First Birthday!

That's right, Gabriel will be ONE on Wednesday!

Today we had a Luau Birthday Party at Grandma Teresa's house to celebrate. I made the cake a "beach" with blue frosting for the ocean and graham crackers for the sand. Mia greeted everyone at the door with a lei and she also made a Hawaiian mixed CD from some songs on her iTunes (she is such a good helper). Gabriel got a lot of fun "big boy" toys and much needed new clothes. And he dug right into the cake!

Spaghetti

Thought I would share some pictures from dinner last Thursday.

Nine

Last Sunday Mia turned NINE! I still can't believe that I am the mother of a nine year old.

On Saturday we had a super fun "Backwards Party" at Grandma Chloe and Papa's house. The party "ended" at 1 and "started" at 4. When the guests arrived Mia greeted them with a "Goodbye I am glad you could come." The best part of the whole backwards theme, we got to eat cake FIRST. We forgot to take our camera to the party but I know there are pictures out there. I will ask around and post some later.

On Sunday we had a relaxing day at home with not much to do. (Hold on is this my birthday or Mia's?) She wanted to go to Red Lobster for dinner so she could get her favorite... crab legs. 

3 months old

Nine years old

Halloween Fun

I know this post has taken FOREVER for me to get to. Sorry for that but here it is.

This year Mia decided she didn't want to go "Trick-or-treating". I of course put up no argument and jumped at the chance to hit the high road and skip all the "in town" Halloween madness. So we decided to go have a quiet fun Halloween at Ron & Chloe's (Mia's dad's parents for those of you who might not know the Douglass family tree). She didn't miss out on candy entirely, she had no school on Halloween so we went to Grandma Kathy's school and Grandma Teresa's work and they both had treats for the kids.

Peter (Mia's dad), Mia, Gabe, Mike, and I went to Grandma and Papa's around 5. We had a LOT of fun cooking hot dogs on the fire. We also had a flashlight scavenger hunt, we had to find something for every letter of the alphabet (bonus points for halloween items). I made a super yummy brain to bring (made out of a watermelon). 

I didn't get many good pictures of the kids in there costumes. Mia was a princess and Gabriel was her knight in shining armor. But here is what I did get...

Pumpkins

A few weekends ago we made it out to finally get our pumpkins! The kids had so much fun and I got some very cute pictures. Not only did they get to ride around in a wagon but Gabriel crawled thought almost the entire patch.

Wednesday Veggies

Grandma Kathy takes part in a CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) at Adams Farm Market in Hanover. It is where people get an assortment of farm fresh foods throughout the season. You pay at the beginning of the season and the money helps with costs the farmers have. Grandma Kathy gets so much stuff that she gives more than half of it to us every week! Wednesday is our veggie day and we are always excited to see what we get. So far this year I have canned tomatoes, dilly beans, dill pickles, made 2 batches of chili, eaten about 4 whole watermelons (myself), and we have some very yummy corn in the freezer for the winter. We also get 3 pumpkins this year as part of the share and Mia is very excited to go pick them out. 

Fall Festival

On Saturday we had our very first playdate (that we could make it to) with the Mom & Tot group that I joined back in April. My friend LeeAnn is a member and she is the one that got me interested. Anyway it started at 10:30 and guess what, I didn't leave the house until almost 11:20. Gabriel had a lot of fun for the hour he lasted (cutting into nap time mom!). 

After the playdate we went to Grandma Kathy's to go to the Fall Festival in Hanover. Mike had a conference call so he stayed behind and was going to meet us. The best part was Gabriel got to take his first tractor pulled wagon ride. The festival is held at Heritage Park a plot of 82+ acres of farmland that the Hanover-Horton community raised funds to buy. The tractor pulled us around the fields of corn and soy beans, Gabriel loved every minute of it.