Fall And The Pumpkin Patch

It is fall again and I LOVE it! Fall goes by way too quickly in my mind. I love the crisp air, the wind, the beautiful fall leaves, the apple cider, all of those lovely fall veggies to cook with, and the pumpkin patch of course! We made it to the patch four times this year I think. It was pretty funny to compare our first trip to our most recent trip. All were in October but first was 70 degrees and totally sunny and yesterday, our most recent trip, was chilly and, most notably, the whole pumpkin patch area was a total mud pit. I am not talking about a tiny bit of mud people, it was so much mud you had to make sure you didn't walk out of your boots...ah, the northwest. :) It rains a bit here.

It has actually been quite a lovely October. No complaints at all. Lucy, Eli, and I even went for a walk this morning. We nearly got blown away which was pretty fun. The last leaves are holding on. It is sad when the last of them finally give up but that's when you get into the full Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday swing.

In other news, Eli is "cruising" along the furniture now. I need to find a video of that because it is pretty cute to watch him work to pick up his legs super high to make a step to the side. I love watching them acquire new skills. It is too cute.

Another random thing, the other day, Lucy informed me that she was Rapunzel, her boyfriend was working upstairs (Dad working from home), I was Snow White, and "Bubby" was my dwarf.

Here we are at the pumpkin patch in early October

The other great thing about fall is that there is more time for craftiness!  Here is our girl silly monster.  The daddy is under construction.

Daddy and the kids with a little chill time.  Eli wouldn't normally just lounge around but he was a bit sick, so he was happy to recline on the Daddy chair.

Eli has started to greet Lucy every morning at the breakfast table.  Too cute!

Here are a few pictures from our lovely morning walk in the sun!

We took the kids to our church harvest party this year!  Last year we were a bit busy with a one week old. :)  Elijah was a tiny monkey in a very low-fi costume and Lucy was Rapunzel.  Lucy was in candy heaven and Eli loved frolicking in the packing peanuts from the candy treasure hunt.

And for our final trip to the pumpkin patch!  Check out that mud!

My Boy is 1!!!

I honestly don't know how the years tick by so quickly. I know that everyone says that, but it's true. I see my little family growing up so fast and I just want desperately to put on the brakes and live in this moment for a while. I know that the baby stage is quickly fading and I am grasping to hold on to it. Of course, I love the toddler phase too but it is just the passing of something that I will not see again with my boy. This last month has brought about so many subtle changes. He is pulling himself up on everything with ease. He is eating his "Puffs" with ease. He plays "peak a boo" and completely gets the game. He loves to be tickled. He wants to be a part of all of the action at home. He flirts. He gives sweet love taps. My favorite, he leans his sweet fuzzy head into mine for just a moment to show his love. He is definitely at that stage where he looks to me for reassurance and wants me and Pat over others. Of course, I eat it up and love nothing more than to be the one to rescue him. Motherhood brings a whole new dimension to love. I looked back at Eli's birth pictures and tried to remember everything. It is a terrible thing that our memories can't capture every smell, emotion, and sound and hold them perfectly for us. I suppose that should inspire us to live in the present. Nonetheless, I wish that I could remember more from that day but I loved thinking through everything that happened and remembering the moment he arrived and holding him for the first time. Before I make myself depressed that my babies are growing up, I shall move on to Eli's actual 1st birthday which was lovely! He is such a sweet sweet happy boy. He does so much smiling and laughing, but he is also an observer. It is a wonderful combination. We did an "Election Year" themed birthday. Of course, it doesn't matter a bit to Eli, so I figured it would at least make me laugh. :) Pat made campaign signs. One went in the front yard to make the neighbors think we are crazy and the other in the house. We had an electoral map with some surprising wins if you look closely. :) It was fun. I think Bubs won the presidency for sure! My mom was up from Miami, which was so nice. Lindsey and Scott spent pretty much the whole weekend hanging out, helping, and partying with Elijah. Terry and Kathy came as well and our friend Chris and little Hayden. Elijah loved the balloons most of all. He is definitely a huge fan of those things. The cake was pretty funny. We put it in front of him and he really didn't know what to think of it. We watched him slowly slowly make tiny bits of progress on it for a while. He would set both of his pudgy hands on the cake and then pull them away quickly. He put his face on the cake very lightly a few times too without much commitment. Pat finally cut a piece out of the cake and gave him a spoon to encourage exploration. It worked. :) He was covered in cake and frosting by the end of it. It is a bit of a funny tradition to give a baby a cake. Our babies, at least, have only had 2 teeth by the first birthday so have only had baby food. We may as well stick a steak in front of them! Present time was great. As with Lucy, Eli was surrounded by piles of toys by the end of it. He was actually into the presents and not just the wrapping paper. :) Nana and Papa's Caterpiller dump truck was a serious hit. Both he and Lucy have been playing with that thing nonstop! Aunt Lindsey's Thomas the train set and car carrier have been a huge hit too. My mom gave the little man an alphabet book that my Grandma handmade back in the mid 80s! I am SO SO SO excited to have that book. I will read it every day to the little man. It is a family treasure for sure. It was a wonderful day celebrating our little Eli's first year of life. We are so grateful for his health and know that God has given us a gift in both of our kids. I am completely in love with them.

Grandma Jana and Barbara were so sweet and gave Lucia wax lips and other little girl treasures like sticker ear rings.  Pat and I commandeered the lips. :)

Opening presents with Mom and Dad.  Look at that sweet face of concentration.  The boy loves wheels!

Again, the look of concentration.  Eli was so into attacking this dump truck from Nana and Papa that Nana could barely get it out of the packaging.  This one is a HUGE hit!  We have to have Lucy and Eli take turns during the day because both of the want to play with it constantly.

Who could resist this face!!!!  It is so very kissable!

Grandma Jana and the book of total awesomeness!  As I said earlier, my Grandma made this in the mid 80s and I am so excited to have it!  We have read it together every night.  Eli attacks it...I read.

The boy loves balloons!  It was pretty cute to see him playing with them.  We walked down the stairs with him after we had put the balloons up and he started flapping all of his limbs violently and huffing and puffing.

working on the decorations and sporting the star glasses in support of the candidate

All dressed up in his "Vote For Me" shirt and top hat.  The top hat lasted a split second

Party decor

More balloon fun and love for Aunt Lindsey!

Mr. Elijah with Grandma Jana

Lindsey is the queen of birthdays and she goes all out for the kiddoes.  She is awesome!  Here's Eli concentrating again on the task.

Pat's lucky I posted the one decent picture of him rather than the 10 that I have where he is making ridiculous faces!

Serious Bubs and the fam

An intense face...he must have been delivering the impassioned speech

Reach for the fiery candle...that's a good plan

Cake and sugar induced bliss

Please...I eat my cake with a spoon people!!!  I am not an animal!

Face dive for the cake

Lucy was right in that spot the whole time "helping" with the frosting.  Such a thoughtful big sister! :)

Like this Bubs!  Use your hands

Again...that face...oh that face!
Here is a video of post party peek-a-boo

My Lucy

I really don't think that I can adequately express how wonderful I think my daughter is! Sure, there are tough days and tough moments, but the vast majority of the time she is an amazingly sweet little thing. She really has such a kind spirit. She gives love freely. She gives forgiveness freely. She loves on her brother. She is brilliant. She is beautiful. She loves to laugh. She loves to read and build. She is a master at puzzles. She is a helper. The list could go on forever. I really should write down more of what she says because it does capture, though small, a glimpse into her little heart. 1. She was trying to climb the bookshelf. Pat told her "no" and she said "oh well, Daddy, that's just my move" as if that was some kind of fantastic justification. 2. "Let's get some fro yo and totally watch a Disney movie". Translation- "fro yo" means frozen yogurt and they play disney movies at said fro yo location. 3. "My sandwich is broken but that is how I get the goodness out." She was explaining why she breaks her sandwich in half every time before eating it. 4. "Bubby you have to use your outside voice outside". Trying to reason with Eli about his crying. 5. "I'm a genius Mimi" 6. I was seriously annoyed at a bumper sticker that I saw and was giving her a speech about being kind with our thoughts and how some people need to be more kind with their thoughts. Her response was classic, "Maybe the best thing you can do is to forgive them"...so true. 7. "No harm no fellow". Translation- "No harm no foul" 8. "Lindsey, do you have any games on your phone?" Lindsey responded "No" and Lucy said "how sad for you" 9. "My nose needs to go potty on that (referring to a Kleenex) 10. "That was a really good way to answer, mom" (I say this to her all the time) 11. She fell off of her bed and said "oh pell mell, are you kidding me!" 12. While playing with her phone, she said "Mimi I need to do some text-y-pants-ers...I bonked my head" 13. "Lindsey was jazzed because she got another interview" 14. "I'm going to go feed my baby real fast. You stay down here mom and make Lego stairs and don't get into any trouble" 15. "Uncle Craigy will be so impressed with my eyebrow raising" 16. "I will raise my eyebrows and make uncle Craigy appear" 17. "I am putting my makeup on… I am ready to go out now" 18. "I bought Lucy a little starfish and she said "mommy I like it's salmon color" 19. "Uncle Craig he has a squiggly beard" 20. "My belly button looks sore. It is taking a rest" 21. Dreaming of something wonderful..."Giantic flower shaped slivers that are soft and you can get them at central market" 22. "Mommy I saw an old lady putting her shoes on. She is about your age" 23. I was telling Lucy that Jesus lives in us..."I can't see Jesus in my belly" 24. "I will love God over the moon and back" 25. I told Lucy she was a piece of cake after dealing with the screaming Eagle (Eli). She said "I am not a piece of cake, look I have eyes" 26. I told Lucy that she and Eli had frizzy hair this morning. She said she wanted to give Eli a frizzy hair "cheers" so she bonked heads with him 27. We were talking about pretending and I said you can pretend to be a princess. She said "well I am not a princess because I don't have a boyfriend" 28. Pat was doing some yard work which clearly distressed Lucy. She said, "I am the Lorax who speaks for the trees and I'm asking you sir at the top of my lungs to stop cutting my tree" 29. Lucy wanted to sit in a chair at the dining room table that didn't have her booster seat in it so she did and then said "this chair is much more reasonable" 30. "Excuse me, you guys, I need to tell you something. Mom, I want you to stay at home and I want to go on a walk all by myself so that I can shout my brains out" 31. "Some of the princesses were not feeling well so Dr. Cindarella and Dr. Tiyana helped them" 32. "Today I will give you lots of glorious hugs" 33. "Bubby's bottom looks funny because it has a silly wiggly part"

Eli Laughing

Here is a random video that I intended to post a few months back. I can't remember exactly when this video was shot, but it is too funny to hear Eli laughing. We were in Nordstrom, so you can hear one of the sales people for a bit...

Oh The Faces I Love

I wrote this post in early May but forgot to post it so here it is.... Here is just a random assortment of pictures of the family. I love seeing these lovely faces every day. I am blessed!

Summer Fun

We have had such a great summer! The weather has been decent for the northwest and I've tried to get out as much as possible even though we are limited by baby naps. Getting out each day is definitely such a help in maintaining my sanity.

Our favorite activities this year have been u-pick farms, the Everett Animal Farm petting zoo, Farmers Markets in the evenings with Daddy, the Greenlake kiddie pool, the local spray park, and our Ice Caves hike. I have to say that the u-pick this year has been so much fun. Lucy is totally into it and knows just what to do and I love the idea of picking my own food! We've done strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, zucchini, lettuce, kale, snap peas, corn, dill, and beets. My freezer is literally exploding with berries! I love it. Berry loveliness all winter long!!!!!! I actually looked into getting a mini freezer for the garage but those suckers are not cheep. Anyway, I digress.

Here is a huge crop of pictures from our summer adventures...

Lucy grass diving on a hike in Snohomish with Eli, Pat, and me.

Me and the little man at one of our favorite spots- the Mukilteo waterfront by our house.  Could that blue sky and clouds be any more perfect???  Ok, Bubs hat is way too small but it was all we had with us in the car and the sun was too bright for his baby head.

Lucy and I on an outing in Poulsbo with the fam and Nana and Papa

Our little hike where Lucy was grass diving.  This was Eli's first ride in the backpack.  Go Bubs!

Ahhhh, the U-pick farm!  We were doing Strawberries with Aunt Lindsey.  Lindsey graciously offered to carry Eli...sucker!!!  Wahahaha.

More picking for meeeeeeee!!! :)

Lucy selected this "stick" to carry on the woods walk behind our house.  She didn't make it too far but it was funny!

Dad hanging out with his little peeps!

An outing to Camano Island State Park

Lucy in a huge tree trunk on our Ice Caves hike!

Me with the kiddoes on the Ice  Caves hike.  Bubs is on my back though you can't see him. :)

Oh....SUGAR blisssssss!  From Daddy of course!

Great Grandma Shirley with the littles

U-pick again with Lindsey.  It is SO nice to have her in Seattle!  This time we attacked the Raspberries.

Clam digging with Grandpa Dave!  This was awesome!

Eli attacking Daddy's beard....just too cute.

Ok, this outfit is amazing and was picked out all by Lucy.  She was doing her daily quiet time and this was how she looked when she came downstairs to ask for a snack. 

Breakfast time on the front porch!  Oh, I miss it already!

Here is the spray park.  Lucy goes absolutely crazy here.  She loves it!

Just a super cute standing man. 

Daddy with Lucy picking blueberries

Aunt Kaitlyn took Lucy on a adventure day and they saw Frog and Toad.  When I went to pick Lucy up, she told me that I needed to leave.  Apparently Kaitlyn is way more fun than I am. ;)

Oh, sweet girlie cousins!  Jai and the girls stayed with us for a few days and we hung out at the zoo.  I love these little ladies!