Halloween at the Kreiling's

Better late than never...   Here are some pictures from our Halloween.   After taking off a year from trick-or-treating, Nick returned as a zombie and Joey was a dementor (from Harry Potter).  They were super scary.   After trick-or-treating, we headed to our friends' house for a Halloween party.   We had lots of fun!

Our fun in carving the pumpkins -

 

The finished products -

Happy Halloween!

Two blog posts in one day??? I must have too much time on my hands. But my sister said that if it is icky outside, I get to just sit around and do nothing and I always listen to my sister!

But the reason for my post is to let you know that my unscientific research says that game 5 will not resume this evening....

This is the scene outside my door:








Since my girls are at school, I had to venture out with my new best buddies.... And judging by the amount of slush - it is one of those very pretty, but very wet snows - the field will not be dry enough to play today....








And I just thought this was pretty, the maple tree in full fall color with the snow falling.....







My girls are thrilled with the snow. I'm just hoping we don't have a winter like Chicago had last year...

We tried and tried, but were unsuccessful in finding a pumpkin patch last year in Florida, so when October rolled around, the girls were rip roaring ready to hit our favorite local pumpkin patch with the yummiest cider doughnuts.... The doughnuts are so good you wait in line about 15 minutes to pay for them and then you wait about another 20min to actually get your doughnuts hot out of the fryer. Yummmy!


First they had to head to the corn maze. Boy am I glad that they are old enough to do this stuff themselves now - Dad and I enjoyed hot dogs and nachos while they spent about 30min in the maze.... :)




















A favorite activity is always the Harvest Slinger. You have to get your apple into the bathtub out in the field and you get a free pumpkin. The girls could play for hours and Mom and Dad enjoy it as well. (Not bragging, but Mom WAS the closest to getting one in! Oh yea - Oh yea!)















No trip to the pumpkin patch is complete without a goofy picture - Dad is such a good sport, I think his hole was about 18 inches off the ground.








And of course then you have to pick your pumpkin.... The girls decided it was a lot more fun than going to Publix and getting a pumpkin at the grocery store, which we had to do last year.

I know we have a few Chicago reader, so I am warning you....

The following picture may be offensive to some......












Go Phillies!







Yes, the girls have become Phillies fans, but only because they might get beat up on the playground if they don't - it is really self defense! :)

We went camping this past weekend in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. We had a beautiful weekend - the days were beautiful and had that warm fall sun shining through the leaves that are just starting to change. The evenings were cool and crisp - perfect for sitting around the campfire and eating smores.

The campground was great fun. A total throw-back to the 50's, including the scratchy loudspeaker announcing the next "fun" activity. We started off our Saturday with ceramics in the rec hall....



































As you can see, they had a total old school playground.








Here we are enjoying the hay ride through the campground.







And the weekend wouldn't be complete without a paddleboat ride on the pond!






And yes Nicky, I'm afraid we did it ALL without you.....

Mom wanted to see some pictures of our new place, so here they are...



The kitchen






The living room






It is very tiny (especially compared to our Florida home), but we really like it. Maddy and Katie like how tiny and cozy it is and they can walk to the park and swimming pool. Mom likes it because it takes about 15 minutes to clean. And all of us have decided we will stay here forever just so we don't have to move again! :)

Famous last words....

Maddy and Katie are enjoying the new experience of attending school. But we are finding out that school is all about rules... The first day was an all school assembly with the Principal explaining the school rules, followed by every teacher explaining the rules of the class. I wonder how we survived thus far with far fewer rules in our lives????

This was all followed up by Katie's class making their own rules, illustrating them and voting on them. Here is Katie's:







If you can't read it, it says, "Don't push someone off the swing just because you want to go on"

Unfortunately, her rule was not the most popular in the class, she was narrowly edged out by the rule "Don't sit on a thumb tack on your chair." Second isn't so bad... :)

Our Latest National Park Visit - Shenandoah

Over Labor Day, the Kreilings & Littles visited Shenandoah National Park, continuing our quest to visit all national parks in the US of A.  The best part?  Uncle Craig was with us!   Yay!!

The weather was mixed - total fog wipe out for our arrival late at night (imagine Walter, towing the camper, with his head hanging out the window to see the yellow lines!); beautiful for Saturday; rain Saturday night; cool & cloudy on Sunday; and beautiful again on Monday.   But we're veteran campers so we were prepared for everything & anything!

The first day, we hiked the Appalachian Trail for a bit then proceeded on a course straight down into a ravine that held a beautiful waterfall.   I knew I was in trouble when the path was down the whole way - that meant hiking up to get "home".  I'm not a happy hiker, so the trip up was full of grumbling and groans.  Maddy needed her inhaler but we didn't have it, so Uncle Walter, the dogs and Nicky "raced-hiked" out of the ravine to get the car so that we didn't have to hike the whole way back to the campsite.   After quite some time, we all made it back to the parking lot and waited for Uncle Walter to rescue us.   The hike was about 4 miles in length, and WE ALL MADE IT!

That ended my portion of hiking on the camping trip - Uncle Craig, Katie & Joey were all right there with me.   However, Uncle Walter and Tante Laura, along with Maddy & Nicky, went for a long hike on Monday, too.

Here are some camping pictures - we really enjoyed the weekend.

Here's where we lived for the weekend!

Gathered around the fire - Uncle Walter is eating his favorite camping food - baked beans right from the can (after having been warmed on the fire grate).

On a short hike after Sunday lunch at the hotel - Amy is not in the picture because she was unable to walk the day after the BIG HIKE.  I was snoozing in the car waiting for their return.

Chopping wood is a favorite past time for the men.   Here is Nicky learning from the masters.

No, those are not Schmeisser patties on the grill.   We are, unfortunately, very low on our supply and didn't have enough to bring on the trip.   But we did have very yummy cheeseburgers with baked beans and potato chips.

Hope you enjoyed our trip!

First day of school........















So they went off to school for the first time today. Most of you know that Craig and I didn't plan to homeschool the girls - it just came about because of a bad situation for Maddy in kindergarten and then it just worked for our family. We have always felt that there are pros and cons to both public education and homeschooling and for us the pros of homeschooling won out. Until now - with our latest move, Maddy REALLY wanted to try school. She is missing a very good friend that we left behind in Florida and is hoping that she can find friends at school. Craig and I are hoping that she not only gets her wish, but enjoys the experience.

Katie on the other hand has no interest in school. She is perfectly happy homeschooling and wants to keep things just the way she knows them. With Katie being a more social kid, I'm actually hopeful that she enjoys the experience as well.

I have to say that Craig and I are totally on the fence. Maddy's class is going to be very large and Katie will have a substitute for at least the first 4 week, but both teachers seem very warm and friendly. We went to a new family orientation and I have to say we did not leave impressed with the presentation. We left wondering if it is the best setting for the girls. But, I know they will be fine and they will get used to the setting. The big question is - is this the right decision for our family? Tune in around Christmas time when Craig and I decide if they finish the year or come back home..... :)

We are back in Philly - really Lansdale, but it is more fun to say Philly. And I have finally found the cables so I can post pictures again and boy do I have a picture to post!







I guess Katie wanted a fresh look for our new adventure in life! :)

Now as you can see from the picture, I have a ton of boxes left to unpack, which is what I should be doing instead of posting pictures on the blog....

A night of Schnitzel!

Uncle Wally finally consented to making us schnitzel one night.   The kids (& the adults) consumed it with great gusto!   Uncle Wally makes very yummy schnitzel!   By the next day, it was ALL GONE!

Fun with rockets!

With the Little clan staying with us for awhile, the four kids often had to be very creative in finding things to keep them occupied.  This day, they devised a stomp rocket challenge.   Each two-man team designed a parachute that would open as the rocket fell from the sky.   Then they enlisted Uncle Craig to do the stomping to make the rockets fly.  

I have not a single picture to share - not even sure where cameras or cords are, but I got tired of seeing my last post... So here is the latest update.

Katie went to horse camp. It is frightening how much that kid loves horses. She is doing very well with tacking up her horse and would ride all day if they let her. She got to ride an English riding pony and boy was he fast, but she loved every minute of it.

Maddy then attended the University of Florida diving camp. She did great and had lots of fun, but is contemplating giving up diving - we'll see what happens. She did dive off the 5 meter platform - yes, I did say she DOVE off the 5 meter platform. Not sure I would even jump from it.... But of course Katie had to get in on the act when the coach let her have some fun on the last day. She decided to head up to the 10 meter platform and took a big running jump off. Now I wouldn't even walk up to the 10 meter, much less run up there, much less jump from it....

Besides for the kids, life has been very exciting for the Little's - we put our house on the market and sold it in two weeks and had to be out in another two weeks. I'm going to create my own HGTV show - on how to sell a house even in a REALLY bad housing market. Unfortunately, people probably don't want my advice since it involves losing lots of money, but that is over and done.

So then the homeless folks moved in with the Kreiling family. They are so very kind to take in 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 really big dogs & a camper. It is good to have family that flows with our crazy lives. The funny thing is that the grocery bill seems to increase exponentially with the two families... We normally go through 1 gallon of milk, the Kreilings go through about 2.5 to 3 gallons a week and together we go through more than 6 a week. How is that for new math????

Well I should say almost everyone is getting along well.... Duke seems to no longer like his old buddy Scooter. Sure wish he could talk - he and Scooter used to be the best of buddies, but now Duke just doesn't seem to remember. Unfortunately, Scooter doesn't help matters by not acting like a dog which really pi--es off Duke. When Duke gives him the growl (translation - I'm in charge you better show reverence to me....) Scooter just tries to hide under a chair rather than be submissive to Duke. It is rather funny to see a 90 pound dog slink under a chair to avoid the 35 pound dog.

But the really good news is that Craig accepted a job just yesterday at Roska Direct. Although he is going back, he will be doing a different job this time around - heading up the account team. We were sad not to find a way to stay in Florida, but if we have to move back north, PA isn't so bad. The girls are excited about being able to ski whenever they want to again. I'm excited to be going back to the land of old, cozy homes with character. And the dogs are just excited to not be living where they are allergic to everything and can go outside without fear of heat stroke! :)

Hopefully Tante Amy can come through with some pictures of the cousins having some good summer fun!

I almost forgot- Maddy had her first solo!!!! While the Kreilings were visiting for spring break, Maddy had choir practice. During practice Maddy was telling us how the director asked if anyone was interested in auditioning for a solo. All the kids except Maddy raised their hands. I guess the director never noticed Maddy didn't raise her hand because she asked her to audition and of course Maddy just did what she was asked... After telling us the story, Nick said - wouldn't it be funny if Maddy got the solo since she was the only one who didn't want it. Well guess what - Maddy got the solo... Not sure she was that pleased - but she did an awesome job!

We had an awesome time at Disney. No pictures, but we got to see Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers in concert and it was free! Plus we saw Zack & Cody at Disney one night and the Jonas Brothers at Disney Hollywood Studios one afternoon. Very exiting! :)

Since I have no pictures of Disney, I am posting pictures of my garden just because I am amazed at how much it has grown.

This is a picture of a plant that Nana sent me. She sent it before all the upheaval in our lives, so I am not sure I will plant it until we know where life will take us.... Thanks Nana! It is VERY fragrant. (The little plants in front are my pumpkin seedlings.)















I am doing my garden in containers this year. The soil here in Florida is awful. But this method seems to be working well. I have peppers, onions, tomatoes, carrots, green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, popcorn & sweet corn.





I already had one ripe tomato that was super yummy and many more to come....





And my favorite of all is my blueberry patch. Ummm very yummy! I have to cover it because the birds think it is yummy as well!