Friday, October 31, 2014

All Hallows' Eve


Halloween festivities date back centuries. It is a day set aside for all to remember the dead, on the eve of All Hallows Day, or All Saints Day. For these little people, it is a day to be silly and eat candy. I never want to forget these early years of trick or treat fun. These boys make every holiday extra special. 










Sneaky babies eating tootsie pops. 



















Ward Trunk of Treat Party 

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Say cheese


Today marked two very special occasions for the Schwen Family. Our oldest had his first primary program. Leading up to the big day, we practiced singing the hymns and saying his part. Truthfully, he seemed distracted and I did not think he would sing a word or even stay up on the stand for the actual performance. Today, I became ridiculously emotional watching him perform and sing each beautiful hymn and enunciate the words, all with a big cheesy smile on his little round face. I was so choked up when he and the other primary children began to sing the first hymn, that I had to hide my face and bury myself into my husbands side. It's called He Sent His Son. 

Here are the Lyrics:

How could the Father tell the world
Of love and tenderness?
He sent his Son, a newborn babe,
With peace and holiness.
How could the Father show the world
The pathway we should go?
He sent his Son to walk with men
On earth that we may know.
How could the Father tell the world
Of sacrifice, of death?
He sent his Son to die for us
And rise with living breath.
What does the Father ask of us?
What do the scriptures say?
Have faith, have hope, live like his Son,
Help others on their way.
What does he ask? Live like his Son. 
-page 34 from the Children's Songbook
Secondly, and just as great, was that everyone in my little family made it into a picture, and all of them happened to be looking AND smiling at the very same time. Thank goodness for a timer on our DSLR. The twins were enamored by the clicking sound. Today was a good day. 



 



We couldn't tame the hair today. It had a mind of its own. 




Saturday, October 18, 2014

Crumland Farms


We live in an agritourism rich area. We feel so lucky to have more farms in the area than we have time to visit. Originally we drove up to Frederick, MD to go to Summers Farms. When we arrived, there were hundreds of cars in the parking lot and a line around the block. We decided to drive ten more minutes to a quaint farm originally owned by John and Lib Crumb. We were delighted to spend our afternoon as a family at Crumland Farms. It was once a cow farm with over 600 cows milked three times a day. Today the family grows corn, wheat, soy beans, alfalfa, pumpkins and hay. All of our little people had a great time running around and picking out pumpkins from the patch.