The Last Farmstead Trip

that's as good as it got for the beautiful fall picture-scape!
Pony time!!

me and my momma

Not bad for 6 kids, at least 4 are looking my direction!

nice cow

Bama and the little man

Cute!

Isabelle, Sophia, Me, Leo, Lisa (and baby!) and Isaac

me and my munchkins

we discovered that the goats like leaves...little do they know that those goats would probably eat any darn thing they tried to give them, but I didn't want to encourage that!

my tree hugger

We made it to Deanna Rose one last time! It was such a gorgeous day and I thought it would be swamped, but no, we had a very peaceful time and it wasn't crowded! We spent quite a while there and Sophia was able to ride the pony...finally! She begs for it every time we go and I just don't want to set the precedent that we do it every time, and well maybe I'm cheap. All the kids (Luca, Francesca, Isaac, Isabelle, Sophia and Leo) loved running around and playing together. They all enjoy each other and it's so nice to have such a good group of kids that are all around the same age. We will miss Deanna Rose until next year :( !!

Park Weather

Sophia and Isabelle seeking out the hiders

Is it a bird? A plane? No, Super Leo

our cute friend, Francesca

Jodie and Baby Adeline

Massimo and Leo being boys

The beginning of the week was so nice! It's been perfect to hit the parks, play outside and take bike rides around the block! I'm not looking forward to cooler temps! :(

Pumpkin Patch

He is such a monkey! Look at that little face of orneriness!
Pumpkins!

mom, really...clearly I'm trying to eat here.

good thing Sophia isn't afraid of a little dirt

So, okay, I need to be cynical for one minute here...pumpkin patches have become quite the scam in my opinion. I was not pleased with our recent visit, and haven't been the past year or two. Maybe it's just the patch we choose, which is a valid argument I think, I only go to this one for the cider donuts, and after this last visit I've decided that's all I'll be going there for in the future. The donuts were amazing. But, the patch sucked. Every single pumpkin in the field was rotted, but yet we had to pay $8 apiece just to walk through the gates. There was a short hay ride, which we didn't have to time to do b/c it took us so damn long to walk to the far ends of the fields just to find more rotted fruit. The only other "attraction" was this new slide that was set atop a man made hill of dirt. The slide itself was PVC or something and Leo came flying down so fast that he flew off the end and whacked his head...which could have easily been prevented by throwing some hay at the bottom! Sheesh! Anyway, we had to walk all the way back up to the front of the property, by the store, to pick out the two pumpkins, which were way overpriced, because the meltdown of all meltdowns would have happened had we chosen to leave without a pumpkin! I am looking forward to carving them though and at least we have that to look forward to!

My Birthday

Charlie took the kids to Dairy Queen to pick out my cake...yum! Sophia immediately picked out the jack-o-lantern cake and couldn't stop talking about it! She even ruined the surprise when they got home (which was a few days before my actual birthday) ! ;)

The best part about this experience though was this...at DQ, they were eating dinner when Sophia exclaimed...I know, Papi, jack-o-lanterns can be the theme for mommy's party!

Very good, Grasshopper, very good.

happily enjoying some pumpkin


Charlie even invited mom over too!

and Shelby who was getting cozy with Frank

That night Charlie and I went out to dinner at Carmen's. It was yummy! Then we went for drinks close by so I could get on of my favorite drinks, a blueberry mojito.

Then we stopped by my friend Beth's house because she was having a wine party. All in all it was a good day and I loved being able to have a nice dinner and get my husband all to myself!


and...since we're talking about me...

here is Sophia in another dress that I wore as a child. Mom had our formal portraits taken with me in this outfit and Stacy wearing a sport coat and slacks. We were way adorable! But then Stacy sat too close to the hot tub and got his jacket wet so my mom made him sling it over his shoulder for the rest of the photo shoot!

My printer is on the fritz, which means so is my scanner so I can't scan in the original for comparison, but if we get it working I will put in on the list!

here are two more "Top Model" poses!

Wonderscope

Leo loved the ball room! He also recently learned how to say golf ball, so it was even better!
bucket full of balls for Sister!

here the three girls are building with magnetic blocks

Sophia pets her sweet little kitty

and does an exam on a puppy that comes into the office

Dr. Lauren makes sure the animals stay in their kennels

Dr. Aubrey if very thorough with her patient

Leo took care of the front office scheduling and appointments

3 happy girls with full tummies!

I was lucky enough to spend my birthday morning with Jill and her girls. It was truly a treat. We decided to go to Wonderscope, the Children's Museum, and there just happened to be a concert by Dino O'Dell. Sophia and Lauren really got busy on the dance floor! All the kids enjoyed the ball room and the Vet's office, the newest exhibit. Leo really enjoyed playing on the train table as well. The farm/market was a bit busy and everyone was vying for a shopping cart of their own! After the museum we had a celebratory lunch at First Watch. Everyone was starving and I was very impressed with how much my kiddos ate...sometimes it's a struggle!

Fun Times!

Here are just a bunch of fun, random snapshots that didn't get a post of their own!

Here's Sophia modeling her new scarf from Auntie Wendy!
Leo looked like such a big boy in this outfit! Cute, cute, cute!

Zoe came in town for a few days and we were so excited to see her! Of course we hit our favorite eating spots, Winstead's and Andre's and she and I even got in a movie!

Here's a shot Soph took of me that I thought was pretty good

Our good friend, Neil, got married and here are all the rugby guys taking a shot for old times sake!

Charlie and me at the wedding!

Neil and his beautiful bride, Emilie!

here's Leo modeling his probable Halloween costume, he looks so natural! ;)

cruisin'!