A little getaway

Andy took Tuesday off and, being that Wednesday is already a day off for him, we decided to take a mini trip and spend some quality time together as a family. During the week leading up to it, we couldn't decide on a particular destination, so we opted to just get in the car on Tuesday and drive. We knew we didn't want to go much further than 2 hours away; and after going just under that we found ourselves in Dover, Delaware.

First stop: visitor's center
Second stop: get some food
Third stop: find a hotel with a heated pool

Graydon was thrilled when we got into the hotel room. He did not sit still for a second. So much to explore. We weren't there for long before we made our way down to the pool.

We swam that night and the next morning. Before heading down, we were looking all over for the room key. Bella said that she had it in a safe place.
Yep. I'd say that's pretty safe.

Besides stopping at multiple parks for Bella to play at, we visited the Air Mobility Command Museum. The kids got to try out the little airplane. And sit in some bigger ones. Bella and I did a simulator where we actually flew and landed the plane. I managed the controls and watched the screen to see how I was doing. I actually landed it without crashing - something I was certain would happen. It was a proud moment for myself.Then we took a look at all the planes outside. And watched them take off. It's always nice to get away for a little bit.

Bella's birthday is a week from tomorrow. The first gift officially landed on our step two days ago. This girl was pumped! Uncle Jeff, Auntie Steph, and Sydney sent Bella this Mariposa Barbie. Here she is out of the box and put together.Bella showing off her new toy to Graydon.
She even slept with it that night. I think it's safe to say that she likes her gift.

Here's a couple of pics of Graydon and Daddy being silly together. I forgot to mention last week that Graydon had a doctor visit. It was supposed to be his 9 month check-up, though he was actually 10.5 months at the time. These are the new stats:

Height: 29 inches, 70th percentile
Weight: 19.6 pounds, 25th percentile
Head Circumference: 18 inches, 40th percentile

I was surprised by his weight percentile. Up until the last appt., he was 50th percent. or above. He's also pretty much the same size Bella was at this stage and she was never below the 50th percentile. I guess that's the difference between the boy charts and the girl ones. Our pediatrician didn't seem too concerned though. He's just predicting that Graydon will be tall and skinny. We'll see!

Oh and one other thing. He earned himself a lead test since our house is so old. We have to take him to the lab to get some blood drawn. Poor baby.

Slow week

We had a very cold, rainy week. And I was feeling a bit under the weather. Combine these two and you have a week with not too many photos. Sorry about that. But I do have a few.

We are participating in Operation Christmas Child, a ministry that sends shoeboxes filled with gifts to kids in poorer countries around the world. They also share the love of Jesus with these kids. As our kids grow up, we want them to be aware of the needs of others and to experience the joy of giving. Wednesday afternoon, we took Bella to the store, having previously explained to her that she'd be picking out gifts for a girl her age who lived in a different country and who didn't have all the things that she does. I was a little uncertain of how this experience would go as Bella is at the stage where she gets a little huffy when she wants something at the store and we tell her no. Thankfully, there wasn't any of that on this day. She gladly picked out different items with excitement saying, "I think she would like this!" Here she is with the loot just before we packed it in the box. We'll be dropping our box off tomorrow. I pray that the little girl out there who receives this package finds joy in these gifts and in the knowledge that Jesus loves her.
The icky, cold weather went away today and left us a beautiful fall afternoon. We went out for ice cream and then to the park. Here's Bella on the slide. Graydon watching her - content to chew on his toy.

And here he is distraught after Daddy took it away. He was trying to get a picture where we could see Grady's face. That clearly backfired. Here's a few of the pics we got back from Olan Mills. These were taken at our church for the directory. This is the actual directory photo. We got a free 8x10 of this. I think it is just OK. Bella has her fake smile and Graydon is so serious. The photographer didn't really engage the kids and it shows. This one turned out a little better. Again, Graydon is so serious. We couldn't use this one for the directory because it didn't have the blue background. Truthfully, I wasn't the hugest fan of the red. I don't know how he decided on that color when our outfits were blue and green. I will say that it has grown on me since then. I hardly even notice it. This is the one we had printed for our home. We got Graydon smiling here, but Bella had been smiling for so long that hers got that tired, unnatural look.These were the best ones. You should see some of the outtakes. I have a cd full of them. Maybe I'll be them up on the ol' blog sometime. :)

Autumn leaves are falling down. . .

. . . and what could be more fun than creating a huge pile to jump in!
Bella sure thought it was great!

Graydon was completely content to explore (and taste) the crispy leaves.Piles of fun!

I love fall! Love, love, LOVE it!!!

Graydon has been pulling up on all of the furniture. He is way too brave for his own good. There have been lots of bumps and bruises and falls. He's one tough little guy. Because of his new skill, we had to lower the crib to its lowest setting. He loves standing up in his crib. . . which really stinks when he's fighting his sleep. He's getting so big. We've had some beautiful days this week and our goal is to get the most out of them before the winter weather sets in and we're stuck inside for months. Happy Fall to everyone!

Halloween Festivities

Our whole week seemed to be one big Halloween celebration. It began with my MOMS Club party. Here's my little fairy. Graydon stayed home and napped with Daddy.
Candy time!This was just the beginning of the candy collections.This was our third year attending the Halloween parade. It's held the night before Halloween and is a pretty fun tradition.
Bella was armed with her trick-or-treat bag. She wasn't going to miss out on any candy.We followed up the parade with another Halloween party at a friend from church's house. Always a good time!

Halloween morning was pumpkin carving time!!! . . . . . . except that Bella didn't want to touch the insides of the pumpkins. She opted for painting one instead.
Somebody turned 10 months old on Halloween!Little guy had two costumes. The first was the cowboy outfit that my mom sent. For the life of me, I could not keep that hat on his head.
That evening, he dressed up as a lion - the very same lion costume that Bella wore.The fairy and the lion all ready for trick-or-treating! The evening was perfect. Cloudy, but in the 70s. Can't beat that!
We went with some friends. Katelyn was a fairy too!Graydon snuggled up close with little miss Payton.
All the kiddos are ready to go!We had two very eager little ladies on our hands.Trick or treat!!!
Some friends from church got Graydon his own little bag.
He dug right in!That candy bar was mush on the inside of the wrapper by the time he was done with it.We lit our jack-o-lanterns when we got back home.

Here's Andy's. Graydon (and his front teeth) were Andy's inspiration. This is mine! We now have a huge bowl full of candy. I'm sure the kids will share with Mommy and Daddy. :)

Lots of great photos!!!!

My camera got a good workout this week. I've been wanting to take Bella's 4-year-old portraits and Tuesday was a beautiful day to do it. I'm pretty much done with taking her to professional places for portraits. I always walk away a little bummed (except for her baby pics). We had our family photos taken last week for our church directory and they turned out just OK. Graydon is not smiling and Bella has a cheesy, fake smile. When it comes to our whole family, I'm kind of at the mercy of other photographers; but when I have the ability to take the pictures myself, I'm definitely starting to opt for that route. Here are Bella's photos from the other day. I'm very pleased! This one is my top fave and the one that's going in the frame. OK family - if you want any pics of Bella, let me know which one and which size. I'll be bringing them home at Christmas!

Andy was planting some mums in the front yard and I thought that they looked like a nice backdrop for some photos of Graydon. Unfortunately, he's at that "I-don't-sit-still-for-more-than-five-seconds" phase. This is the best one I got and he is clearly on the move here. So we enlisted the help of Bella to keep him still.
There are quite a few that look like this. Graydon has a thing with faces. . . Who needs a dog when you've got this little guy? Some cheerios spilled on the floor. I went to clean them up and by the time I returned, every last one was gone.
We went to the pumpkin farm with a group from church today. The weather was perfect!

Bella in search of the perfect pumpkin.
Graydon found a keeper!Graydon waves now. This started last week. Here he is waving at all the friends in the pumpkin patch.
Bella found another one!
We also enjoyed the hayride!9 months old
A girl and her baby (this was begging to be scrapped)
Apple picking

A girl and her baby. . .

In case I haven't mentioned it yet, Bella has become quite the little mommy. Her baby (whose name is also 'Bella') goes with her everywhere. When I say it's time to go Bella quickly grabs her baby, her purse, and sometimes a blanket and baby bottle filled with water. She changes her baby's clothes right down to the diaper. And when she doesn't know that I'm listening, I hear her talking to baby, explaining how things work. She's so good to her little ones. I've gathered quite the collection of photos where baby pops up. Here are a few. . .

heading off to church. . . getting ready for bed. . .
at the park. . . can't forget to buckle her in. . . off to the pool (in Hershey). . . at ballet class. . . in the wagon with Graydon. . . in the high chair (notice that she's wearing a bib here). . .
apple picking. . . This is just a summary of photos. I don't have pictures of baby at church or the grocery store or in bed with Bella at night and the tons of other places that baby shows up at. She is pretty much another member of our family.

Apple Picking

We love fall. And we really love beautiful fall days. What better way to enjoy one than to get outside and do a fall activity - apple picking!!! Here's some photos from our trip to the farm. The fall fun didn't stop there. We took our freshly picked apples. . . . . . and made mini caramel apples. I cut up an apple with a melon baller and inserted toothpicks. Bella took care of the dipping. She loved this project. We also made some homemade apple pie! Bella's job was to load on the apples. Our end result! Yummy! If anyone is interested, the recipe is below. I love how this pie tastes. I've tried a few recipes and this one is by far my favorite. It came from one of my scented candles of all places.

Baked Apple Pie

Ingredients:
2 9" pie crusts
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 brown sugar
1/4 cup water
8 apples (we used Empire)
(peeled, cored, and sliced)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar, and brown sugar - bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off. Cover with the other pie crust. Place foil around edges to keep from over-cooking. Bake 15 minutes in preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F. Continue baking for 35-45 minutes until apples are soft.

Enjoy!

And here's a bonus photo of Graydon after eating some mashed potatoes. Can you tell that he fed himself? I don't think the photo captures just how truly messy he was.