, farm animals, pig races and other games.  I enjoyed sitting in the shade talking to Lynda and Gayle.

Day One Hundred and Three

Early Fall

Black cat and gourds

Day One Hundred and Two

These are big, beautiful sunflowers that Sonya brought to the shower.  Chris and I are really enjoying having them around today.

Day One Hundred and One

Baby Shower!

My friend, Sonya, threw me a baby shower at Clementines.  It was nice to go out to dinner with friends and celebrate the anticipated arrival of the munchkin. 

Above is a picture of Maren helping me open gifts.  In the picture you can see a memory box and a picture frame that everyone decorated during the shower.  There is also a journal in my hand, where people wrote thoughtful notes to me about the pregnancy and motherhood. 

Below is a picture of Sonya and me. 

Day One Hundred!

I decided to take this picture when I sat down for a few minutes in the rocking chair pictured behind me when I was unpacking.  My belly was really rockin' with kicks and hiccups.  So, I walked downstairs and back up again with the camera- no small feat at 7 months pregnant.  After taking the picture, I noticed how dirty the mirror was.  But, I decided not to tackle the stairs yet again.  So, this picture tells all. 

Day Ninety Nine

After lots of fun and play we headed back to the Shenandoah Valley.  We stopped at a rest area near Richmond for lunch.  Despite the pesky yellow jackets and crazy water fountains, we had a nice break from the ride.  

Day Ninety Eight

The cabins were just right for us- nothing fancy, no TV, and in a beautiful, secluded location.  We spent a lot of our time hanging out around the cabins, the moms talking and the kids creating and playing active games.  The 3 pictures below are one of the calmer moments when we gathered together to eat.  

Elaina and Faye

Gayle

Later in the day we went to back to the beach.  There were moon jellyfish in the water, but we discovered that they didn't sting.  Here the girls are working on a sand castle, that was designed to survive for 4 minutes.  The boys were looking for "jello for brains", which was a dead jellyfish that they had buried.    

Day Ninety Seven

The boys and I went to Virginia Beach for a few days with friends.  It was a great trip!  We stayed in cabins at First Landing State Park, so we had the best of both worlds- beach and woods.  Here is a picture of the boys' bedroom in our cabin.  Not a pretty picture, but for me it brought back good memories of going to camp and dorm life.

Day Ninety Six

The late summer view on our porch.  Here you can see the Moonflower vine and the volunteer gourds.  Everything is still very green.  That will change in just a few weeks...

Day Ninety Five

This picture was taken yesterday, but Jack has been talking about Darcy a lot today. He was sad to see her leave.  He's also been saying how much he's ready for his little brother to make his appearance. 

Day Ninety Four

Here are some pictures from Jack's first soccer game of the season.  It was a beautiful day, with a perfect breeze, and Jack's team won 5-1. 

Jodi and Zoe

Jack with Liam and Malcolm- teammates, neighbors and friends. 

We had a wonderful day, which we ended with a campfire, fireworks and glow sticks.  Here is a picture that Danny took of the boys around the fire.

Day Ninety Three

Jack recommended this be the picture of the day. 

Day Ninety Two

Gracie

She drives me crazy some of the time, but she has become a special member of our family.  Chris thinks she's the perfect dog.  I think she's a smart dog.  I enjoy taking her for walks and to the cemetery to play with her dog friend Boone.  She has really enriched all our lives. 

Day Ninety One

Another day without a picture.  If I could take a good picture of the clear blue sky I would.  The weather has shifted and it is now crisp and beautiful!  We are all enjoying it!  The boys are smelling fall in the air and talking a lot about decorating for Halloween. 

Day Ninety

I don't have a picture from this day, but I will leave a mental picture.  Sean and Jack got up before sunrise this morning to go to *mock school*, which took place in our living room with me as the bus driver, principal, and teachers.  The mental picture is of them, freshly showered, sitting quietly on the couch for the mock bus ride, which started at 7am and lasted 30 minutes. 

Day Eighty Nine

Jack got a hair cut today.  Don't these look like typical before and after pictures?

Day Eighty Eight

It bloomed!

The moonflower bloomed tonight as we were eating dinner tonight.  Chris noticed some movement and then Jack, Chris and I watched it unfold.  It went pretty quickly and was neat to watch.  It was fragrant, too.  Jack described it as smelling like soap.  Very cool!

Day Eighty Seven

My productive day.

This is not the prettiest picture, but it represents the organizing (and I guess nesting) that I did today.  The cooler weather energized me, so I tackled closets that had been taunting me all summer.  I wish I had taken a before picture of this one.  It was quite a mess!

Day Eighty Six

Moonflower vine update

The moonflower vine is getting closer to blooming.  It actually bloomed a few nights ago, but we missed it.  These buds look like they might open in the next day or so.

Day Eighty Five

Baby Squirrel!

We saw 2 baby squirrels at Wildwood park today.  They were very cute and hard for the kids to resist.  They even came down out of the tree and followed the kids around!  They were in a fairly isolated part of the park, so hopefully they made it safely back to their nest with their mom.

Day Eighty Four

Vacation Mode Continues

I surprised myself by deciding spontaneously to go see Eat, Pray, Love.  I loved the book and hadn't really wanted to see the movie.  But I had the idea to go and actually followed through with it.  I surprised myself even more by getting popcorn (I just couldn't turn down a bargain- it was $1 popcorn day!).  I thoroughly enjoyed myself- sitting in the cool movie theater, alternating between salty popcorn and sweet dark chocolate, and following Elizabeth Gilbert on her inward and outward journeys. 

Day Eighty Three

Home Vacation Morning

This day Chris, Jack and I walked downtown to the local bakery.  For years I said it would be so wonderful to have a bakery downtown.  And now we have for several years.  I don't go very often, but enjoy it when I do.  We had a nice morning drinking coffee and trying out some of the bakery's goodies.  Chris took this picture around when I was starting to feel relaxed and getting into vacation mode.

Day Eighty Two

Moth collecting

I missed this, but heard a lot about it.  After dark Chris hung up a sheet and shone a bright light upon it.  After an hour or so (and I had fallen asleep) the guys went out there to see what the light had attracted.  They saw all sorts of cool moths and huge katydid.  They caught some of them in this big container to get a better look.  It sounded like a lot of fun!  I was sorry I slept through it.