Autumn is in the Air!

Autumn is in it's full, glorious, brisk, colorful, smokey, cozy swing of things!

We enjoyed an out-of-the-ordinary weekend with our wonderful friends, Chris & Doreen Hughes from Massachusetts (a former Coast Guard mate of Curt's and the namesake of our son). It was fun playing tourist with them, taking in this season while strolling around Kitchen Kettle and the streets of Lititz. The children did surprisingly well without their normal nap and we meandered about without any stressful moments of simultaneous crying (that's what gets to me the very most. I have such a severely short tolerance for crying...especially when there is three cries in unison. My melancholy husband views it as 'music' that we'll wish for in years to come. My view of it is not quite that romantic). I have added a few pictures below of our fun times....

Annie sitting outside of Sadie's Bake Shop (an establishment filled to the brim with buttery pastries and homemade pies made by the gifted hands of Amish ladies...Sadie being one of them). I thought these little colorful pumpkins with warts abounding had a certain charm about them...so I plopped my daughter in the middle of them and took a picture. I think she's cuter.

Again at Sadie's Bakery, Christopher and Annie could not get enough of their two gentle Golden Retrievers. They were great dogs...I even asked if one of them were available for us to take home (they seemed shorter haired than most, and if you could have heard the joyous shrieks coming from the children, you would understand. I love and trust Goldens around my children, I just do not love their hair)

Group picture outside of Wilbur Chocolate. While the rest went inside to absorb (and purchase) large amounts of decadent chocolate, I took the cumbersome double stroller and went to adjoining park (not a problem, as I'm not a huge chocolate lover)....
...where these two were enraptured by the various and sundry Mallards roaming the grounds. Being the last of the big spenders I am, I spent .75 for duck pellets and allowed them to feed their new little web-footed friends to their hearts content. This is not a truck one sees every day. Thankfully, our brood can answer a resounding "NO!" to the question posed. Of course, we aren't dogs, but we are regular, and we can be thankful for that I suppose. Even when diaper duty is the most disgusting duty on my list. But, I digress. I'm sure you really did not need to know any of this.

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Here is a little snapshot into our mornings:

Cuddling (usually with me) under the quilt made by a very dear lady by the name of Liz (who so sweetly created it in honor of our little Hope living out her childhood in Heaven). They wake up any time between 6-7am, and not always at the same time. Usually, Christopher and I start out under the quilt and the eventually the girls join us. It is one of my very favorite times in my day. (the others are nap and bed times. No offense, children!)

The two eldest enjoy their beverages along with a banana (of which I usually find gloopy gumps of it in the folds of the quilt when I go to fold it up).

My sweet, sweet Mackenzie enjoying her new swing which was given to her as a (wonderful!!!!) baby gift. It's a great solution to not knowing where to put her as to keep her safe from her elder siblings. A plus is that is plugs in, so we do not need to spend a small fortune on batteries. She is becoming increasingly alert. I love her. She is my current favorite. But don't tell anyone. :)

That's all for now, folks! I hope you are enjoying this beautiful time of year. Thank you for caring enough about this little family to check in on us! If you have a little place on the Internet I do not know about, PLEASE let me know! I'd love to drop by myself!