THE GREAT PUMPKIN FARM

It's Fall in New York. The weather is changing to cool and crisp. The trees are changing colors, some leaves are falling. Fresh apple cider and pumpkins everywhere.

Today we went to The Great Pumpkin Farm. We had so much fun. Abygail, Jason and I feed the animals in the petting zoo while Jackson napped in the stroller. Then we got some carnival food (yum!). After filling our tummys Abygail got her leg painted. (she did NOT want her face painted nor her arm...she was even a little upset at first to get her leg painted with a Halloween Butterfly, once she saw that it didn't hurt she was fine.) We then hit the Corn Maze which was a fun work out. After the Corn Maze we decided we were tired and ready to go so we skipped the hay ride and went to purchase our pumpkins. Abygail loved walking around on the pumpkin steps. Everyone but Jackson picked out their own pumpkin (mommy picked Jackson's). We now have a Daddy pumpkin, Mommy pumpkin, Aby pumpkin and Jackson pumpkin. (I think I'll go get some craft paint this week and we'll have a fun art project :o)

On our way out we saw some fresh, cold Apple Cider for sale, who could resist that on a warm day? Well, we couldn't. On the way home we drank cider and munched on candy corns...Abygail was exhausted so she took a nap. We ALL had so much fun. I think we'll do it again next year.

Book Club

Yesterday I went to my first ever book club meeting. I am so glad that Michelle invited me. We ate, mingled and discussed books that we have read, are reading and want to read. I am really looking forward to the books that we'll be reading. The first book is INTO THE WILD by John Krakauer. It sounds really good and I can hardly wait until I get it and read it. Some of the other books that I remember were mentioned are: 'Me Talk Pretty One Day', 'Murder On The Orient Express', 'Anna Karenina', 'The Prestige', 'Twilight', 'Where The Red Fern Grows', and of course 'Water For Elephants'.

Most of all, I got to enjoy being around friends and talk about life. Jason came home a little earlier so that I could go and he took care of both the kids while I was gone. (brave soul! it was bedtime for both of them) Jackson did pretty well, although he still refuses to take a bottle (help! what am I going to do???) I also enjoyed getting to know many new people and getting better acquainted with others that I already knew.

In other news, we bought a used double stroller off Craig's List. We took our first walk in it yesterday and it was so nice to have both kids in it. It's not a GREAT stroller, but it works and that's what counts.

My child came without a volume control button!

Yesterday I had a church meeting, Abygail got to play with lots of other kids while we were there. She had such a good time. Jackson was really good as well. I was very proud of them, except for the part where Abygail went exploring in Alaska's hidden pantry...and STOLE a bag of pretzels. Silly me thought, 'I'll just take this away from her'. When I tried taking it away the bag riped open, my daughter is VERY strong. It was a small snack size bag so I just made sure it was ok for her to have it...what more could I do, the harm was already caused...she REALLY enjoyed them.

We also went to Babies R Us, as we passed all the rocking chairs she screamed out 'chairs', then I pointed out the beds (in hopes that she will realize that our bed is not her bed) and she screamed 'bed'. We went to the small toy section and we got her some crayons and a giant coloring book...which she has really enjoyed. As we were checking out with our purchases Jackson started to cry a little and she turned around (he was in his carrier in the basket and she was in the seat) and said 'don't cry' and 'it's ok'. How cute! She has really been learning words so well, Jason and I can hardly believe it.

She also liked screaming out 'look!' and 'how fun!', 'how cool' or 'oh, wow!'.

On our way home I made the mistake of giving her one of the markers we bought, which is shaped for little hands. She thought it tasted so good! Good thing they are non toxic, hahaha. Since it is washable I decided to just leave her face covered in green until we went to pick Daddy up so that he could have a good laugh. I wish I had taken a picture of 'my little frog'.

"...these are a few of my favorite things."

Abygail has lots of favorite things/activities. Here are some of them.









trains
flowers
chairs
raisins
the sky
the moon
outside
walks
books
dresses
mommy and daddy's bed
Jackson
shoes
horses
writing/coloring
the computer
bubble baths
being just like mommy

House Hunting

We started looking at houses on Friday, we saw 4 - all were just not to our liking (too much work to be done, odd shaped rooms, mold or weird lots). One of our major criteria is that it is a house that will be easy to resale, so odd shaped rooms or lots are just out of the question. Saturday we looked at 4 more houses...o I should mention that all 4 houses on Friday were empty and no one was there except our Realtor, all 4 houses on Saturday were lived in. The last house we saw was a GEM! Unfortunately an offer was already made and we found out this evening that the other offer was accepted so there is no chance of 'duking it out'. That's ok, at least we saw several different lay outs and styles of houses and now we know a little better of what we want.

House hunting with 2 kids is exhausting. Abygail just wanted to go up and down the stairs and run around in the back yard, where as Jackson was fine ... except he doesn't like the in and out of the car bit. I asked Abygail after we got home on Saturday if she wanted to live in a house and she nodded her head very vigorously that she did, then I asked if she wanted a backyard and she nodded her head even more vigorously. I know she will love it when we move.

On a different note, Jackson has found his thumb! He's been just gnawing and sucking on his fist but on Saturday he started sucking on his thumb. HOW CUTE! I hope this helps him to soothe himself better.

Abygail has been undressing herself...twice today she decided she no longer wanted to wear her shorts and diaper...hmmmmmm this could get interesting!

KISS THE GIRL

Abygail is still running a fever on and off. We stayed inside today and watch THE LITTLE MERMAID over and over again. I was singing along to the 'Kiss the Girl' song when I noticed that Abygail was headed over to the TV...and then it happened, she kissed the girl on TV. I almost died laughing.

Here are some cute pics from our day.

Hey Mom!

You're Funny!

Look What I Did While You Were Out Of The Room!

Look What I Can Do, Bounce On The Ball All By Myself...I Won't Fall, I Promise!

Dress UP

Yesterday Abygail decided that while I was folding clothes she wanted to put on her dresses. After putting on the dresses, she then picked up a few other random articles of clothing and wanted me to put those on her as well. I chose to put the bloomers on her head and the socks on her arms...she thought this was funny. It was so cute, she took the socks and bloomers off within 15 mins but wore the dresses for most of the day. Imagine, my little girl's first dress up day.

She has been a little sick with a runny nose and then last night she started running a fever, but she is doing fine and fighting whatever it is.

Jackson now prefers to ride facing forward in the front pack that we have and looking at all the different things and colors around us on our walks. He is actually playing in his exersaucer and jumperoo now. He likes the things that make noises and the colors.

I was reading in National Geographic today about a couple that have a GREEN home. OK, I'm a real dork, but check this out. This is our dream to have a house that provides it's own energy, a yard where we can grow our own food and be mostly self sustaining. I'm sure it costs tons of money to do it but...like I said it's our DREAM.

Book Review: Water For Elephants

OK, so one of my friends here in Buffalo invited me to this website called Goodreads. It has given me the wake up call that although I used to be an avid reader, I haven't read much in a few years - with the exception of children's books. Now don't get me wrong, I can't blame my kids, I'm the one that let this love slip by getting caught up in the everyday mumbo jumbo. Anyway, so I signed up and decided to pick a book so I didn't look like some silly girl that didn't read. (girl, because I still see myself as a young 20 year old) I picked Water for Elephants, currently the New York Times #1 Bestseller. I bought it Saturday night and just finished it. (So I didn't entertain my kids as much as I should have the last few days, moms are allowed breaks too, right? Right?)

Anyway, here is my book review of it. If I didn't send you an invite to be a "friend" on my goodreads list and you want to be, let me know and I'll send you one.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! I bought this book 2 days ago and I'm already finished. It's not a really long book with just over 320ish pages but it was really hard to put down. The plot seems to build and build and build until the end.

I love the old and young version of the main character. He makes me want to go visit old men at the old folks home and hear their stories. He's crotchety but rightly so, everyone treats him like his decrepit and mean...so not the case. The young version is kind, naive and genuine.

I enjoyed the anecdotes from real circus history and the animal characters.

With the exception of 3 short intimate scenes this book is well worth the read.

Busy, Busy, Busy

What a busy past few days. I just got back from the grocery store (at 11pm!!! crazy!), everyone is asleep and the computer is free so I thought I would get caught up.

Thursday was a Jewish holiday so Jason had the day off, he has so much homework and work for the class that he teaches that he still went to campus at the normal time and worked all day. If you don't know, he is taking 17 credits this semester and is teaching an Evolutionary Biology class that has 400+ students. He gets tons of emails from his students, has tons of work for the classes that he's taking and has to create 2 lectures a week plus tests and quizzes...needless to say he is a busy busy guy. Luckily he still finds time to put Abygail to bed almost every night which gives me a little break..to catch up on a TV show, do dishes, clean in general or veg out. Usually I do a combination of all of those things, key word: multitasking.

This morning we all got up and went to the Farmers Market again. This week the food challenge item that Jason picked out for me was Eggplants ... any recipe suggestions? (I forgot to note that I used this recipe for the brussel sprouts, they were ok but I think I didn't cook them long enough because they were not as tender as they should have been.) After the market we met with our real estate agent...we picked 7 houses out and will look at three of them on Friday and 4 on Saturday. The 3 on Friday are the ones we actually liked and the other 4 were just "well, we can look at it" kind of houses. We didn't go through the whole list that was in our price range, I think we probably should have been more choosy but the kids wouldn't have handle much more at that point.

Speaking of the kids, Jason had to change Abygail's diaper while we were there and she was MESSY!!! She screamed bloody murder the whole time (she doesn't normally like messy diaper changes), she screamed so loud and so much that the receptionist went to check on them to make sure that Jason wasn't actually killing her...hahaha.

After the realtors, I attended a super fun baby shower with lots of ladies from church with out either of the kids (Jackson napped for 2 1/2 hrs!). It was so nice to get out and socialize.

So I just bought a book today called Water for Elephants, it's a New York Times Bestseller...the reviews sounded interesting, I hope it's as good as it sounds. (Allison I'll let you know before you buy it!)

Other than the daily grind of busy schedules, Jackson is sitting now (while supported, of course) he is such a character, he loves to smile and laugh and just look at you. When you catch him looking at you he smiles and laughs like he's a super shy guy caught red handed. He's been sitting in Jason's lap while we eat dinner and he watches every move I make while eating like its the most interesting piece of live art work ever created. I know that he is learning so much! Abygail is also learning so much, everyday she says so many words that are new...sometimes Jason and I look at each other and ask "Did you teach her that word? No? I didn't either, I wonder where she learned it" (this for the word "clock"). It's as if she knows what everything is and is now using her voice to let us know it.

O, our precious children, we love them dearly and are trying to cherish these simple and amazing moments.

BOOKS: A Day in Pictures

The View

I saw it...did you? I don't normally watch The View, I just happened upon it this morning. I completely agree with this assessment of the show today.

Finger Paint

Yesterday Abygail had her first experience with finger paint. I put a sheet down in the living room to give her room to move and to protect the carpet. It was a mess but really fun to watch her discover the texture. She didn't actually paint anything but her body and the sheet I had under her.

We took a shower afterwards and she actually stood all by herself in the shower - I can't believe how much she is growing up. She drinks very well from a cup, she says so many words, and she loves being mommy's helper. When I sweep she wants to help, she puts clothes that are dirty in the dirty close - she doesn't always make the right place. Yesterday I found Jackson's outfit that she was taking to the dirty clothes in her drawer. I think she was not able to get the hamper out from under the desk that serves as their dresser so she just put it in the next closest spot that she knows holds clothes.

Jackson is getting so big. Jason said to me yesterday, "Where did our little boy go?", they both have a doctors apt. at the beginning of Oct, I'll let you know how much he weighs then.

He started rolling back to front last month, today he rolled front to back - watch out world, Jackson is coming to explore!!!

Getting Lost and the Library

I took the car this morning so that we could goto the library today. This meant that we all had to get up, shower, dress, eat and ready to walk out the door by 8:30 so that we could take Jason to school (i guess you can call this good practice for the future - when the kids are in school).

Car rides are soooo interesting because we have 2 kids that hate their car seats and hate the car - 1 child that is motion sick and routinely 'decorates' and 'perfumizes' our car, none the less it must be done, but that's off the subject.

The library didn't open until 10 and I wanted to go so that I could get Abygail signed up for story time, it was a bit too early so I decided to go back before we had to pick up Jason (the library is by the school). When we showed up at the Library at 5 they told us that the class had filled up by 11:30 that morning (40 kids), our bad luck, so we got on the waiting list. My disappointment may seem silly but Story Time is a big thing for me, 1) it's something that is scheduled and ensures that we get out of the house, 2) it's important to me that Abygail interact with others her age and have 'special activities' of her own, and 3) I don't have to think of something to do - someone else has done it for me. O well, hopefully someone will drop out and we will get in, we are the second on the list so there is a good chance of this happening.

The library was also having a book sale. I had forgotten my carrying pack for Jackson so I was lugging him around in his car seat and pushing Abygail in the umbrella stroller (which didn't seem to want to roll today). Jackson was getting a little fussy so instead of going into the play room they have or looking at the library books I decided to just go and see what books were for sell and get a few if they had some for kids. They had tons of children's books! Abygail is a book fanatic and started going crazy at the site of all the books. She chanted the words "wead" and "booooook" over and over again in an excited voice that sounds like Cookie Monster (who she also loves and says "goooookieee" every time she sees him or thinks about him). So we looked and bought 5 books. Abygail was so excited.

It really warms my heart that she loves books so much, and makes me think that we've done at least something good as parents. Everyday, several times a day, she throws as many books as she can up in to our lap and says "wead", nod, "book", nod, "wead". Then crawls up in our lap, gets all nice and comfortable and lets us read to her.

So after we bought our books we left because Jackson was done and ready to go. Since it was only 5:45 and Jason didn't finish teaching until 6:20 I decided to get lost. This is something I love doing, especially when we move. I have a pretty good since of direction so it's a fun game for me to get myself lost and then find my way back again. So we got lost, and Jackson screamed himself to sleep and Abygail did not 'blowing chunks'. You may think "why didn't she just take them home and then get back out again when it was time". Well, I'll tell you why...Not only does Abygail love books but she also loves being outside and by the time I finally got her back in the apartment, it would have been time to leave again...and Jackson would have been screaming the whole time anyway because what he really wanted was to be out of his car seat. We did eventually find our way back and just in time to pick up Daddy.

When Jason got to the car Abygail was very excited, Jason let her out and she ran around in the grassy area and then didn't want to get back in the car because she hadn't had an equal amount of 'outside time' to 'car time'. So when we got home she and Daddy stayed outside and ran around, read her new books and played. Jason really loves playing outside with her - I can't wait until we are in a house and have a back yard!

On that note, we have an appointment this Saturday with a real estate agent to start looking! Yea!!!

Well, that's it. No pics today, but here is one showing Abygail's love for books. I'm trying to rest and see if my playing 'opossum' will work - it didn't. She piled up all the books she wanted me to read to her anyway, sleep or no sleep.

Farmer's Market & Nature Preserve

Today we all got up early and headed to the Farmer's Market. It was a smaller market but still fun. Abygail saw a huge dog, really huge! We got some fruit (apples, plums and peaches) they were smaller than normal, maybe 4-8 bites total for a normal adult...so just the right size for Abygail. We also got some fresh brussel sprouts, still on the stalk, if anyone has a good recipe please let me know!!! We got lots of other things but that's all that was note worthy.

In the late afternoon we went to the Nature Preserve. It was free, so it was the perfect activity for us. The paths were wide and smooth so we were able to take the stroller. Abygail walked most of the way, she even decided to push the stroller some. We saw deer, cranes, white butterflys, geese, ducks, and rabbits. I came face to face with a deer! It was so cool, I walked around a corner and there she was, staring at me as I stared at her. Then after 3 seconds of our staring contest she turned and ran out of site - amazing! I was ahead of Abygail and Jason so just Jackson and I saw her (and Jackson was facing me so I don't think he saw her). I was suprised that she stayed around so long, Jackson was a little upset and telling me about it so I didn't expect to see any wildlife at that moment. I guess that's how it happens though, when we least expect it - someone is watching and waiting.

You can also go fishing there, maybe next time Grandpa comes to visit we'll all go fishin'.

We really enjoyed the Nature Preserve, it was such a good way to get the kids out in nature and help them feel the love that we both have for it. It was also nice just to be out as a family enjoying life and all the beautiful things this earth has.

I didn't take any pics of our outings but here is a cute one of the family taken when Jackson was about a month old (cute meaning the kids are cute - me, well I was still recovering).

Fun in the Sun

Today we went to Rachel's and Abygail had fun swimming, sliding and collecting treasures (she loves rocks!). This was the first time that Abygail went on a slide all by herself, she even learned to climb the ladder. It was nice to get out of the house and to chat with the ladies :)

Abygail is getting her top molars in and this week has been a little rough for her but I think I'm lucky that it hasn't been worse, she's just a little more sensitive and needy. Actually it's nice when she's needy because she just wants to be held and give hugs, usually she's so independent!

Jackson has been a trooper through it all. I propped him up on the Boppy today and he loved it! He does really well during the day, before bedtime is his needy hours (yes hours!) he just wants to eat and eat and eat and eat...well you get the point. He sleeps for 7-9 hours at night which is sooo nice, completely different than his sister.

They are so different yet look so a like. She took right to the pacifier, he doesn't like it. She took to the bottle when needed, he still won't take one. She still wants to sleep with mom and dad, he sleeps wonderfully in his own bed (cheer!). She has still not mastered sleeping through the night, he sleeps like a baby :)

The Zoo

Tuesday Jessica and Westin came to the Zoo with Abygail, Jackson and I. I was really worried about going to the zoo without Jason to help but it turned out fine. Jackson rode in the front pack on my chest and Abygail enjoyed riding in her stroller. Abygail went crazy when she saw the carousel, which she loves, she said "neh, neh, neh, etc." and started 'dancing' in her stroller, it was very humorous.

While there we saw a few animals up close and Westin and Abygail couldn't take their eyes off of them...they were the anteater, turtle, zebra, and some monkeys playing 'tag'. It's so fun to see their reactions to the animals. Abygail knows lots of animal sounds so she 'said what the animal says' when she saw them.

As a side note, you will all be happy to know that Abygail did not get sick in the car on the ride there or back!!!! Ya! She got sick both Friday and Saturday of last week, let's just say that our car doesn't smell like roses right now :(.

All in all we had a wonderful day and it was so nice to get out, and good for my sanity.

I don't have any pictures of them at the zoo this time but here is a picture of Abygail feeding the Giraffe when her Meema was here.


Here are a few other pictures, hope you enjoy!
Abygail reading to Jackson.

Jason and Abygail taking a nap!
Jackson in his excersaucer for the first time - this was taken today.