Some Fall Favs

I figured I'd better get the pumpkins on here before its Christmas.  Sure, my tree is up, the stockings are hung, but we've still got some work to do.  I'm trying to savor these 60 degree lovely days that we are having lately.  At the beginning of October, we got a "season pass" to our local orchard.  We ended up going several times, so it actually paid off.  I mean, we spent $8 in donuts each time we went, but they were sooooo worth it :)

 Isla was bound and determined to pick her own pumpkin.  The whole time we were there she kept saying "I wanna BIG one mommy!"  So she searched and Cruz helped in the pumpkin patch.

 and sure enough, she found the perfect one.  

Huge isn't it?

 I found this lil' pumpkin roaming the patch.

He ended up putting a whole bunch of stuff in his mouth which resulted in more than usual spit up.

 Living the green

 Dave took these one day while I was at work

 I promise it was warm enough that he didn't require clothing

 And then it was Halloween.  Shortly before Halloween, I took the kids to the doctor.  I was lamenting about my difficulty with potty training and the doc asked me how Isla was with independent play.  I told her that she did really well.  She loves playing by herself especially with play dough.  But she is also good with boundaries, I explained.  I only allow her to play with one color at a time so the colors don't mix together and end up in a brown blob.  After this came out of my mouth, the doc gave me a rather disapproving and perplexed look.  She asked if I let Isla pick out her own clothes, to which I replied, of course not.  The disapproving look intensified.  When I mentioned that I don't let her wear pink or have any princess paraphernalia, she then asked if I let Isla have any choices.  I sometimes let her choose between Mickey and Pajanimals at night, does that count?  The doc said that I may be "stifling her creativity."  I doubt it.  You should see this kid make imaginary dinner, its amazing.  In any event, when it came to her Halloween costume, we had no intention of letting her choose what she wanted to be.  Cruz was going to be an aviator, so, naturally, we wanted Isla to be a retro flight attendant (think Pan Am, not Brittany Spears.)  You can imagine her excitement.  I decided to heed some of the good doctor's counsel and I took Isla to the Halloween store to pick out her own costume.  I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN.  I mean, maybe I'll let her choose her costume, but those Halloween stores are freaking scary.  She was freaked out most of the time until we made it to the toddler section.  She debated between the bumble bee and the lady bug for quite some time, but then unequivocally said, "I be a wady bug mommy."  Ok honey, wady bug it is.  And not just any lady bug costume, but one with a scepter and a tutu...like all lady bugs have I'm sure.

 But I guess she does look pretty cute

 We went trick or treating at The Cottage (Jeff and Elaine's house)

Drake and Logan's costumes were straight from the Taylor Swift concert

 Timmy was Buzz Ligthyear

He couldn't have been happier

 The "wady" bug and aviator

 He stayed back at The Cottage with me.

He's too cute to let out of the house just yet.

 The bag might have been a little big,

 but it definitely held a lot of candy.

Dave was pretty disappointed with Isla's candy.  Why are people so in love with Baby Ruth and Milky Way?  We're still trying to get rid of the stuff, so if you have a sweet tooth, come on over.  

Fall Birthday Weekend

I've said it before and I'll say it again. We like to party.  Or at least I think we do.  We celebrate everyone's birthday, every year.  The fall is particularly busy with birthdays:  me, mom, Vicki, Grandma Violet, Matt, Dad, Dave, and, now, Julianna.  The fall is starting to give May Mayhem a run for its money.  We celebrated most of the birthdays on a beautiful fall day at the beginning of October.  The Geha's even came to town from Arizona and Nebraska so we could meet their new little ones.

Here is the obligatory try to get all the kids together for a picture, picture.

Brookie took care of the out-of-town babies, Kaylee and Violet

 Timmy takes the cake for cutest big brother

 Dr. Geha (Andrew that is) with his sweet baby Violet (on the left) 

They named her after my grandma Violet

2 Violet Gehas in the world.

What a blessing.

 Fall is my favorite for so many reasons. 

The smiling faces of these cuties playing outside is only one of them.

 I mean, I'm not trying to brag or anything, but I think Dave is model material

 And when you thought it couldn't get cuter

 We went to Long's Orchard for some harvest fun

 My favorite thing about this picture is the little girl at the bottom

...and Melanie's facial expression.

 My sweet daddy with Cruz

 We really tried to get a cute picture of the kids with my dad

Poor Jenna

Until the next party....

(which was the next day when Greg and Chandler got engaged!)

A Riebel Visit

Our sweet friends the Riebels came to visit us last month.  They have 3 boys (all born in March) and are a pretty stellar looking family.  We decided to head out to a local fair to exhaust some energy before Dave, Austin and Kyle went to a Tiger game and left Amy and I  to man the children.  2 hours and $50 later, we came home from the fair with a few parachute soldiers.  

Don't worry, he's not throwing the kids over

 No, really, he's not.

 The next day we headed to the farm across the street.

The best entertainment in town.  Cost: Free.

You should come visit some time.

Luke's killer smile

 Joey (who shares a birthday with Cruz) pulling the toddlers

Gorgeous Johnny

His hair is amazing.  It requires more conditioner than mine.

 The snake in Luke's mouth was also a prize from the fair.

My sweet friend Amy.

The brave mother of the 3 boys.

My Arab buddy (We're both just half, but still embrace the ethnicity)

We like all the same foods, and, therefore, 

we love to cook and eat with each other.

And maybe drink some wine.

Thanks for coming to visit us friends!  We love you.

The Big Sister

Isla loves being a big sister.  In fact, just today I caught her trying to ride on Cruz's back :)  But she really does love her brother.  I'm sure she only hits him in the face and pushes him over because she loves him so much.  Hopefully he'll be big enough to defend himself from all her love soon.

This was their first bath together

Not pictured is 30 seconds later when Isla pushed Cruz over and he went under the water

The camera almost got a bath

But I managed to save both Cruz and the camera (in that order)

 Don't let the holiday apron fool you, we aren't baking Christmas cookies just yet

 Those eyes...

Someone at the Farmer's Market told us he had "Paul Newman" eyes

 A compliment?  I suppose, I like his salad dressings

I love you

A bushel and a peck

                                         A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.

Hope they always love each other this much