Unwanted House Guest

OK, so I almost forgot to tell this story, but I was reminded by my sister-in-law Caitlin's recent post of an unwanted lizard house guest she had this past summer. So this is our unwanted house guest story:

Well, these days Lauren is likes to show me all the little things she finds on the ground like leaves, sticks, and rocks when outside, of course. Then when inside the house, she also comes up to me with other 'interesting' little finds that quickly remind me that it is already that time to sweep or vacuum! The thing that cracks me up is how she will come up to me and talk about whatever she is holding as though to convince me that her most recent find is the most exciting thing! Like a piece of cereal she found under the microwave cart saying, "yummy...cereal!"while nodding her head and then moving her hand closer to her mouth only to have me stop her and say, "that's yucky, let's throw that in the trash".Well, of course it is exciting to her-she loves discovering things everywhere we go-I love it! So one day however, I was not prepared for what she brought me.

One night this past week when I was cooking in the kitchen, Lauren was doing her usual bringing different things up to me and I would acknowledge them and then I'd ask her to find something else and then she'd bring it back again, and so on. Well, Lauren came walking around the corner to my great surprise with a LIVE SPIDER pinched between her fingers! My first reaction was to do anything to protect her from getting bit. Out came my gasping "oh my gosh! oh my gosh!" and picked her up, opened the trash, and had her throw it in. Lauren started to cry probably being very confused. Meanwhile Jim was at the front door with a neighbor. He thought I'd cut my hand or something. I didn't realize how loud I was, and how much I must have scared Lauren. (Jim had brought that to my attention) as she was looking at the trash and whining "spidar, spidar" with tears. I felt horrible and was apologizing and apologizing trying to explain to her that we don't touch spiders, we just look at them. Right??? Oh..I totally didn't handle that well! Sadly, later that night I looked to see where the spider was, and I didn't see him. Grrr...I don't like spiders!
Since then, Lauren has pointed out things on the floor and said, "Spidar". Now she thinks every small thing on the ground is a spider!Thankfully, none of them have been spiders. Stay away spiders!

Family Halloween Fun!

On Sunday we got together with family and ate some yummy soups my Sisters-in-law's made, carved pumpkins, and decorated cookies and cupcakes...FUN! Here are a few pics:
Here's our pumpkin all finished...Jim did a great job!

Look out Nursery, here she comes...

Here she is sitting with dad all rested and ready for her first time to go to Nursery at church.

She loved it and had a great first day! It was so cute to see her sitting on those little chairs with the other kids.

Let's get a Punkin!

OH? We're going to a punkin patch? "OK, whet's go!"

Off we went to this great little pumpkin patch in L.B. We had a lot of fun that night.
Lauren had so much fun looking around at all the fun little extras like the children's train and pony rides. Train w/Dad, Ma and Daughter, and of course...the pumpkin of choice Dad and Lauren picked out-Lauren still loves to give it hugs. She's so much fun!

She's growing up!

Today Lauren is 18 mos. old! I took this on Monday on our walk back home from the play group. This is a sweet little picture that made me stop and think of how much she has grown in the last 6 months. These days she loves to walk everywhere stopping along the way to try out all of the little steps as though they were made for that very purpose (to see if she fits) and then leans back to relax just a bit. This Sunday will be her first day in Nursery at church.(Yeah!) Before I know it, I'll be taking her first day of school pictures. Oh...don't grow up too fast!

Playgroup fun!

So a bunch of us moms got together this past week at the Wagstaffs for some Halloween fun- decorating cupcakes like skeletons and witches. Really cute! I should have taken a picture!
Lauren had a blast as you can see. Right away she wanted in on the cupcake action, and more importantly, the "canny," as she has been requesting every day since.



Notice what time it is, (10:35ish am). By this time Lauren had already devoured one chocolate cupcake, a handful of M&M's, cherry licorice, and lots of "yummy"(she said after taking her first lick) frosting. She loved it!

We all have so much fun when we get together, we really should get together more often. Jessica is quite the mom! She just had her baby girl and already had all of us over for this fun decorating party. We all stayed for some hotdogs too, thanks Jess!

Say Cheese!!

Isn't she cute? It's so fun these days, she is always saying something different. To our surprise she was even saying cheese for this picture! Wish we could always be this lucky!(Just seconds later she reached for the camera.) We love our little girl!

A Day at the Riley's Farm

It has been SO long since I have added to this original blog we set up last year. I still have no idea how to really get it to look the way I want to and to get all the fun features that I've seen on other blogs. But soon enough I hope to join the bandwagon of professional blogging!Just kidding. You bloggers are amazing! I suppose I will just try to keep you posted on our whereabouts.
These days we've been staying close to home as we have 1 working car, Jim's back to school (yeah!), and working, while I'm at home trying to start up violin teaching again.

Here's something more fun to share however:

Our latest family adventure-surely to be remembered forever!

We had a wonderful day at the Riley's farm out in Oak Glen!

We really recommend it to everyone! Both Jim and I felt like we were on the East Coast for the day. There's too much to list here what you can do there. Check out this website and find "Riley's Farm".See http://www.rileysfarm.com/.

First we started out by taking a hay ride (Lauren wanted to sit all by herself) up to the 1800's barn where we discovered live music playing in an open barn setting set to feed anyone interested in the farm's barbecue and fresh 4 lb. apple pies!

All the workers were dressed in colonial clothing to help take us back to the colonial time of this country's history. (Jim and I were so giddy, we loved it so much!)

After paying to pick apples by the peck with some friends, we set off to venture up the hillside to the orchards to pick pears and raspberries.

Lauren and I were curious to see the pumpkins. They were so big and very bright orange! For each of us in the Folger family, this was our first time visiting a real pumpkin patch!

(So this is where the great pumpkin comes each year!)

They had goats that Lauren so carefully brushed with her hand; we were impressed with her calmness as she is a mostly active 17 month old.

Off in the distance stood a bagpipe player that truly added to the beauty of the experience.

After spending time up by the barn we went to the apple orchards and learned about how to pick apples. (Yes, there is a particular way: twist, not pull ;)

Before going on our 1.5 hour trip back home we headed down to pick up some Sally Lune bread (only containing 4 cubes of butter!! eek!) and some fresh hot apple cider down at the bakery. It was a chilly day.

We saw this beautiful horse on the way back to the car. Could this day have been any better?

We loved it so much, we can't wait until we can go again.

This was such a memorable family trip, we hope to make it a yearly tradition! Thanks Mike and Eva for inviting us to go with you!