Apple, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie

 

Disclaimer: That title has nothing to do with this post at all.  I just can’t get that song out of my head because I fed Tate some Apple, Peach, Squash baby food combo last night and it’s been stuck in my head ever since.  Thank you and you’re welcome.

Happy Monday, everyone!  Can you believe we are winding down the month of September?  It’s hard to believe the boys have been back in school for over 6 weeks now.  Last week the school hosted a Fall Open House so the kids could show off their classrooms to their parents.  It was fun to have Bren show us around his room, he was all like “Oh, this is XYZ, and over here we do This That And The Other.”  He sure has adapted to Kindergarten well! Of course, as a 3rd grader, Aiden wasn’t quite as excited to show us everything there is to see in his room.  *Sigh*, he’s getting older.

Saturday afternoon we cleaned up the garden for the year.  Everything was done producing, save a few tomatoes on the vines.  We pulled the tomato vines, cleaned their cages, then Andy tilled the garden to take care of any weeds that were still growing in there.  It looks nice and clean again.  I am happy with how my garden did this year – so happy that I am planning on scaling back quite a bit next year because my shelves are chock full of goodies.  Every so often you need to take a year off and work on eating all that you’ve canned from the past couple of years.  I’ll plant a short row of green beans to be able to eat some fresh ones, and I’ll plant one Roma Tomato plant so I can make some fresh salsa and pico de gallo.  Besides that I’m thinking of trying some new, fun things.  Maybe an eggplant?  Or maybe I’ll plant the majority of it in sweet corn and have my own patch next year!  I have a long, cold winter to pour over seed catalogs and get plenty of ideas. Stay tuned to next spring when I let you know what I come up with!

On a similar note, Andy’s brother is going to get us a bag of horse manure that his sister-in-law mixes with compost to make some awesome fertilizer.  I’m going to spread it on the garden and on my strawberry patch.  Hopefully I’ll finally have a crop of strawberries I can actually do something with next spring!  Those darn things have been very frustrating since I planted them 3 years ago. 

Aside from cleaning out the garden this weekend we didn’t do too much around here.  It was 80 degrees both days, beautiful weather, but we just kind of laid low.  I washed the windows yesterday, Andy tinkered around in the garage playing with his tools (he’s building a ball rack for the boys), I snuck in a 10 minute nap Saturday afternoon, we watched football (Go Hawks!!), and I packed up the goodies I got for my swag swap partner.  It was just kind of a quiet weekend, it felt great! 

On the schedule for this week: football Wednesday night for the boys, Thursday I’m going on Brennan’s Pumpkin Patch field trip while Andy stays home with Tate for the day, and Saturday I’m going with the Hens (my aunties) and a few Chicks (cousins) to Winterset, IA (Bridges of Madison County) to see my cousin’s new house and a cute little yarn shop she might be buying to run with a friend.  I’m super excited for this trip, going to be so much fun!

What are your plans for the week?  Do you love the book and movie “Bridges of Madison County” as much as I do?  Robert Kincaid, rrrrraawwr!

Our Family Pictures // 2014

 

A few weeks ago my cousin’s wife came out to my folks’ farm and spent a couple of hours following us around, taking our family pictures.  It was a nice evening but super humid!  I was sure my makeup was dripping off my face by the end of the night!  They turned out great so I wanted to share a few with you.

My family – sister Nicole and husband Pat, their kids Charley and Nora, my parent’s Randy and Jean, and us

My parents with their grandchildren

My sister’s family

My family

My parents, sister and me

The kids

I’m so happy we were given the chance to get our big family pictures taken.  If Dad’s accident had turned out differently we never would have had any with the grandkids in them. Our last family pictures were taken before Nicole was even pregnant with Charley, who will be 10 in just 2 weeks.  Thank God for miracles!

 

A Baby Shower

 

Saturday morning I threw a baby shower for my dear friend, Jenny and her little bundle, Paige.

We had the shower at Jenny’s house – it was closer for everyone who was invited and I thought it would be more comfortable for Jenny and Paige.  It worked out great.  I made all the food here at home and just took it with me and finished it there.  I made a quick queso dip (so easy, just a small brick of Velveeta’s Queso Blanco, a can of Rotel and a small chicken breast cooked and diced up small), cheesy bread, watermelon and gooey brownies. 

We ate first (duh!), then opened gifts.  One friend is a genius – she got Jenny a bottle of wine and made her 3 freezer meals.  Great idea!  There were cute outfits given and I made some of my burp rags and a soft blanket for baby Paige. 

We all had a fun morning together and enjoyed snuggling with Sweet Baby Paige.

Family

 

This past weekend my uncle and aunt who live in Kansas City came ‘home’ to visit.  I always love when they come back, I have a special place for them in my heart. 

Saturday night we met up at my folks’ house for pizza after church.  This is kind of a tradition started way back when.  After church we’d all go to Pizza Hut and my sweet little Grandma would treat us to supper.  Now that she’s gone we meet up at my parent’s house.  It’s easier with all of the kiddos.

I wanted a big group shot of all of us so I set up my camera on a stool, set the timer and jumped in to the picture.  I couldn’t believe it but I only took 2 pictures and they were both really good!

Sunday we all met up at the park in town and had a picnic with my dad and uncle’s other brother, his family and their 3 uncles.  It was so windy and cool, not the best weather for a picnic but you know we made the best of it!  We took the opportunity for more pictures.

The three brothers – Gary, Randy (my dad), and Ron.

The brother’s with their 3 remaining uncles.

My grandma’s grandkids with spouses and great-grandkids (with 2 still cooking in the oven!)

I had to snap this shot – my Uncle Gary is famous for taking candid pics of people and posting them on FB.  He posted one of me with my hand by my nose, perfect.  Or he’ll catch you mid-bite.  Or get you from the worst possible angle.  So I had to take a pic of him taking pics. My Aunt Joan, his wife, is standing next to him.

And I couldn’t help but snap one of my parent’s with my Tater Bug.

I miss the simplicity of those times when we’d all get together for Sunday dinner or Christmas or Grandma’s birthday.  We don’t get to see Uncle Gary and Aunt Joan nearly often enough.  I have so many fond memories of them and of all of us being together.  And my Uncle Ron and Aunt Carol, although they live here we don’t meet up with them as often as we should, either.  Growing up we’d go to Grandma’s house twice a month at least for Sunday dinner.  Ron, Carol and the boys lived on the same farm as her so they’d always be there, too.  It was the perfect way to spend part of our Sunday.  Grandma would make some amazing meal, Mom and Carol would each bring something to add to the meal and it was always so lively.  Ron would ask for a roll and Dad would throw one across the big table to him.  Brian, my cousin, would ask for more ‘spuds’.  Passion Plums, as my dad calls olives, were always a staple at the meal. 

We always sat in the exact same spots – my Grandma at the head of the table, my dad at the other end.  I would sit next to Dad, then Mom to my left and Nicole to her left, which brought you back around to Grandma. Then next to her would be Ron, then Brian, then Carol and Sean would be between her and my dad.  Us kids were expected to set the table, help clear it off and help with dishes.  We’d get the table all torn down, take the leaves out, push it together and move it back to it’s place against the wall.  Then we’d all sit around chatting after for a bit.  If it was a nice day we’d go outside and sit in lawn chairs under the shade tree. It was all so perfect.  I’m so sad those days are gone.

What fond memories do you have of your extended family?

First Day of Fall!

 

Good morning! Today it is officially Fall! I’m so ready for this season, I love everything about it!

I told you a couple weeks ago I was trying to stain terra cotta pots to use for Fall decorating.  I think they turned out fairly well.  I didn’t take any before or during pictures, but basically I just took a regular old terra cotta pot, some wood stain (color was Provincial) and a rag to rub in on in a circular motion.  I didn’t wipe it off, I just sopped it on and left it to sit and dry.  They are a tad sticky feeling, could probably spray some acrylic sealer on it to take care of that but I’m not too concerned since they are just sitting outside on the step.  Once they were dry I decorated them with jute and burlap.  Here’s the finished product.

To complete my front steps I added a bale of hay, replaced a dying flower with a mum in the big pot and added an awesome white pumpkin with a little bow of jute around the stem, then stuffed a burlap bow into the big pot to finish it all off. Once we get our orange pumpkins I’ll set those around this set up, too.

I found time early last week to get my fall decorations out.  I wanted to add some new items so took some inspiration from a recent craft show I attended to make some rustic/fall decorations.

These jars were super easy to make.  I just wrapped burlap around them, used my jute to make the flowers on the front and added some fake buttons I had in my stash for scrapbooking/card making (purchased from Stampin Up!).

After I took these pics I added some fall floral picks to the jars to add some more color and height.  I am still in search of my short strand of baby lights to add for some more pizzazz, those are hidden in my Christmas totes and I have not found the energy to dig through those yet. 

Linking of up with my sweet friend Des for her Fall Bucket List link up.  I’m crossing “decorating for Fall” off my list.

Happy Fall, y’all!

 

Tate's Tubes Update

Hey everyone!  Wow, what a busy past week we've had! I'm exhausted and need a break!

Tate's ears - this poor boy.  The dr told us last Monday after his tubes were put in that drainage of any color was ok but if it turned snotty to call them.  Well guess what, it turned snotty.  I thought on Wednesday it was looking that way, which was his last day on his ear drops.  Andy thought I was nuts so I didn't listen to my mother's instinct.  Thursday, though, it was so obvious you couldn't deny it was there. So I called the dr.'s office and the nurse told me to start up the drops again for 5 more days (which is up today).  I can tell that goop in Tate's ears is bothering him, he's been rubbing at his ears quite a bit the last 4 days or so.  It's really so disgusting I gag when I clean his ears out.  This morning there seemed to be much less so I'm hoping that it's cleared up and we don't have to figure out the next step since we are supposed to be done with his drops today. 

In addition to his snotty ears I believe Tate is teething.  I've said that since he was 4 months old but really, this time I think it's happening.  He is drooling non-stop, he is constantly chewing on something and he is super fussy and not at all happy.  I don't feel any sharp points popping through yet but I'm hoping soon for his sake!

Baby boy loves his swing!  He kicks his little legs and makes it move.  He sits in here while
watching his big brothers and Daddy play football in the yard in front of him.

Have a great Monday!

Quick Update // Tate’s Tubes

 

The procedure went well, lasted less than 20 minutes.  We got to the hospital about 6:30, left just before 8:00.  He fell fast asleep in the car as soon as we left.

He didn’t nap all that well in the morning, was a tad fussy.  But in the afternoon he slept from 12:30 to 4:00, which is a long nap for Tate.  He was still a tad fussy in the evening but overall not too bad.

Last night he slept great until 3:30, then was restless the remainder of the night. 

Today, today he is not himself.  Very fussy, very clingy.  Eating well, so that’s good.  I just laid him down for a second nap of the day, hoping he will sleep good, get some decent rest. 

I posted on FB this morning the he felt better *before* his tubes, hoping he is just working out the kinks and he gets back to his normal, happy, cheerful self. 

P.S.  I did very well when they took him yesterday, no tears!  They did a good job of explaining that the gas they give them makes them cry uncontrollably for a bit after they wake up so don’t worry when I hear him crying as they take him into the recovery room.  It took him a little while to calm down from that – he nursed really well right away then started fussing again.  Poor little bugger!

Send good thoughts to my little guy today!

Tate’s Tubes

 

It’s 4:45 a.m. and I can’t sleep. Tate gets his tubes put in in about 2 hours.  I’m not worried, this isn’t a major surgery/procedure, but I just couldn’t shut my mind off all night.  I had a dream that we forgot to stop by Andy’s parent’s house to pick Tate up before the procedure so he had to run over to their house to grab him quick, hopefully not missing Tate’s appointment time.  I have no idea if he made it back for the procedure or not!

The worst part of this whole thing is knowing I have to hand my baby over to a stranger and watch them walk away together.  They used to let the parents go into the OR with the child until they were put under but not anymore. That sucks.  The second worst part is knowing that when he comes out of anesthesia I won’t be there with him for at least 15 minutes.  That’s 15 minutes of him crying and being scared and wondering where his mommy is.  That totally stinks!

Oh, then there’s the part where I can’t feed him after midnight.  Last week, Wednesday night I think, he slept all night long, didn’t wake up until almost 7 (first time in months, btw).  I thought, awesome!  If he can do that Sunday night we’ll be ok!  But no, as I type this I can hear him back there making noise, wanting to nurse.  So that’s going to be fun for the next 2 hours – I probably won’t be able to hold him much when we’re waiting for him to go in to the OR because he’ll just keep burying his sweet little face in my chest, begging to eat. 

Time to get ready for the day.  Have to be at the hospital by 6:30 so will be leaving here in less than an hour.  Have a great Monday!

Erin

Tate Lately

 

Tate, you are 7 months old today.  Over the past month:

• You have learned to crawl!  You have a new-found freedom and you love it!  I have found you clear back in the laundry room playing with shoes and in the front room hollering for me because you were in a new place and couldn’t find me.  You started off slow but it sure didn’t take you long to figure it out and now you can get where you want to go.  I have had to baby proof the few breakables I had down low and I’ve put the closures on the TV cabinet and fireplace to keep you from pulling them open.  If the boys are on the floor and have something that looks exciting to you it’s all they can do to keep you down!
• Your favorite toys are the baby rattle that was mine and Auntie’s way back when, the set of colored disks that are on the string and the big bucket of pretend food that goes with the kid kitchen.  You love to chew and suck on the rattle and disks, they hold your attention for quite a long time.  A week ago I was gone for the evening, Daddy said you played with the play food for about 40 minutes! That sure kept you busy!
• You have pulled yourself up in your crib!!!  You about gave me a heart attack on this one! It was Saturday morning, I could hear you talking to yourself in your bed.  I walked in to get you and you were sitting up in bed, which is another new thing your are doing.  You gave me your big gummy grin, reached your sweet little chubby hands out to the top of the rail and just pulled yourself up to standing!  It was so sweet, we were both very surprised!  Needless to say we have since lowered your mattress!
• Like I mentioned, you can sit yourself up all by yourself now.  It is very rare to find you playing with toys while laying on your tummy anymore. 
• You have moved up to Stage 2 baby food.  You eat a veggie and half a fruit for supper, for breakfast it’s a bowl of baby oatmeal with a few spoonful's of fruit mixed in.  Now that you are taking a bottle (finally!) I see that you drink about 6oz. at a feeding.  You’ll even take a bottle from me now, too! 
• You are wearing size 3 diapers.  Clothing varies and on the brand and style – anywhere from 12mo to 24mo
• When I sit you down on the floor to play you immediately get on your hands and knees and crawl away to whatever it is you are wanting to play with.  You do it so quickly your butt barely hits the floor before you are off and crawling!
• You have become an even bigger fan of me, your mommy!  You don’t cry as often when I leave the room anymore, which is nice for both of us, but if someone is holding you while I’m out of the room and you hear my voice you instantly start crying until I come and hold you.  When I pick you up you immediately snuzzle in to my neck and wrap your chubby little arms around me to squeeze me tight.  And the kisses!  Big, open mouthed, slobbery kisses!  All over my cheeks!  They are my favorite!
• You love playing in your bath and had a great time splashing and crawling around in your little swimming pool.  You would have stayed in there all afternoon had I let you.
Even though you have been battling an ear infection for over a month now you have been the HAPPIEST baby ever!  You smile every time we talk to you.  You coo and babble and make all kinds of neat noises now.  You are quite the trickster with your pacifier, you do all kinds of cool tricks with it.  Still no teeth but you chew on your pacifier and fingers constantly.  As fun as it was having the boys home all summer entertaining you, we seem to get along just fine just the two of us.  You make friends where ever we go, women dote on you and can’t get over how adorable and ‘squishy’ you are! 

And that squish!  Oh Tater, I just LOVE that squish!  From your cheeks, to your hands, your chubby thighs and that bubble of squish on top of your knee! Just where did that come from?!?  You have rolls for days, I absolutely adore each and every one of them!

This month you seem to have gone into full blown ‘boy’ mode.  You are more rough and tumble, you growl, you like playing with your chunky fire truck.

One more thing – you found your shadow Monday morning!  You were playing in the dining room, the sun was streaming in and you noticed ‘something’ moving on the wall.  You sat up and saw that ‘something’ move as you did.  It was so sweet to watch.  Then Brennie got in on the action.  I love this pic of you two!

I am having so much fun watching you grow every day.  I feel so lucky getting to stay home with you!  I feel even luckier to get to be your mommy. You make me laugh every single day.  I love you so much, Tatie Tot! Happy 7 Month Birthday!

xxxoooxxxooo

Weekend Recap

Hey there!  Wow, what a busy few days!

Saturday my mom, sister, niece, Tate and I went 'Back to School Shopping'.  We do this every year, have since I was a kid.  We went to an outlet mall about 45 minutes from here.  We had a great time!  We always say it's not a successful shopping day unless we honk our car horn at someone, which we did, which means it was successful!  I ended up getting a new purse, a pair of jeans, a longer sweater to wear with my leggings and boots and a vest thing that I'm still not sure about.  I think it's kind of cute/trendy but when I bought it the old lady checking me out said she had it and just loved it, which totally made me second guess myself.  IDK, we'll see if I keep it or take it back.  I need to put it together with a whole outfit, maybe that will make me like it more.

Tater Tot made out like a wild man, Carter's was having an awesome sale!  But I didn't get the right sizes so will be going back to exchange a couple of things.  Darn. 

Andy was at the Iowa game that day (we won, somehow - it was UGLY! But a W is a W. 2 and 0 Baybay!) so when I got home the boys and I headed to town for church.  We ended up talking my folks and sister's family into going out to supper with us afterwards, which was a fun way to end the day.

Sunday was our church's annual Fall Festival, our big fundraiser for the year.  I clerked at the auction, like I do most years, and had a great time doing that with my sister and mom.  And I had 2 pieces of pie that day, Pecan and Pumpkin. Yum! :)  Ha ha!  Pumpkin with lunch, Pecan later in the afternoon while watching the auction.  I always love the Fall Fest, it's kind of like the kickoff to Fall for me.

Speaking of which, I think I'm going to start getting my Fall decorations out this week.  The temps are going to be cooling off quite a bit after today, 60's for highs!  So I need to make the house look and feel the part.

Monday was still super busy.  Tater and I headed to town for groceries and errands after dropping the boys off at school.  He finished his 3rd antibiotic for this darn ear infection on Saturday but yesterday in the morning he woke with more drainage and bright yellow pus.  (Sorry, TMI?)  I called Andy to see what he thought, we decided to wait and see.  Dumb, should have just listened to my instincts.  We got home a few hours later and he was pretty tired.  I laid him down for a nap, which wasn't long enough. We he woke up I decided he needed to be seen by the dr. again.  They worked us into the schedule that afternoon and guess what, it's still a raging ear infection.  So they have referred us to an ENT and we are going tomorrow to discuss tubes.  My poor poor baby!  I know it is such an easy procedure, they do millions a year (literally, I googled it!), but when I think of walking away from my sweet little punkin pie, oh it just breaks my poor mommy's heart.  I want him to get relief, though, so will do what they suggest. Keep my little guy in your prayers, please.  Will let you know when and if they do surgery. 

So that's been my crazy few days.  Today I am going to work on getting the house decorated.  I am attempting to stain some terra cotta pots to plant a couple mums in - not sure how or if that's going to work but I knew I didn't want bright terra cotta on my front steps.  I got a bale of hay to put on our front step (Dad didn't have any straw, having to make it work), going to decorate on top of and in front of it.  Need to find some pumpkins, they should be available in the next week or so up here.  So, when it's all done and has come together I'll take some pics and post those.  Wish me luck on those pots!

Have a great Tuesday!

Braun ThermoScan 5

 

I was selected by Influenster to receive and review the Braun ThermoScan 5.  First, to say I was excited is an understatement!  I’ve wanted an ear thermometer since Aiden was born but, for whatever reason, never went out and bought one.  When this beauty showed up in the mail I might have shrieked with excitement!

The crazy thing is the Braun ThermoScan 5 showed up right in the middle of Tate’s ear infection.  He would flinch every time I touched his ear, even just his earlobe, so I thought there was no way he’d let me stick this thermometer in his ear. 

I pulled the Braun ThermoScan 5 out of the box and got a little giddy over the doctor’s office style protectors I got to stick on the end each time (I used to secretly wish I could be a nurse just so I could put those on and then push the button to pop them off after use, ha!).  I read the directions, which were beyond super easy, then got started.

All you have to do is put on the protector, push the ‘on’ button, wait for it to beep at you that it’s ready (about a second or two), then gently stick it in your child’s ear.  Again, you wait only a matter of a couple seconds for it to beep at you again and there is your child’s accurate temperature!  Then the fun part, you get to push the button for that plastic protector to pop off into the trash, ha ha!

Not only was the Braun ThermoScan 5 easy to use, it was super fast and gentle!  Tate didn’t even flinch, he sat super still and didn’t even know I’d taken his temperature.  I was shocked since, again, his ears were super sore and he didn’t like me touching them!  I LOVE this thermometer!  Anyone with kids should have one – they’d make a great baby shower gift!

I was given the Braun ThermoScan 5 for free in exchange for my honest review.  These opinions are solely my own and are my true feelings. #BraunThermos Thank you.

Mean Mom

 

I’m tired.  Tired of being the ‘mean mom’.  That’s what I feel like all the time. 

I feel like the only mom who puts a time limit on electronics.  Growing up we were not allowed to sit around all summer watching TV, and we never had any video games, handheld or otherwise. Andy, on the other hand, was brought up with all of the gaming devices and unlimited TV time so he doesn’t see any problem with it.  Now it seems that all kids have a DS, or an IPod, or a tablet of one make or another.  I gave in, when Aiden was 6, and we bought him a DS.  I was super strict about how long and how often he could play it.  Andy and I were always battling over it because he’d give Aiden permission to play it when I didn’t think it was necessary to.  I’m not sure of my reasoning behind the limit on how long/often he could play – maybe all those studies that show TV time and electronics ‘rot’ kids’ brains.  Maybe it’s because I wasn’t allowed to as a kid.  I don’t know this for certain, but it really seems like most kids around here get much more playing and viewing time than my kids do.  I am starting to think I should just stop being Mean Mom and let them have free reign on everything ‘electronic’.  Look how great Andy turned out!  He’s a gosh darn engineer, for goodness sake.  All I turned out to be is a SAHM cosmetologist.  What I’m getting at with that last part is, I didn’t turn out to be a lawyer or doctor of President of the United States.  I didn’t get any farther in life than Andy did by not playing video games and watching TV all day, so what’s the big deal if I just stop worrying about it?

I feel like the only mom who tries to reign her kids in when they’re all together, trying to keep them from running all over the place being rowdy and loud and crazy.  It drives me absolutely nuts when Aiden and his buddies get together and get all hyper and start running around, chasing each other, acting like hooligans!  But I always feel like the only mom trying to contain my kid, calm him down, tell him to stop running and being loud.  I worry if I just give up trying to get him to settle down and just let him run and have fun with his friends that others will think I’m a bad mom for not controlling my kid.  On the other hand, he’ll have so much fun with his friends and get to be a part of the mix.  I feel like I need to learn to let go, let him have fun and stop being Mean Mom.  It’s not hurting anything that he runs and has fun, it’s just annoying as hell.

I feel like the only mom who doesn’t let her kid ride his bike all over town, or even around the neighborhood.  Yes, we are in a town of 1200, but when I was in jr. high a little girl was abducted, sexually assaulted and killed in a tiny town that is smaller than this one, only about 8 miles from my home.  It happens, it CAN happen, and I don’t want it to happen to my kid!  So I don’t let Aiden hop on his bike and go for a cruise around town to see who he can find to play with.  This summer I finally let him go a block over by himself, which scared me (and still does) all to heck!  Besides being kidnapped and hurt, I see so many kids his age riding their bikes around town  RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAMN ROAD!!!  It drives me insane!  I have preached and preached to the boys that they don’t ride down the middle of the road, they don’t walk down the middle of the road, but I know with 100% certainty that once they get around their friends, and their friends are doing it, they’ll forget all of that preaching.  Would it be a ton of fun for them to get to ride their bikes to and from school every day? Sure!  Do I just put my fears aside and give them a chance, see if they will follow the rules and be safe? Put the muzzle on Mean Mom?

I’m really considering telling Mean Mom to go to hell.  I’m so tired of feeling like I’m always telling the boys ‘no’.  I’m so tired of the groans and upset faces when I won’t let them do what they’re asking to do.  It would be so much easier to just say ‘yes’ all the time.  I don’t want them missing out on fun times with friends because I’m a spaz and freak out all the time.  It won’t be long before Aiden’s friends start to realize his mom is a pain in the ass and stop inviting him to have fun with them.  I don’t want him being left out because of me.

I’m tired of being Mean Mom.

As Long As He’s Comfortable

 

Monday I was working hard all afternoon canning tomato juice.  Tate was taking a nap which allowed me enough time to get most of it done.  After I was finished I went back to his room to check on him since it was a longer than normal nap.  Here is what I found.

He must have sat himself up in his bed (the first time he’s done that!), played and then tuckered himself out so much that he just fell asleep sitting up.  While sleeping he relaxed forward and slept all scrunched over with his little legs tucked under him.  I die!  So sweet and silly!  I’ve never seen anything like it!  He also had his sweet, chubby, little arm under his head for his pillow.  *sigh*  This baby makes me smile every single day!

Signs of Fall

Yesterday, after a full day of work, we went outside to sit under the tree, enjoy the nice cool breeze and relax.  As I was sitting there I started to notice signs of Fall.  I grabbed my camera and snapped some shots to share with you.

Fall produce from my garden

Waning potted plants - I've kind of given up on this one.

My sedum starting to turn it's pretty rosie color.

This beautiful sedum, all decked out in her finest!

Brown leaves

Boys playing football in the back yard

My front step planter did a quick wardrobe change and added a couple of small mums.  Such a simple way to say "Fall"

Have you started noticing signs of Fall around your house?  Have you put any Fall decorations out yet?