Old McDonald Had A Farm....

We spent our day today visiting farmers and their animals and wares in the most unusual of situations. Today was the annual Farm Days celebration inside the local shopping mall.

Our friends the Piseco Peeps were supposed to pick us up and explore the festival with us, but they were having bouts of feeling generally unwell, so we made it out on our own....

OR SO WE THOUGHT.

We started in the mall proper, and the kids took a quick ride on petal tractors near the doors.



After a moment, we made some crafty cotton ball sheep.



It was just after taking that picture with our fuzzy sheep that Nate began freaking out and bouncing around and screaming, "JediBoy, JediBoy and PisecoMom"* at the top of his lungs. I thought he had seen them somewhere in the mall because they'd decided to join us belatedly, but then realized that he wasn't quite seeing what I'd expected. Instead, we'd found the following on the board the kids were posing in front of for their photo op.



After our excitement wore off, we continued through the mall and enjoyed such varied activities as tasting Stone Soup and watching a sheep get her winter coat sheared.

It was a grand day, and we came home with loot bags full of crafts, snacks, and assorted treasures.

For more pictures, you can check out the album...

Like Clue...only, Better

We've recently begun hosting a Saturday night board game gathering for our grown-up friends (and their wee ones, too). We gather and play games together while laughing, snacking, and generally having a grand time being social. Many of our gatherings are themed, but some are just "let's play something awesome" type of nights.

One of my favorite games from our recent nights is Mystery of the Abbey. PisecoBabe did a great review of it over on her blog that I thought I'd share with everyone. I absolutely love deduction games, and Days of Wonder makes some great games in this genre. PisecoBabe does a great job with her game reviews, too, as well as having a generally adorable family.

Swimmingly Good Times

The big kids celebrated their birthdays last weekend in a joint YMCA swimming pool party. We had a small crowd, mostly girls, and lots of great fun. The PisecoClan came, with PisecoBabe hauling her wonderful camera. There was great enthusiasm about the swimming, the home-made cakes, and the gifts.

Those wacky Pisecofolk also gifted Emily with the promise of a future Daisy Rock guitar (shipping times were lagging and it did not arrive for the party) to match the Hannah Montana wristwatch in her gift bag. She was ecstatic when she found the note on the back of the watch after the party was over.

All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend an evening celebrating the completion of one more year of crazy living for two of our growing monsters.

Who Cut The Cheese?

Sorry, but I couldn't resist the impolite title opportunity.

The correct answer would be that JASON cut the cheese. He cut a 75+ pound of imported Parmigano Reggiano, specifically. Anna loves to be at Wegmans, our local grocery store, for their cheese wheel cracking ceremony. She's watched several of these big suckers get cracked, and she enjoys a little bit more each time it happens.

First the cheesemonger (or, as Anna calls him, the Cheese Mama)scored the top and sides with his hook-bladed knife.



Then he inserted almond knives into pressure points on the wheel and prepared to use leverage to crack it open.



With a lovely and satisfying crack, the wheel of deliciousness popped open.




Then we ate lovely cheese and continued on with our grocery shopping and the rest of our day.




The Parm was a lovely, creamy cheese with a melon overtone and a sharp finish. It was aged 28 months and tasted absolutely the way that a good Parmigano Reggiano should taste.