Coming and Going

In a matter of a few hours, bags will be coming and going in the Tillery household. Nana is coming to stay with Seth and they are going to have lots of fun. I am heading to Lexington, KY for the KRA Reading Conference where I will be very busy working the registration desk, facilitating sessions, attending meetings, and most excitingly meeting authors. :) Bryan is heading to Louisville, KY for the Professional Engineering Exam (aka the BIGGEST TEST OF HIS LIFE)! Bryan took the week off from work and has been studying like crazy, literally from the time the public library opens until it closes. So please say a prayer for Bryan tomorrow as he is trying to solve crazy hard engineering problems on a very long and tedious test. By Saturday evening we should all be back together again. So see you on the Internet then. :)

The Pumpkin Patch Parable

After we picked out the perfect pumpkin, we thought it would be fun to do some carving. We thought we would do a little reading first to help us. If you aren't familiar with The Pumpkin Patch Parable, it is a cute story about how a farmer grows a pumpkin and how he turns it into a glowing, glorious sight for everyone to see. On each page it provides a Bible verse to parallel the story of carving a pumpkin to the story of our lives being made clean because of Christ's ultimate sacrifice.

Just like the farmer we washed our perfect pumpkin.

Next we prepared for the messy part.

We cut a circle around the stem.
Seth learned how to gently pull the stem with a little help from daddy.

The farmer looked inside at all the stringy pulp, so we thought we would, too.

We scooped out all the seeds and slimy pulp.

Then instead of carving a smiling face like the farmer did, we decided to carve a message on ours. We thought "HOME, SWEET, HOME" would be perfect. We placed our pumpkin on our porch for everyone to see.

And just like our glowing pumpkin, we learned that we "... should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do. Live so that they will praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16.

Picking out the Perfect Pumpkin

Today we returned to The Garden Patch to pick out our family's pumpkin. We usually carve one pumpkin each autumn season that we usually keep on our front porch until Thanksgiving. So with the company of friends, we were off to pick out the perfect pumpkin...

We giggled and danced and looked at all sorts of pumpkins.

The kids posed in various places all around the farm.

We had to have a picture with daddy and mommy,
but of course that wasn't as fun, thus the serious face.

Seth played with some leaves...

and admired his pretty friend.

Because after all, how can you resist falling in love with this beautiful girl.

Finally, after an extensive search, we found the
perfect pumpkin and we were all very happy!

Local Bounty: Sprite Melon

I am not sure why new foods excite me so much, but when I went to the farmer's market the other day, I picked up a melon that I had never seen or heard of before. This yellow melon is called a Sprite melon (or so I was told by the local farmer). While it does not taste much like Sprite, it is very sweet and similar to a cantaloupe. The texture is similar to a pear though. I was told to remove the skin and scoop out the seeds before eating it. So that is exactly what I did. It was a fun new food to try!

Fall Photos

Posted by Bryan.

Yesterday I was lamenting the fact that I won't have time this fall to go somewhere "scenic" to take Fall photographs. I would love to go to the Mammoth Cave area or somewhere like that, spend the day shooting, and hopefully get some great shots. But then I thought, wait, does Autumn only occur in National Parks? Are the leaves not changing right outside my window? So I decided to try and take some good Fall photos in my own neighborhood. I'm not sure if I succeeded or not, but here's what I got (click for larger).

Pumpkin Cake Pops

Candy coated cake on a lollipop stick. Brilliant!!! When my Cake Pops cookbook arrived earlier this week I knew I immediately wanted to try making the pumpkin cake pops. After reading and learning about cake pops from Bakerella for a while now, I felt confident that I could make these edible creations. I added my own special touch to a few by adding some sparkly sprinkles that I found in the Target dollar bin. I opted to leave the jack-'o-lantern faces off. I just loved the plain pumpkins. Although they did take a while to make, they were super simple. I have a little tweaking to do on my tapping technique to produce a smoother finish, but I think they turned out nicely for my first time making cake pops.

I can't wait to make turkeys in the next few weeks.

The Garden Patch

This morning Seth and I, along with our friends Carmella and Jaynie Beth, headed north to Smiths Grove to visit The Garden Patch and Pelly's Farm Fresh Market. What a hidden treasure! There were so many pumpkins, gourds, flowers, and animals everywhere!

We loved looking at the roosters and chickens wandering around.

The goats were very anxious to come up and greet us.
A big school group had just finished feeding them so we skipped that this time.

The cows were super fun to pet.

We enjoyed some time checking out all the goodies and antiques at the market,
and of course we had to take a few photos.

We looked at dried gourds...

and then got to see lots of varieties of pumpkins.
These blue pumpkins were beautiful.

We also went through the hay maze before snapping these shots...

It was a great end to a wonderfully, fun morning!

The Free Swing Set

Bryan and I discussed getting Seth a swing set as he was approaching his first birthday. We talked ourselves out of it when we thought of the money we would be investing in something that was a million times nicer right down the street at the local park. We love the parks and we also love the social opportunities they provide. So we opted for a wagon instead and we felt good about our decision to not invest in a swing set.
While we were enjoying our fiesta outside the other night, Bryan asked if I would like to have a free swing set if we would go get it from his boss' house. Not really knowing what it looked like, the condition it was in, or really anything about it for that matter, I kind of hesitated a little. I mean we had just decided a couple of months ago we would just go to the park if we wanted to play. Since it was being offered to us though we decided to drive out to look at it, and boy, was I shocked to see what we would be getting! This wasn't just a swing set, it was a huge wooden structure that would usually cost lots and lots of money. We were getting it for FREE! Bryan's boss' kids are too big to play on it and he hates mowing around it so all we had to do was go pick it up. That was easier said than done, but after a weekend of disassembling, moving, and then reassembling, we have it in our backyard and we just feel so blessed. We will still be going to the park, but this generous gift will be sure to provide lots and lots of hours of play, too.

The structure has a spiral slide, two swings, a seesaw, a climbing rope, rock climbing wall, and a play area on top, and what looks to be like a little picnic table/climbing area underneath the upper level.

Seth on the SeeSaw

Playing Up High

Trying to figure out the Climbing Rope

Climbing with Daddy's help
Sliding
Playing Peek-a-boo on the Slide

Read for the Record: The Snowy Day

It is an annual tradition to dress up for Read for the Record Day. The book chosen for this year's challenge to set a new world record was The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. We decided to break out our winter hat and mittens for our special story time. Seth was a hoot! He just kept staring at the mittens. I think he was trying to figure out what in the world they were.

Of course, he had to read The Snowy Day by himself, too.
(Notice the book is upside down.)

We were happy to do our part in setting a new world record!