Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving with Eric's family is usually really small but this year his sister and her husband came home from CA and we rented a house at the beach.  The rest of his family followed suit and we had a big, wonderful family Thanksgiving.  It was so good to see everyone!

Uncle Aaron and Auntie La

Auntie La, Blake, Pat-Pat, Daddy, Uncle Aaron - the 'young kids' had to do the dishes

Little e wore his new sweater mommy finally blocked and added buttons to. He looked ADORABLE but hardly stood still long enough to get a picture - let alone a family shot - but we tried.

'Lunch' was planned at 2 and ended up being closer to 3:30.  Little e ate potato chips and snack mix for his Thanksgiving dinner and wasn't interested in turkey or yummy trimmings (we snuck some in along with a pumpkin cookie later for his dinner).  Instead he sat and read (I love this kid!)

Little e became a BIG fan of his aunt and uncle while they were here.  We FaceTime with them almost every week so he warmed up to them really fast.  He asked where they were all the time and LOVED spending time with them (so did we).

Watching a movie with Uncle Aaron and Auntie La

Auntie La was sharing her chocolate cake and ice cream with e - he even asked 'Lovie have a bite?' to try to con more bites out of her.  LOL  It was a GREAT day and a start of a fun week!

Fall Fun

I LOVE Fall (besides the end when it gets really cold -and dark early - and I realize Winter is right around the corner).  But Fall is my favorite time of year in Sept/Oct (early Nov).  This year to make sure we took full advantage of it I printed a Fall Bucket List from Pinterest.  I haven't gotten photos of a lot of it (some - like apple picking, pumping carving and chili - lol) but the other day little e and I took a walk down the street and found some leaves for our 'leaf rubbings' tic on the checklist.

Little e wasn't too impressed - he basically colored and moved leaves around the table, but I did a few to show him and we got to collect leaves and play outside - so still a win.  But it quickly degraded into snack time...

Maybe the apple printing will be a bigger hit or next year it will get a better response.  Either way we still had fun (and a granola bar!) :)

Sweet Potatoes!!

This year we grew a new crop in our garden - sweet potatoes.  They are fairly easy.  You mound up dirt and plant, then you harvest them months later.  It was time recently and we dug up our beds to see what we might find... so fun!

Our bed of sweet potatoes

The boys had fun digging in the dirt and mommy had fun taking pictures. (p.s I think little e looks like this every weekend when his dad dresses him - ALWAYS camo.  I asked him the other day what he was going to put his little girl in all the time since there won't be camo options and he replied "Why aren't there going to be camo options?"  Well, ok!)

Finally here is our bounty...

Pretty good return our on investment of time!  We are trying to figure out how to dry/store them correctly so we don't just have to eat sweet potatoes for every meal for the next three weeks, but enjoy them for a few months.  The few we have tried are AMAZING! So much sweeter and better than anything you can find in a store.  Considering nothing else really came out of the garden this year (too much rained killed everything) it was fun to have something to harvest.

All boy!

My little guy is pretty much all boy.  Our front yard is littered with balls.  According to little e they are "dolf" balls (golf), basey balls (baseballs), sootball games (footballs), and soccer balls.  We hit, kick, throw and hike the day away just about everyday.

He'll play with mom, but I'm not nearly as fun as Daddy to play with apparently.  (Maybe because I'm always here, or getting fat and slow, or just bc Daddies are more fun!)

Whether its warm or cold enough for hats and jackets he loves to be outside playing with his balls!

Pumpkin Carving

Last "Halloween" post from last week.  We had a gorgeous fall night last week and planned a pumpkin carving party.  Mommy made vegetable soup and cornbread, and heated up some mulled apple cider (mmmmm... mine and Little Miss's favorite!)

Little e was very excited about carving the pumpkin - that is until we got the pumpkin opened and he saw what was inside.  Then he was OUT - lol.  He went to his best mode, supervising and giving direction.

He decided it was safer to sit with mommy -though he didn't drink any cider like mommy.

Daddy did the hard work of carving the pumpkin.  I had two Mickey Mouse face patterns and let little e pick which 'hot dog' he wanted on his pumpkin.  It turned out to be a bit intricate with the face hanging on by four little small areas.  He did a great job!

Little e was very happy about his pumpkin (and a late night, and some soup - 'with ham!' he would say)

Halloween

We had trick-or-treat Halloween night and again went with our good friends (same as last year).  Little e's best buddy H and his family.

Last year - Alfalfa and and Owl

This year - Curious George and an Engineer

I can't believe how much they have grown and changed in just a year!!

Eric made e's wagon into Thomas the Train - which was really the biggest hit of the night with both of them.  I'm not sure the dads loved dragging them around in the wagon all night - but it beats carrying them I guess.  They both did pretty good saying "Trick or Treat" and "Happy Halloween" and H was cute bringing his candy back each time saying 'treat! treat!'  I have never seen e run so much - he was so excited and loving it once he got the idea.  He also wanted to get the treat (or more than one) out of the baskets himself.  Too funny.

This year I decided with my craft room being converted to a nursery (and having a 2 yr old and being pregnant) it was a better idea to aim at some part of his costume being homemade vs. all of it (like last year's masterpiece!)  I made his hat (actually in time for the fall festival at church I already posted about a week ago) and bought overalls (and had a bandana).  I did help Eric paint the train but we didn't overshoot this year.

Totally homemade - crocheted hat, hand-dyed shirt,  each feather sewn on

This year - only his hat is homemade

We also took some 'family photos' when we stopped by Lenny's house.  (He has a good setup for it with a nice bench on his front porch so you get a little more light).  e wasn't feeling the picture so its just Eric and I (and #2 - who is making her photographic debut with a smile and a pink bow on her head - lol!)  My friend Lydia gave me this shirt and I love it!!  Too bad Halloween is the only acceptable day for me to walk around wearing it.  (24 weeks)

Oh Yeah!!  Did I forget to mention the H's dad dressed up as The Man in the Yellow Hat so you knew exactly which monkey H was?!?  Too funny!  H's mom made both of their costumes as well. 

I would say all in all, it was a great Halloween.  The weather was amazing - 70 and breezy - the boys had fun, the parents have baskets of candy their 2 yr olds can't eat yet (well certainly not all of it!) and we all have some great memories (and adorable pictures).

Lunch Date Round 2

This post.... is still one of my favorites.  About how happy I was to be home while looking at my 'lunch date' that day.  It happened again this week.  I think it was the tomato soup.  :)

One day while we were gone last week Mom asked e what he wanted for lunch - and he promptly replied "soup!"  She had no idea what kind of soup he might like so she called.  He loves this roasted red pepper tomato soup we buy.  He dunks goldfish crackers in it (like mommy and daddy) and dips his grilled cheese sandwich (like mommy).  We had it again the other day for lunch and he was cracking me up saying 'yum!' when he ate it and 'screaming' as he dropped the fish into the soup 'ahhhh!' he would say.

Dropping the goldfish into his soup

I am still a pretty lucky gal to get to spend my days and lunches with this handsome guy.  He tests me a lot more than he used to (and he normally doesn't eat a good lunch like this) but there are days with the sun shining in the back window, with tomato soup all over the place and goldfish screaming for their lives, that you just can't replace the memories and fun we are having.  I wouldn't trade it.

If you're happy and you know it...

Sunny. 70 degrees.  No humidity.  Fall tights and boots.  On the back deck.  Knitting.  Watching my son play with his dog.  Feeling my baby girl kick in my belly.  I'm not sure how many more blessings a girl could take at one time.

*that was earlier this week - its been a MONSOON all day - but still a great week*

End of a Fun Week

Well our time with Grammie (very sadly) had to come to an end.  The night before she went back to Ohio we went to dinner at Mellow Mushroom.  I had planned to take her out just the two of us to a fun place downtown, but when MM came up she got so excited (and I don't think she wanted to leave e out of her sight for even a second once her time in SC was coming to a close).  So we met Eric near his work and had pizza - and a good time.

I don't think e sat down for one second the whole night.  He ate his meatballs pacing in the booth and 'jumping' off his booster seat.  He played with straws and flicked rolled up balls of paper.  We contained him (barely) but he is really quite the fireball to be taking to a restaurant at all anymore.  We need to find babysitters - STAT!  :)

The Zoo

While Mom was in town we used our zoo pass and met friends in Cola on Monday.  It was perfect weather and we thoroughly wore little e out!  (he was quite literally asleep BEFORE we left the parking lot)  We have used our pass enough times now that as soon as he saw the Tiger he went over, posed with it and said 'CHEESE!' :)

This particular trip to the zoo was really great.  The animals were very fun and active (I think because it has cooled off a bit) and we met friends with a zoo pass that gives you wrist bands for feeding the birds, giraffes, riding the choo-choo and other fun things.  The tiger was even roaring for us - right on cue!  I asked e "what does the tiger say?"and almost immediately you start to hear a roar for real.  (not a scary one, more of a yawny one... but still!)  We heard him a few times while we were in the area and it was super awesome!
While e (and Grammie) weren't real sure about feeding the birds (they screech and land on you to eat - which is why Mommy sent Grammie in with him in the first place) but we all loved feeding the giraffes and of course the train rides (we had to do that a few times!)

It was a really wonderful day to add to our great week with Grammie in town.  We sure miss her bunches already!

Fall Carnival

Our church held a Fall Carnival this weekend while Mom was in town.  We got home Sunday just in time for me to FRANTICALLY make e's hat for his costume.  Good news is that I got it done, bad news is he didn't want to wear it (or the overalls or the bandana - AT ALL!)  Eric had to put his overalls on at the house and convince e it was an okay thing to be wearing.  (even his Mickey Mouse shoes didn't help me!!) I wish I had a picture of Eric in his overalls, the hat and bandana walking around going 'chop-choo!' - what a great dad!!
After we got to the festival he was so busy watching all the kids and their costumes he didn't notice the bandana or the hat and he looked pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. :)

He played lots of fun games and we ran into this adorable fisherman too!

Surprise - Golf was his favorite - though we hadn't done much 'putting' before

He caught a fish!!

I love that our church has these events.  They are great for the little kids, the HS/MS youth run all the games and the $ goes to their fundraiser.  It just is all around good stuff and fun to do with friends.

Buddies!

Of course, it was really nice that Mom got to see e dressed for Halloween (even though its not Halloween yet) and that I don't have to worry about getting his costume finished in a panic next week.  :)