picking the perfect pumpkin

On a gorgeously warm Friday evening, we took Henry to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins this year. Henry scoured the whole patch, looking for the perfect pumpkin. We tried to be flexible and let him pick whichever one he wanted. But that proved to be a little overwhelming for a two year old. So we walked, and walked, and walked....and Henry picked the most unusual looking pumpkins. Of course, the ones that were different from the regular boring old orange ones.

Like this bumpy one.....

And this grey one.....

And this yucky one.....

As flexible as we were trying to be, we weren't going to pay for a yucky, smashed, guts-coming-out-one. So we gave a little guidance, and he touched them all, to find just the right one.

Success!

A little help from daddy to pull it up

And we rode home with a fantastic pumpkin!

We wanted Henry to pick out a pumpkin for new baby
a cute little one
The pumpkin patch had lots of fun activities of course, like a hay ride through the corn field.
Probably the best part was this jumping/bouncing pillow. Henry loved it last year so we knew it would be a big hit with him this year. It was a little more crowded, but he did bounce for awhile.

Gabe took him for a spin on this big pedal car.

Henry's favorite activity this year was the big slide. He went down all by himself, ran around, and then climbed the stairs by himself. I stayed at the bottom and Gabe stayed at the stairs, and he ran that loop a million times, until it was too dark and we had to go home. He slept pretty good that night :)
We'll be carving and painting our pumpkins tomorrow!

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Cheer, Cheer

Just a few weekends ago, we got a call in the morning from a friend who offered three tickets to the ND vs. Western Michigan game that were all together. We decided to take Henry, even though we hadn't planned on taking him to a game for many, many more years (until he has the patience to sit through one since tickets are so expensive). But this was a pretty nice opportunity, so we decided to see how Henry would do. Our normal routine on football Saturdays is to have him nap early, then go see the band, and then come home and he does take a second nap late while we watch the game. He's flexible like that, luckily! So since he already had his nap, we knew we could last a little while.

We still got to see the band that afternoon, since that is what he loves the most. And then it was off to the stadium to see the Irish! And the band!
Henry called for "Defense!" and to "Stop em, Irish, Stop em!"
He also really liked the cheer where you wave your finger in a circle and say "ohhhh" for kick off. He pretty much did that throughout the whole game.

(I love this picture, by the way)

Henry noticed the other team's mascot since we were on that side, the horsey dancing. He still talks about it. Luckily he also still talks about the band, the leprechaun, and the big ND flag.

There were actually a few seats next to us empty, so Henry had a few feet to move around and stand, which made the whole experience a lot better I think. Nice for us that it wasn't a big opponent. With some snacks, drinks, cheers, and lots of action to watch, he really did wonderfully and enjoyed himself. We loved it too of course!
We made it through half an hour of band before the game, and the first quarter and half of the second. By then, we had one sleepy baby on our hand, as you can tell by the above picture (fingers and lovey). He wasn't fussy or anything, so I sort of wanted to stay through halftime so he could see the band again, but I felt like I was torturing him so we went home to take a second nap. Gabe stayed with our friend and got to enjoy a nice, comfortable, Irish victory. Go Irish!

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It's practically November...

and I would really love to post my pictures of pumpkin picking, but first I'd better get updated. And we'll start with a few months ago - apple picking. Yes, it is almost November and I'm just now posting pictures of apple picking. Oh well.

Henry brought his friend Anna and they went searching for the perfect apples to put in their cute buckets.

Henry really liked carrying his around. He mostly liked climbing this hill, and we really had to point out the apples and encourage him to pick them.

But he caught on quick

Success!

Sweet Success!

And after he started his apple, he didn't let it go. In fact, in every other picture, you'll see that same apple, in various stages of consumption.

Family picture - how did Henry end up on my shoulders?

They had a sunflower patch too which was pretty cute

And what did we do with our delicious apples? Apple pie, of course! This was my first attempt really baking with Henry, and he did great. We donned our aprons, and got to work.

Henry really liked this tool, and watching the apple go round and round and spin the handle.

He requested a train on top and of course, I obliged. Admiring our handy work. And a little nibble too.

My favorite part of the whole experience? I was trying to make the pie a surprise for Gabe for after dinner, but Henry mentioned it to him. No big deal, but I had hid the pie in our guest room, shut the door, and forgot about it. Later that night, I hear Henry out of the blue calling "Mommy, pie pie, Mommy, pie pie!" He had opened the door, crawled up on the chair, and was about to stick his hand in the pie pie! We saved it and let him have a little piece instead!

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