The Punkin Patch

Yesterday our family went to Chester's Pumpkin Patch. I think we've only missed 1 year there since 2008. And since this was Jack's first time at a pumpkin patch it was an extra special occasion. It was a bit of a dreary day and was chilly but wasn't so cold that we were freezing and miserable. There are quite a few things to do at Chester's. JJ's first request was to ride the ponies. Jack wasn't too sure at first and even fussed a bit but he stayed on through the whole ride. He did have a pretty tight grip on my finger though!


After the pony ride we headed to the barn to see the goats, cows, chickens, llamas, and peacocks.

The hay ride took us to a hay maze and a giant slide. I'm pretty sure these were 2 of JJ's favorite things of the day. And as a photographer it was pretty great for me, too. Lots of cute photo opportunities!


At one point, Mom and JJ ran ahead to hide from us. It was so funny how excited he was to "scare" us when we walked up to them. This boy of mine is always so full of joy and laughter. How I adore him!


We took the hay ride back to the pumpkin patch where we took a couple family photos and picked out our pumpkins to take home. It was such a great family day. I look forward to doing it all again next year!

Old Fashioned Sunday/35th Anniversary

This past Sunday our church celebrated its 35th Anniversary with an Old Fashioned Sunday. It's always a good day filled with worship, friends, preaching, fun, and of course, lots of good food! Mom and Andrew and Hannah came to it this year. It was just a little chilly outside but was perfect for our tent service.



We had a full hour of singing and special music before the preaching. Jorge and JJ sang "The Old Story Will Never Grow Old" again this year. I'm so proud of my boy. He is braver than I ever was. He has no fear and I pray he stays that way. I'm thankful he loves to sing!

After the services we dug in to all of the yummy food, painted pumpkins, played games and the guys had a horseshoe contest. The afternoon was full of food and fun. And we all went home exhausted. Which is the sign of a good time!

11 Months

Jack Jack,

Today you are an unbelievable 11 months old. It is literally mind-boggling to me that you are only weeks way from being 1 year old. Which reminds me...I need to get started planning your birthday party! Anywho, this has been an active month for you. So much has happened. The biggest milestone is that you started walking! On October 15th you took your first steps and you haven't stopped! You're getting better and better every day. I have a feeling you'll be running sooner than later. 


Your first words were Bye Bye and just recently you started saying Uh Oh.  I'm hoping that you'll say Momma soon.  You've been jabbering a lot lately so I'm thinking you'll probably be a talker like your big brother.


You had a slow start with food but now you love it!  You'll eat just about anything as long as it's not mushed.  I'm guessing you have a sensitivity to texture.  You also figured out how to use the sippy cup.  And if one of us is eating something you fuss until we share with you.  You've become quite a demanding little fellow! The spit up shows up occasionally but we're mostly done with it.  Hallelujah!


You are still sleeping in bed with me and you are still a horrible sleeper.  Unfortunately.  You wake up multiple times a night and require nursing in order to go back to sleep.  And sometimes that doesn't work.  There have been many days that I'm convinced your whole goal in life is to keep me from sleeping!  If that's the case, you're doing a fine job!  Next month though is Thanksgiving break and the goal of the whole week will be to get you in your own bed.  I have to admit that I will miss waking up to your sweet smile and jibber jabber in the mornings.


You are still in size 4 diapers and are wearing 12 month clothes.  You're still a bit of a chunk but I think you're leaning out a little bit.  That makes me sad.  I love all the rolls and fat baby dimples.


You and your big brother are still best buddies although I think JJ is starting to realize that you can get into his things easier now.  I love to watch him with you.  He is so sweet and loving to you and always calls you buddy.  I'm sure you get dozens of hugs and kisses from him daily.  I pray you two will always be close.
 

You are growing too quickly little man.  You'll be all grown up before we know it.  And I don't even want to think about that.

Comparison

I was looking through old photos the other day when I had the idea to find some pictures of JJ when he was 10 months old so I could compare him to Jack at 10 months old. There definitely are similarities between the two. They both have contagious smiles, curious personalities and are so full of fun and laughter.


I am so in love with my boys and am beyond thankful that God has blessed me with them.

The Month of September

September was a pretty good month for our family (other than the fact that I turned 35. Blah). JJ made it through a month of Kindergarten (and I made it through a month of teaching!), he got his first suit (which was a VERY big deal), we attended the state fair (I have never seen so many, um, interesting people in one place in my life), and we found out what my brother and sister-in-law's baby is going to be (yay!). 
JJ had been asking for a suit for quite some time.  I had been hesitant to get one because I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something he may barely wear.  Twice a year I go to the Just Between Friends consignment sale and stock up on clothes for the boys.  To my surprise I found a black suit on sale for $7!  I knew immediately that I had to get it and couldn't wait to show it to JJ.  To say that he was excited about it is an understatement.  The boy has worn the suit coat every single Sunday  since then. 


It has been a couple of years since we've gone to the state fair.  We talked about going this year but hadn't made any certain plans.  A friend of ours offered 4 tickets to Jorge to get us in the fair and the Disney on Ice show.  We originally had a date night planned but we couldn't say no to that so we accepted his offer and made a family day of it.  Since we had 4 tickets we decided to ask Mom to join us. We started off the day at the barn.  We saw everything from Clydesdale horses to baby chicks and baby pigs.

We wandered around a couple buildings looking at the booths for a bit before deciding to hit the car show.  We went on a Saturday so it was crazy, to say the least, and there were thousands of people.  Which, by the way, made for some great people-watching.  My husband was one of the interesting ones in this case... 

Jack did pretty good through the whole thing.  He just sat back and took everything in.  Not much else he could do, I guess.  :)

JJ wanted to play a game so we let him choose one.  I think he picked one that he knew he could win.  Smart kid. ;)

It was a fun and exhausting day.  And worth giving up our date night for!

Andrew and Hannah's gender reveal party was so fun and cute!  Everyone had to pin on their shirt which gender they thought the baby was.  I was team pink.

The party was 10:00 in the morning so instead of cake they did filled donuts. The color of the filling would reveal the baby's gender. Such a cute idea!
It's a boy!  I'm going to have a little nephew!  I'm so excited that my boys will have a boy cousin to grow up with but I'm thinking it's about time this family added a girl to it.  Hmm.  ;)