Ashlyn was home from school sick. Two days in a row. I'm so happy to have those headaches and stomach bugs out of her! Praise the Lord she was able to go back to school on Friday!!!
With pumpkin season being full tilt right now, I made these pumpkin muffins from a recipe I found on Pinterest. They are great!
I also cooked some more pumpkin for the freezer.
Concord grapes are in season right now too! On Wednesday, I went to mom's and we juiced and canned lots of fresh purple juice!!! The kids love these grapes and the juice it gives us!
The tomatoes from my garden got cooked and juiced too! Now we have fresh tomato juice for upcoming soups!
And because we were at mom's house, Austin got to sit on a skid loader and go for a golf cart ride!!!
Even though we got rain this week, it didn't stop us from going to the parade. There are moments, somethings much more often than I'd like to admit, when I wonder if we are crazy! But who can give up the parade??? On the way over to New Holland, I asked Mike if we are in this thing together? I mean we have a little man that doesn't like to hold still for a minute. We have two older children that were so excited about collecting candy! We have a teenager that couldn't wait to hang out with her friends at the fair! But, but it was raining! He looked at me and boldly said that if things get sour, it is clear that this was all my idea!!! (Yikes!) I was ready for it!
We got to the parade early enough to pull the Yukon right up to the side of the street! We backed in and opened the tailgate!!! How perfect!!! Mike and I sat in the back with Austin while Matthew and Ashlyn collected candy that got thrown out on the street. Hadassah was happy to be with her friends and riding some fair rides! The whole night actually went well!!! It was drizzling a little here and there but we still got to watch those wind pipe guys go by, the football teams with the cheerleaders, the bands banging on their drums, the trucks and cars go by blowing their horns! The only thing we didn't get to enjoy this year was a warm waffle and ice cream sandwich! It was just too wet to do extra walking. Which by the way, Mike decided to wear his shoes that have slits on the bottom. So, the minute he did start walking around, his feet got wet! I ended up taking off my socks and letting him wear them! And we were so happy to have Gerald and Verna join our little tailgating party!!! We drove home with happy kids, bags full of candy and another memory at the parade!
And here we are!!!
Again, because of the rainy conditions, Matthew's soccer got canceled but Hadassah's volleyball kept right on going. We all went to watch her play against Octorara yesterday afternoon. It was a full two hours of playing volleyball. Great practise times! We then spent the evening right here at home! All sitting around the dining room table eating pizza and wings. I had to stop and think that it won't be that much longer before Hadassah will be driving and out with her friends more often. We asked her that if she had her license would she be home? Matthew keeps making these funny remarks like, "She isn't ever going to be home then!" That's why I paused and took in the moment! I know that she will be home even after the drivers license comes but not as much. Enjoying the weekends as a family and having all the children still home with us a lot is special! We all snuggled on the couch and watched a movie!
Hadassah doing what she loves best .... playing volleyball!!!
Have a great weekend and stay dry and warm!!!
