Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Big Orange Pumpkin Farm

In the past years, we've enjoyed the Owens Pumpkin Farm during fall.  Unfortunately, this city gem was sold and turned into urban sprawl.  As makes sense for a farm, we had to drive much further outside the city this year to explore the Big Orange Pumpkin Farm with friends.

Palmer y sus dos amigos, Evie and Charlie (who apparently got the wardrobe matching memo):

Tractor rides are always a hit for our Mr. Machine Man.

The pumpkin farm was complete with fun activities like a hay barrel maze and a hay ride.

 "Mom, it's so sunny out here!"

The hay ride had clever signs detailing a tale about a missing "Farmer Rick".  Palmer was very, very concerned about Farmer Rick's fate.

When the ride ended, Palmer anxiously told the driver of the ride that Farmer Rick was stuck in the hay and needed to be rescued, stat.

Such a fun fall morning with my first-born:

-Bethany

Five Months With Grace

"Happy, happy, happy gal."  That's what comes to mind when I think about our five-month-old little baby.

Grace is truly such a joy and regularly hands out smiles that will flood light into any room.

I mean, look at her monthly photos with Miss Kitty.  These were seriously shots number 1 and 2.  Done and done.

Likes:

Feet - I love this stage when the feet are discovered.  Who couldn't love these little piggies?

Jumparoo and Playing On Her Belly - Grace loves to bounce, bounce, bounce in her little jumparoo while watching the family scenery around her.  Just as well, Grace likes to play with toys on her belly.  Since she was a newborn, she hasn't liked to be on her back, but give her some toys on a blanket and she'll be content for awhile.

 Palmer - More than anything, Grace just wants to watch what Palmer is doing:

Fortunately, Palmer is equally smitten.

I can't believe he hasn't gotten frustrated with his sister one single time since she was born.  (Yes, I know that won't last.)

New Skills:

Rolling - Grace is mobile (kinda).  She will now roll to something she sees on the ground.

Solids - Grace tried her first solid- a quinoa puree.  As is typical for the poor second child, I got busy with freelance work craziness and we sorta abandoned ship on the solids.  We are leaving town for 10 days soon, so I am considering getting back into the solids when we return... Sorry, Grace... She'll be fine.  She's only 5 months.

We love you Grace.  Omg.  Next month is 6 months.  Then, 1 year.  Then, Kindergarten. Ahhhhhhhhhh

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Earning A Living

Sometimes, Palmer misunderstands the concept of "work" and thinks of it only as a bad thing where his parents are away from the house.  In an attempt to try to teach the concept of earning money, I took Palmer to the toy store and had him pick out anything he wanted.  After careful consideration, he picked out a train named Spencer.

At the toy store, I told Palmer we needed to go home and count the money in his piggy bank to see if we had enough money for Spencer.  After counting, we determined that he needed $7 more in order to make the purchase (yes, Thomas the trains are a real bonafide highway robbery).

So, we told Palmer that he could work jobs in the neighborhood to earn money for Spencer.  Armed with a photo of Spencer, Palmer went door to door on our block asking if anyone had any work he could do around the house.

Palmer blew some leaves and watered some flowers:

I even took him to work with me one day to show him what I do to earn money:

After a couple of weeks and several paying jobs, he finally had enough money to return to the toy store.

Decisions, decisions...

 SPENCER!

Hard-earned money:

Spencer meets his new friends back at home on the tracks:

 Watch out, Palmer.  Little sister wants to play, too.

Congrats on your first hard-earned toy, Palmer.

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

A Pedal Bike

Palmer has been on what is known as a "balance bike", or a bike without pedals that teaches the concept of balancing on a two-wheeler, for over a year now.  Lately, he has been hinting that he "really would like a bike with pedals".

Rick and I wanted to hold off until Christmas and gift a pedal bike under the tree, but realized we could hold off no longer when Palmer reverted from his balance bike back to a tricycle because "it had pedals".

(The above tears were because we went straight instead of turning left around the block.  Of course, duh.)

So, I picked up a bike and couldn't wait to see if Palmer could make the move from a two-wheeler without pedals to pedaling.

Sure enough, check out his first try:

Learning on the narrow sidewalk:

We quickly moved over to a park where we could spread out and have some room for learning:

Watch out, world:

At the end of the night, Palmer said, "Mom, I only want to ride this bike forever."

You got it, dude.  (If you can't tell,) we are pretty proud.

-Bethany

Wordless Wednesday

-Bethany

Grace's Baptism

We celebrated Grace's baptism with a special day of family.

However, Rick and I probably do not get parents of the year for letting Palmer campout on the trampoline the night before the ceremony.  By 9am, I was literally trying to (unsuccessfully) put Palmer down for a morning nap.

So, you can imagine how little we were surprised when Palmer did this while we were all in front of the church up at the alter.

Since Palmer was silently protesting life, we ignored him during the baptism moment and let him lie on the floor.

Like with Palmer's baptism, my dad did the ceremony:

Grace wore the same gown that my sister and I wore when we were baptized.  The fabric is from my mom's wedding dress.

1981 v 2014:

Our family of four:

Grace with her namesake:

Gram and PawPaw:

Pops and Aunt Amanda:

The boy cousins.  Palmer idolizes Coleton and Caden and loved having a whole day to play with them.

After church, we had the family over for lunch.  The boys had a ball playing outside and Rick always loves showing off with his Palmer's go cart.

PawPaw and his grandkids:

Aunt Amy with Grace:

A well-deserved naptime for the honoree:

The day was so special for our little angel.

-Bethany