slip sliding away

Our other activity this weekend was a good friend's seventh birthday party, and he chose a really fun and unique setting: we all went ice skating at the U.S. Naval Academy hockey center! The kids were so excited to go.  Of course once they got out on the ice,  excitement turned to stress and frustration for a while...somehow they never got the memo that ice skating is not that easy when you first learn!  There were falls, bruised knees and some tears.  It was a good lesson to learn though, and with encouragement and a little bit of "you will get back out there and try some more!" they both improved significantly and started having fun with it! By the end of the session both kids were able to skate with me holding one hand, out in the middle of the rink. And they both want to go back as soon as possible! What a fun new thing for them to learn...I have enjoyed ice skating since I was a kid, but it had been years since I'd been. I'm so glad to be able to share this with them and look forward to many skating adventures to come!

boys (and girls) and trucks

In the beautiful fall weather we've been having, it's been fun to get out to some local activities. Yesterday our local hospital hosted a "Touch a Truck" event, where they invite all sorts of trucks and heavy equipment to come and allow folks to climb in the cab, look at the truck, and even honk the horns (and yes, it got quite loud at times!).  Several fun hours were spent wandering around with the kids, hubby, the kids' Papa, and me (official family photographer). Some of our favorites were the fire trucks (especially the ladder trucks), the airport snowplow and snowblower, a cement truck, and a car transporter. We even got to see the Oriole Bird and Poe (one of the Baltimore Ravens mascots). Add in free flu shots (not fun, but necessary) for the two of us who hadn't gotten them elsewhere, and a free lunch, and it was a great day. Enough said...I know you are really here for the photos!

Airport snowplow

Kids on the State Police Dive Rescue/Recovery Boat

 We are so grateful for all the hard-working men and women who operate these great trucks and serve us and our community so well!

autumn days

Thursday last week my boy and I took a trip over to a local park and farm for some fall fun. We hiked a little, enjoyed seeing how many colors we could see, talked about what kinds of animals live in the woods, and then ran around the playground for a while. It was a gorgeous day!

equestrian fun

The Girl Scouts did a really fun outing to one of our local riding stables last weekend. Many of the girls (mine included) had done pony rides before but this was the closest these girls had been to horses that weren't merely plodding along in an endless circle. The farm did a great job of teaching the girls about grooming the horses, a little bit about their tack, and giving them each a great experience on a horse. My girlie was enthralled and I don't think the smile left her face the whole time she was on her horse. Do I see riding lessons in her future? Perhaps I do.

pumpkin patch fun

(subtitled: the field-trip I missed)

Last week the preschool took their annual field trip to the "farm": a combination petting-zoo, hayride, pumpkin patch kind of place. And for once they had gorgeous fall weather. It was a great trip and my little guy had a fun time. Or so I heard. Grandma actually got to take him on this one, as our work schedules meant that the field trip fell on a "Grandma Day". So these pictures are actually hers, but it looked like so much fun I wanted to share them here.

Happy Fall, everyone!

ennui

Wow...it's been a while. I have started writing a blog post several times and each time decided it wasn't really what I wanted to say. I even was pondering stopping this blogging thing...wrote that post, and then immediately had regrets and deleted it! So here goes:

First, nothing is wrong. I haven't stopped writing for any major reason other than ennui.

Ennui: noun a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom.

I want to keep blogging. Its a great way for me to remember things our family does and the crafts and baking that I do. I love to share those things with family and friends and blog readers from near and far.  But I also want to go a bit deeper with you, my readers. The reality is that I'm a little bored with reporting the same kinds of events and activities over and over.

The other part of this is that there is so much of me and what goes on in my life that has NO tangible product, nothing I can neatly photograph and post. As an introverted, introspective person, so much happens inside my head that I feel like there is a whole other level of my life that you see nothing of, at all. And I want to change that. I am a thinker, and a Christian, and I am constantly learning and struggling and striving in my daily life to reflect that. I'm still trying to figure out if there is a place for those ponderings here on Live.Read.Create.Thrive! or if I would be better served to put those ponderings on another page.As I continue to process that, I'll keep you posted! :)

So that's what's going on. In the meantime, there are some posts that should be upcoming: one with photos of the preschool field trip that I didn't get to go on (because of work) but that my little buddy's wonderful Grandma did get to enjoy with him. I just have to hijack the photos from her!  The other one is that my girlie and her scout troop are taking a horseback riding lesson Saturday. Which will probably result in 16 horse-crazy second and third graders! Should be good fun as long as the weather holds out. My sewing machine has been calling me, and I've been knitting like crazy for a sweet little girl who arrived yesterday, a full 5 weeks early! There is still plenty of life to blog about around here, and so I shall.

this week

This week we have been settling into school routines, waiting for after-school activities to start up, closing the pool for the season, and fitting in some fun in between these things. I haven't made time in the schedule yet for much sewing or creating; there has been a much needed cleaning up of my craft area first, and I've been working on a home cookbook project which I hope to show you soon. But here are the highlights of our week:

Meeting our sweet cousin! My brother and his family just relocated back to the states after several years in Italy with the U.S. Navy. And the newest addition was born in Italy just last month! So we were delighted to have them here in the area this week, and to get to see this beautiful little girl and her two "big" brothers (who are almost-2 and almost-4 respectively).  The kids were so good with her, and I was amazed how happy my daughter was to just sit and hold her sleeping cousin. She is SO happy to finally have a girl cousin!  My little guy was sweet too, but at 4 1/2, he could only manage about 30 seconds before we heard "she's too heavy!"

 This was my summer knitting, a sweet sweater for my sweet niece! It was a fun pattern with the "pebble yoke" design; an easy knit and good for long car trips (to and from the lake, and such!). I finished sewing the buttons on as we drove up the road to my parents to meet the sweet girl on Sunday. (Ravelry notes for my knitting friends).

On his days off from Preschool, my little guy and I have also been having some adventures just the two of us. Last week one day we went to the beach at the local park to pick up "treasures" like sea-glass and smoothed broken pieces of brick. The beach is just a little ways south of the City of Baltimore and there are always lots of good things washing up.

We also "adventured" today back to our favorite pick-your-own farm, for more apples, since last month's supply had been consumed. And since they were having a sale ($0.50/lb for over 40# of apples--can't beat that!) we picked and picked. Until we had about 60 pounds! I always make lots of applesauce in the fall, and I'm thinking about canning other apple goodness this fall too...pie filling? baked apples? hmm. The options are endless. Here are the cats examining our bounty:

More adventuring to come, as always! I haven't been as present on this blog recently, but hope to get back to it more in the coming weeks and months. Holiday crafting is coming up!!!