Pumpkin Patch

Our family had a great time at the Embry's Pumpkin Patch last weekend.  We love this farm and their country store is awesome!  They make the best homemade pies, in fact so good that I ordered a blueberry pie for Thanksgiving.  I love blueberry pie, almost as much as apple :) 

We have been keeping busy with school, work and soccer.  Kailey and Natalie are keeping their grades up and we are very proud of their work ethic with assignments.  I remember homework and how tough it can be, especially after a long day at school.  We keep them in a routine and I think that helps. 

I'm taking a Mommy's Retreat in a few weeks to Ithaca, New York.  Yep, I'm invading the Perry household :)  Look out!  I look forward to spending some time with Alysia, Christian and Sienna.  I'm hoping that the fall colors will still be hanging around up there, but Alysia said the leaves are falling fast so we'll see.  It was so beautiful in the summer and I can't wait to see the fall in Ithaca. 

Tom surprised me with tickets to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular next month for a date night!!!!  Woo hoo!!!!  We are going to stay with his Aunt and Uncle who live about thirty minutes from the city, and they are watching the girls for us.  We were able to get the tickets half off due to the show being on Sunday morning.  Tom did a lot of research and it paid off.  Yea Tom!

Well, time to go swap the laundry around.  I can't wait to snuggle into my clean sheets.  I love the smell of clean laundry ;)

A Fun Recipe

The recipe below is one of our family's favorite cookies!  Tom is a huge fan and tends to ask for them when he has a craving for something sweet :)  Kailey and Natalie love to help me decorate the cookies with the sprinkles, or confetti, as we call them!  This recipe has been passed down to me from my Mom, although I'm not sure where she adapted it from.  I remember making this cookie when I was learning how to bake.  The first cookie I remember making with my Mom were snickerdoodles, which are my absolute favorite to this day!  After Tom and I were married, my Mom gave me one of the best wedding gifts; a recipe box with family recipes, including this one.  I'm thankful that I'm able to pass down my love of baking and cooking to our children. 

My Mom and I decided to start working on a cookbook of our family recipes.  My Dad's side of the family put one together for our family reunion a few years ago, so now it's my Mom's turn.  We are working on a title, but I think it's going to be "Passing It Down Recipes." 

Enjoy the cookie recipe and be sure to pour yourself a cold glass of milk! 


Chocolate Confetti Cookies

2 eggs at room temperature
2/3 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp. cocoa
1 cup mini chocolate chips (this ingredient is optional; I added this and the sprinkles to my Mom's original recipe)
fun sprinkles of your choice

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  In a standing mixer beat eggs.  Add vanilla, oil, sugar, and beat until combined. 

In a separate bowl, add flour, salt, soda, and cocoa.  Mix together.  Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture, and blend until a thick dough forms.  Stir in mini chocolate chips.

Using a medium cookie scoop, place rounded cookie dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Sprinkle the "confetti" on top of each cookie and bake for 8-11 minutes. 

Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes before devouring these heavenly and scrumptious cookies! 

Fall

Fall is one of our family's favorite seasons!  Kailey is a huge fan of fall due to her October birthday and pumpkins.  She has been a fan of pumpkins since she was a toddler.  I'll never forget when we took her and Natalie to their first pumpkin patch.  Although, at that time Kailey had trouble saying "pumpkin patch", so it came out as "punt da patch."  Ah, memories :)  Tom and I decided to put our time to good use the other day and explore the Christmas Tree Shop in Brick.  It's a wonderful store that is reasonably priced, and huge!  You can find anything from home decorations, candles, picture frames, furniture, and even food!  We love this store, but at the same time I'm thankful it's thirty minutes from our house so we aren't tempted to go there and spend money all the time :)  The store rotates their inventory frequently so every time we go there is always something new.  This week, we purchased some fall decorations, which are posted below.  Like I said, we love fall and love to decorate the house.  As I sit here looking at all the different pumpkins we have in the house, I think that when Kailey and Natalie leave the nest (which is a looooooooooong time from now thankfully) we need to send them with a care package of decorative pumpkins for their home!

Soccer is also in full swing.  We have games every weekend and practices three nights a week.  Two of the practices the team works with a trainer.  I've been told that most of the soccer teams these days hire a trainer.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  One, we pay a fee up front at registration for both kids, and the trainer is extra.  They split the fee up with all the players on the team, but we have two so it's double for us.  The parents don't have a say so in the hiring of a trainer.  Two, it's an extra night of practice for them and with school it is slowly becoming too much.  Kailey and Natalie love soccer and are having a great time.  So for now, we will enjoy it and do the best we can. 

I'm hunting for a good pumpkin bread recipe.  I've never made pumpkin bread so I want to pick a good one.  Of course, I won't know if it's superb until I taste it, but sometimes you tell how good a recipe will be from the ingredients.  I've always made blueberry bread and my family loves it.  Hopefully they will feel the same about pumpkin bread. 

I'm off to finish laundry and search for a recipe.  I'm hoping for some cool fall weather to go along with my baking and decorating.  Lately it's been humid and hot again :(  Enjoy the pictures!

 

I highly recommend this book!  I love how each page includes Bible verses to go along with the story. 

 

Some of our fall decorations from The Christmas Tree Shop. 

 

Gotta love the monogram pumpkin!

 

Kailey and Natalie warming up for their soccer game last weekend.

 

 

Another purchase from The Christmas Tree Shop.  Yankee Candle's can be pricey, but at this store they were so much cheaper.  This by far is my favorite fall scent :) 

 

I just had to include past pumpkin patch photo's!  Kailey was two in this picture and had so much fun picking out her pumpkin.

 

I'm not quite sure what Kailey is thinking about here :)  This was the last pumpkin patch in England before we moved back to the US.

 

I loved this picture of Kailey so much that I framed it. 

 

Kailey and Natalie love to paint the pumpkins as well!

Back to School

 

School has officially started for the 2013-2014 school year!  Kailey is a mighty fourth grader and has a big job this year....safety for the third grade hall!  She has to wear a yellow safety belt and loves her job!  She takes it very seriously :)  Natalie is in the third grade this year and hoped and prayed that her friend, Summer, would be in her class.  She came home from school so happy because Summer is in her class!  Both kids love their teachers and we are praying that this year will be filled with memories and joy for them.  We began a new sport back in August; soccer.  Kailey and Natalie love soccer and they are doing really well.  They won their game yesterday, which was a recreation game.  They didn't win the competitive game today, but as a team they played very well.  We will have busy weekends until November, but both Tom and I love being soccer parents and watching our kids learn something new and have fun doing it! 

Tom is busy at work and hoping to finish his degree soon.  I know he's ready to be finished!  I have begun my crossing guard job again and although the first day of school was hairy, I enjoy it.  Tomorrow is going to be a rough day at the gym for me.  I have been sickly with allergies and some kind of stomach bug lately, so I only worked out twice last week.  I'm not looking forward to tomorrow's workout, but I will get through it. 

I've decorated the house with our fall decorations, and we are looking forward to the cooler weather and leaves changing colors.  Some leaves have already begun to change and fall on our deck.  Hopefully the storms will stay away this year! 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

New England Vacation 2013

We spent a week exploring the beautiful New England part of our country.  We began in Boston, then Lexington and Concord, and finally Ithaca New York to visit friends.  We enjoyed hiking, waterfalls, history of our nation, and I ate lentils and hummus for the first time courtesy of Alysia!  Some of the pictures are out of order.

 

Tom and I getting ready for our last day in Boston. 

 

Kailey and Natalie at Boston Harbor.

 

View of Boston from the harbor.

 

Another view of the park near the harbor.

 

Tom and Natalie on the trolley.  Best way to see Boston!

 

Kailey and I waiting for the trolley to leave.

 

I just love Natalie's face in this picture!

 

Kailey studying the map.

 

Paul Revere's house

 

Kailey and Natalie in front of a bell that Paul Revere made.

 

Cobblestone street in front of Paul Revere's house.  Very uncomfortable to walk through!

 

Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge is part of The Big Dig project in Boston, and is one of the widest cable-stayed bridges in the world.  When the Celtics play, it turns green and when the Bruins play it turns gold. 

 

We were in Boston for the Stanley Cup finals.  We even drove by the Ritz Carlton where the other team was staying, and we got to see the team leaving for the final game. 

 

Statue of Bobby Hall.  I believe the tour guide said they chose to create the statue with this pose because he actually tripped after scoring the winning goal. 

 

Lunch at Cheers

 

Chugging the water because it was HOT! 

 

Sign marking the spot where Paul Revere began his ride in 1775.

 

 

 

The food was excellent at Cheers!

 

Statue of Samuel Adams.

 

Faneuil Hall or "Cradle of Liberty:  Samuel Adams organized meetings here about independence from England. 

 

Site of the Boston Massacre

 

Kailey, Natalie and I standing on the site of the Boston Massacre

 

View of Boston from the Boston Common

 

Kailey at Frog Pond

 

 

In front of the Granary Burial Ground

 

Marker for John Hancock's grave

 

 

 

Throwing pennies on Paul Revere's tomb

 

Grave for Benjamin Franklin's parents

 

The statue on the left represents Irish immigrants during the potato famine in Ireland.  The second statue to the right represents the same immigrants after they came to America for a new life.  I thought it was neat.

 

Bunker Hill Monument

 

USS Constitution

 

Dry dock

 

The museum was a great place for kids.  Loads of history and activities for kids to help them understand the history of our nation. 

 

They had an arts and crafts table set up for the kids to make hats. 

 

Kailey loved the hammock!

 

Waiting for our trolley to pick us up.  We were very hot and tired!

 

The next few pictures are in Lexington and Concord.  The militia won the battle that took place at the Old North Bridge. 

 

I truly was happy that there are graves marked for British soldiers.  A lot of British soldiers ended up staying in America and starting new lives after the war.  There were many stories of kind, British soldiers who were just doing what their country told them to do.  In the end, all the soldiers lives were important.  At least in my opinion.

 

 

 

 

Statue of a minute man in Lexington on the Battle Green

 

The house where Paul Revere and William Dawes arrived after their ride from Boston

 

The Battle Green

 

The battle here began on April 19th, 1775; Tom's birthday :)  Actually, the year Tom was born marks the Bicentennial.

 

 

This stone marks the line where the minute men stood on April 19th, 1775.  It's not known who fired the first shot but someone did and the fighting began. 

 

Site of the Old Belfry Tower.  The bell that hung here was rung on the morning of April 19, 1775 to alarm the town of Lexington that the British soldiers were coming.  One of the houses we visited had part of the bell on display, as well as muskets, a drum, clothing, and other historical artifacts that were fascinating. 

 

 

 

 

The men who died during the Battle of Lexington on the Battle Green are buried here

 

 

Concord Museum: Ralph Waldo Emerson's study

 

Old school slate

 

 

One of the lanterns that hung in the Old North Church in Boston during the Revolutionary War

 

Ribbons to celebrate the Centennial birthday of our nation

 

I love teapots, and I would love to have one of these in my collection.  Sadly, not for sale :(

 

 

I highly recommend the Concord Museum.  It's filled with so many historical artifacts that you will literally get lost in time!  We loved it! 

                                                                          

         Kailey and Natalie pausing for a break during our hike through Buttermilk Falls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kailey and Natalie had fun helping Alysia bake some yummy treats!

           

                                                             Tom in vacation mode :)

 

 Ithaca Falls, another beautiful place to visit!

 

 

 

Kailey helping out with the arugula that came straight from the Perry's garden!

 

 

The Perry family; amazing friends!

 

Kailey in front of the New England Aquarium

 

 

There are many exhibits to see at the New England Aquarium, however, you could spend a good hour just watching the sea life in the huge aquarium that is in the center of the building.  We saw a huge turtle, sting rays, a variety of fish in different shapes and colors, and a scuba diver here and there :)  Oh, and don't forget the sharks and one very long bright yellow eel!  You just have to go check it out!

 

Our whale watching boat

 

Leaving Boston Harbor to go whale watching...what an experience!

 

 

Kailey and Natalie holding a vertebrae from a humpback whale!

 

My favorite picture from our last trail.  What a gorgeous picture!

 

Thank you Perry family for showing us the beauty of Ithaca and welcoming us into your home!  We can't wait to come back!