Recuperating with cousins

Tonito had surgery on Monday, and so his best buddies and cousins came to cheer him up! They were a GREAT distraction and we really appreciate their visit! We played with cars and toys, and then did some pumpkin painting. For lunch we made mini-pizzas, and then it was time for naps.

There is nothing like cousins to brighten the day and mood!! Thank you Sam and Nate for coming over!! We *love* playing with you so much!!!!

Pumpkins!

Having fun with Grandma and Grandpa at a fall farm/pumpkin fest. My favorite parts: jumping down the blow-up slide with the whole family, watching the kids on the pony rides, and seeing their expressions holding baby chicks!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Julie's wedding!

We took 2 days to drive up to Chicago- and we got to visit with Drew and family for dinner along the way! It was the usual DVD after DVD, snack food and drinks (and then rest areas and pit stops). We made it to St. Louis for the night, and so the 2nd day was much shorter. It felt so good to be home!!

Thursday night was the wedding rehearsal, and then Friday was the wedding. Since I was a bridesmaid I didn't have a chance to take too many pictures, but here are some photos of the fun. The cheeseburgers at midnight were due to the reception being at the McDonald's headquarters/Hyatt:

Adventures in the Bayou

When my brother and sister were little (and I was 15 years older) they used to beg me to take them on "adventures"- it would qualify as an "adventure" if we wore old clothes and got very muddy observing and collecting things in nature. I was (willingly:) carrying on the tradition today when we walked down by the bayou after a heavy rain and collected things washed up into the grass: shells, worms, bugs, seed pods, and a huge snail. Tonio told us that it was a snail that should be living in the water, so since it was still alive I ran back and threw it in the bayou after we snapped the picture (ie no animals were harmed during this blog post!).

Soccer/ Futbol!!!!!

Coach Tonio and team!!!!! There is nothing cuter than watching your husband coach your kids:).

Pumpkin Patch

This is how a pumpkin patch should be- we rode out to the field where the pumpkins were growing, and picked one out!

I think it was the first time to a fall festival/farm where 1) we went out into the fields, and 2) were very hot and wearing sunscreen.

Maya kept holding her "bebe pumpkin" and kissing it.

Back in the farm area, there were pumpkins, games, a park, little rides...

Swinging into the haystacks...

We even got to learn how to milk a cow, which was curiously appropriate since we had just studied dairy products:). I was asking the dairy farmer if there were any dairy farms that allowed tours, and he told me that since 9/11 people are not allowed to visit dairy farms for fear of terrorism/contamination. So there is no way for kids to see "milking" in action. I feel like we are so far removed from where our food comes from, by the time it is processed and transported halfway around the world. I remember when we lived in London and there was a big study interviewing school-aged kids about identifying vegetables- most kids ate 0-5 veggies per WEEK and couldn't identify half of them. They didn't know what potato chips or pizza was made of, couldn't tell you what was from a plant or animal, etc. It was incredible, but then believable at the same time when you look at what is served in school cafeterias. When I worked as a high school teacher I cannot tell you how many times I saw kids eating a huge serving of fries and a king-sized candy bar for lunch (day after day after day). So at least we are trying to eliminate partially hydrogenated oils/trans fat, high fructose corn syrup, eat less salt and cholesterol (oops, except the homemade butter), etc, etc. At least being more cognizant of what we're ingesting and where it is coming from!

It was really cool to learn about the cow-milking. Who knew brown cows make more milk than the black and white speckled ones? This one can make up to 6 gallons/day! It was a really fun day- much better than if we had spent the day unpacking ;).

Making butter

Since we were learning about where food comes from, we made yogurt and butter! Yogurt is very easy- boil the milk, let it sit for 30 minutes covered, then stir in a bit of plain yogurt and let the bacteria do its work. Wrap up the pot in towels and place in a warm place (we put it in the microwave- NOT on). The only "problem" with yogurt is that it takes a while (we leave it overnight), so the need for instant gratification in kids is not satisfied! But I looked on-line and found out that in only 20 minutes you can make butter-- all you need is some heavy whipping cream and a tightly closed container. I turned on some music for the kids to dance to (while shaking/churning) and they all disappeared immediately to their rooms. Apparently they are trained to "dress-up" for our routine dance party, and since they heard the music, they couldn't dance without their princess and spiderman costumes! So funny. So they came down and we danced to Madagascar's "Move it, Move it," Lightning McQueen's "Life is a Highway," and a couple other favorites, all while shaking the cream. Magically, in 20 minutes of jumping and craziness, we opened the container and had butter! It separates from the whey (watery substance), and spreads easily on our homemade bread. It was so exciting for them!!!! They wanted to eat the butter with a spoon, but I decided we had enough artery-clogging fun for one day:).