My first Pumpkin

Daddy & Mommy helped me carve my first pumpkin. This is the pumpkin that I also decorated with marker last week. We decided that we should make the pumpkin with a silly/surprised face, one of my favorite faces to make.

This is my first time feeling the insides of a pumpkin...not too sure what to think

I think I would rather scoop with a spoon

I'll try my hands again...

but I still like the spoon best

Here I am scooping the insides out with Daddy's help. I'll touch..but only one seed at a time.

My silly pumpkin face

so curious all the time...what's in there?!

cheese! This is fun!

lovin' vegtable soup

Yesterday Mommy made vegetable soup for dinner. I loved it so much I ate 2 bowls! I love to "dip" crackers in my soup. I like to crumble them myself and then gobble them up! Here I am enjoying my soup:

Free Fun Friday: Pumpkin Pie Playdough

I used to enjoy making pumpkin pie playdough with my kindergartners...and I'm thrilled that Hannah is old enough to enjoy things like playing with playdough now. We had fun making pumpkin pie playdough last week when Lilah was here to play. It smells yummy, if baby eats it (which Hannah is pretty good about not doing) it's okay, and it is so much fun to play with, esp. with fall cookie cutters. Here's the recipe (of course if your kids are older, they will love helping your measure and dump the ingredients!):

Playdough

1 c. flour

1/2 c. salt

1 c. water

1 T cream of tartar

1 T oil

food coloring

Cook above ingredients over medium heat until mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan & becomes playdough consistency. Knead until cool. Keep 3 months unrefrigerated.

The above makes "regular" playdough. To make it pumpkin pie playdough add a little bit of pumpkin pie seasoning and orange food coloring.

For more free fun ideas head over to Run the Earth, Watch the Sky

Things I Love Thurday: My Birthday!

My birthday comes at a wonderful time of year! I love fall..the colors, the traditions, the food, the crisp air, the decorations, and my birthday...I love it all! Today is my actual birthday, but the celebrating began on Tuesday. My wonderful husband called me in the afternoon and said that I should be ready to go at 5:00 when he got home. He had even arranged for a place for Hannah to spend the evening, and set the time aside for us to go out to dinner. Hannah went to play with her friend Joshua and Seth & I enjoyed a lovely dinner at The Macaroni Grill. It was so sweet to see Hannah and Joshua play together...and so nice for us to get a night out!

to read more about my fun night with Joshua you can go to his blog

Today has been wonderful. We slept in this morning. Then, enjoyed coffee and conversation. Seth went into work late today so that we could have some extra time together this morning :) He gave me my birthday present which he was nervous about..but he did a great job.

I really want to get my house more organized...something that I have been thinking about a lot. I put an organizing book on my 12 books in 12 months list, but didn't have one yet...he was very thoughtful to get me this book. It looks like it will read like a magazine...which is perfect for me! I love the candle holders that he picked out himself and look forward to finding just the right spot in the house to hang them..thanks honey! :)

I was able to enjoy lunch with friends at my favorite lunch spot, Panera. I had lunch with Denise and Beth (who I just found out yesterday shares the same birthday!) we had a great time.

When Hannah and I got home, I found these beautiful flowers on the front porch from my dear friend Rachel. I LOVE fall flowers...they look so pretty on my table...what a treat!

I put dinner in the crock pot this morning, so I don't even have to think about cooking tonight. Hoping to enjoy a walk with hubby and Hannah when he gets home.

My birthday is a great time to reflect on life many, many blessings. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and sweet baby girl, a wonderful family, church family and friends. I love our home and the ministry God has placed us in. I love my heavenly Father, who is the giver of these many blessings. May He receive all the glory and honor! Thank you Lord!

For more things to love & a giveaway, head over to the diaper diaries

Works for Me Wednesday: Personalized Halloween Treat Bag

I found this idea in my Family Fun magazine (which by the way...if your a magazine lover like me...this is a great one!). I made Hannah her own personlized treat bag. I printed last years Halloween picture (is she an adorable giraffe or what?!) on iron-on transfer paper, then simply ironed it on to a plain tote. We will add pictures from each Halloween all the way

around and write the year with puffy paint. What a good way to remember each of her costumes! For more Works for Me Wednesday tips head over to We Are That Family.

zoo boo!

On Saturday evening, we went too the zoo boo with Grandma & Papa. We also got to see Joshua and his family while we were there! It started raining as we were driving there...so the beginning was a little wet...but we were dressed for the weather and did fine. Half way though, it stopped raining...which was so nice! We enjoyed seeing the carved pumpkins along the path, looking at animals, stopping at the treat stations, going through a hay maze, and seeing the show at the end! What a fun evening! Am I not the cutest butterfly you've ever seen?!

Ready for the zoo boo!

Grandma all ready for the rain

the cutest little butterfly!

best friends!

running through the hay maze with Tigger

my favorite pumpkin display

mesmerized by the show...mummy moose was my favorite!

thanks for coming to the zoo with me Grandma & Papa...I had SO much fun!!

to see more zoo boo fun, you can visit Joshua's blog here

A visit from Grandma and Papa

Friday night Grandma and Papa came for a visit. They were here for the whole weekend! It was so much fun to have a lazy Saturday morning with them. We enjoyed pumpkin scones for breakfast and just hanging around the house in our jammies. Grandma and Papa brought me another Halloween treat...I just loved my new elmo bucket!

Pumpkin Carving with the Teens

On Friday night, we had a pumpkin carving night at church with the teens. I had fun watching them carve their pumpkins. I also played with Mr. Potato head, colored, and decorated my own pumpkin. The teens got prizes for the funniest pumpkin, best overall, and most detailed. But everyone agreed that I was the cutest pumpkin of them all :)

some of the finished pumpkins

Brinna Mae

Elaina's baby sister, Brinna Mae was born last week! Mommy and I got a call from Ms. Joyce around lunch time on Wednesday that she was ready to go to the hospital. We quickly went to her house so that she could go. Elaina and I had lots of fun playing together!

The next day her Mommy and Daddy came home with sweet little Brinna Mae. She was 6 lbs. 13 oz....such a tiny little thing. We went back to their house on Thursday evening to meet Brinna. Mommy and even Daddy held her, and were remember what it was like when I was that tiny. Welcome to the world Brinna!

Elaina enjoyed lots time with her Grandma and even shared her Grandma with me. We read books and played...so much fun!

A Day with Lilah

Last week my sweet friend Lilah came over to play for the day. We had SO much fun together! Here's just some of what we did:

she shared her view master with me

we played with my cheerios book

colored (Sesame Street of course :))

we made pumpkin pie play dough (which mommy will tell you more about on Friday)

We made "egg in a bread" for lunch. Mommy said that this reminded her of a great lunch/breakfast that Nana used to make for her. But she got the great idea to make egg in a bread with a fall theme from Kristi's Free Fun Friday post. We sure had fun painting our toast!

We went on a short walk to collect leaves. Mommy just loves this picture of us!