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!