Y3W

Today was the day we were scheduled to close on our Arizona house, but we received word from our realtor late last night that everything had already been finalized a whole day early! Hurray for being out from under a mortgage (on top of our rent), monthly HOA fees, double electric bills, and the headache of having our house on the market and being under contract.

Don't forget to join in on this week's Y3W Blog Hop over on Jenni's blog.

More Fall Images

Yesterday as the sun was coming up {yes, I'm up before the sun thanks to my own 2 year old "sun"}, I noticed that the trees off in the distance looked amazing with the sunlight reflecting off of them. The sun is behind the camera in these pictures rising in the east, while the camera is shooting toward the west. You have to look hard in this first image at the trees in the background. Look past all the green to find the orange and red. You can click the image to enlarge.


Then this afternoon, C and I took another fall walk. He loves picking up acorns, searching for just the perfect ones {perfectionism is rubbing off...oops!} and jumping in the piles of leaves he sees.



I'm trying to savor as much of this fall as I can. It's going to be a LONG winter! Case and point, the high temp was 59 which was probably around the time of day we took this walk. Check out C's attire!

Seasons - Autumn

Here's part II of my "seasons challenge." I've been waiting and waiting to take this picture since the beginning of October. The leaves have been changing on trees all around our apartment complex, but not in the area where I too my summer picture. See for yourself:



I was starting to get worried that I'd miss out on a fall picture and end up with a winter picture of bare trees if I didn't take one soon. I finally decided to turn the camera a different direction off the balcony so I could capture some of the fall colors before all the leaves fell off.


This is the best I could do, but rest assured if these trees start turning orange and red in the next few weeks, I'll be posting a new picture!

Pumpkin Carving - Take 1

After yesterday's nap, we decided to carve one of our pumpkins. This was Caleb's first real experience carving a pumpkin. Last year I sat him in his high chair, and he watched but really wasn't very interested. This year he was very excited, and even enjoyed helping to scoop out the goop {the real technical term for pumpkin guts}. I love that he enjoys this fall tradition as much as I do!

Just For Me

I bought this pattern from Etsy a few months ago in JUNE, and I finally got around to making it for myself. I kept thinking about it and wondering what fabric I'd use. Yesterday I remembered my favorite fabric combo and started cutting out the pattern pieces. I love how it turned out!

Funny Stories

At the 2nd Pumpkin Patch, Caleb pointed to an {apparently} rotten pumpkin at which point his finger punctured the pumpkin and landed in orangish/yellowish liquid. He then told me that the pumpkin peed on him. A day later while we were talking to GranB on the phone about the trip to the pumpkin patch, Caleb told her he didn't like the "pee pee pumpkin."

Andrew was playing trains with Caleb last night {surprise, surprise}, and as usual Caleb was doting on his favorite train, Toby. Andrew {acting like the 30 year old he is a 5 year old} told Caleb that Toby smelled like monkey butt. Caleb's 2 year old response..."Toby doesn't have a butt!"

Pumpkin Patch - Take 2

Yesterday Caleb woke up from nap early, so we decided to venture out to another pumpkin patch - just the two of us. This time we headed to Simmons Farm, which ended up being more like what I was expecting from our first experience. It was a lot more "farm" and a lot less "fall festival." As soon as we pulled up to the small-ish farm stand I knew this was a neat place. I look forward to heading back when fruits and veggies are in season again.

We took a {much better} hayride out to an actual pumpkin patch where pumpkins were growing on the vine. For the cost of the hayride plus $2.75 we were able to pick a pumpkin straight from the fields. The fields were huge, and even though we're only a week away from Halloween, there were still TONS of great pumpkins out there. Included in the cost we were also able to go through a GIANT corn maze {which we didn't get to do because it was too late in the day and we had to get home for dinner}, a 100ft slide, a kid-sized hay maze, and a smaller slide. We were also able to each take an apple and have a cider sample as well as picking an ear of Indian Corn.

Caleb had a blast {as you can see}, and we came home with another pumpkin hand-selected by Caleb and pulled straight off the vine. We don't usually venture out in the afternoons, but I'm so glad that we decided to go even if it was only for a short time. I have wonderful memories of our time out there, and I'd like to think that Caleb does too. As we turned onto our street returning from the farm, Caleb said from the backseat, "I have fun with Mommy!" I couldn't have asked for more!


We picked up some apples while were were at the farm. You can pick you're own, but we just bought them from the farm market stand. Caleb had been really wanting to get his hands on one, so after breakfast I gave him one and broke out the camera as he was hamming it up. The first thing he said when I gave it to him was, "It doesn't have sticker." Yeah, I'm not buying apples at the grocery store anymore. My kid thinks they grow with stickers!

Y3W

Don't forget to join in on this week's Y3W Blog Hop over on Jenni's blog.

Wordless Wednesday

I've never done this before, but when I took this picture before heading to bed the other night, I knew it was perfect for Wordless Wednesday.

Pumpkin Patch

I've been waiting patiently for the opportunity to go to a pumpkin patch since before Caleb was born. Last year in AZ, I wanted to check one out but couldn't justify the cost when I didn't really think my 13 month old would enjoy it. Plus, pumpkin patches and 100 degree weather DO NOT go together. So, as soon as we got back to PA I started researching pumpkin patches. We decided to go to Trax Farms this year, and we had a great time. We actually went last weekend right before Caleb came down with a double ear infection. In retrospect, he already had the ear infection and was just being a trooper for mom and dad {mom of the year right here}.

When we first arrived we checked out all the little photo opp thingies {what the heck are these things called?}


Scared to put his head through at first. I love this picture though!


Another favorite after he warmed up.


Loves anything with a steering wheel still.


Next up was a hay ride to the pumpkin patch {where we did not pick a pumpkin because all the best ones were already picked and labeled with prices - see the background of this picture!}


You can see the sickness in this pic and the next one.


Caleb was sick. No excuse for the look on Andrew's face. This is the standard, "Stop taking my picture!" look that I get 99% of the time and the reason why pictures of Andrew are limited.


The hay ride took us to the top of a hill where they had several different pens with animals including these pigs with piglets born a few days earlier.


More sick face.


However, Caleb did LOVE the corn maze.


He ran all over that thing even making his own path where there was none. We finally had to pick him up so we could make it out of the maze.


Artsy fartsy shot from looking out of the corn maze back down on the farm stand.


Caleb found some corn and ran with it.



So excited to ride the "train." The train is the reason I picked this farm over another one. Turned out to be a little lame tractor ride, but Caleb was excited while we stood in line. The tractor drove around the farm out of site of the line. It seemed kind of long. Andrew and I got Caleb set up on the train, and he handed over his ticket. We stood together as the train drove away with Caleb. He didn't look back. The next thing we know the train is coming back, a lot quicker than it seemed while we waited in line for Caleb's turn...


...this is what we saw! He freaked out as soon as we were out of sight. The driver said he cried almost the whole ride, and we think that he shortened the ride so he could get Caleb back to us quicker.


Am I a bad mom because I laughed hysterically when I saw this?


After getting calmed down, we took him to pick out one of the good pumpkins, and then we headed back home to get our sick little boy in bed.


Our first trip to the pumpkin patch did not disappoint, but I'm definitely looking forward to going next year with a healthy kid.

25 Months

Caleb turned 25 months old today, and I still haven't done a post about him turning 2. Arghh...I'm going to do it this week! For now here's a picture we had taken today. This one is from my dad's cell phone, but it was taken during a session with my brother-in-law. We hope to use some pics from today on our holiday cards.


{Andrew has worn that same shirt on our holiday card the last two years. When I realized that he was going to wear it again this year, I told him that it should be worn every year from now on.}

Y3W

Road to Recovery

{Kind of a boring video, but I didn't have a picture of him eating the popsicle. Plus, it is kind of awesome how he managed to eat the whole thing without even so much as a drip getting on himself or the carpet.}

After being sick most of this week (read about it here and here), Caleb is finally feeling back to his old self again. The road to recovery was paved with jello pudding pops, lots of watching the movie Cars, and good old Amoxicillin.

Don't forget to join in on this week's Y3W Blog Hop over on Jenni's blog.

Diagnosis

Double Ear Infection. No wonder he spent all day yesterday on the couch, went to bed at 6:30, slept until 7:30 this morning, and when he woke up he asked to sleep on the floor requesting that I cover him with every blanket in the living room.


But despite that, I really had no idea that this kid was in pain, just that he didn't feel well. He's still sleeping through the night, not grabbing at his years, not screaming in pain. He's been eating less and laying around the house, but otherwise he's been in such good spirits. My little boy must have an extremely high tolerance for pain.

First major sickness for my little guy at nearly 25 months. First doctor prescribed antibiotics, every kid's favorite Amoxicillin. Except, not my kid's favorite. He kicked and screamed while I tried to give it to him, all 7mL of it. We only got about 4-5mL in him this morning, and I think the next time I'm just going to mix it in with some strawberry yogurt (his favorite). We'll go back to the doc in 3 weeks to make sure that his ears are clear. Let's hope this isn't the start of a series of ear infections.