Rowen and his name- the difference in a day

Rowen has been learning to write is name the last week or so. Yesterday while playng outside he was drawing with chalk when he came to tell me he wrote his name. He had, just not the right order. Though he did spell "nowhere".

And today while outside I was helping Lily stack cups when he yelled "mommy, look I wrote my name"!. This time he did and in the right order! You go Rowen!!! He is learning stuff so fast right now, it is amazing to see.

Tom's Farm stand

I took the kids for some Autumn fun at Tom's Farm stand on Wednesday. I met Celia there with her kids. They will moving to Texas too, as I've mentioned before. We figured we'd out of the house while the men were gone in TX and let them run wild. And during the week is always less crowded.

There was a giant pumpkin and train to jump in. A corn maze, hay tunnels, lots of animals, a wooden train and tractor to play on, pedal tractors, and a giant hay pile.

The boy loves tractors.

Lily had a blast running threw the hay tunnels.

Rowen was having a conversation with the goats. It was pretty funny to listen to.

Pancakes for dinner...yes please!

I was going to make the kids oatmeal for dinner tonight (which they love) and not the packaged instant kind, when I had an idea. I decided to make it into a pancake! I took the rolled oats and made them into like a flour using a food processor. I mixed it with whole wheat flour, rolled oats, flax meal and a touch of cinnamon. They were super yummy. They had a great texture and were nice and moist and fluffy.

To make them even more yummy I also added some wild organic blueberries and a little drizzle of Agave Nectar. The kids gobbles them right up. And what do you have with pancakes...beets and strawberries of course. Weird, maybe, but they love beets too. And more fruit is always good.

Apple picking here we come!

This is my favorite time of year and I will miss it when we move to Texas. I was afraid we weren't going to get to go apple picking this year with it being our last until who knows when. We were supposed to go yesterday but the weather didn't want to cooperate. It was supposed to rain today too but it ended up being the perfect day to go. It was only is the lower 50's but it was mostly sunny. I like when there is the chill in air and you have that great Autumn smell, your face and ears are cold but the sun gives you that little nice hint of warmth.

Brandon also left this evening for Texas until Friday night. And who knows if this coming weekend will be nice enough to go. Plus the crops here in the Midwest seem to end earlier than I remember from New England so I didn't want to miss it.

We went to a different place from last year. It was nice because it was a great small, quiet, and not busy little orchard about 15 minutes from us. I will also miss a Midwestern Autumn treat that most all farm stands and orchard have here, Apple Cider Donuts. So soft and SO yummy! Yeah its not good for you, or at all organic, but its once a year.

I really like this picture but the sun washed it out pretty bad.

Looking for the perfect apple.

I have no idea what Corbin is doing with his face here. He's a goof.

Lily picking her first apple.

The excitement that follows.

If only they shared like this all the time.

And no, I'm not a spokes person for GAP. There is an outlet 5 miles from us and what can I say, cheap fleeces please me. Brandon hates clothing that displays the name, as do I really, but cheap is always good.

Touch-a-Truck

We took the kids to an event called Touch a truck where they are able to climb and explore all kinds of Construction, SWAT, Police, Public safety equipment, and a helicopter. Best of all it was free! Luckily, because we didn't stay more than 20 minutes or so because most every time a kid honked the horn they got upset. Our kids do not like loud noises. I blame Brandon ;)

Where did Septemeber go???

September some how flew by for me. We didn't do all that much but I managed to not get many blog posts done. It was a bit hectic since Brandon took his first trip for the new company, Twisted Pixel, that he works for. He went to Seattle on the 3rd of Sept. for five days to work at the PAX Convention (a gaming convention). Twisted Pixel had a booth there to showcase the games they make.

I talked to Brandon the day before he came home and he sounded like he was getting sick. The day we had to get him from the airport Rowen woke up with a cold. Brandon continued to get worse over the next 24hrs while in Seattle. When we picked him up at the airport he had a fever, a cough and did not look good. We didn't let him hug or kiss the kids because we didn't want them getting what he had. During the middle of the night Brandon got even worse, a high fever, chills, bad cough, and super fidgety. He ended up getting the H1N1 (swine) flu! So for the next 6 days he remained up stairs away from everyone so we wouldn't get it. It was hard on the kids because they didn't understand why even though Daddy came home they couldn't see him.

And of course you can't have one kid get a cold and the others not, so 2 days after Rowen started his cold, Corbin and Lily started theirs. We were a house full of sickness. I'm not sure how but I didn't get anything! I think my body knew it wasn't allowed to. Finally during the last week of September most everyone was doing better. Lily's cold lasted over 2 weeks, but she is now finally better, for the most part. She is crabby at the moment because she is getting a couple more teeth.

The weekend before Rowen started school we went to the Brookfield Zoo. They had a new exhibit called Dinosaurs Alive. It was pretty neat but much smaller than we had imagined.

They still had the butterfly exhibit that we saw last year, so we of course had to go see them again. It's really nice that they can see so many butterflies that close.

We found a playground that has a zip line.

Brandon caught a frog for the kids to look at from the foundation that has been next to us since we moved here. We find all kinds of things in it. Brandon had to keep rescuing baby bunnies from it a few months ago.

We've also been doing a lot of arts and crafts time with them.

I also turned 30 in September!!!!!!! My babies and I on my birthday (the 26th).