The Resaurant Critic....

Mikey opened a play-doh restaurant in the kitchen the other day.  Emily decided she was going to be the restaurant taster, with a brittish accent.  It would be impossible to describe the whole operation and do it justice so I'll leave you with some pictures and the quotes of the afternoon....  

"Mommy if I put flowers on the table the girls will want to come to the restaurant..."



Micahel making the critic's spaghetti

"Wow, the service here is really slow, this food better be good!"



"Wow, this is good plus good!!!  So much better than the other place.. they didn't even show me to my seat!!!"



Emily's ladybug

 

This place is Awesome!!!!!!



  



Traditions...

I have to be honest when I say that the thought of raising a family scared me at first. I was, and still am, very scared to mess it up.  There are so many things that could go wrong.  But there are also so many chances to do it right.  Something we think is important is tradition.  Most families spend holidays together as part of their traditions, but I have been looking for other ways to spend special time with my family so that they look back and remember that certain things were important to us.  Going to church is obviously where we started with all of this, but pumpkins and doughnuts follows closely behind :) 

Every year sice we were officially a family, we have gone to Roger's for pumpkins and apple cider doughnuts.  Why?? I am really not sure.  It could be that I have somehow managed to get cute pictures of the kids there, or that the doughnuts are just really yummy.  Either way, we all love it!

The Best Sister Ever!

As mentioned in an earlier post, Emily had won a gift card to Toys R Us for winning a poster contest at church.  It had been sitting in the house for over a month, waiting to be spent when at least some of us in the house were healthy again(that's a whole other story).  Last week, we went.  I can only imagine how exciting it is for a kid to be able to go into a toy store and actually get what they want.  As she is with most things, Emily was calculated and serious about her shopping.  That is, until we reached the playmobil aisle.  She was so excited to be able to get some more mermaids for her collection.  We were off to look at everything else "to make sure" she got what she wanted.  We walked past the zoobles.. For those of you that don't know, they are basically a cross between a littlest pet shop animal and a bakugon.  A little transforming pet.  Actually very cute to be honest.  She grabbed 2 of those and didnt know what to do with the 7 dollars that was left.  I, being totally sarcastic, said "you could get something for your brother..."  I never anticipated what came next.  She was off to the playmobil aisle again.  "Mommy, Mikey would LOVE this one!!!"  I honestly could not believe it.  I am hard on Emily, and it appears that even if for only a breif moment it is paying off!  Not only was I so touched by her complete lack of selfishness, I could see in her eyes that she knew.  She knew 6 months ago this would have never happened.  She knew that doing this would make me very happy.  She knew, in that moment, that her brother was important.  She was so excited to get home and show him her loot, then surprise him with his.  Needless to say, he was very, very happy.  I will never forget how proud of her I was in that moment.

Proof

If there is one thing that I am serious about as a mother, it is sleep.  I'm pretty sure it is for selfish reasons, but my kids go to bed early.  Usually 7:00, at the latest 8.  People think I'm nuts, some think I'm mean.   Here is the proof that although I am pretty tough as far as bed time goes, I am not mean :)  They don't stay up late often, but when they do it is for a good reason.  There is nothing like spending a couple of hours in the backyard in the dark by the fire roasting marshmallows.  The warmth from the fire is comforting and the glow of the flames on my children's faces makes me smile.  



Helping Daddy with the fire...



 So many families run around like crazy from one thing to the next that they never just enjoy each other.  This was our time to enjoy the cool fall air, the warmth that a fire provides and of course, s'mores!!  I think it's pretty obvious who enjoyed them the most...

Nothing stops the fair...

Last weekend was the Berlin Fair.  This isn't just any fair.  This is a kids get the day off from school and buy a wristband and ride rides all day fair.  This is a eat every heart attack inducing food in sight fair.  A smell the cows, count the baby pigs listen to the roosters fair :)  Every kid in town gets excited about Berlin Fair Friday.  No school, rides, food and friends!  Then the weatherman has to ruin it all.  Or so I thought.  It was raining when we woke up and you could see the dread in their faces.  Fair in the rain.  Well, we couldn't go on Saturday or Sunday so fair in the rain it was!  Rainboots on, raincoats zipped umbrella in hand we headed out.  Dreading the worst, we went into the mud and muck and came out unscathed.  I like the fair in the rain.  There are no lines when it's raining.  There is also more interest on what's inside when its raining.  We had so much fun looking at chickens and sheep this year.  Usually we are rushing through to go stand in line for a ride.  All in all it was a great day.