Pumpkin Party

Every year my Mom and Dad

host a Pumpkin Party

for the kids and grand kids!

Over the past few years,

we have combined

a trip to the local pumpkin patch

and

a fall leaf raking, bonfire party

into one fun filled

Pumpkin Party!

Mom will prebuy big pumpkins

and use those to decorate her porch.

To make it fair we have the kids pick a number

from a bowl...

Then one at a time they get to pick their pumpkins!

Zac (my son)

Kee (my nephew)

Bennett (my nephew)

Jamie (my niece)

Jon Mark (my nephew)

Haly (my niece)
and

Madison(my daughter)!

While Nona (above)

and

Mom Mom watched on...

the kids

carved pumpkins!

As the kids get older,

they take over the carving.

Happy to report, no one lost a finger

to a wayward knife!

Love the finished pumpkins!

Of course, Mom made plenty of yummy food!

A festive birthday cake for Nona...

candy corn and pumpkin gumballs

( a big hit!)

Pumpkin cookies...

homemade Carmel corn

and...

making for so mores!

And those were just the desserts!

For dinner we had sloppy joes, hot dogs,

brats and pumpkin pasta!

Dad and Mom even made a fire pit for roasting

the marshmallows!

We all celebrated Nona's birthday!

Blowing out the candles...

with a little "help"!

The boys talked Grandpa into getting

out his pellet air riffle

for some target practice!

Even Grandpa got into the act!

I am linking to

Simple Pleasures over at

A Collection of This and That.
Please be sure to stop over by Dayle's
and check out all the simple pleasures!

My simple pleasure is
 time spent with my family.

I am blessed to still have two grandmas,

my mom and dad,

my sister, her husband and 5 kids

and Wayne and my kids.

We all live in the same 6 mile area.

Cousins are friends!

We are each other's support and

love is always in the house!

Happy Thursday!

All In All, It's Just Another Brick In The Wall

Our back splash is done!

More importantly,

our kitchen is now done!

If you remember back this is where we started from:

Knowing that we were changing the counters

from laminate to granite,

we set to work lowering our counter

from bar height to counter height.

Wayne removed the counter and

the granite was installed!

After several nights hanging out in our

local home improvement stores

we chose a tumbled marble subway tile

and

Wayne went to work installing every piece!

Then we grouted and ...

wiped the tile clean!

Wayne finished up the project with matching caulk!

Ending up with our finished wall!

Can you find my painting project in this photo?

I decided to try and save us some $,

and painted each builder grade switch plate to match the tile!

We think it turned out great...

plus it saved us $!

I am link up to

Metamorphosis Monday

at Between Naps On the Porch!

A big thank you to Susan our wonderful host!

Tabletop Tuesday at Mom's

Three mornings a week I get to spend at Mom's house

helping to care for my dear grandmother, Nona!

This also means I get to enjoy all of Mom's

seasonal decorating!

Today I am joining Marty over at

A Stroll thru Life

for Table Top Tuesday.

Mom is all ready for fall!

She has plenty of pumpkins!

A seasonal reminder to "Give Thanks"!

She is even ready for all her grand kids too with

a bowl of candy corn and jack-o-lantern gum balls!

Every year Mom and Dad host a Pumpkin Party

for the grand kids!

Look at the pasta she found to make for the party!

Thank you for joining me today for a tour

of Mom's kitchen side table!

Have a wonderful day!

A "Marathon" Roadtrip

This weekend Wayne and I took off to Columbus, Ohio

for the Nationwide Columbus Marathon!

No, I don't run,

my husband, Wayne is the runner!

This was his 4th full marathon

and I've lost count of how many 1/2 marathons

he has run over the past few years!

Three other couples from our Community Class

 (think adult Sunday school) at church joined

us for the race!

Here is Wayne rounding the final corner to

the finish line!

(He is in white!)

We are so proud of him...

he beat his personal best

and finished the race in 3 hours and 57 minutes!

Actually, all four guys finished the race

under 4 hours, either beating personal best

or creating one for our first timer!

All their hard work and training paid off!

God provided wonderful weather for both

the runners and those of us who

came to cheer them on!

Congratulations Wayne!

Backsplash

Look what Wayne's been up to!

More to come....!



First Dance

Last Saturday Zac attended his first highschool

Homecoming Dance!

It is hard to believe my son is 15 1/2.

At 15 the 1/2 is important...

 think temps!

He ended up having a wonderful night!