Another Busy Weekend

Another jam (or should I say apple butter) packed weekend.

Saturday morning Mabel and I went with some friends to the Springs Folk Festival. This is a celebration of autumn and the local history of the area. Springs is heavily populated with Amish and Mennonite so a lot of their culture is represented here. There are lots of demonstrations of agricultural-type work -- sheep shearing, hay baling, blacksmithing, rug making with looms, maple syrup production, to name a few. Mabel got to cut a piece off of a log with a two-handed saw, which she thought was incredibly cool.

There was also lots of good food -- homemade bread with butter and apple butter; bratwurst, corm meal mush and apple snitz. In past years I've tasted almost everything, but this year I stuck with the bread, while Mabel got some fresh cut French fries.

That night was Mabel's last night of cheerleading. Her team, the Wildcats, didn't do very well this year, but the girls definitely had a good time supporting them. During half time during the games they would do a little routine to one of the High School Musical songs (I don't think it's a coincidence that their mascot, the Wildcats, is the same mascot as the HSM team). I have to admit I'm glad the season's over, because it will finally free up our Saturdays.

On Sunday we began the week-long celebration of Mabel's 9th birthday. We needed ice cream and went to the grocery store, where we encountered this odd sight. I just realized you can see my reflection in the truck -- oh joy. The funhouse mirror effect of the truck helps to disguise how much weight I've packed on the last couple months. The good news is that most of my clothes still fit, but I don't have much leeway left. Good thing I got rid of all my fatter clothes, which will force me to do something about this.

Anyway, Sunday evening's event included the grandparents, the aunts and uncles and cousins. Hubby made the cake, which included layers of chocolate and French vanilla cake, and then covered the icing with pink m&ms (It's unbelieveable how many products in October are pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month -- our capitalist society has really jumped on this bandwagon, which can only be a good thing, even if they're taking advantage of it to make sales).

Mabel got lots of goodies, including a wad of cash (all ones) from her one Grandma, and a pile of Webkinz (for those of you without kids, this is the biggest thing right now -- stuffed animals that come with a code, which you then use to sign your animal in online on the Webkinz website, where you can play interactive games with your new pet). She's definitely in plush heaven right now.

Now that I've got all the weekend events out of the way, maybe I can get on here later and right about more internal/personal stuff. I'll be back.