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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DIY Play Kitchen

Along time ago, like at least a year ago, I was looking at random websites and came across one where the family had made their own play kitchen for their children. Being the planning type of mom that I am, I bookmarked those sites and filed them away for when Henry would be old enough to have a play kitchen. Fast forward to this summer, when Gabe and I teamed up with my family to make that play kitchen a reality. We turned the garage into a workshop for a weekend, and tackled Henry's birthday present from all of us. And I'm pretty proud to show the step-by-step of the finished product here!

It began with this entertainment center find from Salvation Army for $ 15.

We had some left over plywood from another project and cut it down to make a backsplash (the saw was a gift for Gabe for Father's Day, knowing we would be tackling this project. )

We built up the shelves from additional wood.

And then added a working oven. By working, I mean the door opens and closes, with a magnet lock. It does not heat up food. :)

Paint can lids became burners with knobs that turn, and a real bathroom faucet and a bowl for the sink.

We took a shelf from the entertainment center, added legs, and made a countertop.

The finished product! The refrigerator is a little refrigerator that we had gotten as a giveaway from some other purchase. It is for like six coke cans. And actually, we can plug it in and it is a real working fridge! :)

About a year ago, when I began thinking about this play kitchen, I found some play food at Target and put that away for a year. Here, Henry finally gets to enjoy it.

Found some cute dishes then too!

And the true test? Birthday boy gets to try out his present!

We're pretty proud of ourselves for our first craftsmanship project! It hasn't broken yet, so we're in pretty good shape so far.....and Henry likes it!

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Blueberries for Henry

In July, we went blueberry picking with Henry and my parents. The blueberry farm was right around the corner, organic, and delicious. Henry quickly figured out that you could pick the blueberries right off the bush. We encouraged him to put some of his blueberries in the bucket, but he only wanted to put them in his mouth, of course! He ate his weight in blueberries that day, and didn't eat any lunch, that's for sure. We enjoyed blueberry muffins, pancakes and ice cream, and still have blueberries frozen. We're keeping them until winter when we can't buy fresh.

"kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk!"

15 pounds of blueberries, later!

Blue "trucky-truck" (tractor), blueberries, Papa and Mimi and Henry

Delicious fun!

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Birthday boy!

Yes, this post is long overdue. Yes, I am that person who starts every post now with something like "it's been awhile" or "we've been really busy so I haven't had time to post" or something of the like. And while I did promise to be better last month, I haven't come through on that. So, better late than never, I guess.

Henry's birthday brought in family to help celebrate and we had a blast! We did a trucks theme party, since Henry is really into trucks and points them out whenever we are driving. He might have gotten a truck or two for his birthday.

Also, a new lawn mower, which he tried out the morning of the party with his daddy!
More trains, hurray! Please ignore the sweaty picture of Gabe. He just mowed the lawn, and the above picture proves it. Sorry, Gabe - but look how happy Henry is!
With a morning of preparations, Henry decided to help out too, by washing Aunt Allison's car.
And then it was time to get dressed for the party! Hardhats and tool belts for all the construction workers!
(this shirt was an internet find after scouring the city for a short sleeve truck shirt that I liked. It even said Henry on it!)

And our favorite part of the party - besides celebrating our love for Henry and the day of his birth of course - was the cake! Aunt Allison and I worked off an idea in our heads, and made a construction scene come to life. We were pretty proud of it. Dark chocolate cake for the dirt, chocolate frosting for the road, oreos for the unpaved road, green coconut for the grass, graham crackers for the sand, trucks from Walmart which became toys for the kids who came, and two cones for candles. Henry loved his cake and couldn't wait to "dig" in.

Happy Henry to you!

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