A Day at Bonnybrook Farm

Saturday was an a beautiful Fall day and the family, along with Grandma T., traveled to Bonnybrook Farm after Taylor's last regular season soccer game (Taylor's Blue Jets team finished undefeated and qualified for the district tourney. More on that later.) Last year, our trip to a different pumpkin patch was a little, uh, crappy. It was raining on and off, about 40 degrees and Michael was not feeling it. This year was perfect!

We love Bonnybrook Farms!

Don't we look happy?

Grandma's turn. She totally spoiled the kids, of course. She paid for them to do all of the activities and got sweet-talked into buying them stuffed animals about five minutes into being there. She rocks.

The place is impressive. It's so big that you aren't tripping over other people and there's plenty to keep the kids entertained. A lot of the activities are free or cost very little. (Easy for me to say since G-ma was footing the bill.)

I was disappointed that the penny pony was for 12 and under. I'm sure the staff has some good stories as to why that rule had to be added...

Mommy, I want a pony.

Tub fishing. Don't drink the water.

Both kids love to do crafts and artwork. I finally had to tell them that enough was enough with the pumpkin painting. We would have been there for hours.

Artist at work.


This is like three pictures of Mike and I together in about a month. Gasp!

Like I mentioned, there are tons of fun things to do there, but my favorite was probably the mountain slide. It was a 25-foot corrugated tunnel slide that went through a big hill. Somehow, I managed to talk my mom into doing it. The woman has had a hip and knee replaced in the last 10 years, but took me up on the challenge. She almost went down backwards! Her foot caught as she was getting into the tunnel and she spun around. Luckily, I was able to grab her in time, haha!

I love this picture. Look how big the hill is - it's quite a hike to the top of the tunnel! I did not enhance the color either. It was a gorgeous day.

I took a picture of everyone on the slide, but HAVE to post this one. Mad props to you, Mother.


You shoot out at the bottom.

Some more pictures:

Mother, on the long and winding road. Or, maybe that 's the road not taken...

Two sights I'd better never see again:





The petting area was really cool. You could get right up close and pet the donkeys, goats, sheep, horses and chickens. Well, maybe not the chickens. They're kind of pecky.

Black(ish) sheep, black(ish) sheep, what do you see? Michael's favorite part of his favorite book, so he had to have a picture.


A horse is a horse (of course, of course).


A few more random cute pictures:


Be still my heart, they are sharing.

We ended our day with the customary hayride. Now it was pushing 3 p.m. at this point and the Pear had endured a full soccer game, a long car ride and three hours at the farm. He was definitely getting a little nasty when we boarded, (Quote from one older woman sitting across from us, "Oh, I've never seen a child that young make such a mean face." Nice.) He settled in once we got going and had a blast.

Mike and I are cut off and Taylor is totally fake smiling, but this still beats the other picture my mom took because in it, Michael is making the aforementioned "face."

He was trying to make "the face" here too, but I tickled him right before my mom snapped the picture.


That's better!

My sunny girl.

I actually took way more pictures, but I don't have the patience to put them all on here. We'll definitely be going back next year. Fun times!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Fall is Here

I love Summer. When I was growing up, I hated Fall because I knew what was next. I'm a pretty optimistic person, but I've never been able to embrace Winter. As I've gotten older, I have grown to appreciate Fall. We've had a really hot September, but it's finally cooling off and it's nice!


Cozy in warm, fuzzy sweats.

Michael too.

My niece Abby's birthday was a few weeks ago, but we finally all got together and celebrated on Sunday. Can't believe that little cutie is 4 now!

Abby and her princess cake.

Taylor and cousin Haley.

Yum, cake!

My brother and I. Love to the Mole!

With soccer games and work, Tuesdays are my craziest day. Gotta go prepare!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Spirit Week, Oktoberfest & Lifelong Friends

Still as busy as ever around here!

This past weekend, we went to our church's Oktoberfest after Mass. We met up with our old neighbors (sad that they are now "old" neighbors) and had a really good time! The kids loved the little train and inflatables and I enjoyed a few cups of really cold brews. Ahhhhh.

The kids in front of one of the cool downtown murals.


These days, two beers + camera = self portrait.


The Pear had so much fun in this little train ride!


Don't let the snarl fool you! That's one of his signature looks. Oh brother.


Taylor was totally fearless on the big slides.


I was impressed that Michael is just 2 and could climb this huge rock wall!

A funny sequence:

Michael at the top of the big slide...


...oops! He flipped sideways and log rolled the rest of the way down! He was not fazed.


This little train was definitely the hit of the night. Michael, Taylor and Ben.


On Monday, we got a special visit from one of my dearest lifelong friends. Lea and I have been friends since we were toddlers hanging out at our brothers' T-ball games. She was kind enough to join the Pear and I for lunch.

Can you tell that Michael liked her? :)

Riding the elephant in the lobby of Max & Erma's.


Being a good boy, playing with his crayons and eating his packed sandwich as Lea and I caught up.

Tomorrow is Wilmington's homecoming so Taylor got to participate in her first Spirit Week. Monday was hat day (pink Steelers hat), Tuesday was jersey day (she had a game that night and wore her Blue Jets jersey), Wednesday was crazy day, Thursday was alien day and tomorrow is orange and black day. She totally ate it all up!

Crazy Day:




Alien Day (she actually wore different bottoms, not these Daisy Dukes, haha):




And two shots of Michael being adorable.


Until next time,

Mommy Kel

Wild Kingdom

My favorite show growing up was Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. I couldn't wait for Sunday nights so I could watch Marlin Perkins talk about some cool animal while his field correspondent, Jim, wrestled/shielded himself from/ran from said animal. I've always been an animal fan and I think those critters know it because we always have some animal making its way into our yard. In the last year or so, we've had a turtle, kitten, rabbits o' plenty, a deer and now a cute little frog make their way up our driveway.

We had just finished taking Champ for a walk when i spotted the little guy. The kids screamed for me to pick it up, and since I'm a tomboy like that, I obliged. He was sooooo cute!

He looks like a little Jabba the Hut.

I had to be creative when taking this picture. Taylor wouldn't get within five feet of it!! Michael would have gladly held him, but I figured we'd end up with squished frog.

Taylor posing a safe distance from the frog.

Here are a few more pictures from the week:

They love their Champy (me too!). He didn't feel well this week and I took him to the vet. He's on steroids now and seems to be feeling better.

The Pear also woke up feeling yucky one night, so he got to spend some quality time with Mom and Dad.
The Pear wasn't down long. He was back to his silly self the next morning.

Until next time,

Mommy Kel

What We've Been Up To

You know when I title a post as such that I've been a bad blogger lately. I went from stellar August blogger to MIA. We've been busy!

Taylor is fully buying into the whole full-day kindergarten thing. Every single day, I ask her how school was, and every single day, her reply is an enthusiastic, "GREAT!" Her teacher emailed me the other day to tell me how she is a great role model and student.


The Worm on picture day.



She still loves arts and crafts!


She's also spending about six hours a week with soccer. She practices about two hours twice a week and then has games every Tuesday night. Like I mentioned before, she's the youngest on her team (and I'd guess in the league), but she's a tough little nut. At her age level, they set up with three forwards up front, one midfielder, two fullbacks and a goalie. Her coaches play her almost exclusively at midfielder because she'll work her butt off to get the ball no matter where it is! She's absolutely spent after games because as midfielder, she's responsible for covering front, back and the entire width of the field. She loves every minute of it!

Now that Taylor is in school full-time, the Pear and I get lots of quality Mommy/son time. We are both loving it! We almost always hit the park right after dropping Taylor off, play lots of shootball (basketball) in the basement, play board games, color, read and pretty much whatever he wants. He gets bossed around by Tay Tay a lot, so I pretty much let him call the shots when it's just us. He's a good boy, too. He's making great progress with potty training, "helps" me clean and is really a sweety most of the time. He's smart as a whip, knows lots of numbers, letters and all of his colors. His memory is as impressive as his sister's.


Is there any wonder that he has me completely wrapped?


The Pear helping me water my tomato plants. I don't think it's rained since way before the last time I blogged and we KNOW how long that's been. My poor, poor lawn.

Mike is enjoying his new eighth grade math classes. He's already holding open gyms for his players and says that though they will be very young, this season should be an exciting one. Of course, Mike is thrilled that the NFL season has started. As a Steelers season ticket holder, he's already been to one Pittsburgh win.


Mike with some of his best buds (and, no surprise, they are all Steelers fans). Mike, Erik, Lloyd and Jason.

I'm been running around like crazy, but loving life. I never realized how exhausting school is for parents! Lunches, homework, outfits, fundraisers, class parties - there's always something going on. I just celebrated my 5-year anniversary at School Outfitters. It really is a great place to work. Lots of smart, GOOD people who really care about each and every employee. The biweekly chair massages don't hurt, either. :) In addition to work and kids' activities, I've been trying to keep up with my workouts and other stuff like harvesting my insane tomato plants. I bought two tiny tomato plants for a total of $4 back in May. They are HUGE! I've been getting yummy tomatoes off them almost daily for the last month. I probably have 100 green ones on the vines right now!

Look at the size of my two tomato plants!

Yes, I'm still taking pictures of myself. See, I'm still alive.

Here are a few more pictures of the kids, taken this past weekend. We have a lot of fun together!

Until next time,

Mommy Kel