littlest pumpkin to arrive...

So, for the first update...

Our Littlest Pumpkin is due to arrive April 2014!!!

 

We are very excited and feel so very blessed!! The boys love to come up and feel mama's tummy as it has been growing super fast. :) Please pray with us for our sweet little pumpkin over these next several months. (and for this mama's strength and energy to hold up with everything else in life going on besides this!! Thank ya much! ;))

 

Festivities this Fall - "The Little Red Hen" and local fairs

After glancing over literally thousands of pictures in a few minutes late last night, I noticed there were quite a few fun pictures and activities from our Autumn days that were not shared. Though I will not go back and recap everything, I cannot help but mention a few. :)

I have always enjoyed taking my kids to local children's events and programs. At the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, a Preschool Program known as Pea Pods is offered for kids and their parents. This Fall, they offered a free preview day for moms and their children. The theme for that day was "The Little Red Hen." At the mid-morning session, the children were able to play in containers of rice, make a craft with seeds, beans and rice, make their very own bread from scratch and have a special storytime with the Little Red Hen herself. It was a little crazy with both Parker and Cooper (this is actually supposed to be for children more around the ages of 4-6, but moms can bring their younger tots. If I had to do it again, I would have loved to had it as one on one time with Parker.)

 

It was a busy morning with both of the boys, but a fun one at that. Before leaving to head home for lunch, we took a stroll through the backyard play area, where the kids enjoyed sweeping out their house, shoveling the sand and dirt around to their liking, and looking at a picturesque view of their "big backyard."

Local Autumn Festivals, such as "Apple Day" in downtown Excelsior, are always at the top of my Fall Bucket List. This year, we visited several different community street fairs. The boys stretched their hands through gates to pet the soft fur of the alpacas, snacked on local fresh-grown juicy treats,  and patiently waited and watched the crowds and activity as their mama perused several of the local vendors (most of which happened to be vintage steals...my favorite!! I will have to share about my finds later!)

One of the highlights of the morning for me was getting to check out the local library sale with the boys. "New" books for $1?! You just can't beat that! Each of the boys were given $1 to spend on a book from the sale. For $1 they could buy 1 hardback book or 2 soft books. After sorting through each of the children's boxes, Parker chose "I'm Mighty!", a fun hardback book about a little tugboat who is small but mighty (it looked like it had never been opened or touched). We literally read that book every day for at least a month after buying it; I would say it was worth the buck! For Cooper, we chose two Berenstain Bears books that were in great condition! I am such a fan of that whole series.

Minnesota photographer, Stan Tekiela, was at one of the vendor booths signing books. Though I did not own any of his publications, I had seen his books around Minnesota in a number of shops and bookstores over the last several years and thought it would be nice to own one. I admire the beautiful pictures and stories that he takes and gathers from the Minnesota wildlife. On a whim, I decided this would be the perfect day to get a book for Parker and Cooper. After sifting through a variety of popular children's titles, I chose "Baby Bear Discovers the World."

 

 What a cute little story it is!!!

 

The weather was so beautiful this fall that anytime we were outside enjoying it, the boys and I were happy. It was easy to go to these events. Whether playing at the local park or strolling through community fairs, a good time was had by all. I am already looking forward to next year's Autumn days!!

Pumpkins and Pony Rides at Emma Krumbees

As I was perusing through my photo gallery the other night, I found more pictures from our trip out to Emma Krumbees a couple of weekends ago that I wanted to share. Seeing the boys' happy, smiling faces in these pictures reminded me of their happy, smiling faces that day.

...and that makes me smile.

 

 

Harvest Hoedown at Gale Woods Farm

This past weekend, the boys and I met up with some friends at Gale Woods Farm for their annual Harvest Hoedown. My little men were all smiles on the way there and all smiles on the way back! Cooper knew we were going to a farm and would see animals, so the whole way there all Parker and I heard was Cooper's rendition of "Old MacDonald had a Farm"...which is literally "Eeee-Iiii-Eeee-Iiii-Oooooohhhhhhhh" over and over and over. Turning up Wee Sing in the Cd player totally did not work; Cooper just sang louder and more confidently. ;) 

 

 

 

Running, jumping and climbing over hay bales at sunset, seeing chickens and roosters clucking and strutting in their cages, taking a ride on the tractor trailer after dusk, "twirling" apples and then dipping the juicy fruit in flavorful honey dip, and sipping mulled cider...we crossed quite a few things off of our "Fall Bucket List." It was rather fun!

wrapping up Fall and moving into Winter...

Obviously, we are no longer in Fall and have transitioned into Winter 2011. I'm personally thankful we made it as long as we did prior to the first snowfall. Now, don't get me wrong. I am ready to embrace Winter and all it has to offer; however, admittedly I was quite content to hold on to the nice, cool weather and dry ground for as long as we could. :)

A few things I failed to post last month that were worth mentioning:

Baking breads for our neighbors and then venturing out in the snow to deliver; Parker was so excited to carry the little brown basket and hand the treats out to each person

My littlest Turkey on Thanksgiving Day!

Parker and me baking our traditional Chex Mix.

(We've been in the kitchen a lot lately...tis the season to bake!)

Clay jumped in on the baking fiesta!

Winter is coming!

We had some big happenings this Fall with our sweet Cooper. Not only did he have his first birthday but we also celebrated his Baby Dedication. It was such a special day for us. Thanks to each of our friends who came to support us and, to our family, we missed you each dearly but appreciate you thinking of us on that memorable day.

The Lord has blessed us so very much!

And now, moving on to all things Winter...

a zoo trip, some randomness, and leaves of fall...

This morning after Clay flew out, the boys and I headed to the MN Zoo to enjoy one last trek around the outdoor exhibits before they close up for winter. The weather predicted for today was beautiful, and I was so excited that the weatherman was right on target; it was indeed a gorgeous day. The boys loved seeing all the different species of animals. They contentedly stayed snug under their thick blanket I brought along to drape over their legs and heartily snacked on goldfish as we passed many of the exhibits. Both got out of their seats plenty to romp and play, but I was thankful I brought the double-stroller for the longer strides. Both were happy happy boys, which made for a very happy mama. ;)

In addition to seeing the outdoor exhibits and the indoor shark feeding show, one of the highlights was playing at the Woodland Adventure.  It features a variety of climbing structures and a number of nature elements for the children to explore and play in. Parker went multiple times down the giant curvy slide from the lighthouse, over the swinging rope bridge and into the treehouse. On the opposite side of the play area, sits the giant eagle's nest, which just so happened to be Cooper's favorite of the day. I'm not really sure why, but he was totally cracking himself up in that thing...it was way cute.

It was a great morning...and a great afternoon. We got home right at lunchtime, and enjoyed some chicken pasta salad, grapes, broccoli, carrots and almonds. Both guys tucked right into their beds and drifted off to sleep without a cry. Aaaahhh. Success. :)

For some randomness...last week was a very happy day when I discovered my favorite pair of hoop earrings that have been lost for 2 years now. I squealed when I found them in my Vera Bradley eyeglass case...random I know. But I've been so happy and have enjoyed wearing them again so much that I thought I would share.

I have been trying to weed through the mountains of magazines and paper stuff that has been slowly piling up over the last 6-8 weeks around our house. Usually, I stay on top of our mail and things of that nature pretty well (actually, at least half of it if not more, never even makes it in the house before it goes in the recycling bin), but lately that has not been the case. So, I'm on a shredding/burning/recycling spree of mail, magazines and "paper stuff."

...which leads me to my next random tidbit. Tonight, hubby built me my first fire of the winter. Yea! I do LOVE fires in our fireplace and never tire of those (which is good because that is the ONLY thing about winter I do not tire of). He knew I had a good bit to shred...our shredder is officially non-existant as our last one broke...so he built me a gorgeous fire to be able to throw my paper in...and to prop my feet up to. (Truly, I think he's a little tired of me complaining about the cold temps in the house and shivering loudly enough for him to purposefully hear! ha ha!)

The other day after work, the boys and I, along with our neighbors' two girls, played outside for some time before supper. Clay and I were on a mission to rake leaves and the kids, of course, discovered the big, colorful piles that come with that chore. I think we raked one of our piles up 8 or 9 times as they would squeal, run and jump to their little heart's content..laugh...and then do it all over again, until it was time for us to come rake it up into a mountain for more jumps. So fun!

We had four of these big piles in our front yard so it was not long before we recruited help from the youngsters; they were happy to oblige. ;) What do you see that is wrong with the picture below? ha ha! Clay actually was on the phone with his sister and the kids would get upset if we tried to help with their "job," so we let them load up two wheelbarrow fulls all by themselves. As you can see below, they were very much into it and did a terrific job. *Remember, to hold a "leaves party" next year and recruit all the neighborhood kids to help. After the "mountain jumps" and re-rakes of the big piles of leaves, job should be completed in less than an hour. ;)

Even Cooper was quite the delighted little fellow to have a position in the chore with the big kids. He "held up" the wheelbarrow (well, when he wasn't trying to turn it over! ;))

Fun times around here...happy Fall!!!

our 2011 Halloween

"Carve a Pumpkin"
If you can, buy a pumpkin carving kit - it will make the carving easier and safer. Choose a pumpkin with a fairly even surface. Cut a lid out of the stem end, set it aside, and remove the pulp and seeds with a large kitchen spoon. Scrape out some of the meat of the pumpkin to make the inside clean and smooth. Draw a face on the outside with a magic marker. Use a sharp knife to carefully cut out the design. Choose a short, fat candle to illuminate the pumpkin. Light the candle and anchor it in some soft wax dripped in the bottom of the pumpkin. Put the lid back on the pumpkin (tilt it slightly to leave a space; the flame gets more oxygen and burns brighter this way.) ... Place your jack-o'-lantern in a window or on a porch to light up the night." excerpt from Mom's Almanac

We may not be pros at carving pumpkins (this was technically our first year to do it all by ourselves without help from our parents! ha ha!) but rest assured, we had fun in the kitchen with the boys creating jack o lanterns this Halloween. I laughed and told Clay that in two years we would be doing this in record time with our eyes closed! My thoughts were to keep the designs simple...2 eyes and a mouth with a scraggly tooth. Clay and Parker decided they wanted to try out their carving skills, so they went to town with their design cards and carving utensils.

Fifteen minutes before our Small Group arrived Sunday evening, our kitchen still had pumpkin seeds, pumpkin juice, and pumpkin carving utensils everywhere. In the midst of frantically pulling it all together in the end (kinda like that 1980s movie "Adventures in Babysitting" with Elisabeth Shue when Chris did a 2 minute mad-dash clean-up as the parents were pulling into the driveway), one of my jack-o'-lantern's teeth fell out leaving only a single tooth on the smallest pumpkin of the group. There was no time for glue, so Clay lined the pumpkins out on the front porch, laughed and said, "Carrie, come look!" I ran out to see what the humor was and couldn't help but shake my head and smile...

...I had made a baby Cooper pumpkin! (although Cooper has quite a few more teeth than this friendly fellow!)

Parker was a pirate. Cooper was Peter Pan. Aaahhhh!!! My heart melts all over again seeing them dressed up like the little characters. PRECIOUS little boys....who are getting too big too fast.

 Though Cooper did not take part in the actual trick-or-treating part of the evening, he had fun hanging out with his brother before passing out in his daddy's arms precisely at bedtime. Parker loaded up his little McDonald's Happy Meal bucket with treats from all over the neighborhood. He ran from house to house excitedly saying either "hello!"(sometimes he forgot the "trick or treat" part!) or "trick or treat!" and then politely saying thank you to each of the candy-givers. My heart smiled during the whole hour. He came home proudly dumping all of his treats on the floor. Parker then took over a very important job of handing out candy to the last of our trick or treaters. He took his job very seriously and loved it! After reading a Halloween story or two, we then all turned in for the evening. I'm pretty sure I drifted off to sleep dreaming of a certain pirate and peter pan. ;)

Hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween this season!