Fun at the Pumpkin Patch!

Wow, did we have FUN today at the Center Grove Orchard & Pumpkin Patch.  If you live in Central Iowa, I really recommend it.  There was a lot of great stuff to do there.

First we ate so we would have lots of energy to do all this...

This was called the jumpingpillow.  It was REALLY cool.  They even talked me into going in with them and I got a pretty good workout!

Next up...the Super Slide.  They are at the very top, getting ready to slide down.

And here are the smiling faces toward the bottom.

Then we did the apple slingshot.  Yep, you slingshot apples into a field full of targets.  Ally hit the bullseye on one of the bales of hay.  Way to go Ally!

Then we took a hay ride.  It took us out to a corn maze (which we skipped) and then on to the pumpkin patch where you could wonder around to find a pumpkin.

Hope found this gigantic one she wanted to take home, but we couldn't get it back.  So we decided to just get one already picked back at the orchard so we wouldn't have to carry it all over.

This was called the Corn Pool.  Basically, it was a big pit area filled with corn.  I took my shoes off to get closer and take pictures.  I didn't expect it to be so deep because the kids were just sinking down to the ankles.  Well, I sank down to almost my knees.

Then we went to feed the animals.  The horses were really gentle, and the other horse came over and gave me a kiss right after I took this picture.  I had no clue it was even back there, so of course I jumped. :)

Grandma Deloris joined us for the patch visit too.

Well, everyone has showered off all the dirt and I am heading to bed early for once.

Darla

Just cards for today!

Well, nothing funny has happened yet today, but Hope isn't home from school yet so there is still time.  :)

So I will just share some cards.  I promise they shouldn't be duplicate of what I have already posted in the past.  I realized, the one I posted last time had already been posted.  Oh well.

The first card uses Pink Paislee flip note and some tulle and rubons.

This is the inside of the card.  

And here is a Mother's Day card I created using Fancy Pants scraps.

I haven't been scrapping much since I finished up my Christmas project for The Scrappy Gourmet.  I also started reading the new Nicolas Sparks Book, "Safe Harbor".  I love a good love story and I always enjoy his books, even though they are sometimes predictable.  In waiting, I also have the new Janet Evonovich book, "Wicked Appetite".  I also like her books a lot too, part mystery and part humor.  Good stuff!

Well, I am off to read a little bit before Hope gets off the bus.  I can't wait to hear what kind of adventures she had today.  Later!

Darla

More Funny...kind of

I am so glad that Hope is innocently honest sometimes about things she tells me.

When she got off the bus, she was eating her snack and she told me that she has to sit in the front seat behind the bus driver.  Then she keeps telling me that she got in trouble for showing someone in another seat (on Monday) that she was scary.  I am assuming she was doing her "ROAR" sound she makes at home all the time trying to scare Joe and I.  So since then, she has to sit in the front row.

I did notice this morning that the bus driver pointed to the seat behind him when she got on the bus.

Well, there could be worse things to get in trouble for, but I am glad the bus driver is making her sit in the front seat.  I hope she learns not to do that anymore.  We also talked about being safe on the bus, etc.  By the time she is done riding the bus, her name will probably be on an engraved plaque on the seat behind the driver.  :)

Luckily, no holes in her clothes today.  Hehe!

Well, here is another card I created not too long ago.

I don't think I have shared this one before.  Sorry if it is a duplicate.  :)  Anyway, it is made from Fancy Pants scraps/journal notebook page and other goodies.  I don't really like how the sentiment is on the card, but every card can't be perfect, right?

Well, I hope everyone has a good night!

Darla

Look mom...

I have people tell me all the time that they think Hope is one of the funniest kids they have ever met.  Well, I would have to agree with them, although sometimes I don't think everything is funny (like they do). :)

Today was one of those FUNNY moments.  She got home from school today, took her coat off and a noticed she had a hole in her pants.  Right in the middle of her "cheek" area.  I asked her what happened to her pants.  First she told me she didn't know, but later she said she cut them with her scissors today.  I explained to her that she needed to be more careful because we were going to have to throw the pants away and eventually she would run out of "soft" pants to wear (she doesn't like to wear jeans).

The next thing I know, she has turned on the "Funny".  She put her finger through the hole and says "Look mom, it's like a puppet show."  I just laughed and said "I have to take a picture of you doing that".  :)

So here are the pictures I took of her.  

The kid just cracks me up!  And I love it!

Well, in case you stopped by for some scrappiness...

Here is a card for you to enjoy!

I made this card using the Fancy Pants flocked transparency.  I covered the back with paper to show through and the scallop punch is on the front and back.

I have been playing around with a few clear cards lately, and will share more later.

Have a good night!

Darla

Spooky (but CUTE) Witch!!!

Hope finally gave in to my many requests and decided to be a witch this year for Halloween.  Yeah!  For the past few years she has been a Disney princess (Tinkerbell and Cinderella) and also a Barbie ballerina.

So I was hoping for something different, although I would have let her be what she wanted in the end.  Well we found a cute hat and broom and she was hooked.

Here is my little cutie!

Grandma also stopped by this afternoon and brought Hope a surprise.  She made Halloween costumes for her American Girl dolls.  How cute.  She loved them.

The next few weeks are going to be so busy, but I still hope to find time to get to the pumpkin patch, etc.  I love doing all those things every fall.

Well, I am going to finish watching Brothers and Sisters.  Love that show.  

Goodnight!

Darla

Great Day for a Parade

Yesterday was a GREAT day for a parade.  The 3 Kindergarten classes at school had a parade to celebrate the end of the book they were reading this week, called "Arm in Arm".  In the book is a parade.  Hope's teacher plays the trombone, so she gave each of the kids instruments to play in the parade.  The other 2 classes watched while they marched along the sidewalk.  Then each of the other classes got their turn to march in the parade too.

Hope was one of the lucky kids to get the cymbols for her instrument.

Here the kids are practicing with Mrs. Nelson before the parade.

Here are the other 2 classes watching the parade.

This is Hope and our neighbor Anna.  After Hope took her turn through the parade, it was Anna's class turn.  So Hope handed off the cymbols to Anna.

And because it is World Card Making Day here is a card to share with you today.

I am hoping to get a little time to scrapbook this evening!  I spent last night cleaning Hope's room and sorting out the toys in the toy room.  YIKES!  It was deep from lots of playdates.  Now it is all ready for playtime again this week.

Everyone have a great weekend!

Darla

It's HERE!

Joe's new car finally got here.  He has been patiently waiting since June for his new Ford Edge to come in, and last week, it finally did.  He has spent a lot of time in it testing out all the new gadgets, etc.  It is pretty cool.  I even get to drive it to work later this week.  Yeah!

So here it is...

For the first several days he had it, it rained!  So this weekend he parked it out on the driveway to get some sun.  Unfortunately he noticed some damage to the room that happened during transporting, so he will need to take it back to get fixed.  Nothing major.  It has all the gadgets he wanted, and has Sync for his I-phone too.  It is pretty cool.

We were busy all weekend, but it was all low key at home.  It rained all day Saturday, so Hope did some crafts, while I finished up on this...

This is a sneek peak of my next project for The Scrappy Gourmet.  Watch for it here, when the kits are ready.

On Saturday, Hope decided she wanted to play with my old lego sets.  We worked on building a castle set, and started the train (but haven't had the chance to finish it yet).  Maybe later this week.

Well, I am off to clean off my scrapbook table now that my Christmas project is finished.  It got pretty deep during this project, which is pretty normal.  Now I need to start planning what I want to work on at the Wisconsin retreat in a few weeks.  I can't wait.  I always look forward to going to the spa and scrapbooking for an entire weekend with my friends.  So much fun!

Anyway, hope you had a great day and have a good night too!

Darla

Best Wishes!

My friend Kristi is staying with us tonight.  She is in town for a job interview and I hope it goes well tomorrow, because it is with the company I work for.  It would be great to have her living close, but it has to be a good fit for everyone.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

So here is a card...

This card was made from Fancy Pants Road Show papers and journal note, with a few extras added in.

I also had a chance to play around with PhotoShop Elements 8 on my Mac.  I have had full PhotoShop on my PC for a few years now, so things are a little different on the Elements version.  I finally figured out a way to do this...

I wanted a way to put focus on our daughter Hope up on the stage during the Children's live nativity scene during the Christmas Eve service.  I am actually amazed it turned out as good as it did.  The photo quality was not great to begin with because it was taken on Joe's i-phone.

Well, time to get Hope to bed.  Goodnight!

Darla

Fancy Nancy Tea Party!

Hope hosted a tea party for the neighbor girls.  We prepared chocolate dipped strawberries and tea (aka water).

Here are the Fancy Nancy party attendants:  Anna, Alyssa and Hope.  They had a lot of FUN!

They loved the strawberries.  They were pretty good!  I had to taste test them too.

They played for a while and then went to Anna and Alyssa's house to do an art project.  Speaking of being creative...

Here is a picture of my scrapbook desk right now.  I am deep in the creative process of a Christmas project for The Scrappy Gourmet.  If you look closely you can see a few of the pages I have done so far.  :)  I am a very messy scrapbooker.

Also, if you look out the window it is very cold and rainy out today, so it is a great day to get some work done inside.

Have a great night!

Darla

Over 100 Posts!

Wow, I have really picked up speed this year on my blog posts.  :)  I guess having a better computer helps with the process.  Anyway, this is actually my 102nd post to my blog, so I missed the BIG one!  Oh well.  Yeah ME!

We have a busy weekend ahead of us.  We are still waiting for Joe's new car, but there is a chance they might call tomorrow.  Keeping our fingers crossed.

I also won concert tickets from a local radio station for a small venue concert with Jason Brown (local Country singer) and Phil Vassar.  I think it is going to be a really great show, and it was FREE!  :)  This was the first time ever I have won something major from a radio station.  It was kind of fun.  Now, keep your fingers crossed that when Carrie Underwood comes to town in December that I can win again!!!!!  The Eagles are also coming to town, but heard the tickets for the Hy-Vee suite were $135 each.  Yikes!  We passed on those.

Today was picture day at school.  Hope looked so cute.  I hope she smiled at school better than she did this morning for Joe when he took these pictures.  :)

Anyway, on to some scrappiness...

This card base is actually one of the journal book pages folded in half.  I used a coordinating paper to cover the center markings.  I threaded silk ribbon through clear buttons and added a sentiment.  Really easy!

I had actually used up most of the papers I had from the Fancy Pants line, but still had some misc. journal pages and scraps left.  I will share a few more I put together another time.

It is time to head off to bed!

Goodnight!

Darla

Flip Notes...

Here are a few more cards I created recently.  I love how easy these cards were just by adding a Pink Paislee flip note.

I am keeping this short tonight, because I need to get back to working on my Christmas project.  I will try and share more soon!

Goodnight!

Darla

Monday play date!

Well, Hope is off on a play date for an hour (or longer if it is pouring down rain when she is supposed to come home), so I thought I would take the time to post a card I made.

I actually made several cards from some Pink Paislee goodies I bought a while back.  I had a need for a sympathy card, and I thought these papers were so subtle for Sympathy cards.  And this card was really easy using a flip note and two scraps to make the card front.  The only other thing I did was add a rub-on.  

On to other silly stuff...

I mentioned the other day, that Hope had fun playing with a bucket of worms she dug up while I was planting some fall mums.  Who knew worms could be so FUN!

Anyway, she was pulling each one out of the bucket and telling me their names:  Daisy, Tom, Daisy Junior, etc.  I was just cracking up, especially at the Daisy Junior name.  She used to have several Fisher Price babies that were all almost alike, and the first one she name Baby (original right?).  Then as she got more of these similar babies, she would name the next one Baby Junior and Baby Junior Junior, etc.  Too Funny!

Then she was putting them all over herself and giggling because they were tickling her as they wiggled around.

Eventually, she decided to put one on my leg too.  Luckily, I am ok with worms.

Then, later in the day, she had the twins and the neighbor girl helping her find more worms in her secret hiding spots under the walking tiles in the back yard.  They had a lot of fun.

Alright, that is all I have for tonight.  If you haven't checked it out lately, go to The Scrappy Gourmet for all the latest products from your favorite companies.  I just ordered a LOT of the Pink Paislee stuff.  I can't wait to play with it.  

Darla

A house divided...

Today is the Iowa/Iowa State football game and I always root for the Iowa State Cyclones, but Joe and Hope always root for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

We got this cheer outfit from a friend of ours, so of course she had to wear it today.

Tonight, we will all be rooting for the same team...my UNI Panthers play tonight and they are even going to be on TV.  Yeah!

We drove up to Ankeny this morning to check on Joe's new car and it looks like it will be here on Monday.  YEAH!  They will do their internal inspection and get it all programmed.  Then hopefully Joe can pick it up on Wednesday on his day off.  

And since we were in Ankeny, I got to visit one of my favorite scrapbook stores, Memory Bound.  They had lots of new things that I picked up, but I had to walk away from the MME Lost & Found display.  They didn't have the entire line.  That was very difficult because I want to buy it all, but I am waiting for the ENTIRE line to come in at The Scrappy Gourmet.  Oh I hope it gets delivered soon!  :)

Speaking of MME product, I have been working with the Holly Jolly line this week on a project for TSG.  It is a Christmas mini album.  It is in the very early stages, but I have lots of ideas I want to put in it.  

Well, I better go get ready for the game!  Go Cyclones!!!!

Darla   

Meals from the Heartland

What a way to start Labor Day weekend!  On Saturday morning, Joe and I had the opportunity to volunteer for Meals from the Heartland to package food packets for starving people all over the world.  Most of the meals we made today will be shipped to Haiti and Africa, but some will also stay here in the States too.

Before we got started we checked in and watched a short video of how to prepare the meal packets.  They had examples of a village in Haiti of the living conditions, tents, etc. and lots of photos from the devastation from the earthquake.  It was very emotional.  Then we got sanitized and fitted with hair nets and aprons, etc.  Then we each took a station and started our work for 2 hours.

We volunteered with a group from Hy-Vee, which is Joe's employer.  We had a lot of fun.  Here I am with Josh, the son of one of the Hy-Vee employees.  We were a pretty good team sealing the bags, stacking them up and then loading them into the boxes.

I think we completed about 10 boxes, which will feed approximately 2,160 people.

This is a view of just a small area of the tables set up to package the meals.  It was amazing, and I think i heard the surpassed what they had hoped to get done this weekend.

Here is Joe and I in our gear!  Not too flattering, but we had so much fun I can't wait to do it again next year.

Here are the statistics...

On to other activities of the weekend...

Joe's sister and her family came to visit us for the weekend.  Mike had never been to Des Moines (grew up in TN).  We made a stop out to the Bass Pro Shop.  They had a family obstacle course set up, which included being able to shoot a paintball gun.  Here is Joe and Hope waiting to get into the tent.

Here is Hope in shooting the paintball gun.  At first she didn't want to do it, but they guy ended up talking her into just pulling the trigger while the guys held the gun.  After the first shot, she got this BIG grin on her face and then she didn't want to stop until the gun was empty.

We went out to eat at Joe's Crab Shack and walked around the lake at the mall.  Then we played Farkel (a dice game) the rest of the night.

On sunday, we went to the Blank Park Zoo.  Here is Kaylee and Hope riding a camel.

Well, I am off to get Hope in the bath (after playing with worms all day).  Long story short, who knew that a bucket of worms could entertain 4 little girls (the twins, Hope and the neighbor girl) for several hours.  They also played in on the swing set too, but spent a lot of time with the worms.

I also got to spend a little time scrapbooking this weekend and I will share when I can.

Good Night!

Darla