happy halloween...

"big-da bird-a's", turtles and yodas, oh my...

seaside 10 - ocean city, md

this past weekend we headed off to ocean city maryland to do a little camping and for john to participate in the seaside 10 5k. it was only 1 short year ago that john could barely walk a mile without feeling like he would have a heart attack and here he is running 3 miles. he's worked so hard to get to this point and i couldn't be any prouder of him! john and my dad both ran the race and john finished with a time of 28:51. excellent time for his first race and the horrid weather conditions. it was pouring down rain the day/night before, morning of, during and after the race...don't even ask about the camping that weekend! ugh!

** race results are in: john finished 97 out of 262 finishing runners with a time of 28:51; dad finished 72 with a time of 27:39 - great job to both of you!! i'm so proud!**

pumpkin whoopie pies

fall is my favorite time of year. i just love all the pumpkins, mums, straw bales and corn stalk decorations and the "smell" of fall. i've never been much of baker, but found this great rachael ray recipe for pumpkin whoopie pies and thought i would share it. i haven't made them yet, but know someone that has and said they were great and lived up to the "smell" of fall! enjoy!

pumpkin whoopie pies
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, 1 stick melted,1/2 stick softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon plus 2 pinches salt
1 2/3 cups flour
4 ounces cream cheese, chilled
1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1. preheat the oven to 350°. line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. in a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. whisk in the eggs, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon vanilla, the baking powder, the baking soda and 3/4 teaspoon salt. using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour.

3. using an ice cream scoop or tablespoon, drop 12 generous mounds of batter, spaced evenly, onto each baking sheet. bake until springy to the touch, about 10 minutes. transfer to a rack to cool completely.

4. meanwhile, using an electric mixer, cream the softened butter with the cream cheese. add the confectioner's sugar and the remaining 2 pinches salt and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; mix on low speed until blended, then beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

5. spread the flat side of 12 cakes with the cream cheese frosting. top each with another cake.

into the woods...and off to the lodge

ok, so not too bad...it's the first weekend in october and we've finally taken our first...yes, first...camping trip of the "season" (if you can really call it that anymore). it was also our first camping trip in the new trailer since upgrading from our pop-up. we had decent weather...a little too warm for our nice fall trip we had planned - it ended up being more like summer. we were able to head over to weaver's orchards to do the hayride to pick our own pumpkins and tony seemed to really enjoy it and the other activities during the fall festival. corinne, david and harrison joined us for the afternoon at the orchard and then back to the campground for the evening where we were joined by sue and luis (and wolf too!). tony's girlfriend abby joined us for the evening while her mommy and daddy enjoyed a night out. saturday morning tony and john woke up and did their yoga stretching - he is really a monkey-see-monkey-doer!!! enjoy the glimpse into the weekend!

on sunday evening we attended a cocktail reception hosted by my dad as president of the atlantic seed association. it was held at the hershey lodge and the hor d'ouveres and drinks were great! we went back to my parents suite then where we had a mini photo session with anthony and harrison on my parents king-size bed. harry looked even tinier than he is when laying on that bed. it was a very nice evening.

wow - where has the time gone?

i can't believe that it's been over a month since i last posted. time surely flies when you live a blessed life! we have been so busy these last few weeks i am actually just now getting a chance to sit down and collect my thoughts! i actually need to back up quite a bit to the beginning of august as i missed a post about our annual trip to knoebel's amusement park with my cousins jack and sam. although we had to alter our plans from a weekend long trip to a day trip (couldn't get a camp site), we made the trek and all had a great time. we were again fortunate enough to have our friends the lutz's join us too. here are a few pictures of the boys enjoying the day. oh, and a big thank you to jack, sam and ethan for stuffing themselves into the kiddie rides so tony was able to go...should be the last year they have to do that - it was just cutting it a little close yet this year.



ok, that finished off august and now moving onto september...also known as busy month of birthdays for our family. mom, dad, 2 aunts, 2 cousins and a grandmother all in one month...oh and speaking of birthday's, my oldest and best friend shannon gave birth to her first child, a healthy (and very handsome) little boy, troy michael at 11:17 a.m. on 9/16 (my dad's birthday actually). he weighed in at 7 lbs. and 19 in. long on the nose. corinne, shannon and i were able to get the 3 boys together for a bit one afternoon i was off (these lucky ladies are still enjoying time off on maternity leave - you can tell by the size of my guy, it's been a while since those days for me!!)




rounding out the month of september was my friend liz and dan's wedding this past weekend. i was the prelude pianist and must say i didn't do too bad of a job...let's just say anyone that knows me knows that if i think i did terrible (even if i didn't) i end up in tears...and there were no tears from me after playing so it must have been half decent. we had a blast at the wedding and rounded out the evening that the ovi (unfortunately it wasn't karaoke night, so i was a little bummed...guess i'll just have to go back again). i'll try to post some pics of the wedding once we get them off of the other camera. in the mean time here are just a few additional pics of anthony and harrison that were on my camera. enjoy...and i promise to get back on track with this!!