Pumpkin Patch

Which one do I want?

I like these big stems. They're easy for me to pick up.

Let me just stand on this one to get a better look at things.

He ran around the sheep/goat pen yelling "BAA-BAA" at the top of his lungs!

Peek! He loved this wooden train.

Climbing up on the chicken coop to yell BAK-BAK at the chickens.

Working on the "B" of BAK!

Our little cowboy on his first pony ride.

Today was our 2nd annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch. This year we picked one in Mansfield and we went with our friends, The Peterson's. The weather could not have been more perfect. The drive out was so neat - lots of farm land and open fields. Reminded me of growing up in Rowlett when it was just cotton fields.

Wyatt had a wonderful time. There was a playground with a wooden train - he went all through that. Then we toured the "petting zoo". Goats, sheep, a cow, horses, chickens - there were several pens, so we made sure to see them all. He loves animals & making all of their noises. A quick trip through the corn maze, a visit to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins, a hayride, a bounce house, and then running around with the girls. By the time we made it back to the car, W was exhausted. He slept on the way home!

I'm so glad Jason and I are both around to take W on such fun adventures. He spent the whole day smiling and very pleased with himself. Jas and I are exhausted and ready for bed, but it was a great day. Tomorrow is Halloween, and there are lots of fun things on tap!

Hope everyone has a safe holiday!

Cool October 10k!

Well, they weren't lying about the name! When we got up to the start line of the Four Seasons Cool October 5k/10k Saturday morning, the temps were in the mid 40s. It seemed freezing at the time, but it wasn't long before we were sweating and shedding clothes! I had two great running buddies - Katie (the bullet) - and Jen (the pace setter). It was a good run for my first 10k. The results showed that I ran the 5k portion in 31:57. That was a personal record for me - 35 seconds faster than my last 5k on October 6th . I finished 172 in the 10k out of 246 - was 9th in my age group. My time was 1:05 - making an average of 10.32 per mile.

This was a super hilly course and I think it was kind of a jerk move to put the biggest hill at the end, but...I made it. I feel a huge sense of accomplishment this morning (and I also feel a huge amount of soreness from those hills)! A big thanks to my support group! Your encouragement helped me cross that finish line, for sure!

Jen, Katie, and I toasted our success with mimosas at the Cafe on the Green.
It was a spectacular morning!


10k --- check!

October Re-Cap

A few things went on this month that I want to jot down for the sake of remembrance:

Wyatt got an ear infection. His second ever. He was so good at the Dr.'s office that we went out for pumpkin frozen yogurt after the visit. It was pretty tasty. Neither of us really wanted to share. As a side note, W can now say "yogurt". You can, mostly, understand what he's asking for. Mostly.


Jas and I threw a baby shower for our BFFs and were so glad to be able to ask Aunt Sue and Uncle Jim to watch Wyatt. I think it is safe to say that he didn't want to come home on Sunday after all of the lake adventures he had!

Let My People Go!


We set up our plastic table and then Wyatt and I worked with crayons. The last time we worked with crayons, he mainly tried to eat them. I'm happy to report that this time, he actually put pen to paper and made some "art"...before trying to eat them. I'm also happy to report that Baby OCD had more fun trying to put the crayons back in their box...just like mama!



I also think that W is out growing his high chair. He fusses if he has to sit in it while we're having dinner, so Jason and I set up the booster seat. He'll eat a little better at the table with us - like a big boy!

I don't have a picture of him actually doing it, but a few mornings ago, Dub walked right in our room at 8:00. He actually crawled out of the crib somehow, opened his door, walked down the hall, opened our door, and busted in with a huge smile on his face. You could just tell that he was proud of himself. He hasn't done it since, but, boy was that a surprise!

In his crib - practicing his Mick Jagger moves...
Dada and Dub discussing the skeleton and bats that are in his box. Jason was teaching him to sound like Count Dracula. One bat. Ha. Ha. Ha. It sounded pretty funny when W did it later.

His favorite post-nap snack: Pop-Pop from our air pop popcorn machine.
This boy loves popcorn and he wants his own bowl. Measuring cups make a nice sized bowl that isn't too crazy when it is (inevitably) spilled. W likes to stand on the counter and watch the popcorn pop up. Very fun!

Gabby and Gramps watch W every Thursday so that I can teach an English class. He has a blast over there and always comes home exhausted and ready for 4 hour naps! Everybody wins. Here we are at Gabby's place.

The swing is still popular at the park at the end of our street. With all of the stuff people have in their yards, the walk down to the park is awesome. W loves to stop and look at all of the pumpkins and blow up yard art. He picks up acorns. There is a huge fake spider that is in one of the trees - that is fun to walk under. We couldn't be happier with our neighborhood.
Climbing the rock wall at the park.

And, luckily, W is amazing about reading. He will sit in your lap and ask you to read a million books to him. I love that. He gets BabyBug in the mail - one of his favorites. He'll now bring it to you and say "bug". Very cute.
But when he's not reading, he's rearranging his library. Sigh. AND ripping pages out of books. That graduate class in book repair is coming in handy these days. :)


Just a few things....

Pumpkin Party!

My BFF and I LOVE to put together parties. Last night we celebrated Halloween with our festive Pumpkin Party! We set the table with all sorts of spooky decorations and delicious treats, then invited some of our favorite friends over to celebrate with us!


Wyatt was very interested in what we were serving up. Every time he passed the table, he took a handful of pumpkin pretzels. When I caught up with him, he had devoured them, piggy style, and was covered in orange candy smears. Sigh!

Keisha hollowed out some mini pumpkins and placed tea lights inside for some precious festive decor.



We made Yolanda Banks' Mac and Cheese recipe using non-fat evaporated milk, served slider sandwiches, made up a salad with homemade honey mustard dressing.
For dessert we served up white chocolate covered Oreo skulls, pumpkin cupcakes with buttercream frosting, and apple cider floats.



In the backyard we had tables set up to paint and inside we had a table set up for carving and other crafts. Glitter was the #1 favorite, so there were some fabulous pumpkins by the end of the night.

Katie P. working on her flower covered pumpkin. She even brought her own hot glue gun! Crafty girl...

Not dressed for carving or painting, but watching from a safe distance!

We had some very creative kiddos (and mamas) last night who made some BOO-tiful pumpkins!



We handed out party favors - a mix of cocoa puffs, Reese's pieces, pretzels, cheese nips, cheerios, Whoppers, and candy corn - all tied up with a fall bow! Wyatt was very curious about these favors - or maybe just the cocoa puffs?

Which one is mine?

I had a good time and was glad to watch everyone in action. Very fun!

Sensory Bins

My friend and fellow teacher, Amanda, put me on to the idea of sensory bins. Her baby is a few months younger than Dub and when I saw how much fun he was having playing in his bin, I knew it was something we had to try.

Bins can be themed: numbers, all things that start with A, fall, Halloween, nature...whatever you can imagine. The point is that you get the senses involved in the process.

We made our first bin a Halloween bin, and W has been having a blast. We chose dry black beans and a bag of white northern beans to mix up in our plastic box. Then I buried Halloween themed items. We only play with the bin outside because of a few throwing incidents that caused me to have an OCD setback, but W is pretty good about rounding up beans that have escaped and putting them back in the box.

At first, he was very tentative about getting involved. He only stuck his fat index finger into the beans and then shook his head no. Exhibit A:


But it wasn't long before the colorful things poking up out of the beans lured him in. The first day, he used the toys to dig for other toys. Today, however, he really got into it and even wanted to put his bare feet into the beans.

BAT...he said it! Look at him working on the b sound! Amazing!

It's a really fun thing to put together and to play with. We've had such a good time uncovering the buried items. Each time he makes such a sound of exclamation that I know it's doing something good for his giant baby brain. :)


I don't know what this is, really, but it makes an excellent shovel.

What is this?

I want to put my feet in here...feels weird.

You can read more about sensory bins here!
I'm thinking that our November bin is going to involve trimmed up hay and some acorns, leaves, pumpkins, tiny scarecrows - all things that you can pick up at any craft store for pretty cheaply! We've even been picking up items on our afternoon walks to add to the bin. Excited.