Getting Ready for Ski Season!!

We went to Ski Liberty on Sunday and had so much fun! The boys got their photos taken for their season passes and they are ready to go! Every year around this time they have a Fall Festival where you can pick up your season passes and they provide free activities for the kids and a BBQ. They also had a ski swap where we picked up a helmet for James.

The boys had lots of fun decorating pumpkins and making a scarecrow, which turned out to be great decorations for our front door. They also had the ski lift open so we all rode up and then walked down. We had a great day!!

We first took Charlie skiing when he was 2 yrs. old. He didn't really do much the first time other than walk around in his boots and lay in t he snow, but it helped him get familiar with the whole environment. Last year he really enjoyed skiing and looked forward to going each weekend! For a 4 year old he did great! James did a bit of skiing too.

Here are some videos from last year. The first one is of Charlie skiing the moguls, the second on is James skiing when he was 2 and the last one is of the big boy (hubby) road skiing in our neighborhood during Snowmaggedon:

Our First Hike of October & Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Fall is my favorite season. Yesterday I couldn't wait to get outside and go for a hike. It's always fun and interesting to go hiking with four boys (one big one, three little ones)! We decided to hike to Chimney Rock in the Catoctin Mountain State Park, near Thurmont, MD. From where we started it was a 1.1 hike up to the top. The boys did great hiking. The youngest rode in the carrier on our backs. Here are some photos from yesterday's hike.
This is the beautiful view from the top of Chimney Rock.

My little mountain men got hot and decided to take off their shirts...this photo was taken right before they both decided to pull down their pants and pee in the forest...what can I say, they had to go. Fortunately for us there were no other hikers on the trail at them time. We just laughed!

This is my little trail runner.

Can you tell we're all saying "Cheese" for the picture? Even the baby!

My Angels...

I made some pumpkin muffins on Saturday and thought they turned out well. Charlie even liked them and he's a picky eater!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
(Adapted from Ellie Krieger)

Ingredients
Cooking spray
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1-2 tablespoons flax seed meal
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons molasses
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk

Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini-Morsels

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and wheat flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and flax seed meal.

In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, molasses, oil and 1 egg until combined. Add the other egg and whisk well. Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined. Fold in the chocolate mini morsels.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack. (Serves 12 muffins)

Wordless Wednesday

Summer Fun

The boys got their summer haircuts from Dad! We plan on being outside a lot this summer and there are lots of ticks! that's the main reason that we cut their hair so short. Charlie got a tick last summer and it was horrible. We've been spending time at the parks near our house and the boys always have fun on the swings!


On Sunday we went to Volcano Island Waterpark at Algonkian Regional Park. The boys had a blast! If you look closely at the first picture you can see Mike on the far left holding both James & Charlie, waiting to get dumped on by that big bucket of water!!

On Saturday we went to the National Air and space Museum which was really cool. The boys have actually been there loads of times with their grandparents, but I had never been there. There were so many different things to see.

Here's a photo of the boys waiting to go up to the Observation Tower. Can you believe that's the 2 year old on the far left and then the 4 year old? They're almost the same height!! Obviously, the 2 year old takes after his daddy, who is 6'1 and the 4 year old takes after me...I'm 5'1.

Outnumbered!

Yesterday felt like one of the longest days I've had in a long time! I definitely felt outnumbered. The day started out pretty good. Daddy took the older boys to the park for a couple of hours to run around. I think things started to go downhill after lunch time. I came downstairs and wondered why the kitchen floor felt sticky and found out it was because the 2 year old had dropped his lemonade all over it. This is also around the time that the boys started fighting and the 2 year old bit the 4 year old twice...this is, unfortunately, something he learned from daycare. I eventually talked the boys into sitting together and building with blocks. We had a nice time making towers and pyramids. The peace and quiet lasted until dinner time. I ended up giving the 2 year old a time out for throwing food and his spoon on the floor. The 4 year old got a time out for saying "Poopy Head" and "You Stink" to James after I warned him not to say those words at the dinner table. Finally, we finished dinner and I went into the other room to change the baby's diaper. When I came out of the room and into the kitchen I noticed that the 2 year old had dumped the entire box of Nestle chocolate powder all over the kitchen floor! When the 4 year old saw this he was so excited (he loves chocolate) that he ran over and scooped a pile up in his hands and shoved it in his mouth, saying "Mmmm". At this point I'm at a loss...I have two boys with sticky chocolate powder all over their faces, hands and feet running into the living room tracking it on the carpet, dirty dishes, a filthy kitchen floor, clothes in the dryer and clothes in the washer. I decided to quickly clean up the chocolate powder then to go and play with the boys to keep them occupied and out of trouble!

Needless to say when bedtime came around I was happy. With the boys in bed I was able to wash the dishes, mop the floor, finish the laundry and do some ironing...and then sit down and relax for an hour before going to bed. The baby, of course, had other plans and decided to wake up an hour after I fell asleep!

Boys! you gotta love 'em!