Grandparents' Weekend!

WAAAAYYYY back in September (8th and 9th) - Grammy and Grandpa came to visit!

It was Milburn's Grandparents' weekend AND we had not done our annual apple picking trip yet!  So off we went:

We went on a tractor ride back to the trees - Grammy and Grandpa had fun talking to Michael:

I took pictures wherever I could and also demonstrated that it is difficult to take pictures in full noon sun:

Walking with Grandpa:

Happy to be 5.5 almost 6!

Lots of apple picking happened!

Toting his wares:

Mom and her eldest:

More Apple Pickin'

More walking with Grandpa:

Afterwards, the grandparents took Michael into the play area because it was free for them and only $10 for Michael.  Versus $30 for all 3 of us.  We just bought lots of pounds (I think almost 30) of apples!

Brian and I got a very nice quick mini date eating apple cider donuts in the sun.

Then we were off to Mi Cocina in Jennersville, but I think they had a weekend chef because it was not as good as normal.  I had another friend go that same Saturday (although we didn't run into each other) and she said the same thing - that it just wasn't as good as normal.  We've been on a Friday night and been BLOWN away.

After some resting at home, we surprised Michael and Grandpa with How to Train a Dragon LIVE at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly!  It was a great show despite Toothless possibly being broken.  Michael was adorable and seriously believed they were real.  He looked at Brian and said, "See - I told ya. They are REAL."

Grammy bought him one of the dragon plush animals, which he held the whole night and slept with for a week straight.  I tell ya - I LOVE this school age.  It is so amazing.

Sunday was church and then more rest.  After that, Grammy and Grandpa were out!

Oh - worth it to mention - we played Pinochle.  After nearly 5 years of losing or never getting marriages between Brian and I as partners - we WON!  AND we smoked them one game where we went set twice (no meld and stuck with the bid) AND I didn't bid a hand I was supposed to.  AND we STILL won.

I also got a double run.  THAT was fun.  :)

Bet you don't believe I blogged this!!  I am tired of not being caught up!
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Editing my own images today...

Love my six year old little boy who is turning into a fun-loving and inquisitive little person.  

So thankful to be able to capture his spirit!

Target and Middle Names

Check it.

Found this sign in Target - Michael's middle name:

For the record, I wanted Minh to be his middle name - so he could have something Asian about him.

Unfortunately, Brian won out.  And I'm thinking I'll never see a sign for "Minh" at Target.
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Pumpkins, Pumpkins and MORE Pumpkins!

Last Saturday, we planned to go to the Amish farm to pick out pumpkins because it is cheaper than Milburns.

However, we got lost and ended up at Swallow Hill Farm, who had AMAZING pumpkin prices!  

Here was our loot - all for $20.  That's IT!

Michael was particularly impressed, as was fat animal squirrel:

Sorry for the absolutely grainy picture.  Kim Kropka pointed out to me that my ISO was at 800.  OUCH on a 6 year old camera.

Michael LOVED this "cinderella" pumpkin that was only $10:

More Pumpkin Proof:

One thing I love about Brian is he is super spontaneous and loves to stop at things off the road.  We saw the sign fly by, Brian slammed on his breaks, we stopped in, and were pleasantly surprised!  The farm didn't even have the name of the farm on the sign, just what they were selling.  I don't even think pumpkins were on the sign.  We stopped because it said peppers and squash!  :)

So that was a fun adventure for us before Brian left for Paris.

Birthday 2012 - 6 Years Old!

Michael turned a whoppin' SIX YEARS OLD TODAY!  I decided to dedicate on ode to Brian with our French happy birthday sign:

I should have taken a picture of the Happy Birthday Chair cover!  Michael is lovin' all that stuff that makes a big deal about his day.  He sat in that chair for every meal.  He received a sticker from school that said, "It's my birthday today!" and he wore it on EVERYTHING.  Even when he changed clothes, he would remove the sticker from his old shirt and put it on his new shirt.

I accidentally ripped a part of it (because it was star shaped and hard to take off).  That resulted in tears, and I had to show him that it was a sticker and you wouldn't notice it because it still stuck together.

Then the gift opening commenced:

He received his Dream Lite that he's been asking about for the last 2 months!  Look at his loving caress. Hilarious:

To be honest, I thought it was just interesting. But then we turned on the dream light last night and it is freakin' amazing.  I literally said, "WOW!  THAT is so cool!" I think I need a dream light too.  He told uncle John yesterday:  "I love penguins!!  But sometimes they get eaten."

Next, a present from Mommy:

At the Kennett mushroom festival, he saw another kid with a camera too.  He told me he liked it.  Then I saw it at BJs (a warehouse store).  So I picked one up and Michael LOVES it.  He's been telling people:  "I got a new camera and it is a FAAAANCY one."  Can't wait to go shooting with him!  :)

And then the big gift:

He was super excited about his "shopping spree" at game stop.  I tried to convince him to buy the newest version of the Skylander game that is coming out on October 21st because it will work with the old figures as well as the new ones. He wanted nothing of that, which is OK because his parents still game on a Game Cube and PS1.  We totally understand not wanting to get the latest and greatest!  So glad he is our son!  :)

In the morning though, I did the pinterest idea where I streamered his doorway with the 4" of remaining tape that I had:

Michael loved it.  He loved it so much he wanted to keep it up.  And he's been sleeping in MY room.  SO it is MY door that is all streamered up, which means it is ME who has to army crawl in and out of my room now.

After all this gift stuff, we had birthday pancakes and a bowl of cereal.  Michael LOVES cereal.

Then off we went to Parent/Teacher conference.  He is doing great, and the best news came when Mrs. DeColli said that Michael loves to learn.

She also said Michael is really strong with his numbers.  So sometimes the class has to tell Michael not to answer and to give other people a chance.

I asked Michael yesterday:  "So does that mean you are a little like Hermione Granger in school?"

And he beamed and said, "YES!"

THEN - off to Game Stop to pick out games and take as long as he wanted.  After this, we went bowling.  The man at the bowling alley certainly did not want to let us bowl because he had to program the computers for the bowling league arriving in less than an hour.  But I convinced him to let us bowl one game and here was the score:

That's right - I sucked it up most of the game like I never took 2 classes of bowling to graduate Texas A&M.  Then I used the bumper for the first strike in the last frame.  The 2nd strike was legit.  And the 3rd unclosed frame was a shame because that 10th pin DID wobble.

After this, Michael had to get dragged to Old Navy because they were having their Stuff and Save event where we got 40% off our entire purchase!  SORRY, buddy - it only is for ONE day so we HAVE to go!  :)

Luckily, I put it under the "Let's go pick out some Tom and Jerry clothes for you!"  Michael agreed and when we were done, he said to me:  "No MORE SHOPPING!  Let's go home."  I know it worked though because he told family that "We went to get Tom and Jerry clothes for me and some PJammies."  He did not mention the dress, shorts, and 2 shirts MOmmy scored for $18 total!  :)

We went home and played Skylanders all afternoon on the Wii.  We talked to family and we just enjoyed our day of saying YES!  It was a great birthday and it's not over yet!  We are going to celebrate with Brian on Saturday and then he has his birthday party in a couple of Saturdays!

Kissing Hands and Multiplication

Before his first day of school, we made "kissing hands" in his class where we both placed our hands on a folder to make a heart shape, traced them, cut them out, and decorated them.  It followed along with a book called the same thing and it talked a little bit about how a momma raccoon and her baby going to school.

In between the hands, Mrs. DeColli placed a picture of Michael and I from his orientation day.

Well, that came home today.  Michael told me that when he saw it in his folder, "Mommy, I sniffed and I missed you so much.  I wanted you to play with me at school."

Awww....

That same boy is now playing in the iPad and couldn't care less where I am right now!

Today is "Friday" as Michael has off from school tomorrow!!! YIPPPEE!!!

On another exciting note - last Saturday, September 22 - Michael showed me that he can multiply.

Nothing too high...but definitely the smaller numbers.

He knows anything multiplied by 0 equals 0.
Anything multiplied by 1 equals itself.

He got correctly:  2x8=16
Also:  4x2 = 8
Also: 3x3 = 9
Also: 3x4 = 12
Also: 5x2 = 10

From the top of his head, without using fingers.  He just thinks about it and blurts out the answer.

So yes, he can do arithmetic.  But lately we've been working on more word problems and trying to apply these concepts instead of being able to just recite them.

Johnny Appleseed's Birthday

Today at Michael's school, they are celebrating Johnny Appleseed's birthday!

As requested, Michael came dressed up in a pair of jeans, a plaid shirt, and a HOMEMADE (read - Parent Homework) pot.

Just had to take a picture of the antics they are doing at school.  I am sure (hopefully) there is some reading in there!

AND he had to take a sack of diced apples into school.  NO problem considering our apple picking a couple of weekends ago (that I still need to blog!  Maybe today!).

I was just glad he didn't have to wear a uniform.  And super thankful for my mom who gave him a plaid shirt a while ago!!

Love,
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$$

Two of Michael's latest funny sayings have involved money.

At How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular, Grandpa gave him (or to grammy via Michael) $5.  Michael asked, "Can I keep this for the rest of my life?"

Nice - $5 might buy you a stick of gum in 80 years.  Maybe.

Yesterday, he asked us if money was invented before he was born.

We are entering the funny school years and it is really a good time.

I've got to finish proofing pictures from Grammy/Grandpa's weekend here.  Luckily, I finished my senior session, so I might be able to finish them up this weekend!  :)

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Poconos Labor Day Weekend!

One big perk of being a semi-decent photographer?  You can trade away your services for vacations!

My friend, Kim, recently acquired an adorable cabin in the Poconos near the town of Hawley:

She graciously let us stay during Labor Day weekend!  We arrived in plenty of time on Friday to play in her creek that runs right outside the cabin doors:

Michael spent many a time throwing rocks into that creek!  But I have no pictures because my camera (or operator - haven't decided which yet!) really barfed on all the pictures!  They are all fuzzy and pretty terrible!  So I apologize in advance for the quality of some of the images in this post.

Here is Michael - so excited to travel and help out with his items.  So responsible!

He brought his rest mat from school - so cute.  His Thomas the Tank bag is FILLED to the brim with stuffed animals.  This was in addition to his thomas the tank SUITCASE that was filled with clothes.  Michael has not yet learned how to travel light!  :)

Here he is preparing his bunk bed in his room:

On Friday, we basically arrived, bought groceries, went to eat at a terrible rib "barbeque" joint and called it a night!  Michael spent some time throwing rocks in the creek and we got settled.

Kim had lots of fun toys and games - so we were well cared for!

On Saturday, we woke up and enjoyed a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage.  Brian had coffee on the chairs set outside by the creek

After a relaxing breakfast, we drove first thing to Bushkill Falls, the Niagara Falls of Pennsylvania.  Bold statement.

On the way, we took a picture of Lake Wallenpaupak:

We drove about 45 minutes and hiked to see the Niagara Falls of Pennsylvania, Bushkill Falls:

It was a rather hot and humid day, but I wanted to make sure we made it to one of the big reasons I have been wanting to go to the Poconos in PA!  

Mother and son with the waterfalls back there:

Family picture - just happy we could get something and that it was in focus, kind of:

Love my guys!

A very short ways into the hike, we reached the falls.  After the many stairs down, we started to hike along a trail and found ourselves facing this sign:

I turned around and immediately saw this sign:

Let me tell you what Lazy Phuong was voting for!  :)  Luckily, we went on the hike!  In all honesty, I really love to hike.  I'm pretty slow going and not sure-footed at all, but I do like it!

Here's a "spectacular view of Delaware Valley":

One of the many falls we saw on our hike:

My guys scrambling up a wall and being happy:

Here's a view of where they were going up:

Michael's posing with his hand on his hip lately:

We did lots of hiking alongside streams.  Michael LOVED hiking.  Like Seriously Loved It.  He was MANY times better than me!!!  Here he is playing by a stream:

This would have been an adorable picture because right before this, Michael was kneeling down and playing in the water.  However, I was busy enjoying the moment as his mother and just barely got this picture to help me remember.

Then, very fuzzy out of focus family picture at the bottom of this falls:

Oh well - you get what you can get with a stranger and a 5 year old DSLR!  :)

We saw several of these along the way, which I have never seen before!!!

Chipmunks!!  So cute!  Brian kept reminding me they were rats.

After the hike, Michael enjoyed a Dole Real Fruit Strawberry popsicle while Brian lost his phone (which we had to go back to get!).

Then, Brian found himself some funnel cake.  I volunteered for a marketing survey because I'm one of those sick people who enjoy marketing/business items.  To my great surprise, they gave me 2 tickets to visit Bushkill Falls again!! SWEET!  That's a $22 value!!

We were excited to see that we avoided the HUGE crowd and line that formed after noon.  So glad we got our hike in when it wasn't busy.

Michael spotted some putt putt.  He LOVES him some putt putt.  ESPECIALLY when a totem pole is involved:

 Or a bear:

Can't believe I have a little boy now:

You should have seen this picture before I saved it in Photoshop.

On Sunday, I had a busy morning.  While I was reading my magazine outside with my morning coffee right by my running stream, I see a deer come up to the edge of the stream and look around.  I stayed quiet and saw the deer look behind it.  At this time, I saw a baby fawn emerge from the brush with another adult deer.  I assume it was a family!

Well, I tried to stay quiet, but then a chipmunk came right up to my chair so I stood up to shoo it away.

The deer didn't like that so he eyed me, and stomped his feet at me.  I ran inside because I'm a city girl who is scared of nature.

Then, I went back outside after the deer ran away.  Enjoyed the rest of my coffee.

When the rest of my family woke up, we had another relaxing breakfast and headed to the little town of Milford, PA for church. Brian found us a Catholic church there so we went for mass.

Then, we headed over to Greys Towers, a national historic site.  I had seen pictures and thought it was picturesque - PERFECT opportunity for family pictures - especially for our Christmas card.

Note to self - you got to FEED your family before they go.

Michael - was great.  BRIAN was a BEAR.  Our session ended with me saying:  "If you don't fix your attitude, I am buying airplane tickets to Albuquerque and letting KIM deal with your bad attitude for family pictures."

and

"Forget it.  I'll set up a tripod and get pictures of my only son with me BY MYSELF since you can't be patient and do this for me."

All of this was in response to Brian yelling at me about Michael:
"He's not doing anything he's supposed to and he's going crazy.  How am I supposed to get this picture?

Me:  "What, you think all children just light up when I take their picture?  You have to play with them and make it fun!"

Brian:  "Well, it's not MY job to do that."

Oi - VAY.

So we got what we got - which is under wraps until Christmas.
We went to Milford, PA - ate lunch - and the Bear named Brian found himself in a better mood.

And I thought to myself - I'm going to PAY someone next year to do this for me.  Or photoshop Brian into my family picture that I already took with Michael and I.  I keep it real around here folks.  Not every moment is peaches and cream here although we do have many happy moments!

We had lunch at a cafe (read - cheaper option!) attached to historic Hotel Fauchere restaurant.  It was a perfect lunch.  We shopped a little bit in the quaint downtown street that was there and headed home.

It was a low-key vacation, which I loved!  As Brian said, "This is just like our woods and our house."

I beg to differ!  Their stream and fire pit are RIGHT outside their door.  We have to hike down a steep hill to get to ours and our firepit is 2 stories below our deck.  This lazy girl sees a difference!!!  :)

Also, I loved that our hikes resulted in something exciting - waterfalls!  Our hikes here result in fields, fields, and more fields.  Oh yes, maybe a covered a bridge.  The views were also very nice as well in the Poconos.

We left just in time because it rained for our whole drive back.  We stopped at Hobby Lobby in Easton and Ikea in Conshohocken.  Might as well!  It's on the way! :)

Fun break after our semi-week at school!  We missed apple pickin' but that ended up working out well as we apple picked with Brian's parents when they came to visit the following weekend!

That post up next! :)
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