Pumpkins

Last weekend we went pumpkin hunting with Uncle Dave and Aunt Alisa. We've checked out a number of places over the past few years and this was by far the best... although one of the other places has a winery and a brewery... even so, Brown's Berry Patch is awesome. They've got goats on the roof. What more do I have to say??





Alisa and I got into the spirit of the day right away. I've never been on a bounce pad before... notice the lack of children in this picture? This thing was huge! It was kind of like the floor of a bounce house without walls. You should have seen us trying to get on top! What a hoot.

Then it was off to the corn maze. Here's Tyler running through it. We let him pick the direction at every intersection. I am directionally challenged and I'm sorry to say that Tyler inherited my dysfunction, poor boy.

Running, running, running...

They had a huge slide that grown-ups were allowed to go on. Here I am sliding with my boy.

Off to the rubber duck races. Uncle Dave and Aunt Alisa cheered Tyler on as he pumped his duck through the track. Go Tyler Go!

I'm not sure what to call this contraption... some sort of teeter totter type thing...

Aunt Alisa keeping Ryan entertained. I love Ry in this hat.

Weeeee! Here's our friend Jeff and his little girl Evelyn enjoying the big slide!

And Tyler with Daddy.

Check out Ryan's top teeth. They look like they're going to be huge. I think he was watching the goats walk their track up above.

Then it was finally time to pick out our pumpkin.

Oh my... such decisions... can you guess which pumpkin is my favorite?? I think I'll take the blue one in the middle.

I tried multiple times to get a nice picture of the boys in the patch, but this is the best I could do. There was just too much excitement to get them to be still together. And, I'm trying to hold off on haircuts for our family picture. I'm not liking the scraggly look!

That's a great pumpkin Ryan!

Aren't they cute? She's 8 months older than Ryan. They're going to be trouble in a couple of months when Ryan starts running.

We also tried for a family picture. That darn sun!

We ended our day at the patch with hay ride and donuts. Yum. It was the perfect fall day and so nice to share with family and friends.

And, when we got back home I decided to try for a boy shot again with the pumpkin... um, yeah, the boys need haircuts.

Back at home the boys had a good time rolling on the floor with Uncle Dave. Tyler caught a case of the sillies. But, that's what uncles are for, right??

It's a week later and I'm still smiling. I'm looking forward to our next adventure at the patch.

Pulling Up!

Our boy Ryan is growing up daily. He's getting to know his surroundings and making his joys known. Cords, sliding doors, outlet covers... at least he still giggles as he approaches something he knows he's not allowed to touch. He is hilarious!

Here he is enjoying a look in the mirror. He loves looking at himself, any why not? He's a cute kid. Usually he sticks his tongue all the way out or blows raspberries, but I was able to get this picture before that happened.



It's only been two weeks since Ryan started crawling, but he's already got it mastered. The gate came out today and Ryan was not pleased. He was mad!

Yesterday we visited Grandma and Grandpa C. Ryan had a blast exploring. Here he is scoping out his next target... I think he spotted a birdhouse with his name on it.


Even Tyler got into this new mode of transportation. Is it wrong that all I keep thinking about are the knees of his pants?? I thought we were past that stage!!

This past Wednesday Ryan decided that crawling wasn't enough... he decided he wanted to see what was up as well. So, he crawled over to an end table, planted one hand and then the other, and with all his might, he pulled himself up... grunting and groaning the whole time! That was a lot of work! He is not a graceful child. Since then, he's figured out how to pull up less dramatically.

Here he is at the beginning of his new move... one leg...

A little help from an arm...

Almost there...

Finally!

Ta Da! Look at me mommy!

Now this is truly a sight... besides the swing set, the other item that doesn't get love at our house is the train table. But, today both boys had a blast playing with it together. Yay!

All of the attention has not been on Ryan this week. Tyler has kept up his endless chatter and smarty pants remarks. Here's the latest...

Santa has been a topic of conversation at our house as Tyler knows that Santa has agreed to attend his birthday party. So, the other night Tyler asked Dan if Santa was watching. Dan said "you'd better hope not because you are not listening." Tyler asked what that meant so Dan said that Santa wouldn't bring a nice present if he wasn't good. Tyler asked what he was going to get and Dan told him "a lump of coal." Tyler then said "for my toy steam engine??" Oh, this boy. Grandma W is right... give Tyler a lemon and he'll make lemonade.

Movie Night

It's 12:30am... Four hours past my usual bedtime and I can't sleep.

Tonight we hosted a play date at our house for the mommies group. This was a first for me. It started because I wanted an excuse for cake. I thought it would be nice to have the kids watch Curious George while the mommies had cake, coffee and wine. I had a vision in my head of children sitting nicely in the family room, eyes glued to the TV as that is usually what happens when we let Tyler watch a movie. Well, that was a fantasy!

Including us, there were 7 mommies and 12 kids. I kept focusing on the number of mommies that were coming during the planning of this event and never really considered the impact of the children. Whoa! All I can say is it is a good thing I had 3 glasses of wine. I've never seen anything like it. I believe every toy we own was out this evening... at the same time. They found the toys I had hidden in the armoire... they found the toys in the spare bedroom... they found the toys in Tyler's room. The whole house was a sea of plastic.

We had a great time. Truly, we did. I think I'm going to do it again. The house was alive tonight. There were happy children everywhere. Nobody had a breakdown. Nobody fought over anything. Nobody wanted to leave. And, we had cake. Lots of cake. Two kinds of cake. It was SO good.

Within minutes of everyone vacating, Dan came out of hiding. The look on his face was priceless. I told him to go back out to the garage until I had things under control. He said ok, but he didn't move. I told him again that he could leave. He said it was like a crash on the side of the road... you just can't help but look. Too funny!

Within 45 minutes I had everything back in its place, the floors vacuumed and the dishwasher running. All is well in the house once again. But not for long... that was fun!

Crawling!

We're in for it now... Ryan is crawling! Last night Dan and I both saw him put one knee in front of the other and go about 4 feet. Then, this afternoon he tried it again and hasn't stopped since. He must have been eyeing up the glass sliding doors on our entertainment center for a while because it was one of the first places he went. Stinker!

I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of this...



He's proud of himself... as he should be! Go Ryan!

This week was an eventful one for our little man. On Tuesday he stood up in his crib at school. Usually they don't tell us when he has firsts, but this was a potential safety issue if we hadn't already lowered his mattress at home. Then, on Wednesday I noticed that both of his top teeth came through. And, he's feeding himself! I'm happy and sad all at the same time.


Did you see the feet on these pajamas?? Too cute!

We've kept Tyler entertained throughout Ryan's milestones. Friday night was story hour with Curious George. "George" will always have a special place in our house.

Then his school had an open house Saturday morning. Tyler thought the clown was hilarious and insisted on riding the big pony! Two years ago he wouldn't ride a pony at all... last year he would only go on the small one... but now he's almost 5 and big enough for the big pony! Go Tyler!

Saturday afternoon we went to a Wildlife Festival at the Power Vista. We got to check out all of the displays on energy, saw quite the view of the Niagara River and saw all sorts of creatures including a bald eagle!

Here is Tyler using some of his energy to create energy.

And, Ryan... along for the ride again. Yup, I'm still here mom... Can we go home now?

Here was the view from the balcony at the Power Vista. Very Cool!

And, on to the creatures... this was an interesting bug... I hope we don't run into this again... yuck!

And, the mighty bald eagle...

Today Tyler went to a friends for a play date while Ryan practiced his new moves. Phew! It is time to sit down!

Winnie The Pooh and The Great Escape

Tyler has been on a roll this week. Last weekend he came out of Ryan's room with one of the few things that is Ryan's and has always been Ryan's... Winnie The Pooh. Tyler held him up and said "Mama, I don't think Ryan likes this because his name is kind of stinky." Nice try Ty, "Poo" is Ryan's and you can't have him! Hopefully that is as close as we'll get to potty humor for a long time!

Later that day Tyler had been told to dress himself so that we could go out for the day. Tyler was stalling, as usual, so Dan and I were encouraging him by saying he had better hurry up or we were going to leave without him. In true Tyler style, he quipped back "Have you ever seen a little boy home alone while his mommy and daddy go out shopping? No, I don't think so!!" Well, he's right, this little boy would never be left alone. Bluff called.

We enjoy him thoroughly. He is a great kid. This morning Tyler completed his first real homework assignment. Last year he had to fill the Letter Can with items starting with a certain letter, but this is an actual paper and pencil assignment! He completed it with enthusiasm and pride. Only 13 more years of homework to go...

I had to share this picture of the boys together. I think it pretty much tells it's own story. They really enjoy each other.

This picture makes me smile as well. Poor Ryan was so tuckered that he just laid down in the living room and drifted off...

Ryan is really close to crawling. He wants to move so bad. Luckily at school he has access to a walker and yesterday he attempted to escape! We are told that the gate was off the door briefly and within seconds Ryan made a break for it! Off he went, legs running... head swinging... laughing... he made it through the door, but his intentions of cruising the hallways were thwarted... oh well, maybe next time...

9 Years on 9/9/09

Today is the ninth anniversary of our wedding day and it happens to fall on 9/9/09... how cool is that?

Unfortunately the day started at 2:00am with Tyler screaming. He ended up spending the rest of the night in our bed which means none of us got much sleep. This morning I held his face in my hands and said "I need to return you." He answered "you can't. God made me and didn't give you a receipt!" He didn't miss a beat. Trying hard not to laugh, I then told him "I need a boy who can sleep through the night in his own bed," to which he replied "I do lots of nights, just not this night." He's right on all counts... as usual! He can make me smile even when I'm mad at him.

This kid is just too smart for me and he knows it. This picture was taken last night, but this is the face I was looking at this morning. You can't stay mad for long.




Dan and I took some time off of work today for a nice lunch alone on the lake. It was so peaceful. Here is the view from the restaurant.

We then did a wine and beer tasting after a drive along the lake. Yummy! I discovered that pumpkin beer exists and I like it.

Much to Dan's dismay, I made him pose for this picture. My intention was to post a picture from our wedding, but my attempts to get an electronic version failed. So, here we are on September 9, 2009.

We've come a long way in nine years. I could never have dreamed this life, but I sure am grateful for it.

And now we're enjoying a bottle of wine we received on our wedding day. Cheers!

Labor Day Weekend

I can't believe what a beautiful weekend we're having. After such a cool and wet summer this doesn't seem possible. We're enjoying every minute so far... and there is still a whole day left! Woo Hoo!

This afternoon I wanted to test out the timer function on the camera. It worked! Unfortunately Ryan didn't understand the concept and kept turning around to look at me. Here's the one and only shot we got of him looking forward.

Yesterday we went to Corinne's first birthday party. She's only 2 months older than Ryan so I know it won't be long before we're celebrating the same milestone... I'm already a little sad.

Here is the beautiful birthday girl.

Tyler spent the entire time we were there in the pool. That means 3 1/2 hours with only one potty break. And, he did not spend the whole time glued to the ladder. I'm so proud of him!

See, no ladder in sight!

Last night Grandma and Grandpa C invited us to the Fireworks Extravaganza at the Genesee Country Village. It was quite the extravaganza... an hour long show where they narrated significant events in the history of our country and then had choreographed fireworks to music for every segment. It was quite a treat!

Here is Tyler preparing for the show with his glow stick.

And, Ryan enjoying being tossed in the air by Daddy. Isn't the sky cool??

I am so excited that my camera takes pictures of fireworks! I have no idea what I would ever want with fireworks pictures... but, I can take them!