Big Orange Pumpkin Farm

October means a family trip to the pumpkin patch! Love it love it love it.

The animals were definitely the highlight for both kids.

Hayride!

Pumpkin patch where we can actually see them growing on the vine!

Practicing To Help On The Farm!

Outside Time

As usual, can't get enough of it. And its still not even below 80! Very excited to see 70s in the forecast next week. We can wear long sleeves!!! :) Fit in a couple more parks later this week.

This one was a big wooden one we have only been to once before. Lorelei loved that she learned how to go down the pole "like a fireman" and also finding a butterfly on our walk.


This was a small playground we found on the way back from a Halloween costume hunt. Great to fit in a park in between errands. It even had a golf course across the pond!
Lorelei is always excited to see new things she can try at different playgrounds. She was very proud to do this "net???" herself. Such fun being three! And of course...Makin always wants to follow. His big accomplishment this trip? Going down the slides by himself! Over and over again. :) He loved to go down with Lorelei too.

Mr. May

I hadn't really planned to do the monthly update posts after the one year mark, but old habits die hard, and I keep jotting down notes, so here we go...a 13 1/2 month post. :)

The title is what Lorelei calls Makin probably 85% of the time. Definitely his most popular nickname from his sis.

And as for the smile at the sink...the whole wanting to do whatever his sister does doesn't stop at learning how to walk...now of course, we have to climb up the step stool and wash our hands...think I better get used to this stuff. And yes, he has fallen a few times. Doesn't stop him.

His ornery side is shining through. He loves to run away when we are trying to dress him. At the library I caught him in the aisle next to us with a little grin as we were looking for him, just waiting for us to find him hiding. He also tries to provoke his sister into chasing/running etc around the house.

And the monkey on his head? One of his favorite latest games. The whole-put-something-on-your-head-and-watch-it-fall thing cracks him up.

When he holds his hands up for us to pick him up, he flaps them...okay hard to describe, maybe I'll get a video. :) Flaps just the hands, not the arms. :)

Truck books. Is there any other book on the planet? I could now probably tell you every construction vehicle we pass and make at least a B on a pop quiz about trucks.

Very much into communicating and getting you to give him what he wants. Points, drags, squeals...you get the idea. Like the extra communicating I guess but boy its hard to get two seconds to do something without one kid asking for something! :)

He thinks hitting is fun. Working hard to break this habit. As a result, when you tell him to tell Lorelei he is sorry, he will give her a hug.

Seems determined to convince me to start a special savings account for his food intake as a teenager. One meal example would be (I think this was the biggest one and I managed to jot it down)...one entire can of pears, 1 string cheese, 1 graham cracker, handfuls of Cheerios, followed by a heaping bowl of spaghetti. And he is way pickier about his fruit. He went a month or two refusing to eat a bite of banana. Now, he will eat two a day. I think he saw the monkey's eating them on his wall and decided banana's were cool after all. ;)

Happy Birthday Papa!

We are thinking of you today! Hope you have a wonderful day! :)

One Year Ago

We were blessed with amazing surgeons. We were blessed with an amazing hospital.
We were blessed with amazing friends. We were blessed with amazing family.
We were blessed with a very strong, brave little boy coming out of surgery.

Thanks again to all of you for your support with what we went through a year ago.

I had been putting off looking at the folder I jotted notes down in during our hospital stay but I knew I wanted a look at them. Of course I cried, and then had to smile at two things. A card that Lorelei and Mom made for us with finger prints and the fact that there are still four bobby pins stuck on the folder that I must have had in my hair at one point a year ago. :) I think I'll leave them there.

As for the day, the memory that sticks out always in my mind is when the nurse walked away with him and he just looked back at us with those big bright eyes. Makes me cry every time I think of that knowing we have to do it again. That's the worst memory.

The best memory is right after we saw him after his surgery (not the seeing him, but what comes next) the nurse suggested I hold him (which is a huge task with all the stuff they are hooked up to) to help him feel better. As soon as they put him in my arms his heart rate went down. I think it made me feel like I could do SOMETHING even when I was completely helpless in all he was going through. It just hits me how much you really mean to your children. (Although I'm sure when he is a teenager and mad at me it will be the opposite affect! ;) )

It was one of the hardest days of our lives and I'm certainly not looking forward to doing it again, but I just can't think about that. As for an update...the fistula is pretty big (probably half an inch), but most of the time isn't much of a bother. Just ready to have it repaired and hopefully not do much for a while.

In the mean time I am just going to enjoy these first few years when Makin doesn't realize he is different or get teased and have to be tough. He just knows who he is and that he is happy and having lots of fun. :)

We love you little man!

Rain Again

And yes I am thankful for the rain. I am. But on pumpkin patch day!? Grrr. Oh and don't forget this is my third and a half day with no help since Brad is gone...so staying home is NOT great way to spend it!

This was supposed to be our trip with MOPS to the pumpkin patch, but due to a LOT of rain we had to cancel it. No worries, I will go another time even if the group doesn't go! :)

So Plan B: Puddles!


And I had to use the chance to match Lor's shirt to her boots. Amanda and John got it for her and we will use it more in a year or so since its big, but thought it would be a fun one for today anyway. :)

Makin had a BLAST in the puddles. This was really his first puddle stomping experience and its safe to say he will fit right in with his sister. Even in his snow boots! :)

And had to add the pic of them side by side to show the height difference! (I know ignore the huge ponytail!) I think Lorelei has shot up a couple inches just in the last month!


Aaaannndd since I had just gotten a fresh dose of air in the "jumping thing" the day before and left it out in the open to get rained on...we had a fun pool trampoline to play in for the afternoon. And yes it was plenty warm to wear suits. Lorelei's favorite move was the "kersplash" where she would jump and then land sitting with a big splash. Makin just loved that he could splash to his hearts content! And I'm just hoping this is the last time until March I have to deal with swimsuits and sand together! (Well, unless we win a trip to Bora Bora or something! :) )

All In A Day

It amazes me how much we do in a day to keep occupied. Today was no different, and a just few of the activities were visiting the library, playing with the neighbor's dog, Essie, (we met Saturday evening and they are across the street from our backyard. As you can imagine Lorelei is ELATED and the lady is happy to let her play with her.) and smelling the Scentsy scents to pick out what to order for fall!