The Pumps

From top left: Maddie (carved by herself), Erin, Theo (designed on own), Gabriel, and Nathan

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from our family of witches!

Nathan came to the rescue and fixed Theo's face paint. I had his ears white as well as a large circle around his eyes white and his hair normal not slicked back. He looked like some kind of freak clown!

The Greats Visit

Oh joy, oh joy! Grandpa B and Lulu trekked 3,000 miles for a visit. We were so honored and touched to have them come to see us. The trees cooperated and kept some leaves up for them, the kids were beyond excited (in fact, the first thing Gabriel asked today when he woke up was "where is Grandpa?") and we just loved to have them in our lives in person.

Even after a long day of travel, they rallied for a Nathan meal. Much better than airplane food!

I love Theo's hand on Grandpa B's shoulder, so manly!

After mass, we had a wonderful lunch at the Wayside Inn. A place the Rupps had eaten at on their last visit. It was so warm and cozy with delicious fall New England food. And the children had impeccable manners.
They have a working mill on site which was grinding flour. We took a short interesting tour and took home some freshly ground flour.
Such a nice fall day to spend with family. More adventures to come this week as we go to visit them in Rhode Island and see them again in our neck of the woods.

Our Soccer Star

Theo loves soccer. His team, The Wizards, is filled with buddies from school - Scotty, Sam, Caroline, Ian. But, Theo is the passionate player who runs up and down the field with a smile on his face. He's scored many goals and loves the attention!

We've noticed in the past few months his athletic coordination has come together and he loves to practice, from riding his two wheeler in countless circles around our driveway to playing catch with Nathan - he does it with focus and enthusiasm.

Dancing Kids

Gabriel LOVES to dance.

Gabesy and the Chickens

I've mentioned the Newton Community Farm before (we had a LOVE group out there). I really love it. It's this farm in the middle of Newton that farms organically and is just a slice of the country in our city. I didn't get the CSA this year (weekly vegetable pick up) but I was able to get a 9 week fruit share (all apples). We've had fun stopping by the farm where they have swings, toys, chickens and a bunny. It also just smells so nice and farmy (in a good way).

The first time we went to pick up our apples, Gabriel was pushing the lawn mower around and up walk the chickens. I'm thinking to myself how cool is that! Well, he completely freaks out! Screaming, shaking, can't wait to get away from those chickens. They were simply walking up toward him like a chicken does and I guess, they are just the right size and just strange enough looking to freak out a 2 year old. Anyhow, he was scooped up and we hustled out of there. The next week, we parked on the side of the road near the compost pile where guess who was a peckin and a pickin? The chickens! He peered out the car window with his big blue eyes and said "No chickens." He wanted Theo to carry him away from the chickens.

We had much progress on our last visit. While he was very excited to see the bunny (I have such a cute video of the bunny and Gabriel but I can't figure out how to get it uploaded), he wasn't as fearful about the chickens.

Gabriel asking the bunny for a "tiss."

The chickens steered clear of Gabriel until he was playing in the tire with the trucks. I waited cautiously to see how he'd react. He warily stared at the chickens and then proclaimed proudly that he played with the chickens! He even laughed when they tried to peck an apple in our bag.

Pumpkin Time

I love seeing each of my children's personalities exhibit themselves at the pumpkin patch. Maddie goes through each pumpkin multiple times before slowly (and with some "gentle" encouragement and by gentle I mean "Maddie we are checking out in five minutes you need to pick your pumpkin now!" And this is after I tell her, no, I will not spend $40 on the large pumpkin.) picking her pumpkin. Theo knows exactly the pumpkin shape he wants, does a quick check through the patch and zeros in on his pumpkin. Gabriel arrived at the patch wanting a green pumpkin and then changed his mind to a white pumpkin, choosing one that he could lift into his wagon. End result - everyone was thrilled with their choices!

My Theo

Some funny Theoisms:

Theo, "Does God make the dirt?"

Me, "Well, God has his hands in everything."

Theo, "How many hands does he have?"

Theo, "Mama, I think we need to get some of that lotion that comes in the purple bottle and helps babies sleep. It's made by Johnsons."

Me, speechless and thinking to myself, where on earth has he heard this? The shows he watches are commercial free! Turns out on "on demand" they run a small ad before the show starts! Wow! This prompted a discussion about advertising and what companies are trying to do.

Two Boys in the Bath

Such loves.

Indian Summer

I finally realized that I must start blogging again and not worry about catching up! I want to remember the sweet stories and not just back document our life. So I'll try to post our summer activities but will focus on short day to day posts as they happen.

What a wonderful day we had! It'd been so cold the past few weeks that I even broke down and put the heat on. Ugh. But, today, oh today! 75 and warm. We spent every second outside. I picked up my friend Lindsay's daughter Gemma for the morning. Poor Lindsay has pneumonia. Gemma is much loved by the Sanders' boys. In fact, Theo was none too pleased that Gabriel had her all to himself this morning. Theo has already requested a special lunch with Gemma after school one day and for Gabriel to have not played with her before lunch!

We ventured to one of my favorite parks near our house. And it's especially my favorite this time of year. Can you believe the leaves? It was glorious.

We had such fun and stumbled upon a new activity center. $5 for 1 1/2 hours of indoor play - an art project, small gym, snack, coffee for the moms, etc. We went in for a break and will have to remember it on cold winter days.

And note the in focus non-fuzzy pictures (must remove the date stamp though). Thank you hubby who realized that it was in fact the camera and not the photographer and gifted me a new birthday camera.

Our New Backyard

We are so excited to have a series or outdoor projects complete. A broken walkway and a very ugly bed in our backyard are now transformed.

This was an overgrown mess that now looks almost art like simply by thinning out the base, creating a canopy and planting some things underneath.
This back bed was weedy and lacked any sort of design. We curved out the bed, added cobblestones, many plants, a stepping stone path and voila! it's lovely.

We took out a chunk of lawn for this bed to anchor the patio. The bare spot is a hopeful vegetable bed for next year. We have a fairly shady yard though so I'm not sure if we'll be successful.

And our new walkway - which was a lot of effort in the making. Who knew there were so many options but we are quite pleased with the result and it should last for as long as we are in the house. My favorite is the large granite stone across the front - it's solid and won't budge unlike the bricks that used to continually fall off. I'll replant the beds along the walkway come spring, though I just put in 110 bulbs!

Bogging It

I finally figured out how to get photos off of my phone!

Maddie, Theo and I had a wonderful day at a cranberry bog festival. It was something else! We enjoyed the festival - playing games, sampling food, watching shows and then were able to take a bus ride through the bog to an actual operation. The cranberries against the blue of the water was glorious.


I think the kids favorite activity was the enormous sand mountain. The sand will be poured onto the cranberry plants after the bog is drained to protect them from the elements. The kids loved climbing and sliding down the sand hill.
It was a great day that we hope to share with Nathan and Gabriel next year!

Apple Time

We love our annual apple picking adventure!