There were probably at least 987,234,122,222 Elsa’s this Halloween.  Here were 3 of the prettiest walking in Princess’ school Halloween parade.

Happy Halloween!

The Dumpling Mama xo

This past weekend we went with friends to a Pumpkinfest at Camp Mohawk.  Camp Mohawk is a popular summer camp and preschool in Westchester with everything from roller skating to horse back riding to zip lines.   The girls spotted a Frozen inflatable and insisted this was the first thing they wanted to go in.

The went around and around for 5 minutes like maniacs.

Next was the obstacle course with the high slippery slide.  No matter how you started at the top of the slide, you always ended up head first at the bottom.

Baby held hands with her friend T while standing in line for the inflatable obstacle course.  T’s mom and I are hoping one of her 3 boys and my 2 girls will marry one day.  I will make sure to show this picture at their wedding.

Baby walked up the wall of the obstacle course.  She was the littlest one in line.

But had the best time.

While Baby was on the inflatable obstacle course, Princess was on line for Cliff Hanger.  This slide was so steep.  Half of the children walked up and back down because they were scared.  At the top, there were ropes to hold on before you slide down.  Princess usually loves this kind of stuff and she even said she wouldn’t go on it again.

After the inflatables, the girls played spin-the-wheel for a prize.  Since the line was short, they played a few times and the game attendants let them pick whatever they wanted.

The girls went into the “pumpkin patch” and picked a pumpkin.  I tried to encourage them to pick a small pumpkin since they wouldn’t be the ones carrying it.

Next, onto basketball.  Princess made a lot of baskets.

Baby was able to at least throw the ball and get Grouchy Husband to smile.

We ate churros while standing in line for balloons.  It was a windy day so we lost a couple but thankfully the line was short and we were able to replace them quickly without any tears.

We ended the day with ice cream.

And a group shot with the scarecrows and pumpkins.

The girls had a great time!  I was exhausted after only a few hours of inflatables, games, and fresh air!

Happy Autumn,
The Dumpling Mama xo

Last weekend we made our annual trip to go apple picking.  I grew up in Upstate New York and apple picking was part of my childhood and something I absolutely want to do with my children.  We usually try to go Upstate to the home I grew up in and pick apples at Bowman’s, my favorite orchard, but the last couple of years it’s been hard to make the trip with the girl’s busy schedule.  This year we went with good friends to Orchards of Concklin in Pomona, NY.

We picked red and golden delicious apples.  The kids really got into picking.  They jumped to pick apples.

We rented long sticks with baskets at the ends so they could pick apples at the top of the tree.

Here were the “Dads”.  Don’t they fit right into the orchard with the Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and iPhone!?

This was the youngest apple picker in the group.  It was hard for him to smile because he was a little under the weather.

This was our apple sorting station.  I had a peeler, knife, and wet towel to taste test the apples.  I made sure we only took home the best looking apples with their stem.  The attached stem helps the apples stay fresh longer.  Any apple left behind would be picked up by the orchard and made into apple cider.

Here was the apple picking crew.  As you can see, we had all experience levels and heights.  Of course the mom of these three boys is a good friend, look at how well she dresses them!

I let the 2 oldest children use the camera to take our picture.  They did a really good job!

The orchard was on a hill.  Going down was not bad.  Coming up with all our apples was a different story.

The fun continued after apple picking…

We enjoyed apple cider and donuts from the store at the orchard.

The kids raced each other while waiting for the inflatable play area to open.

Then they had a blast riding all of the rides and slides.  There was an inflatable haunted house all of the kids were excited to go into.  The concept of an inflatable haunted house is weird but apparently it was smokey and had more inflatable stuff inside.  While waiting for the kids, we see a zipper in the middle of the house open up and Baby and Princess come out.  Baby was scared inside and started crying and all of the kids helped her find the emergency exit (zipper) to get out.  Picturing all of the kids coming together to help her…I love this story.

After all of the orchard fun, we headed closer to home to a brick oven pizza place for lunch.  It was my good friend, J’s,  birthday a couple days before so we celebrated with pizza and white sangria.

Cheers to apple picking, good friends, birthdays, and emergency exit zippers,
The Dumpling Mama xo

This past weekend Grouchy Husband and I took the girls to their first baseball game.  My sister-in-law and brother-in-law coordinated the outing with my sister-in-law’s sister-in-law’s family (haha…make sense!).  Grouchy Husband and I aren’t big sports fans and would not have gone on our own so it was nice to share this experience with family.  The girls were really excited because they didn’t know what to expect.  We took a short train ride to the stadium.  The girls love the train so that made the experience even more exciting.

Our tickets included a BBQ lunch.  Of course, both girls insisted on sitting next to my sister-in-law.

Ice cream was the highlight of the BBQ.

At the very very few sporting events I’ve been at, I’ve always wanted a foam finger.  All of the kids got one.  I was a little envious but now I can borrow theirs.  Baby looked so funny with the huge foam finger on her hand!

After the BBQ lunch, we watched the game.  I was told we were sitting in a prime location for home runs.  My brother-in-law (to the right of me) grew up playing baseball and was so excited to catch a ball.  I saw how hard they hit the ball and felt bad sitting next to him hoping a ball didn’t come near me.

Oh, did I mention we were going to a Yankee game?  Could you tell from all of the blue and white, pinstripes, etc in the crowd?

My sister-in-law is 7 months pregnant and looks amazing!  I don’t remember being pregnant but I think God does that on purpose so you’ll do it again.

My sister and brother-in-law chose this game to attend because it was one of Derek Jeter’s, one of the best players on the Yankees, last games before he goes into retirement.  You could tell the crowd was there to support and celebrate him.  It was awesome.
The girls had fun at the game.  They were in great company, ate a lot of snacks, and saw the crowd go wild when the players hit home runs.

We left after the 7th inning and had some time before the train came so we went to the playground.  Do you see the watch dog in the picture?  While I appreciate him protecting the kids, I had to tell Grouchy Husband to move out of the picture if he wasn’t going to smile.

Thankfully, he decided to smile…

Family time is one of my favorite times,
The Dumpling Mama xo

Baby turned 3 this week.  She had a big birthday party back in June with her sister so we kept the celebration on her actual birthday small.  What I’ve come to realize throwing big and small celebrations for two little ones is the size of the celebration doesn’t matter to them.  Kiss, hug, a thoughtful gift, and special treat is all they need to feel extra special on their birthday.  Now that Baby is 3, she understands a birthday is a special day so she was excited for all of the little celebrations we had planned for the day.

It all started the night day before when the girls finally go their birthday present from Grouchy Husband and I.  We made an agreement that they would have a birthday party on Princess’ birthday and they would get their gift on Baby’s birthday so something fun would be happening on both days.  They could pick individual gifts or one big gift and after many tireless conversations trying to convince them to get desks, a bike, etc, they only wanted a Barbie Dream House.

I asked Grouchy Husband if he ever thought he would be buying a Barbie Dream House.  He said he always thought he would have sons and be teaching them how to ride motorcycles…haha.  It took him 2 hours to put it together and could not have done it without YouTube videos.  The girls love the the Barbie Dream House and have played with it for hours.  I never thought I would say I’m glad we bought it.

Baby celebrated with strawberry popsicles at Chinese camp.

Keeping with family tradition, she had a Carvel ice cream birthday cake.

And for the first time blew out all of the candles by herself.

Grouchy Husband brought home sparklers for the girls to celebrate the special day.

We had a wonderful day celebrating Baby’s birthday.  Now that she is 3 I don’t feel like I have a baby anymore.  In many ways it makes me sad but I am also excited to watch her grow up.

Happy Birthday Baby.  Mama loves you always.

The Dumpling Mama xo

Princess started the summer off at the town recreation camp.  She got to see her favorite friends from school, hang out with the high school student counselors all day, and eat ice cream pops every day.  This was her first year at the town camp and saying she “loved” it would be a total understatement.

At camp, Princess goes to the town pool for swim instruction and play every day.  One day the parents were invited to observe their pool time.  It was a cooler day so the girls were hesitant to get into the water.

Once they got into the water, it was time to blow bubbles and kick.

Princess was having some technical difficulties with her goggles that day.  They were way too tight and twisted.  Baby likes to go into her book bag at night and play with her stuff so I’m guessing she decided to adjust her sister’s goggle straps.

The girls take turns practicing their strokes to the swim instructors.

They practice freestyle, breast stroke…

…and back floats.  This one is a star back float.

It was too cold to stay in the water the whole time so instruction ended early.

Talk Soon,
Chrissy xo

During our annual summer trip to my parent’s house in Upstate New York, we made sure to visit Hoffman’s Playland because it will be closing in September after being in business for over 60 years.  From what my Dad has told me, Mr. Hoffman, after so many years of running the amusement park, has been unsuccessful in finding someone to take over and will be selling the land to a developer.  It’s sad to know such a magical, childhood place will no longer there after this year.  I wanted to make sure the girls remembered Hoffman’s Playland so they went 3 times over the weekend.  The first visit was with Princess’ friend from school.  Her mom grew up in Albany and they also visit Hoffman’s in the summer.  It was really fun for the girls to enjoy the time with friends from home.  The second trip was with my parents.  They were babysitting while my Grouchy Husband and I went to my brother’s event at Fasig Tipton in Saratoga.  The last visit was unplanned.  The night before with my parents, right before the park was going to close they had enough tickets to go on 2 rides.  They were going to ride the hot air balloon and then the carousel.  When they got to the carousel, the attendant said the ride was closed.  This was absolutely devastating for Baby.  She had a complete meltdown and couldn’t leave the park until every light turned off.  As you can see, the last visit was absolutely necessary.

They were allowed to choose 2 rides on their last visit and they chose the ferris wheel and hot air balloon.  I’m not quite sure why they chose the ferris wheel, no one was on the ride and there was no line.  The attendant gave them strict instructions to sit back, hold onto the bar, and no rocking.  They took him very seriously.

They sat like this the whole time.

It was a little 8-seat ferris wheel but the girls thought it went so high.  Princess said she could see my parents house from the top and they live 20 minutes away.

Now onto the hot air balloons.  This is a more popular ride so there was a little line.  The girls show off their last Hoffman’s Playland tickets.

They choose their balloon.

And swung around…

and around…

I’m so sad Hoffman’s will no longer be part of the girl’s childhood but I know their memories of this magical place will always be with them.

Goodbye Hoffman’s Playland,
The Dumpling Mama xo

We had a free Saturday and it was going to be a beautiful day so we drove 1.5 hours north to Greig Farm in Red Hook, NY to go berry picking.  We could have gone to a closer farm to pick berries but Greig Farm had goats you could feed which was totally worth the extra half hour.

We’ve gone to feed the animals at the Bronx Zoo enough times to know you need a pocket of quarters and a cup to make multiple purchases of food at one time so you don’t have to go spend time going back to the machine.  Grouchy Husband gave the girls some quick instruction and strategy to get them started.

Princess started feeding right a way.

Baby needed a little help but eventually got over her fear and then one of the goats nipped her a little and then she was back to being scared.

The farm has a Farmer’s Market on Saturdays.  I love shopping at Farmer’s Markets.

We ate lunch at the farm and these gigantic fresh pear and peach popsicles.

The girls couldn’t finish all of the frozen parts so my Grouchy Husband and I ate them.  They wanted the juice at the bottom.  Baby needed help getting the juice up the bag.

And a little bit spilled out and down her dress.  The juice was very cold!

After lunch we headed to the fields to pick raspberries and blueberries.  It is the end of raspberry season so we wandered through many empty patches.  The girls were starting to get a little disheartened.

Then we found a few bushes that had some tiny raspberries.

We didn’t end up getting that many raspberries but the girls were thrilled.

Then we headed to the blueberry patches and since it’s the beginning of the season the bushes were filled.  The bushes are short and perfect height for little people to pick.

Baby wasn’t that interested in picking, she was more interested in eating.  All I kept hearing her say to her older sister, “You want me to try this one?”  She was quality control.

Even my Grouchy Husband was picking.

I think he even enjoyed it!

We filled half the bucket, the other half is in Baby’s stomach (haha!).

I sometimes wish I lived on a farm because I love the concept of living off the land and getting food from their source.  After 1 hour of berry picking I am reminded how much work it is to be a farmer and have a renewed appreciation for them and know that I’m not ready to be a farmer yet.

Thank you to all the Farmers,
The Dumping Mama xo

I am very busy recovering from a back-to-back friend then family birthday party for the girls.  Princess turned six this weekend and even though Baby turns three in August, my Grouchy Husband and I decided to combine their birthday celebrations because summers can get so busy.  Both the friend and family celebrations were fantastic, a lot of work, but totally fantastic!

For the kiddie party, I planned out a carnival themed party where they would play games, watch a magic show, and a few other surprises.  My parents have the perfect yard for the party so we decided to host it there.  This is what it looked liked before the party.

Since this was a party for little people, I rented chairs and tables especially for them.

My brother was the executive chef for both parties and Oz, our friend and family caterer was by his side keeping him in check.  The menu for the kids was chicken fingers, mini hamburgers, tater tots, and corn.  My brother’s first job was at KFC so the recipe he used for the chicken fingers he learned while he worked there.  Here, my brother and Oz are discussing the menu and schedule while searing the burgers.

And of course we had the Dobbs Dawg House food truck serving at the party.

This picture and the rest of the pictures in this blog post were taken by Chong Oh, one of our little friend’s Dad.  He is an amazing photographer.  I had high ambition to take photos during the party while entertaining guests and managing everything.  Of course this did not happen so I am so grateful for Chong sharing his photos with me.

The party started off with carnival games.  One of the games was water balloon piñata.  It was a huge hit for the little kids…

and big kids…

There was also ring toss, corn hole, and ping pong squirt.  The kids won gold coins for winning the games that they would later turn in for prizes.  I am eternally grateful to my sister-in-law, mother-in-law and cousins for being the game attendants.  My youngest sister was in charge of facilities to make sure everything ran smoothly.  I could not have pulled off this party without them.  So blessed to have such amazing family.

After the carnival games there was a magic show with Richie from Hocus Pocus Magic Shop.

My Grouchy Husband was even part of one of the tricks.

The kids loved the show.

Jimmy’s Soft Serve ice cream truck surprised the party.

The kids loved being able to order anything they wanted.  Look at the huge strawberry milk shake Baby is drinking.

Then we sang Happy Birthday and ate cake from Lulu’s Cake Boutique.  We had a small mishap with the candles which is why you see a “2” on Princess’ cake.  One of our hello kitty candles we use on every birthday cake (kids and adults) finally ran out of wick.  It was a great candle with many many memories, the last one being not able to light up for a double birthday with over thirty-five kids waiting to sing “Happy Birthday” (haha).

The prizes were light up wands, swords, microphones, and bubble blowers…just like you would win at a real carnival.

The kids had a lot of fun playing with their prizes.

My cousin led the after-party.  I’m not sure if this could be considered organized play because at one point I saw all of the kids hitting him with their carnival prizes.

The kiddie party was a huge success.  Princess and Baby, and all of their friends had an amazing time.  Then came the family party.  We had a wood fire and made paella and churrascaria. I don’t have any photos from this party because even though this party was more laid back, I was so tired from the kiddie party and just wanted to talk and drink.

As I slowly catch up on my rest and return back to my regular self, I realize my babies are now six and almost three.  Wow, how time flies.

Tired Mama of a 6 and Soon-to-Be 3 Years Old,
Chrissy xo