The pumpkin patch

This was the first time any of us had been to a pumpkin patch. We were amazed by all the stuff to do and see and all the people! There was a steady stream of them coming and going the entire time we were there. We had a blast. Enjoy the event with us from the beginning to the end.

Matthew was totally pumped. He kept screaming, "The park!!!" and bouncing.

This is the gourd launcher.

Here's the pumpkin launcher.

They had a tricycle race course, but unfortunately, Matthew didn't have long enough legs for the pedals.

He managed to create quite a pile up.

According to the pumpkin chart, Matthew is 3 ft. tall now.

The delight of Matthew's day was the slides. They did look pretty fun. Phil went down with him the first time. I didn't get a picture because a tall guy camped out in front of me right as they started down. At one point Matthew got so excited he ran back up to the top, hopped in front of the first kid in line and sailed down again. That's when we realized he needed me to help him with his place in line.

He really enjoyed running on the big round bales that periodically had "DO NOT CLIMB" spray painted on them.

And he never fell off.

Bouncing on them was great fun too. Best park ever.

They had many different boards up for photos. I liked the cat best.

The morning before Matthew had woke up and said, "What was that noise?" I said, "I didn't hear anything." He ripped open the curtains by his bed and said, "Where's the billy goats?" I said, "Billy goats? Do you think we have billy goats?" "Yeah..." I guess he heard that term somewhere and dreamed we'd opened a goat ranch. So I guess he finally got to see his billy goats.

Feeding the greedy beast.

We took the shortest hay rack ride in history. (It lasted no more then a minute seriously.) It dropped us off at the pumpkin patch. We told Matthew he could have whatever pumpkin he could pick up. Not this one obviously.

Having trouble finding a little one on this end we went to where all the little ones were.

On the way back we visited the ducks.

I love this ones feathers!

This one is a beautiful color.

While waiting to pay for our pumpkin and leave, Matthew posed for a picture with all the tempting pumpkins. I was surprised to see gourds that looked exactly like hedge apples. In fact, I really believe that were hedge apples. I swear we could make a killing running a pumpkin patch. Hedge apples we could gather for free and sell for a $1 a piece.

Here we are 2 minutes from the pumpkin patch.

And 5 minutes away we are out. It's the end ladies and gentlemen. Hope you had as much fun as we did.

Our rocking Saturday night

Matthew and I got up Sat. morning at the crack of dawn. We hit the yard sale and took off for KC. We didn't do much in the afternoon, as we were trying to get Matthew to nap, but that failed so we took off for supper at an Mongolian BBQ. Phil had a lemon in his iced tea and fed it to Matthew. This is how Matthew looks while eating lemons. His Dad fed him more lemon on Sun. and he ate the rind! Ick!

I'm hiding...

Ok, I'll stop hiding and dance for you instead.

The husband was in such a good mood he let me take the first great pic of him in probably, oh, 4 years.

After supper we went home and Matthew found Mommy's sunglasses.

What a ham. His facial expressions kill me.

Yeah, he's styling.

We made brownies and look who is casually trying to get close enough to swipe some.

Isabelle, we're on to you and chocolate isn't good for kitties. (Or Mommy's thighs...sigh)

Misc. pics

Phil brought my art table downstairs and guess who likes it to sleep on...

My boys relaxing.

Oh I need to post more

Hello, Santa?


It just seems like the weeks are flying by fast here. There is secret squirrel negotiations happening, planting I hope to get done, housework, kid work, work, kid on sleeping strike, cooking, more child refusing sleep, and the list goes on and on. I just haven't felt real inspired to take pictures, which leads to boring blogs, which leads to...

Phil was sent to St. Louis this week to facilitate some team building workshops. He arrived home tonight. His biggest complaint was the long drive time. It was very boring. They need to install a dvd player in those government vehicles. Just kidding. I was very glad the nice recruiters at that station steered him away from the hooker district and got him settled into a nice clean hotel.

Today Matthew and I had off, as well as my mom. So we spent the day whipping Mom into shape and forcing her to fix Matthew's pants. They turned out great! And we hit a yard sale and scored some winter and summer clothes for $3.90. A great deal. Tomorrow we'll get up early and see if we can score again at another yard sale.

Photo's in no particular order or date and PS it did snow flurry at our house Sat. night

Another fine example of why Phil isn't allowed to use the camera. He took the picture and then snickered, "Right up the nose." Nice.

This is a picture of a neighbor up the roads Halloween display. If you click on it I think you can see it better. I obviously moved the camera, but I was in a hurry because it was 12:15 am, they were up and my flash was going off, as I was parked outside their house. I didn't want to freak them out...

Saturday we went to see my very good friend Jenny. Matthew insisted she help him get his socks and shoes on. I thought it was so cute I tried to take a picture. She tried to hide. By the way Jenny, Matthew remembered that car he didn't get to ride all day long! He cried the last 30 mins. of the trip home because we were to go back to Jenny's to ride the car! What a day.

Matthew's favorite thing to do is roll around in his dump truck's bed. Every now and then it bucks him off.


Did anyone call the Halloween bellhop?

What he really has on his head is a box.

This was taken a week ago. When I left to get my camera there were 2 of them.

Back in Sept., I noticed 2 huge owls on my silo at dusk. This and the next picture are from that first night. This is my favorite because their eyes are glowing in this one. And the one on the right is talking to the other. That's why it's stretched out.

I hate this weather!

It's NOT supposed to be snowing this early!!! Not that it's snowed yet, but it's cold enough to and I hate it. (That and it's forecasted to snow.) I'm still trying to plant bulbs and I still have live plants coming!!! It's just not working out for the planting of stuff this fall. Matthew is getting punchy from forced confinement in the house. He just can't understand how Mother Nature could have suddenly turned her back on us. So, all of this has diverted my attention from taking pictures lately. I will return to it soon, I promise. Until then, have a great weekend!

Matthew's photo shoot

He did a pretty good job uh?

Poor boy, obviously sick still...but not to sick to snag that camera and click away! I should note that he took these pictures during the week of sickness. He is not sick presently, thank goodness. I did imagine having to take him to the ER again, on a Monday, after his hand got squashed in the metal ball cage yesterday at school. But I've decided with all my CNA training, hehe, that he is just fine and just has 1 badly bruised knuckle. But he's a tough boy and won't let it slow him down.

Matthew is just learning at an incredible rate lately. He can sing much of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Happy Birthday. He is adding to his list the ABC's and Wheels on the Bus. We sing most of the way wherever we go in the car. Matthew dictates the song list. "Mommy sing Twinkle, Mommy Spider!, Mommy sing Rainbow" (Somewhere Over the Rainbow), and it goes on. He has also learned most of his colors. As we drive down the road he not only identifies the vehicle type but also it's color. And it's that way with many things. It's so exciting to watch him learning. This is his window of opportunity and I'm so glad he is making the most of it.

He's also learned another new trick. He can eject a DVD to put in the one he wants to watch. He's in love with Finding Nemo right now. He calls it the "Goldfish" movie. He brought it to me today and announced he wanted to watch it. Since I was cooking lunch I told him to put it back and I'd put it in later. Next thing I know it's playing! I'm not sure I was that clever as a 2 year old!

Yes we are still alive

I've been too busy to blog because I've been busily working on these.

Matthew has been busy sitting on my stack of stuff, to take with us, and playing with the birthday card his Dad received. He just loves making that thing sing Sweet Home Alabama.

Our weekend did not go as planned, but Matthew sure enjoyed seeing his "Aunt" Angela.

I hope you enjoyed our teaser. I'll try to find time to blog more soon!