Pumpkin Patch 2017

Last week we made our annual visit to the local pumpkin patch.  I admit I get a kick out of it as much as the kids do.  There are just so...many...photo opportunities!  Also, although we are good for pumpkins since we grow our own, it is always fun to look at the unique varieties of gourds and other ornamental pumpkins they sell to get ideas for our crop next year.  And, of course, the kids love it.  Seasonal activities (you know...Easter egg hunts, trick or treating, that one time Santa Clause was reading at story time at the library and someone's two year old son refused to sit down in the packed room and was running around in circles and started a riot of other kids running around so his mom had to make a hasty exit and missed the free photo opportunity...things like that...) often descend into less than perfect chaos but as far as I can remember our kids have always had a good time at the pumpkin patch.  

I have been seeing pictures from our previous trips on my Facebook flashback photos so I went back into my albums to find some of my favorites.  

These are from 2013, the first year we went.  

Believe it or not, I was eight months pregnant in this photo.  Oh, the good old days of only being pregnant twice when my face didn't look inflated like a balloon...

What a cute little only child he was. 

The corn was his favorite even then.  

Now, we jump ahead to 2015 because I couldn't find the folder with the 2014 pictures.  Don't worry...I found it but they will be out of order.  Gaaaah!!  Please don't leave!  

Milo was a newborn for this outing.  As you can see, we tried to arrange a nice family photo on this huge pumpkin but it didn't work.  

He slept through the whole outing.  

I don't know what I was thinking with that white shirt Tessa is wearing!

She was so cute!  Still a baby herself with a new baby brother!

Everyone loves this wood combine. 

OK, now we jump back to 2014.  

When the patch opens the whole expanse of ground is covered with pumpkins.  We usually go later in the season but it is a pretty cool sight when it is full.  We actually know the main pumpkin supplier's family. His daughter and son-in-law went to college with us and the son-in-law was Justin's roommate so we know some of what goes on behind the scenes and I will say there are massive quantities of pumpkins delivered here every year.  

At least one year I managed to wear the perfect little fall outfit because I wasn't pregnant, nursing, or less than a week out of the hospital from giving birth.  

Last year we actually didn't manage a visit as a family but I chaperoned Ben's school trip and brought Milo and Tessa with me.  I have a few pictures but they are in my phone folder which is a bottomless pit of thousands of pictures and I just don't feel like getting into it right now.  I do recall that Tessa was wearing a crazy rainbow sweater and Milo's John Deere winter hat even though it was early in September and not cold out.  

This picture isn't from the pumpkin patch but I just had to share it because it is one of my favorites of Ben and Tessa!  I guess I would make a face too if someone laid my bald head on a bed of leaves.

Now...finally on to 2017.  This was Milo's first real pumpkin patch experience and it did not disappoint him.

Back on the combine seat!

Tessa was wearing a very cute outfit with a pretty fall colored floral shirt because it was her picture day at preschool that morning.  But...she changed a few times in the afternoon and ended up wearing the lovely ensemble you see here with rubber rain boots.  Whatever...I don't care anymore.  

They definitely had a bath when we got home. 

These swings weren't there last year. They were fun.  I tried one and was so shaky and embarrassing that an older elementary school aged girl standing nearby tried to give me a lesson.  I said I thought I was too pregnant to be on those swings but I'm probably just too old. 

This rope swing was pretty cool. 

Justin helped her get up that high.  

He didn't need any help. 

Kids can't resist dumping corn all over themselves.  

Family picture.  We lack the perfect fall outfits but it's still pretty good.  

A Project and an Anniversary

Remember the days of the origin of this blog?  Back before any kid or even cat entered the scene and we were always occupied with house projects, painting and decorating?  Last night was kind of a little flashback...we had the home inspection a few weeks ago and...big surprise...there was rotting wood under both our front and back decks.  I recall shopping when we bought this house in 2013 and many of the houses we looked at had visibly crumbling decks.  I don't remember the details of our inspection when we moved in here but I know our front deck at least wasn't in perfect condition.  Our new neighbors had rotting wood as a problem on their deck when they had their inspection this summer.  I think it is safe to say that if you buy a house more than a few years old with a deck there is probably some rotting wood on it somewhere.

Last week, Justin replaced a board that was pretty spongy on the front steps.  It was a supporting board that you wouldn't notice just by looking like a normal person would.  Last night he replaced the little stair supports on our back deck.  The part you can see is not wood but some kind of plastic composite that is supposed to last forever but the supports underneath are, of course, wood and once they were revealed they looked pretty bad.  It is really warm here this week so now is the time to do it although are rapidly losing our 11 p.m. daylight and it is harder to get anything done outside when darkness comes at 7:30.  Justin had to plug in a spotlight to supplement the one outdoor bulb we have back there.  Something good came of this though...we found out that a mystery switch in the house that has always been a switch to nowhere actually controls the outdoor outlet!  After four years!  It's not even near the patio door.  The switch is in the dining room on the other side of the house.

The kids could hardly stand the excitement and they just HAD to be out there even though there were no stairs and screws were laying everywhere.  

Tessa really liked the woodworker pencil.  Those things are pretty weird when you have always known writing utensils to be cylindrical.  

Allan didn't know what to think about this.  He was not very comfortable with the bright light back there in his bird staring territory.  

Speaking of Allan, this should have its own post but the day already passed two days ago and I don't want to forget.  The 15th of October is Allan's adoption day.  It's been eight years.  I looked way back in my albums (2009 predates this computer so all the photos from his early months are in a file together).  He was so cute and little.  His ears look pretty large on his pin head.  

I'm so happy we got him.  He always has loved laying on the window sills if there is a piece of furniture there to support him.  Or, when he was six pounds he could just sit on the window sill although he is way too wide for that now.  I think of how he spent his first few months in the shelter in a cage with his brother (a very nice shelter but still...) and how he must have loved looking out the windows of our house when he first got there.  I also think about his brother and I hope he has had a good life too.

Fast forward eight years and Allan is still living the good life...

He's almost triple the weight he was when we came home and he still loves windows, beds and blankets.  He's very secure in his environment and he knows he has nothing to worry about.  I bought him a new pack of toy mice at PetSmart last week.  For some reason they seem to disappear and they had some Halloween themed ones on sale.  He made an effort to play so I know he still can do it although it's nothing like that crazy frolicking and leaping he used to do.  He did a quick charge down the stairs with his new mouse then shook it in his mouth (the signature "death shake") then pretended to hide and stalk and pounce...and that was it.  He was tired.  

Cutting and Coloring Chaos

The kids are in a phase since school started...I don't know what I should call it exactly.  It involves drawing, cutting, paper, magazines, stickers, and scraps everywhere.  It's not really crafts.  I guess it is art.  Of course, they have previously enjoyed coloring and drawing and cutting but it's gone really crazy lately since school started.  I think they get motivated by what they make at school and want to keep going at home.  

For example, Ben brought this home from school last week:

It is a football field and he only had time to make the endzones there.  The middle was white.  He filled in the rest here.  I could live with this.  I was pretty proud of it actually...the bubble letters are pretty good I thought. But...this is just the beginning.  The kitchen table looks like this every day:

Gah...don't panic...don't panic...that will be easy to straighten up...the little shreds of paper from the back of those letter sticker are no problem!  And shredded magazines...easy!  And the multiple pairs of scissors and markers where a fresh two year old can reach them are no big deal at all!  So what if his hands and face are always colorful!  It's easily washable!  No one even notices, I'm sure!  

Oh, look! Another pile that must be saved!  The tractors are pretty funny actually...Ben and Tessa were cutting them out and saying they were "tractor coupons" for my dad.  If only!  And Ben likes to cut out scopes from the hunting catalogues and he taped one to a paper towel tube.  Clever.  

Tessa prefers the women's and fashion magazines because of the plentiful jewelry ads with "beautiful gems" to cut out and lots of bottles of nail polish.  Also, I have read many magazines in my life and I never realized how many pet food ads there are in them.  

As much as I don't enjoy eating lunch on a pile of notebook paper and sticker scraps I let this activity continue.  It is creative at least.  And I get to find items like the following strewn everywhere in the house:

Tessa calls the swirls she draws "galaxies" and the weird little ovals are from the show "Wild Kratts".  Ben makes those.  They are creature power disks or something.  I should know.  They are watching it in the background right now.  

This here is rather unsettling.  Tessa made this last night.  It has the feel of a ransom note if a three year old could make a ransom note.  

Happy 2nd Birthday Milo!

Milo turned 2 on Saturday.  I still kind of shake my head in wonder at the turn of events the night of his birth.  No one probably recalls details, but I say that because I was supposed to be induced like I had been with the other two kids but actually went into labor on my own and had to go to the hospital in the night after calling the neighbors for help with the kids and when I got there I was already 7 cm dilated.  

We were at the farm on Saturday for combining but Milo got a little party with his cousins.  Ben even missed the main event because he was in the tractor too.  Busy guy!  Milo was so cute.  He was like a little gracious guest of honor.  He sat grinning in front of his cake and didn't try to plunge his hands into it. 

He tried to blow out his candle but he was mostly just putting his face in it so I blew it out quick so he wouldn't burn himself.  

When he opened his gifts he clapped and grinned over each thing.  

He received the trucks shown above, a stuffed Mickey Mouse (he calls it "Ka-Key"), a pop up book, a toy garbage truck with little garbage action figures (think "Shopkins" but marketed toward boys...weird I know but all three kids love it) and a sleeping bag to match the ones Ben and Tessa have.  They like to play with theirs and he has been starting to show interest in them.  These gifts were all from my family members but we had ordered a present for him which, thanks for nothing Amazon Prime, got delayed in transit. It was sitting on the step when we returned last night.  He can get it next weekend at his second party.  Daddy and Ben didn't let him down though and picked out a present for him on Saturday.  His own combine!

We have a lot of toy combines in this house but not this size yet.  We saved it to open when Ben was there.  

Then he had to show his bro how to use his new sleeping bag.

It's crazy but Milo is the first kid in the family to celebrate their second birthday without a baby sibling hanging out nearby.

Ben had little 4 month old Tessa celebrating with him and Tessa had newborn Milo.  I couldn't find any pictures of him and her together from her birthday when she was 2 but I had to share a picture.  She looks a lot like Milo!

Hmmm...that duplo cake...I should have mixed up a different color for the frosting.  Mauve is nice but not exactly fun and whimsical for a 2 year old...

Milo had his 2 year appointment this morning.  The time was 10:20 a.m. and Tessa is done with preschool at 11:30.  One would think that even on a busy day this window of time would be enough to fit in a routine well child appointment.  Well, after doing the initial weigh and measure I sat in the exam room until 11:00 a.m. waiting for the doctor.  I went out and told them I had to leave in ten minutes and they said, "oh, she's still with another patient" so I had no choice but to leave without finishing the appointment which would have taken minutes since he's healthy I rarely have any concerns to talk about.  They called this afternoon to reschedule and, given that you apparently have to set aside a whole morning to see a doctor in this town due to delays and overbooking (this regularly happens to me at my OB appointments too) the next available time is in the middle of November.  To say I am annoyed with the overbooked, understaffed, overcrowded nature of EVERYTHING in this town is an understatement.  You can barely find a cashier in a store, restaurant workers run around like lunatics trying to keep up with packed tables, every school has portable classrooms, the desk at Tessa's preschool is now staffed by a fingerprint scanner and to actually talk to a live person about anything beyond the teacher's business (payment, paperwork) you have to call a different building where no one ever answers on the first call and you always have to leave messages.  To sign a kid up for an activity or lessons you have to be on the phone speed dialing like an idiot or sitting at your computer hitting refresh the morning registration opens.  The phone at our pharmacy rings and rings and cancelling a prescription takes multiple calls and a lengthy navigation through a robot menu. The car lines at drive up windows at banks wind around the building and it's never the quick and convenient stop you are looking for. It's just really annoying.  But at least I got to see how much he weighed which is 27.5 pounds.  It's not an above average weight but I'm certain he weighs a lot more than either of my other kids.  I think Tessa weighed that much at her 3 year appointment.  They gave me his length in centimeters (is this not America?) but I saw on the ruler he was about 34 inches.