A Trip To A Pumpkin Patch

On Friday, October 11, 2013, we had a busy day planned with lots of outside fun.

We started out with a playdate with Charlotte's friends Kaedence and Lucas. They played around outside and ran their little hearts out. Then we loaded up, grabbed a gondola, and met Aunt Bare so we could all drive to Rader Farms for the afternoon. Sawyer slept the entire way there (30 minutes) and Charlotte never took a nap. I had a BAD feeling about her not napping and knew that we might have a short trip bc of her moodiness....

It was a BUSY day at the farm. When we pulled into the parking lot there were school buses galore....which gives me major anxiety. School aged kids annoy me on a good day without my children around. Add my kids in an environment where these kids can be mean, very few parents watching them, and small areas that they can knock my kids over.... I was a crabby mess. Ugh. God bless teachers. I know not how they do it. Seriously.

Back to the project at hand...

Our first fun game was the water game. She loved pumped the water that pushed the ducks down the tube. Problem was she didn't want to share the ducks and she didn't want to leave the water. Enter HUGE fit #1.

We headed over to the petty zoo and tractors. Man does Sawyer love the tractors.

We saw goats and chickens and sheep and pigs and ducklings and baby chicks that they could hold. And rabbits and more and more animals. The kids LOVED them.

Now time for the silo with corn in it... (the "corn" box instead of the sand box)

I made Aunt Bare get in with them.

I love this view....

She was loving this... and all of the mean kids stayed in the other silo so she actually got to be the mean kid in this one :) Kidding.

Busy little bees.

So, after like 30 minutes of playing in the corn, it was time to try something else. Enter HUGE fit #2. Screaming. Legs kicking. Arms flailing. 

I was about over it all but I decided to let them play in the little houses... it was on the way back to the car.

They were both so good as they played.

Sawyer hung out in the hot pink house and cooked in the kitchen.

Part of the farm...

He watered the flowers and played and played. Most of the kids that would go in the house would leave him alone and be gentle with him.... all 14 months of him.

Charlotte was the mail lady. She just kept running from one house to the next. It was so cute. She LOVED it.

We finally had to leave. There was a 6ish year old bully hanging out. He wasn't letting kids into one of the houses. He wouldn't share. He was just a mean kid. He told one of the kids that his dad was going to beat them up. Mary couldn't take it anymore. She went over to the house that he was in and told him she was watching him. Multiple moms yelled at him for being mean to their kids and he even pushed some of them. Finally, his lazy mom got up off of the chair to see what was going on. He had multiple moms yelling at him. His mom told him to be nice. He said OK and ran off. I didn't like him. I wanted to give him a wedgie.

We headed home. Charlotte threw a tiny fit as we left but fits 1 and 2 were way bigger. Her and Sawyer slept on the way home.

It was a pretty good day minus the no nap fits. :) Oh the life of having a 2 year old. And to think, Sawyer will be starting all of this soon....

Sawyer Month Update: Fourteen Months

Date: October 8, 2013

Weight: About the size of a 14 month old :)

Height: Taller than a cat and shorter than Charlotte

Teeth: I think he is averaging 2 teeth a month. Sawyer has 8 teeth now. He got his 8th tooth today actually! He has his four front teeth on top and his four front teeth on bottom. He usually is a bit crabby as they break through (but I have no idea that's why he is crabby at the time) and he usually gets a small diaper rash while they cut through. Charlotte always spiked a pretty good fever but he doesn't do that. The main thing I notice when he is teething is the fact that he chews on his fingers more and he tends to bite (OOPS) more.

Clothes: We are continuing to rock the 12 month clothes with some occasional 9 month clothes thrown in here. He is rocking his size 4 shoes... his crocs, his tennis shoes that Charlotte calls his running shoes, and his velcro nerdy shoes. He is wearing size 3 diapers during the day and size 4 diapers at night.

Sleeping: Our little prince wakes up around 6:30 am every morning. He takes 1-2 naps per day.... usually 2 but if it's a late nap then it's just 1 nap. He has a tendancy to fight the napping off and on.  He usually naps between 2 and 4 hours every day. The saying that "the more sleep a baby gets the more they need" does pertain to Sawyer. When he gets very little sleep, he is like the energizer bunny. He just goes and goes. By 7pm every night, he is ready to go to bed. He just isn't much for staying up late. Sometimes he is fussy and wants to go to bed but it will take 30 minutes to get him to sleep. He will then sleep anywhere from all night to he might wake up 3 times (with the average being one). He still loves to be rocked to sleep and we have been doing a few ounces of warm cow's milk in a sippy cup before bed. 

Health: Big boy has been nice and healthy this month!! It was a far cry from the month of August :) We are happy to have our happy, healthy, sweet boy home.

Food: Bring it all on!!! He is still loving all food. He continues to start his day with his donuts and his cereal and whatever else anyone else eats on top of it. He eats all day long...still. He is really loving to eat cheese with lunch (usually with his lunch meat). Charlotte has passed on her love for "orange chips" (Baked Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles) to him. He could eat an entire bag. His favorite foods continue to be any and all meat, popsicles, ice, and suckers. Such a man :)  He still loves his juice but could care less if he gets water in his cup instead. He is pretty laid back. If you give it to him, he will eat it... except for bananas... not a banana man :)

Talking: Charlotte and Sawyer, sometimes these kids couldn't be more different :) Sawyer still isn't crazy about talking. He does say "Momma, Dadda, Gigi, Papa, Hi, Bye, More, Dog Dog, Woof". He is starting to jabber more and more. When he sees tractors he points and yells "DAA DAA" and when he sees a big truck he just yells "DUCK". (But he doesn't know what a duck is :)  ) So he is trying to talk talk more. We just need to keep working with him. He is also mimicking Charlotte all of the time. If she coughs, he coughs. If she yells and throws a tantrum, he will yell too. If she sings, he will sing.  Pretty soon he will be talking nonstop. 

Favorites: Our newest most favoritest thing is books. He really loves books. He will find one and bring it to you and curl up on your lap. Now, he doesn't want you to read it to him and he most certainly doesn't want you turning the pages but he does love them! He loves being outside. He STILL LOVES the vacuum. I think it is really his best friend. He loves brooms.... he can spot them a mile away and he walks around with them.  He is so independent...he is even trying to dress himself occasionally. He loves to try to put his shoes on. He is obeying commands. If we tell him to go get his shoes, he will go get them. If we tell him to throw his diaper or something into the trash, he will go do it for us. One day he had been walking around with his shoes in his hands. When I went to put them on him, I couldn't find them. When I asked him where they were, he walked over to the trash can and pointed in it saying "da da da da". I look inside and there the lay :) He knew... If he brings me one shoe, I will tell him to go get the other one from the pile and he will go to a big pile of shoes and bring me the correct match. He loves tractors and animals. When he pets cats and dogs, he makes a high pitched humming sound. It is so cute :) It will melt your heart. He loves to push toys and loves to push Charlotte as she is riding around on push toys. When he gets mad he will try to cross his arms (in a very dramatic way) but he looks more like T-Rex when he does it. He has started pushing Charlotte around to get his way. She can no longer dominate him all of the time. He knows his eyes, nose, toes, ears, hair, teeth, mouth, face, and hands. And his favorite thing of all is......anything that Charlotte is playing with....

And the story of Sawyer continues on....

Happy Birthday Ella!!!

On October 6, 2013, we celebrated little Miss Ella's 4th birthday.

I love that Charlotte considers Ella her best friend. They love each other and play pretty well together!

We got up at Mom and Dad's house and had some breakfast. We headed home for naps and such then got to Ella's birthday party around 2:30.

Ella's grandparents rented this AMAZING blow up castle for her birthday party!!!!

Sweet Em... the temperatures had dropped significantly since the day before and continued to drop... 

Alex was a trooper and got in the jumper with the kids for awhile. Sawyer couldn't manage it at all without adult help. Charlotte could handle it if there was only one other person in it.

Alex was the jumper police man :)

WHOA!

The things that make them so so happy.... riding in a wagon with your best friend drinking juice... life couldn't be more perfect.

Love that hair!!!!

He had his own little seat by the fire.

Hanging out by the fire....drinking apple juice....

Jodi had the backyard looking super cute. It was fall meets girly birthday party theme!

The meeting of the minds on how to hang up the pinata.

Nothing worked so we made Jodi hold it. :) SO FUNNY.

Charlotte didn't quite get the whole swinging of the bat.

Ella rocked it out. And Alex took over the holding once it was almost broken.

SHE DID IT! The birthday girl got the loot!!!

It was present time...

Charlotte wanted to help. Thankfully she listens well to Jodi and loves her. She sat on her lap almost the whole time and let Ella unwrap the presents.

The largest tootsie pop we have ever seen!!

The birthday girl and all of her fabulous presents!

I love this picture!!

Jodi and Charlotte were both clearly excited about the amazing princess shoes we bought for Ella.

Charlotte had to jump up and help Ella see the princess shoes and the tutu we got her.

The birthday cake!!!!

Jodi made the birthday cake herself:)

(She does it every year)

She loves her cake!

Two beautiful red heads!!!

We had so much fun at the party. By the end of it, the kids were damp (it was sprinkling off and on), they were tired and ready for bed. Jodi and Derrick are the BEST hosts. They had the perfect meal for the kids and different perfect meal for us adults. It was a great day spent with amazing friends and their family.

Happy Birthday, Ella :) We are so happy we get to celebrate these amazing milestones with you :)

A Busy Weekend...

On Friday October 4th, I headed over to Mary and Chad's house in the evening to take pictures of them with their pumpkins to help announce her pregnancy.

Some of them are cute and I am proud of some of them so I wanted to show them off :)

(And have them archived in my blog.)

Since I take my kids EVERYWHERE with me, they have to join in on the photos. I stopped and got them ice cream and star bars and brought juice boxes but they still got in on a bunch of the pics.

But she just loves her Aunt Bare.

I love this one. He just loves her so much.

She saw the boots for the baby and the baby pumpkin and my soda and those were the items she wanted....not anything that was brought for her.

Mary and Chad came over that night and we had a fire pit going on. It was prefect.

Saturday, October 5, was Mom and Dad's annual chili party. The kids and I headed down that afternoon. They took their naps there and I helped Dad get ready for the party. It was nice and warm initially....then the rain moved in...

Dad's little shack he builds each year that there might be rain. He worked like a dog getting all of this put together. He LOVES this party every year.

Charlotte and her Aunt Bare....

The chili party was amazing. Our friends, the Elliots, came from the Chicagoland area. They brought their little girl who slept upstairs in the packnplay until they left late that night. I got to see multiple old friends that I hadn't seen in years as well as close family friends that we haven't seen in awhile. It was a great party! Jodi and Ella even made an appearance. Alex and I slept at Mom and Dad's house. I drank way too much.... it was a rough morning the next day....