Fall Continues - Pumpkin Patch #2

Back in October (yep, I’m still on October ☺), the teachers at Vineyard Children's Center, Will's preschool and Hallie's daycare, organized a weekend outing to another nearby pumpkin patch for the kids and their families. The afternoon was a blast, so fun in fact, that we couldn’t be bothered to take very many pictures (luckily we have lots of pictures from Will and Hallie's last day at VCC that I'll share in a future post)...




Will and his buddies, and Hallie and her Adeola. Hallie loves that little boy; she said "Adeola" before she said "Mama", and even now she talks about him almost daily.




For the record, I "do" Hallie's hair every day. I have absolutely no idea what's going on with it in these pictures, or most of the time for that matter. Maybe one of these days she'll stop growing new crops of hair that stand straight up on her head.




Thanks for a fun trip to the pumpkin patch - we all had a great time!

Apple Picking and Donut Eating

During Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Paul's October visit to Ann Arbor we (minus Tom, as he was just days away from his PhD defense) spent a morning at Wasem’s Fruit Farm. While Wasem’s has great apples, berries, and pumpkins – which everyone, even Hallie, enjoyed picking – our favorite part about visiting the farm is the donuts. These donuts, and I can say this because I’m something of a donut connoisseur, are absolutely the best. I’m fairly certain that between the five of us we ate 15 donuts that morning alone, which would explain why none of us ate anything else for the remainder of the day!

My plan was to dress the kids in coordinating outfits (sweaters courtesy of Grandma Susie – isn’t Hallie’s ensemble the most adorable you’ve ever seen?!), and to take a picture of them for our Christmas card. Things didn’t go according to plan though, as the bright sun in their eyes and the donuts in their mouths kept the kids from both smiling with their eyes open at the same time.



Farewell, Wasem's, we'll miss you!

Will's Birthday Celebrations

Will’s 4th birthday celebration(s) went on for quite a few days. Birthday #1 included lunch at Chuckie Cheese with Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Paul, a (homemade and home-decorated) Buzz Lightyear birthday cake, and plenty of presents. Birthday #2, on Will’s actual birthday, included Buzz Lightyear cookies at preschool, dinner at McDonald’s, the second half of the Buzz Lightyear birthday cake, and plenty of presents. And birthday #3 included a visit from Grandpa Mike and Grandma Susie, Will-decorated cupcakes, and plenty of presents.





You may have noticed a bit of a theme – yep, plenty of presents. Some of Will’s favorites included “the claw” from Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Paul, a wooden baseball bat (beautifully made by Grandpa Mike) and an Ironman action figure from Grandpa Mike and Grandma Susie, an Ironman costume from AJ, and a Buzz Lightyear lego set from Aunt Sara and Uncle Jeff.





I realized about 30 minutes after Will was born that I needed a plan for keeping the number of toys in our house under control. Of course we regularly toss broken toys and donate toys the kids have outgrown. But we also, in attempt to help Will (and eventually Hallie) understanding the importance of helping those in our community who are less fortunate, donate perfectly good toys that are still age-appropriate. Shortly after each birthday and every Christmas, Will “gets” to choose toys, games, and puzzles (the number he chooses corresponds to his age) to donate to children who aren’t as lucky as he is. At first Will didn’t really understand what we were doing or why we were doing it, but after three birthdays and three Christmases, he now not only understands, but willingly participates…and makes his mama proud.

Now if only we can get Hallie, whose 3rd favorite word is “mine”, to participate as well… ☺

Will's 4-Year-Old Bath Pictures

On October 4th (yep, more than three months ago – I told you we were behind), my bright, honest, hard-working, and kind-hearted little boy turned four years old. Up until about two weeks ago, I would have described Will as “the most challenging individual with whom I regularly interact” (that title has recently been passed down to Hallie), possibly because he and I are very similar. Will struggles with change, is emotionally intense, is a strict rule-follower and enforcer, and believes life should be fair. At. All. Times. But because we’ve seen him struggle in certain areas, his recent accomplishments – learning to swim; transitioning from a tricycle to a “big boy” bike; learning (at a very basic level) how to read, write, add, and subtract; and joining his first soccer team – mean so much more. Will loves Sesame Street and the Toy Story movies; ALL super heroes, but especially Buzz Lightyear, Ironman, Spiderman, and Batman; soccer, baseball, football, swimming, and bike riding; mustaches; and playing Wii with Tom.

Better late than never, so here’s to you, little buddy. Happy 4th birthday!

Matching Jammies

Just because I think these two are pretty cute.

It's Catch-Up Time...

Erin writing here:
As most of you know, we've been pretty busy for the last six months. Between school, work, moving, travel, and the holidays we haven't had a whole lot of time for blogging, and important events - Will's birthday and Halloween, for example - have gone undocumented. Today Tom game me a brief tutorial on blogging and over the course of the next month or two I'll attempt to catch us back up. See you soon!

this video is for AJ

Aunt Jenna's had an exciting year. She's at school in Orlando getting a degree in music business, while simultaneously launching a career as a country music singer. She's doing very well in both ventures and we're very proud of her. As part of "getting herself out there", she's made a few song demo videos which she hosts on youtube and her facebook page.

Here is a very precious video Erin shot today of our kids, captivated by Jenna's song. They sing along a little bit too!