Favorite Things...my shelves~

I've done a couple of posts about some of my Favorite Things around our home.  One of my favorite things are my books and another is this sculpture.  With our home up for sale, I thought I'd better get around to noting some more of my favorite things...even though they will be moving with us and will be part of our new home in Texas, I still want to remember what our home was like here in PA.

These are some of my shelves...they live happily in the family room :) 

Okay, are shelves really that interesting?  Well, these ones are...at least to me.  The brackets are simply from a hardware store or the local Home Depot...not necessarily special.  The wood that make the shelves, though, is pretty cool...they are old shutters that I found at an architectural salvage store on Pearl Street in Boulder, CO.  

I have a thing for reclaiming cool, old things and using them in home decor.  I love these shelves, I mean, shutters.  I love the color they are painted and I love where the paint is chipped so you can see the other layers and colors and sometimes they are chipped down to the wood.  Some of them still have the old hinges attached...that makes me love them even more.  

After they were hung, I just added other favorite things for display...happy decorating~

Rach 

The Pumpkin Patch~

Steve took a few days off after his defense...to unwind, to relax, to hang out with his family...it was so nice.  We have been so busy...between the work and preparing he needed to do for his defense AND the work and preparing we both needed to do on the house to get it ready for market...well, the past month was Crazy...yes, Crazy...with a capital C.  But having everything "wrap up" the same day (Steve defended AND the house went on the market) was actually a big blessing...

...we could all finally relax and just enjoy being a family~

We headed to Linvilla Orchards one afternoon.  We were hoping to pick apples, but alas, we missed apple picking this year.  We still had a great time, though.  We enjoyed the market, ate yummy cookies, drank good coffee (Steve and I, not the kids :), watched our kids play at the playground, visited the animals, fed some of them...and had fun picking out pumpkins.  I am going to miss this place...we've been taking our girls to the orchard since they were 1 and 4, now they are 6 and 9...and we've added another.  We've enjoyed many, many fun days there.   

Here are some pics from our wonderful, and maybe last, visit to the orchard~

The market at Linvilla~

Pies and cookies...yummy!

Enjoying a treat~

Old carriage~

So sweet~

The greenhouse and shop at Linvilla~

Cowgirls!

Wow...733 pound pumpkin!

A minion pumpkin...the girls loved this one!

Look what we found in the pumpkin patch~

Our little pumpkin~

Sweet sisters!

Bad hair day~

My beautiful blessings!

Fun on the playground~

I love that she still enjoys playing on playgrounds~

Steve and the girls conquer the maze...they had to get Bella to help them~

My beautiful Bella~

My sweet Sophia~

Queens of the tree~

Cow and pig...these two were funny!

Me and my sweet little Baby Gray~

Cool goat~

Sand sculpture...neato~

Thanks, Linvilla, for all the wonderful memories~
Rach

A Last Visit?

***Fair Warning...I may have overloaded this post with pictures***

What do you do the day after you defend your dissertation?  And parents are visiting?  And your home is spending its first Saturday on the market?

You go to Valley Forge...at least that's what we did last Saturday.  It was a nice fall day and my parents had not been there yet and we wanted to enjoy a bit of PA that we knew we might not get to visit again.

 A beautiful fall day at Valley Forge~

We sure did enjoy sharing this beautiful place with my parents...they had never been to Valley Forge.  We visited some of the highlight spots in our "overview" tour of the park that day.

First, we stopped at George Washington's Headquarters...

A great day spent with Oma and Opa~

Sophia at the train depot at Washington's Headquarters~

Harvey and George...good friends~

Bella and Oma at Washington's Headquarters~

Oma and Sophia~

At the depot with Bella~

Inside the train depot/museum...Steve is SO relaxed!

I love my Opa!

The General's house~

Me and Baby G~

George and the gang...well, most of the gang~

I love this picture of my family.  It was taken one day after Steve defended his dissertation...we were all so relaxed...and so thankful...what a great day!

Then, we stopped at Washington Memorial Chapel.  We had never been there, but have wanted to visit this beautiful chapel for a while.  Construction on this Episcopal church was finished in 1917 and it stands as a gorgeous example of Gothic architecture.  A wedding was taking place while we were there, so we couldn't go inside the main chapel, but it was still a nice visit.

Washington Memorial Chapel~

Inside part of the chapel...the girls loved the stained glass~

Dad found his flag~

Beautiful architecture...beautiful kids~

Washington Memorial Chapel~

Washington Memorial Chapel~

So pretty~

So pretty~

Gracia was having a fun time too~

We headed to the Muhlenberg Brigade so my parents could see more of the cabins that soldiers built and lived in...always interesting.

Oma, checking out Muhlenberg Brigade~

Sophia the Soldier~

Then we were off to the Memorial Arch.  My Dad teased the girls that he knew how to get into the "secret" attic rooms...apparently, he had even lived in them...Bella wasn't buying it, though :)

National Memorial Arch~

The girls had fun playing on the low branches of this tree~

And the Visitor's Center was our last stop.  We enjoyed the history exhibit/museum they have in the center...there is always so much to see and learn.

Valley Forge finally wore her out~

We will miss Valley Forge...it has become one of our favorites places to visit.  It really is fascinating to walk around and see where some of America's first soldiers spent a rough and difficult winter, to consider how they survived (access to proper supplies, food, clothing, etc. was a very serious problem for the Continental Army) and how they were trained, to know that after that winter, Washington and his men left Valley Forge in pursuit of the British...and the tides of the American Revolution had turned in favor of our country.  

Make a plan to visit some history~
Rach