This was a few years ago…but today we had a gorgeous fall day to enjoy a hayride to the corn maze and pumpkin patch.  I didn’t get many pictures.   (Even so, it really did happen!) I will just have to remember the garnet and green leaves, the skeleton guarding the fence, Ollie’s enthusiasm in the maze, Emmy finding a wooly bear, Lily’s perfect pumpkin find and Sam bumping along in the hay.  Spartan apples, too…crunchy and a little tart.  
   

Pine-Richland Rams action shot:

A neighbor told me that the trampoline was the very best investment.  The kids never {ever} tire of the trampoline!  When winter comes, we will be sad…but maybe we don’t have to shut it down?  I don’t know.  Maybe we can jump through all seasons?  Hmmm.

Today’s math included taking a favorite recipe (chocolate chip cookie), halving it and doubling it.  Lily figured it out on her own.  Then she baked a batch (that seems to not have the right amount of baking soda or too much butter…).  We renamed them chocolate chip butter crisps and they are disappearing as quickly as the regular batch does!

Stinkbugs have returned.  We are finding halloween bugs about.  Orange and black one; either long and wing-y or short and spiky.  Wooly caterpillars are on the prowl.  Emmy and I found one on our walk and someone found a baby one on a stick.

Ollie doesn’t know it but we are going to celebrate turning 5 this weekend with the family.  We will be in Birdsboro for a Rock Hollow Woods Halloween and driving home on his actual day so this will be a happy surprise for him!

Art is multiplying!

Here’s our new decoration:

I ran this morning, with jingle bells on, and wasn’t bothered by any bears though I startled the deer.  The kids told me later in the day that Mr. Frank, three doors down and our neighbor who walks Sophie, the teeny tiny dog, saw the bear in his backyard last Thursday.  This is the day it was spotted crossing into our neighborhood so that makes sense.  If bears follow trails like deer, I think we are safe.  He is much closer to the highway and around a large curve in the road from us; Friday a bear was spotted 4 miles away.  No walks down to the creek for a bit…

Trying to master the knitting loom and want to just chill. Tomorrow a reflective post. 

The Halloween decor is up.  The weather inspired us to stay inside today and decorate!  With layers of clothes and socks on-brrr.

I have been getting my walk or run in as the sky is lightening in the early morning.  Each day I have to start a little bit later.  I am usually out the door by 6:45 or so.  It adds to my day in so many ways and helps me start it in a fresh, cheerful and accomplished way.  It lets me connect to the neighbors on their way to work and the kids going to school.  Yesterday I startled a pair of deer in a field.

Sunday I heard that there was a bear sighting in a nearby neighborhood.  Monday morning I walked closer to the time of light and faster, looking over my shoulder but since then I have been carefree and didn’t even remember it.  Today as I started out, Arla pulled over after taking the older guys to the bus stop and told me that there was another sighting yesterday, of a 300 lb black bear at the end of our development.  It walked across Babcock and over to the farm on the corner.

Gulp.

I got into her car and just walked back and forth from the cup-de-sac to the top of the hill.

But it got me thinking.  Bears are pretty fat and lazy this time of year (or so Pa tells us in Little House when he harvests all the honey from the honey tree).  I could probably scare it by yelling, right?  Do you think it would eat Ollie?  Emmy?  She has more meat on her bones.  Maybe I can do some bear wrestling?

So, here’s the deal.  Mom?  Can you ask Uncle Terry or Jimmy for some tips.  I know its only a few short weeks until they will hibernate but I would love to keep walking and not having to worry about being eaten.  Let me know what you find out.  I’ll be looking online for other ideas!

I’m not fortune teller so while I don’t know what the kids will grow up to do, I do know some areas where they have great interest.  

This week Ollie told me all about animals and mechanical things.  He is starting to spot his “popcorn” words and loves a good book.  He is a really speedy runner.  Sometimes he does the “Fred Flintstone” just so he gets the momentum he is after.

Lily baked 3 different things this week, and cooked applesauce for us this afternoon.  Today’s chocolate chip cookies were so good that when I asked her what the secret was, she told me.  Love, she said.  

Emmy continues to be able to do many things at once; standing up and eating, dancing and singing, picking tomatoes while being chased.  She is designing innumerable creations with watercolor paints and hot glue.