Partridge Family Pumpkin Carving

Every year, I enjoy carving Jack O Lanterns! It has been our tradition since we moved into our house 9 years ago. (I forced Mike to do it even when we didn't have kiddos.) Now that we've been blessed with our Logan and Lily, it has been one of the greatest joys I've gotten to experience as a mom. There is just something so fun about pulling out gushy, mushy pumpkin guts and cutting out silly faces.

This year, Logan really relished it. He pulled out those pumpkin guts with vigor and both of them picked out their own pattern. Logan wanted a skeleton and Lily wanted a spider. Of course, Mike and I did all the actual cutting but it was so much fun to have them participate in cleaning out the pumpkins.

I was brave enough to separate the seeds out from the guts this year and made some yummy baked pumpkin seeds. Just a dash of salt and pepper and they were delicious! :) Of course, this year we got a little extra mileage out of our pumpkins because I used the guts in Logan's spooky lab!

Anyway, we really enjoyed watching the kids get all messy and make a huge mess for that matter. ;D As we all know, you know who (me) got stuck cleaning everything up afterward. Oh well, it was worth it when I saw my two kiddos just thrilled about their creations. They were so excited after seeing their glowing Jack O' Lanterns it was hard to get them to bed.

Partridge Family Field Trip - Buffalo Pumpkin Patch

My, oh my, have we been busy! We went to the Buffalo Pumpkin Patch off of Highway 55 just a few days ago. The weather was beautiful, so I decided that it was the perfect Sunday to go Pumpkin pickin'. We started out looking at the wagons full of goods but soon found ourselves wandering into the fields. Logan was sitting on Daddy's shoulders and Lily was holding my hand.

Needless to say, it was a joyous adventure. Logan found his pumpkin first. We went into the fields and he found a little pumpkin with a perfect stem. He proudly declared, "This one is mine!" and held it over his head. Of course, I got a picture. ;D.


Lily picked a few up from the pumpkin patch but none suited her pleasure. I found mine out there, but Mike and Lily were still busy looking. The kids took turns climbing around in the wagon filled full of pumpkins. Lily was very brave and climbed into the tractor seat. It was so fantastic to get a shot of her sitting in this antique tractor! I don't know if they were allowing kids to do this or not so I took a shot of her very quickly and got her down right away.
Eventually, after looking in many pumpkin carts, Mike found his and Lily found hers. Both Logan and Lily climbed in the carts to find the perfect pumpkin. (Even though Logan found his first in the patch, we let him pick one from the cart too. :)

We will definitely go to the Buffalo Pumpkin Patch again!
We actually met our budget and ended up spending less that $20! There were so many wonderful things, I could have ended up spending much more.
They had apples, raspberries, gourdes, tomatoes, squash and novelty pumpkins. Of course, the experience was worth a million dollars! Seeing the smiles on my kids faces as we scoured the pumpkin patch was phenomenal.

It was an absolutely brilliant day. I am so blessed that I got to spend it with my family and we all left extremely happy! :)

101 Market with Grandma & Grandpa

As some of you may know, we are remodeling our downstairs bathroom. This little project has turned into a huge project because we decided to gut the old bathroom and start from scratch. This has kept Mike pretty busy during the whole summer and now into the fall.

It was a lovely Saturday afternoon and my parents came out to visit.
I needed to get the kids out of their dad's hair so that he could work on the bathroom in peace. We made an impromptu decision to go to the 101 Market. Every year they have a variety of fun fall activities.



Logan and Lily loved it! They played in the corn pit, rode the animal train and bounced in the Pumpkin Jumper. I also got several precious pictures of them posing in the harvest props. They were so excited to explore all the different things to do.

Logan's favorite was the pedal carts. He raced other little boys around the track and came in second place! Lily's favorite thing was the pumpkin jumper. I think she jumped in there for fifteen minutes non-stop. They both liked the animal train ride and Logan told me that it was "bumpy and fun!"


There is also going to be a haunted house there this year. I hope they keep it up because although our kids are too young, it would be fun to have as they get older. 101 Market also has an awesome corn maze. I think we will do it with the kiddos next year.

Grandma and Grandpa Skowronek enjoyed watching the kids play.
I got to go and look at all the cute decorating ideas at the gift shop. It was a beautiful fall day and I'm glad that we got to go together. I'm sure next time Daddy will get to join us!

Ren Fest 2011

Yes. I am a total Ren Fest geek. It is just too much fun! Who would pass up the opportunity to dress in medieval clothing, talk in a funny accent, drink wine and eat into absurdity? (If you would, then you are missing out!)

We took the kids again this year. I dressed up, wearing my gypsy skirt, a shawl and my belly dancing scarve. It was fun to jingle every time I took a step.:) I thought that I might feel a little foolish but actually ended up feeling the opposite. There were so many Ren Fest tourists dressed up in their medieval best. I also find that the workers interact with you much more if you dress the part.

The first thing we did was stop and watch a funny sword show between and Italian and a Spanaird. Logan was thouroughly entertained and had a great time heckling them with the crowd. (Of course they gave us funny things to say like, off with his loins!) After the sword fight was over, we toured the grounds until we found ourselves at the trampolines. Of course, Logan just had to go on again this year. His smile was at least a mile wide. Lily wanted to go too, but she wasn't heavy enough yet to fit into the harnesses. Oh well, maybe next year!


We also went to the petting zoo and saw a really large Python snake named Samantha. She was about 13 feet long and 110 lbs. Logan was very brave and went right up and petted her. Lily loved the turtoises but wasn't too keen on the snake. :)

Of course, we had to go to the Enchanted Forest where we searched for Twig the fairy. Alas, we didn't find her there this trip but we did see another woodland fairy by the name of Blue Jay. Lily was so thrilled when the fairy handed her a magic stone (a glass bead). The kids just love looking at the little fairy houses and they were calling for them to come out.


The kiddos went on a variety of fun rides, the butterflies, the pirate ship and even the kiddie joust! Logan and Lily rode on the horse together and it was so cute to see their faces as they tried to slay the dragon.


After going on lots of rides, we ate lunch. The kids had corn on the cob, their favorite. We were all getting really tired, so we decided to watch the belly dancers. It was such a cool show! Those ladies are really, really talented! They saw that there were a lot of kids in the audiance so they had the kids go up on stage and they taught them a little dance. It was so cute, you should have seen all of their faces at the end when the crowd stood up and clapped and cheered. LOL.

It was a very busy and very fun day. Next year, Logan and Lily want to dress up like mama. I think that will be very fun. Who knows, maybe we can even get Daddy to join us?

Jumpin' in the Leaves!

One of my all time favorite activities for autumn is jumping in leaves. Of course, I'm a little too old to do that now but I sure enjoy watching my kids do it. There is just something so special about the crunches and crackles, the smell of dried leaves and a cool, sunny, fall day.

Mike and I were doing yard work. Or, I should say, Mike was doing yard work when I sent the kids out to play. They saw Daddy raking and it turned into a party! We are having some unseasonably warm days here and I have to admit that I LOVE it. It is mid-October and all the leaves are falling off the trees but it is still in the 70's. A rare occasion for a Minnesota fall.


Last year, we really didn't have much of a fall. It was wet and rainy, the trees didn't get much color, and then we had an ice storm that turned into 8 inches of snow by November 8th. Because of the "winter from hell" Lily really didn't get the chance to jump in the leaves last year.

Don't worry. Logan is a pro and he showed her how to do it! They had so much fun together. They ran as fast as they could and then took big jumps into the pile of leaves that Daddy just raked up. Afterward, (they must've felt guilty) they helped Daddy put the leaves into the trash bags. We are trying to teach that sometimes work and play go hand in hand. Have some fun but clean up when your done! I think they are getting the message. :)

Country Road Riding on the Motorcycle

We didn't get to borrow my dad's Harley too much this year because we were so busy all summer! However, I just had to make time to go out on the bike. It was a beautiful fall day in the 60's so I called my folks up and asked if they would lend us their Sportster and watch the kids.

It was a perfect way to kill a Saturday afternoon. Mike rode by himself for a little bit before I got on but once I did, it was like old times.
We went out for a good three hours that day. I loved looking at the changing leaves, the crisp air in my lungs and saluting the other bikers.

We even got a chance to go out to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Rancho Grande. We split a Chimichanga (the best!) and then headed back home. Yeah, I was a little sore after the ride but it was well worth it. :)

Bittersweet Milestone (continued) - Lily Starts Preschool

The bittersweet moments just keep on coming here at the Partridge household. Lily has started her preschool. She goes two days a week for a few hours a day and she just loves it!

She has wonderful teachers that have known her since she was a baby because we've always had our kids involved in ECFE. I love that her award-winning preschool is so close to home and has so many wonderful, age appropriate activities.

The classroom is so cute! They have a very structured day of play time in the classroom, circle time, art project, snack, then gym and finally classroom cleanup before being dismissed. We were so blessed to get her into this program because there is a waiting list. I stayed up very late to register her as soon as registration was open and I'm very lucky we got a spot! :)

Lily is a social butterfly and she is making many classroom friends. Some of them are even in her gymnastics class! We live in a wonderful community that has a fantastic school district. We are in the top 20% in the state and I'm glad that my children will benefit from the schools here.


Although it was hard to let go and drop Lily off at preschool (I teared up a little again) I know that she is in good hands and that she will benefit greatly from it. Time has gone by so fast! I remember her as a rolly poley baby and now she is a big girl. Sigh.