Pumpkin pickin'

Today was the perfect day for pumpkin picking. Especially after a few days of nothing but grey skies and rain. We decided to visit a farm we had never been to before. Duffields farm is about 20 minutes from us but so worth the little trip. A Sweet little hayride took us to the patch where the kids found the perfect pumpkins. They have a corn maze and play area along with a bunch more family friendly activities! It was a great way to spend time with the hubby and kids. 

Disney

I know it has been almost two months since our family vacation to Florida and I finally sharing some of our wonderful time.  We had an amazing time and even got in a few days with my aunt and uncle and cousins!
The adventure began way before we left NJ. I decided to create a count down to Disney for the kids...saw some great ones on Pinterest, of course.

Each day the kids got to take a clothes pin off the chart. I used my Cricut cutting machine, a sheet of red and black mickey mouse paper, and a good amount of stickers! I will post a tutorial soon but it wasn't difficult at all!

But here are a few pictures of our trip...

 We got to spend some time with friends!!

 Yea, I made that! Tutorial coming soon!

 just  a little proof that I was actually on the trip

 Her favorite non-human

 

 

Highlights...from Jake, The Pirates of the Caribbean ride and becoming a pirate for the day.

From Lizzy, The new Ariel ride in the new section of Fantasyland.

Mommy (that's me), while watching the Electric Parade on Main Street USA in Cinderella blew a kiss to Lizzy and without hesitation Lizzy blew one right back to her. Even the strangers sitting next to us said that was cool. And it was Valentine's week so we got to see the Princesses with their Princes!

Daddy (the hubby), taking Jake on Thunder Mountain Railroad. And watching Jake having the most intriguing conversation with Prince Philip from Sleeping Beauty...we still don't know what they were talking about but it just went on and on.

 

We ended our trip with a few days with my aunt and uncle on Marriet Island...the uncle works at Disney and nothing could be cooler! We spent time splashing in their pool with my two cousins and even saw a dolphin swimming through their canal. Great way to end a vacation to Florida!

 

We are already planning our next trip! 

Chores Challenge

 

Recently it has come to my attention that my kids think that money grows on trees....don't I sound old! Remember your parents talking like that...wow, I never thought it would happen to me but there you go! With birthdays and Christmas followed by a trip to the happiest place on Earth {to me that Disney World} my hubby and I had a heart to heart about our budget and how to start teaching the kiddos about responsibility. It was a 17 hour drive to Orlando! Lots of time to talk.

We also have quite a few projects going on around our house. Remember the post about the porch?? Well that has lead to thoughts of other things that our little, but old, house needs. We are buckling down and getting serious about budgeting. And I am sure like any other kid, ours are always asking to buy this or that whenever we are at a store. So in an effort to show our kids that money does not grow on trees...sounding old again I know...we decided to start working weekly chores into our routine and give each of them an allowance.

I do believe they think that clothes magically appear in their drawers and that the dishes are washed by a lovely dish washing fairy....wouldn't that be nice!!! So I went to Pinterest...of course...to get the wheels moving on this. I found lots of printable chore charts and examples of age appropriate chores. I liked this one the best from I Should Be Mopping the Floor...the one on the left for Lizzy and the one on the right for Jake.

I have also been reading this wonderful book...Cleaning House: A Mom's Twelve-Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement by Kay Willis Wyma. So far a fabulous read and you can check her blog out here. I think the book planted a seed of this challenge in my head.

So I am challenging myself, and my hubby by extension, to commit to a chore chart and holding the kids accountable to their chores...which may be the most difficult part of this in whole thing! It is also going to be my challenge to post some updates about how this all goes!

Above and beyond this challenge I hope this is one step in making my children good people when they go out into the world.

We hope to help them learn a few things through this:

1. How to manage money and save for something they really want! And to come to an understanding that it takes time to save.

2. Work as part of a family {this house doesn't run on me alone...haha}

3. The responsibility to take care of their things.

So I will do my best to update our progress. Share any stories you have had with getting your kids to do chores. I love hearing how this works for other moms!

 

Thanksgiving

Tonight I am taking a quick breather to blog! Yes...I said this is my break! Ha! We have had a busy few weeks since Thanksgiving but I thought I would back track before moving on and share a little of our holiday.
Thanksgiving is spent at my grandparents house...it is a tradition that we have held for almost 20 years now.
It's a crazy time...but it's time to be with family!
And we had a absolutely beautiful day!

 how many GREAT-grandmothers do you know that get down on the ground for a tickle session??

 Piper out running everyone!

 It takes a lot of out takes to get us all looking at the camera! This isn't even half of them! :-)

Notice my 6 foot 6 inch grandfather in the last one!

 

 

 

I get a chance to spend sometime with my brothers, neice and nephews, uncles and aunt, parents and grandparents. That doesn't happen often.

We always take lots of pictures.

Mostly I love that I am giving my kids the chance to know something that my brothers and I did as kids. Playing football, sitting at the kids table, sharing dessert.

Now on to Christmas :-)