Sunset and Pumpkins

So we hit our 1st pumpkin farm of the season. Totally a last minute decision. The weather had been so nice all day, I called John right after school and said we should go. So that's just what we did. We headed to Jerry Smith's right after a quick dinner. Em had a blast and Garret was so interested in the pumpkins. It was a beautiful night and the sunset I caught was gorgeous. It's just too bad Garret wasn't up for the picture perfect moment. Oh, well. Happy Fall! Here's some pics from tonight. Hopefully we'll make it to another this weekend.

It's the most Wonderful Time of the year...

Fall is finally here! October to be exact, that's when fall truly begins for us. September is always an adjustment for our family, well mostly me. Em loves the start of school, yet I have so many mixed emotions each year. It's the getting back into a routine and accepting the fact that I'm really not a stay at home mom, that my summer hiatus has ended and it's back to others little ones taking up my days and not seeing my own until dinner time. It's feeling exhausted at 4:00pm only to then drive all around town picking up my jewels so we can finally go home and make dinner, give baths, make an attempt at picking things up and before you know it, a bit of cuddle time and then off to bed. And this year we've added another stop in our nights...soccer practice. I know it's only one night during the week but it sure does make a long day. I can't even imagine what life will be like when both the munchkins are in extra activities during the school year :/

Ok, Back to October :) To me it's the best time of the year. The coolness of the days and crisp air at night, the hot apple cider and pumpkin farms galore. I can't wait to experience them again this year. Last year was the abridged edition seeing as we were awaiting our new little arrival but this year we are going to live it up! In order to do it we are going to need to make it a crash course again since we'll also be celebrating Little Man's 1st Birthday and taking our 1st trip as a family of 4. Watch out Disney World, we've got our very own Minnie and Mickey!

11 months

Only 1 month to go and you will be 1! I can't believe that it's almost been a year! This month I watched you take your first steps. Now if only you would try more often and become more confident. I'm sure it will be any day now though. As for teeth....Yeah you still haven't cut any. Not sure what your deal is with that. You have recently decided that you enjoy "yelling". Your voice can be projected throughout the house, restaurant or store. Another BIG milestone for you this month, you will finally wear shoes and keep them on. You are in LOVE with bath time! As soon as you see your tub you get so excited. You are such a splasher. Water on your face doesn't even stop you. Momma has to use a towel to cover up as I sit on the floor since you're such a wild boy in there. Even funnier is your reaction when it's Em's bath time and not yours. Not 5 seconds after I start running bath water you high tail it into the bathroom and start hollering in a screech that sounds like a plea to get in there.

Well it's time to get planning your 1 year bash! Daddy's thrilled because your having a football party! These are some of the pics we used for your invitation. Can't wait to see you go crazy! Love you stinker.

SCORE!!

Em's first soccer practice and game were this week. Practice went great! She really tried and followed her coach's lead.

As for the game...Saturday morning was chilly and rainy. All 4 of us went and I'm happy to say, didn't melt. Well make that 3 of us didn't melt. Em lost it as soon as we got to the field. Not about the weather but rather that I didn't bring her pink soccer ball. (or the camera....) I'm first to admit that I don't know a thing about the sport but I thought it would be a safe bet that she wouldn't need her ball seeing as you can only use 1 during the game and the coach would supply that. But as usual I was wrong. The kids were all out kicking their own ball around before the game. Em went crazy on me, crying and yelling. She even screamed that I was the worst mommy in the whole world. Thanks Em, mom needed that. Here I am trying to be that special mom who is not only carting your butt around twice a week for this sport I don't understand but is standing in the rain wearing your little brother in a baby bjorn trying to keep him from pulling the umbrella that is not even protecting me from the wind blown rain. Thanks babe, thanks.

Well once the game actually got going you loved it, rain and all. You didn't whine about the rain, you were a good sport when you had to come out to let another player in, you were strong and brave when it came to playing against those boys and more surprising was your toughness when you'd fall or get pushed! I'm so proud of how you played! I love you and will be there every week cheering you on even if I have to wear your brother and fight with him about the need to let go of the umbrella!

1st Dentist Appointment

It was BAD.... it started when Em ran away from the room, cried in fear and then at the end I was told I would have to find a pediatric dentist to take care of her cavity. She did finally settle down and let them clean her teeth. When we left she says to me, "See, that wasn't so bad!" Really Em? Well we did find a doc that was awesome with her and that made all the difference in her next two appointments. Here she is at her 1st appointment.

Back 2 School

So Em is now back to school. She starts out only going for an hour and 15 minutes for the first 2 weeks (Monday, Wednesday and Fridays). After that she'll be in preschool all morning and then go across the hall to her daycare class for the afternoon. She has returned to Sunshine Mountain again and is so excited for the year! Last week though she was quite upset that she can't ride a school bus and go to Gifford with her friends from the sitter's. But that wouldn't even be a possibility because of the school district's rules about boundary exceptions. So Sunshine Mountain it is! Which in all honesty is probably the best place for her. She has 2 of the BEST teachers I've ever encountered for early childhood, I love the Montessori program/experience and who knows if she'll ever be able to go to school with her "bestest friends" that she's known since only a few months old. Here's to hoping this year is grand for both Em and I!

Here she is having her special "1st day Breakfast" at Panera. Em loves her muffies :) And posing before school.

10 months already?!

Garret at 10 months you are still bald and toothless. There's not even a spot of white peeking through your gums. You definitely have a personality now. Daddy says you take after me in the morning, a bit crabby and you need some time to adjust before getting on with the day. It's in the early morning that you like to snuggle on my chest until you're ready to start moving around. (It's one of my favorite parts of the morning :) But once you're ready, you're off! You are a fast mover! If we're not watching you and it seems you've disappeared, 9 chances out of 10 you are in Mommy & Daddy's room attacking Daddy's most expensive Nike's :) I still can't understand why it has to be that specific pair but you pass the other ones every time! The other chance would be the kitchen cabinets. You are constantly getting into the drawer with the baggies, the safety lock wasn't even a challenge for you. You are cruising slowly around the coffee table, not sure if that's any indication as to if and when you'll be walking. The funniest thing is how you crawl outside now. If you're on the sidewalk or somewhere rough you actually keep your knees off the ground while you move. It reminds me of a baby gorilla, just on your hands and feet. I always thought you were Mommy's little monkey :)

You are saying Mama all the time now. Sometimes it seems like you're referring to me which of course makes me get all warm inside and others, well it just rolls off your tongue. The cutest thing of all is your no no. It is absolutely priceless. All of a sudden you will start shaking your head no with the biggest grin on your face. And if we play along and say in a higher/ happy voice, "no no no" you try to imitate our words. The actual words aren't there but the pitch and rhythm sounds the same. Now if only you'd stop doing it while I'm trying to feed you, then it would be even better.

You WANT the remote very much! Em is constantly making sure it's up high where you can't reach. But you are smart. I think you've come to realize that we usually put it on the back of the couch because every time we're sitting on the couch you want us to pick you up and sure enough you're looking along the edge in search for it!

You love clapping to music and playing "Row Row Row Your Boat". Your favorite toys are your Leap Frog Learning Table that plays music and the Fisher Price Animal Train. You also love to throw things. (We can thank Daddy for that one.) I must pick up the magnetic Fridge Phonic Letters 100 times a day. You're constantly taking them off the stove and throwing them around.

Here's my Little Monkey :)

Beach Pics

Today we went to the beach with some friends to have fun with our cameras. Take a look at some of the pics I got! Next time John will have to come with to help watch Garret so he doesn't keep putting rocks in his mouth.

Day of fun!

So today was the first day that we were actually able to visit the Kenosha fountains this summer. And wouldn't you know it, it's been a gazillion degrees here for the last few weeks and then today a cold front came through. Oh, well. That didn't stop us, at least not Em. Hopefully we'll get back there either later this week or next before I go back to work so Garret can join in. Maybe our friends will be able to join us again. It's always much sweeter when you can spend the morning with good friends!

It was a HOT one!

Today we took Em to her 1st Brewer game. It was a 1:00 game and of course with our luck it was also a heat index of 96 degrees!!!! We were planning on taking Garret too but at the last minute decided he should stay home.

Here we are tailgating. Em really liked this except she tried to find any available shade. She ended up sitting between cars to escape the sun :)

Once inside we were blessed with awesome seats with the hot beating sun coming down on us. We made it one inning in our seats and then HAD to get up. We walked around for a bit and got some ice cream. When we were done Em really wanted to keep watching the game so we headed up to the bleachers and were lucky enough to find some seats in the shade. That's when her true colors about baseball came. She LOVED the game! I'm thinking she's going to be heading to some more games with dad, seeing as I'm still not a fan, sorry John.

These last few weeks have been wonderful, but today was a sad day for Em. She was given an extra special gift when John's brother came down and stayed with some friends down here in Racine. When we were planning on going somewhere we'd call and every time he joined us. Em just loved having her Uncle Vinny around, as did Garret. But today he went back home and Em is putting on her "sad" face because she already misses Vinny. Love you Vince!

State Fair

As always it great food and fun! Cream Puffs, Saz's, and my favorite- Fried Oreos. Mmmm!!! However, Em still didn't want anything to do with the animal barns. She did LOVE the racing pigs though! Can't stop talking about the fat one that had to stop and get a drink :) Here's some pics from our day. (Oh and Uncle Vinny came along too!)

Merry Christmas (in July)

So today was our Christmas in July party with our friends from the Racine Family Club.It's our third year hosting the party so I've kind of made it an annual event. The kids absolutely love it! We decorate cookies, make a holiday craft and have a gift exchange. Here's Em all decked out in her reindeer antlers...

9 months

This month has been huge for Garret! He has now mastered the art of "real" crawling and it's ever so cute when I catch him doing the army crawl which is seldom anymore. He has a very LOUD voice, happy but just loud. He loves to clap his hands and even just started waving bye bye. He WANTS our food! I mean right off our plates but the poor thing still doesn't have any teeth and no signs of them even peeking through. Garret loves to snuggle and give hugs. His kisses have been hard to come by unlike last month but my heart just melts when he lays his head on me. Oh, and I swear I heard him last night say Mama as he was crawling towards me in the kitchen. John even stopped and thought he heard it too. But that was just once so who knows, wishful thinking :)

Dancing Queen

We attended a wonderful wedding yesterday for a dear friend. Lindsay made a beautiful bride and the wedding was full of so many little details. Emily has been waiting for this wedding for a long time! She was so excited that we found a dress that had the wedding color, cornflower blue, in it. (Who even knew there was a color named that?) She wanted her hair done up and was all excited about the reception! She couldn't wait to dance with the "girls in blue" as she called the bridesmaids.

Em and I went to the actual ceremony while John stayed home with Garret, which was definitely a good choice. The church is old so no A/C. There's no way Garret would have done well in the heat. After the ceremony we went home to relax a bit and then brought Garret over to Uncle Steve and Aunt Sara's house so Em, John and I would be able to enjoy ourselves. (Sorry Lindsay, I know you wanted him there :( And thanks Steve and Sara for watching him it was a huge help!) Here's a pic of us before heading off to the reception.So the details. The wedding theme was golf which was so cute and fit them "par-fectly" as the Hershey bar wrappers said! Em was in heaven with all the sweets. There was a candy bar/table where you filled your own little bag (this was huge since I really limit those kind of sweets for her) along with the Hershey Bar that was at each of our place settings. The food was great as usual for Roma and the cake was phenomenal. (Maybe I'll have to splurge and order one for my sad day coming up, the big 3-0!) Between eating all the candy and coloring in the Coloring Book Lindsay created, Em was getting very anxious for the dancing to get started. Well let me tell you once it did, it was nearly impossible to pull her off the dance floor. She is definitely my little Dancing Queen. She hears a beat and goes with it! She danced with the bride, the groom, the matron of honor, the other "girls in blue", her daddy and me, and even some of the "guys in blue". She even had one of them copying her dance moves, which made her night!
Here's a pic I "borrowed" from the photographer's face book. Congratulations Lindsay and Joe, we couldn't be happier for you!