wednesday

Bryce didn't have school today, but the other kids were having a visit from the fire department, and we were invited to join.  Bryce was scared to death and refused to stand in front of the fire truck with his class.  I did manage to get this shot of him with Chase and Aiden!

 

 

Sweet little Emmy girl.  I have to snap a picture so fast with my phone before she grabs it that I don't have time to wait for a smile.

 

Happy Wednesday!

trunk or treat

If you live in the Mechanicsville area and you're looking for some family fun on Halloween, we invite you to join us for our annual Trunk or Treat festivities.

 

 

If you don't live in the area, but you LOVE this precious invitation, visit my friend Beth's etsy shop, sunshineinkdigitals.

 

carter mountain

We took our annual trip to the apple orchard yesterday.  We have been going to Cater Mountain to pick apples for at least five years now.  I look forward to it every year.  I'm all about family traditions!

 

 

This orchard has become more and more popular each year.  No matter how we time it, we seem to go when the apples have all been picked.  There were very few apples low enough to the ground that Bryce could pick, but luckily we had Kelly's apple picker.

 

Bryce was able to pick a few and he enjoyed eating them right there on the spot!

 

While we love picking apples, we would be most devastated if we left without apple donuts!  We buy them warm and they are just delicious!

 

Emmy got her first taste.  I think she's ready to go back!

 

The worm photo op.  We have a few of these from years past.

 

Emmy wouldn't cooperate so much for the picture so I didn't zoom in much.  I left the view of the mountains in the background.

 

The weather was perfect and we had a great time!

yesterday

We went to a Halloween themed event at a local mall yesterday.  Bryce enjoyed a little trick-or-treating in his Tiger costume. 

 

 

Emmy girl wasn't tortured into wearing her Halloween costume yet!

 

She was however tortured into wearing shoes, ha!  She looks thrilled.

 

thank you

When our mail finally came at 7:30 tonight I was surprised to find a package from Zulily from an anonymous sender. Thank you to whoever sent Emmy these adorable outfits! I do a lot of window shopping and very little purchasing so it's fun to get some new things to add to Emmy's wardrobe. I have a suspicion as to who may have sent these, but until I can make some phone calls tomorrow, please accept my THANK YOU!!!

 

pumpkin patch

We took our first family trip to the pumpkin patch today.  Bryce went to an actual pumpkin patch with Kelly last year, but before today, we had gotten our pumpkins from Home Depot or Walmart.  Now that Bryce is older, we decided it was time to do the traditional pumpkin pickin'.  We went to the same place Jason and I picked pumpkins as kids, the Ashland Berry Farm.

 

 

Once we got out to the field, Bryce was certain that every pumpkin he saw was the one he wanted.  We insisted that he keep looking for his while we scoped out some larger ones for the front porch.  He finally found one that he just couldn't turn down.  He had a great time plucking it from the vine!

 

He tried hard to hold the pumpkin up for the picture, but it was just too heavy!

 

So proud of that pumpkin!

 

Our sweet little pumpkins.

 

Other than finding the perfect pumpkin, Bryce was so excited about the hayride.  Once he started talking about hayrides this year, we knew it was time to actually go to the pumpkin patch rather than the store!

 

Another great family fun day!  Next week we're headed to the apple orchard.

 

 

8 months

Emmy girl is 8 months old today!

 

 

It is impossible to take a good picture of her because she is always on the move!  

 

What are you up to this month?

• You started crawling last month and haven't slowed down.
• It's a full time job keeping you out of Macy's food bowl.
• You pull up on everything.
• You love to pull up on Bryce's bed and you will stand there until I put you on the bed.  You and Bryce could play in his bed all day!
• You are still the happiest baby.   You love your Mama and Dada, but you LOVE your brother.
• You have started eating a few real foods like grapes, bagel, and bananas.
• You wear a size 2 diaper and 6-9/9month clothes.

  

• We think we have heard you say Dada and Mama once.
• I've been trying to teach you to sign "more", clap, and wave, but you aren't interested.
• You are still on the same routine as last month.  You get up between 7-7:30, take a morning nap at 9, an afternoon nap at 1, and go to bed around 7:30.  You sleep through the night!
• You nurse in the morning when you wake up, you have a 4oz bottle around 10, a 4oz bottle at 1, a 6oz bottle at 4, and then you nurse at bedtime.
• You eat three meals a day.  Usually a fruit for breakfast, puffs for lunch, and a veggie for dinner.  I wish I could get you to eat oatmeal or rice cereal, but you just don't like it.  I'm hoping to add some real food into your diet so you don't have to have puffs as a meal anymore!

 

 

I feel like I need to write things down during the month because I sit down to do your monthly post and my mind goes blank. 

 

Bryce at 8 months

 

Bryce seemed to have a lot more hair at 8 months!  Neither of them had/have teeth at 8 months.  Bryce could clap and sign "more", while Emmy seems to be more mobile at 8 months than Bryce was.  Both of your eye color was/is still a mystery at 8 months.  It's so interesting to see their similarities and differences at each age.  

 

the state fair

We had a fun family afternoon at the state fair today.  I've never been a big fan of the fair, but after having kids, it has grown on me.  Bryce has been looking forward to today for a week.  He was so excited because Jason, Emmy, and myself were picking him up from school and going to the fair.  I just love making fun memories like this for Bryce.

 

 

Bryce gets braver every year.  He enjoyed petting and feeding the animals.  He also wanted to sit on every tractor he saw.  The first year we went I couldn't for the life of me convince him to sit on a big tractor tire.  From the pictures below, you can tell the fear is gone!

 

His smile cracks me up.  His mouth looks like the dummies that ventriloquist use.  Sweet boy!

 

Emmy would have looked really small in the wheel.

 

Bryce is lucky to have a fun daddy to play with him.  The corn looked fun, but I was certain my black shorts  would be covered in dust if I got in there......boring Mama!

 

Emmy was there.  She did great and had fun too!

 

You can't go to the fair without eating "fair" food.  Jason has looked for the donut burger for the past two years, but never found it.  He did his research this year and his dream came true!  Who wouldn't want a bacon cheeseburger with donuts as the bun?!?  We had a funnel cake too!

 

We love the ferris wheel.

 

Taking in the sights.

 

Emmy had no idea she rode the ferris wheel.  She had fallen asleep in her stroller as we got to it. 

 

She made the transition back into the stroller very well.

 

Other than the ferris wheel, we don't typically ride rides.  We let Bryce choose one because he kept asking about a roller coaster.  He had fun.

 

This picture isn't as funny as it was in person, but Bryce had a balloon clipped on a fly swatter and was carrying it around.  He looked silly!

 

We had a wonderful time and the kids were great!

 

wonderful wednesday

 

We are having a great day today and we haven't even left the house!  Emmy slept extra long this morning so we missed story time at the library.  Bryce and I made good use of our extra time and made our weekly treat for his teachers and my teacher friends at school.  This week we made another pinterest inspired treat, Oreo cookie bark. 

 

Source: bakersroyale.com via Grace on Pinterest

Bryce enjoyed eating the cookies along the way and licking the chocolate when we were done!  We both give it two thumbs up!  I love that Bryce enjoys helping me with things like this.  I guess it doesn't hurt that he gets to eat some good stuff along the way!

My friend Beth and her little girl Avery came over to play today.  Emmy didn't know to be excited and look forward to the play date, but Bryce was talking about it as soon as he got up this morning.  He's such a good sport.  He didn't even need a friend his age to play with.  He was perfectly content playing with the girls.  They didn't seem to mind either!  And I LOVED having some adult time with a friend!

 

1 month in

I've made it through my first full month as a SAHM so I thought I would do a little update.  There was no doubt in my mind that I would LOVE my new job and I do!  It makes me sad that I wasn't at home with Bryce while he was Emmy's age, but I'm glad I have the time with him now.

 

 

We have a great routine and we are staying busy.  I'm a little bummed that Bryce's friends are in school opposite days as him so he can't get together for play dates.  Emmy's nap schedule is different from her baby friends so baby play dates are just as hard to schedule.  It kind of stinks because I really enjoy "mom" time with the girls when we get the kids together.  I guess we could skip a nap every now and then to have an afternoon play date, but then I might have two cranky kids on my hands, ha!  I need to do a better job of meeting the moms of the kids in Bryce's class since he's making new friends.  I would love for him to get together with them outside of school.

 

My biggest concern wasn't whether or not I would like being home, but if we could afford me being home.  So far it hasn't been too bad, but we went into this with a bit of a surplus so that helps.  We have had to cut back on LOTS of things we do, which sometimes makes me feel like we have less social time with friends because we don't go out to eat anymore, but it could just be the fact that we have two kids and they keep us busy!

 

The weirdest part about staying home is that even though I have more time with the kids and I get to see their milestones and daily development, I feel like life is passing by just as quickly as when I was working and not getting to see everything.  It has made me cherish each and every minute I spend with them and I am so thankful that I get to be at home.