First FIRE of the Season

Gathering firewood

Daddy's little helper

Bradley's "WOW" face

(his look of fascination and amazement)



Look at the roaring fire!

Daddy and his babies

It's been so chilly lately, and with the dampness adding to the chill, Nick and Rachel decided to build a fire last night. This has always been a favorite thing of Nick's, and it looks like it's a favorite of Rachel's too. She wanted to help Nick get firewood, and insisted on helping put kindling in the fireplace to get it started. She also hung in there next to Nick while he blew air on it to get the fire to start. She even wanted to eat her sandwich on the hearth, so she could be next to the fire. Nick really did enjoy all her help and enthusiasm! Bradley didn't care about the process of making the fire, but did his famous, "WOW" face with the wide open mouth and wide eyes once he saw the huge flames. He also was very proud of himself when he started saying "fiwer", which is how he says "fire". There's nothing more "homey" than a good fire and it really warmed up our den.

Pumpkin Patch Visit #2

The class waiting to go in

(can't you see their excitement?!)

Petting a baby goat

Rachel with her buddy, Kate, on the hayride

Rachel picked a lovely pumpkin

a line of kids waiting to go down the slide

Yesterday was Rachel's first field trip. We went to the pumpkin patch with her class and had a great time! We visited the petting zoo and got to pet some goats and a bunny. We also heard a lesson about how pumpkins are grown and then went on a hayride. Then, all the kids and moms got to pick small baking pumpkins and then we headed to the playground for snack. I thought it was really fun and enjoyed my time with Rachel. I couldn't wait to see how she interacted with her friends and how all the kids behaved, but Rachel wanted to hang with me more than with her friends. I was surprised, but loved it. Lots of the kids hung with their parents, but there were some who ignored their parents and just played with their friends. I got to see which kids had strong personalities, which ones were tattlers, which ones were super-shy and which ones were needy. (All in 2 1/2 hours!) I'm sure some of the kids were acting differently than they normally do, just like Rachel was. I think some of them were just a little freaked out to be out of their normal school environment. I met alot of really nice parents and almost all of them had younger children that they brought (and chased) on the field trip. I missed my little Bradley, but was glad to be able to focus all my attention on Rachel. And, of course, he had a blast getting all of Gege and Papa's attention. At noon, we left the patch, met Nick for lunch at Cracker Barrel (per Rachel's request) and then Rachel and I went to Old Navy to get her some jeans. We remembered that Party City was in the same shopping center, so we walked over there and picked out Rachel's Halloween costume. She had been fluctuating between Pocahontas and Sleeping Beauty, but when we walked in and saw the giant wall with about 200 costume choices to pick from, we had a little trouble deciding. Finally, Rachel saw a beautiful Angel costume, and that's what she decided to be. I was thrilled, because it was much cheaper than the Disney costumes, plus I think she's an angel already! :) And, Bradley will be a lion, since we're recycling as many of Rachel's costumes as we can.

It was a really fun day and I loved our girl time!

Fall Cuties

my big boy loves swinging on his tummy

One of my favorite pics of Rach recently

(this is also her favorite way to pose)

Swinging is so much fun!!

my beautiful little girl

my little cutie

Bradley's wearing daddy's stocking cap

I guess Fall is finally here...at least for a few days... and since the weather has been so pleasant and cool, we've been loving going outside to play! We went out tonight after supper and had a blast. It was so chilly, that we could have put on a jacket, but did okay with long sleeves. Nick let Bradley wear his hat since his little ears were getting cold. I just loved the pictures of both kids from tonight!

Early Morning Exchange

This morning, Nick and I really didn't want to get out of bed. But, at 7:30, we heard Rachel's door creak open and she walked into our room. This is actually a good time to wake up and I usually feel well rested, but I had woken up around 4 with Bradley when he couldn't find his cup and then I couldn't go back to sleep. Anyway, Rachel got in bed with us and we turned on some cartoons for her to watch so we could keep dozing. About 15 minutes later, we heard Bradley. He was awake and talking and calling my name every once in awhile. He's in his big boy bed, so he can get up if he wants and he could open his door if he wanted, but he always waits for us to open it for him. So, we're still dozing, kind of ignoring Bradley because we're feeling so lazy. (poor kid!) Finally, Rachel says, "mommy, Braddy's awake." I said, "I know, hun, why don't you go open his door for him, but don't talk to him since he might not be nice."

On most (but not all!) mornings, Bradley is very grumpy when he wakes up. It doesn't matter that he's called me or cried for me or anything...once I get to his door and open it and turn off his noisemaker, he is usually very ugly. He usually yells, "NO!" at me and sometimes he slams his door closed. I've learned that the best thing to do is: open his door, turn off the noisemaker, say, "hi baby", walk back out, don't make eye contact, and have a fresh juice cup and snack waiting in the den with one of his favorite tv shows on. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's also called early morning survival. The last thing I want is a screaming kid when I'm still waking up. Besides, when he starts yelling and crying, he usually wakes up poor Rachel if she's still asleep, so I do everything I can to avoid this scenario. Amazingly, after Bradley finds his snack and juice, he is so pleasant and sweet and usually wants to cuddle...go figure!!

So, back to this morning...
Rachel opens Bradley's door and says in a sweet voice, "hey Braddy"
Bradley immediately yells, "NO!!"
Rachel (still in her sweet voice) "what's the matter? Are you out of juice?"
Bradley (yells again) "NO!!"
Rachel (still being sweet...the boy doesn't know how good he's got it!!) "do you want to go to papa and gege's house?"
Bradley ... silence, then the pitter patter of little feet as they race to our bedroom
Rachel follows behind... "Mommy, are we going to gege and papa's house today?"
Me "no, hun, we're not"
Rachel "Braddy, we're not going to gege's house today."
Bradley runs out of the room.

It was a funny little conversation to hear on the monitor and sweet Rachel was doing whatever she could to make Bradley get in a good mood. I thought it was funny and clever. The bottom line is, "beware of grumpy Bradley in the morning!"

Pumpkin Patch Visit #1

Rachel really loved this cute little pumpkin

Running through the pumpkin patch

Bradley...with the wind in his hair...enjoying the slide

Bradley, Rachel & Raquel enjoying the swings

Rachel & Bradley riding in Nellie,

the birthday girl, Raquel, behind them in Eugenia

the cow train

the kids didn't really want to cooperate for this photo-op!

the "hazardous" corn box

We had a very busy, but fun Saturday!! We started out the morning at Raquel and Eli's 4th and 2nd birthday party at the pumpkin patch (their birthdays are a week apart). We had so much fun while we were there! There were tons of kiddie refreshments and we started out at the playground. Then, we had the cow train all to ourselves. Rachel and Bradley shared a cow together...this is the first year that I haven't gotten the privilege of bumping along in that dern cow on the bumpy ride! (I really missed it!) Then, we made our way up to the front of the farm where we walked through a huge pumpkin patch and admired all the pumpkins. We went to the petting zoo and saw some donkeys, goats, cows, pigs, bunnies and turkeys. Then we had just enough time to get in the corn box, which is like a huge sand box, but it's filled with corn kernels. My kids loved it, but there was an older group of kids there who were pegging each other with corn...so we didn't stay in there too long. We didn't have time to do the cool homemade slide or the corn maze or the hay bale maze or the duckie water game, but Rachel was consoled by the fact that we're going back tomorrow with her class. I'm excited that I get to go back too...the place is so much fun! Bradley won't get to go, but he'll never know since he'll be getting spoiled by Gege and having his own little individual party. The reason we didn't get to stay long is because we had to get to Gege's for Nick's cousin's wedding. The wedding was beautiful, the bride and groom looked lovely and seemed to really enjoy their day. Joe and Nick cooked awesome ribs and all the fixin's, so you can't go wrong there. And, the weather was so pleasant, we basically spent the whole day outside...what could be better! Of course, we were pooped last night, but just came home to rest and relax! It was a very fun day!!