Fall Fun with Aunt Cami

       Last Friday Aunt Cami was home for the weekend.  She raked up a pile of leaves for Tate to "jump" in with some assistance.  He doesn't really understand the whole concept of jumping and playing in the leaves this year, but he still enjoyed crunching the leaves and "flying" through the pile. 



Scooter Dude

     Tate had an overnight visit to Grandma and Grandpa's a couple of weekends ago.  When I went to pick him up, he had found this scooter.  It's too new to have been mine, but too old to have been bought just for Tate.   Not sure where Grandma Lori found the scooter, but Tate was a big fan.  He can make it go a bit on his own, but would much rather prefer a push from behind.  It's fun to watch his physical abilities grow, he can "jump" now, never mind his feet don't leave the ground, but he's got all the motions down and can do some good bouncing on the cushions or bed when allowed.

Wordless Wednesday



Just for fun



Park with Grandpa

       A few weeks ago when we were having great October weather, Grandpa Randy came by to go on a few walks with Tate.  This particular day, I tagged along to snap a few photos, with my crappy 3.0 mp phone, pardon the blurriness.
     
       To save my Dad and myself the embarrassment, I haven't included the photo of Dad crawling up onto the slide to wipe the rain water off with his jeans.  It was all sorts of uncoordinated, especially in steel-toe work boots.  If that isn't love for a grandson, I don't know what is . . funny moment for me, but also very precious :)

       Tate went down the slide a few times with a little supervision, and we also went down the big twisty slide and the silver one to the left together.  The twisty one went well, the silver metal one- holy crap- that thing was fast, we came very close to a crash landing on my rear.

     We had a great time and are loving every day we have left to spend outside.  I think this child would nap outside if possible.

    

 

Claire turned 5!



Aaron with all the kiddos on the swingset



    A couple of weeks ago my niece, Claire, turned 5 years old!  So she had a princess party to celebrate the event at Nana and Papa's house.  We had a beautiful day to celebrate, so before pizza, cake and presents all the kids played outside swinging, sliding, driving the pink cars and general mayhem.  Tate tried to keep up with the big kids, Drew watched Tate try and all the girls just kept on playing as hard as they could. 

    Claire gave Tate a ride in their pink jeep, she did a very good job driving.  But this photographer, guilty, distracted her long enough for a photo and shortly after said photo was taken, there was a small collision with the car and the gutter off the side of the house.  The airbags did not deploy, there was no damage to car or house and everyone walked away without crying.  Success.

     After hosting Tate's first birthday and attending a five year old's birthday, I give props to my sister-in-law and brother-in-law, they have it figured out.  Pizza, ice cream cake, Nana & Papa's and mostly outdoors, genius.  Serious geniuses at work.  Notes were taken by this first time Mom, that's for sure.



Claire giving Tate a jeep ride


 

Grace, Claire and Ayda




Trying to get on the doll box




Birthday Girl




Make a wish, Claire




Emma-girl




Nana, Papa and a squirmy kid




Cousin hug with Drew



Day at the Orchard, part two

    Continued. . .
     Here are the remainder of the pictures from our day at the orchard.  It was such a beautiful day, 80 some degrees, sunny and a light breeze.  It's been a week since we visited and I still can't get over how much fun we had, maybe it was mostly me, but I really think Tate had a blast.  The place was so kid friendly, he could walk almost anywhere he wanted, there wasn't anything he could break and we got to be outside, which is Tate's number one goal of everyday.  I really don't know what we're going to do when the cold weather arrives, we'll all go stir crazy.

Family photo op

Nice props for photos, even better for Tate to throw

Might be the fave pic of the day

Trying to find the best one

For some reason, Tate really enjoyed sitting in the tires

Who loves the orchard? This kid



Open mouth kisses, every Mom's favorite




Mama and her toddler



It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Great day at the orchard with Grandma

Day at the Orchard, part one

     This past Sunday we went to the Center Grove Orchard near Cambridge with my parents to see what all the buzz was about.  And we were not let down, we had a fantastic time!  We checked out all of the animals, the three little pigs' houses, the mad hatter tea party, the tunnel and the corn pool.  Tate lasted about two hours, then it was time to go home for a nap.  I'm thinking next year, we'll need to look into a season pass.  Lots of pics snapped that day, here they are. Enjoy!



First goat siting, looks like a dog, sorta



What are these things?



Tate wasn't so sure about them licking his hands



I'll huff and I'll puff. . .



House made of sticks



Tate saw the billy goat and said, "wuff"



He thought these "kids" were kinda fun to stare at



A very merry un-birthday to you!



We were even in the right boy/girl spots :)

Tea for me

That straw house wasn't quite level, thank goodness for Dad's help

Loving the farm

 To be continued. . .

Housewarming on Indiana

     At the beginning of October Mike and Molly had a housewarming/thank you party for all the family, friends and neighbors that helped and tolerated their house building process.  They had a great turnout, great food and a beautiful day.

     We also did family pictures that afternoon for the Stenslands.  M & M have a great location for fall scenery, I hope we got a couple with all of the kids at least looking towards the camera.  With a one year old and a six month old, chances are slim.  We did do a few of all of us walking away from the camera, no eye contact required.  Can't wait to see how those rear end shots turn out! (that statement was dripping with sarcasm, if you couldn't tell).  Hopefully we got a few good pics for the upcoming Christmas card season, fingers crossed, cause these boys I live with do not care for getting fancy for pics.

     Here are a few photos of the kiddos, Tate and Emma, playing before the party and after pictures.

    

Vroom!

Emma- you funny girl

Tate: Seriously? I'm not doing that.

Swiiiinng