Pumpkin Carving

Last night we thought it would be fun to carve a pumpkin with Joshua. Well, our child who doesn't like to get dirty wanted nothing to do with pulling the fleshy part/seeds out of the pumpkin. I guess we still are having some sensory issues seeing as any time he would come near the open pumpkin he would squish up his nose in disgust, close his eyes and wring his hands together! He did however enjoy the carving portion of this little project. Together with Cory he helped carve much of the pumpkin.

Taking the carved pieces out.

As close as he got to the messy part.

Carving with dad.

Boo at the Zoo!

Today we ventured out and met my dad at John Ball Park Zoo for their "Boo at the Zoo" day. There were tons of kids there dressed up in their costumes ready to collect treats throughout the zoo. Joshua too was all dressed up and ready for this new adventure since this was his first trip to our zoo here in G.R. He collected lots of cool treats along the kooky (not spooky) trail such as little animal toys, a little kaleidoscope, little yo-yo's, books with CD's, a huge 48 piece puzzle that ends up to be 5 ft. long, and of course a bit of candy. Joshua's favorite part besides being able to run around the zoo was seeing some goats, chickens and cows close up at the petting zoo. He also got to see a screech owl and a little porcupine up close. A great way to spend a few hours on a fall Saturday!

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Fall Festivities Continue. . .

Picking out a pumpkin.

Joshua was fascinated with the goats.

Playing in the corn.

This morning Joshua and I went to Schwalliers Country Basket out in Sparta as part of a Bright Beginnings play-group (Erin was off from school today so I didn't have Owen). It was a quite cold and there wasn't a ton to do for really young kids, but we made the most of our trip there. We had a doughnut and cider, looked at some animals, went down a large slide in a barn, played in the hay, played in corn, and picked an apple and a pumpkin. Since we were in the general area of Cory's office we stopped by to see him, but before we went in I put Joshua's Halloween costume on (have to get as much use out of it as possible). Joshua had a ball running around the office and being admired by all kinds of people.

A new Lil' Quad

Well, again Cory and I were suckers for a good deal! This nifty little quad was on clearance at Target and we just couldn't resist! It usually sells for $65 but we only paid $34! It's a motorized "Lil' Quad" by Fisher Price that goes all of 2 mph. We thought about saving it for Christmas, but that seemed too far away. Cory was also way too excited to put it away for a couple months (I think he wants to live vicariously through Joshua because he can't own a quad)! The only bummer of it was that the battery had to charge for a minimum of 18 hours! Once the battery went it Joshua wasn't really sure what to do anyway (as you can see in the video below). He has yet to understand that if he continuously holds the button on the handle that he will ride along smoothly. We figure that by the time the nice weather comes around this spring Joshua will have figured out exactly what to do and will be ready to ride around the neighborhood.

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Colorfall at Frederik Meijer Gardens

We decided to head out and meet my dad at Frederik Meijer Gardens this afternoon to see the huge pumpkins they were displaying there this weekend. The weather was not so nice, cold, windy and raindrops here in there, but we decided to brave it anyway. Joshua enjoyed running around the gardens, touching the sculptures and decorating his own pumpkin. I personally love Frederik Meijer Gardens (my mom and I liked to spend time together there) and I think Joshua is starting to enjoy it too now that he is mobile. There is so much to see and for Joshua there is lots to explore and touch! Knowing there are so many great things coming in the next year that I would want to take Joshua to (the Christmas tree and train display, the butterflies, the children's garden in the summer) we decided to buy a years membership to the gardens. Now we can go there any time!! Click on the link below to see more pictures of our trip to the gardens today and look forward to many more pictures at the gardens in the future!

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New Activity

Since the weather has turned colder and we aren't outside as much, we had to start finding some new things to do. So, when the lady who does home visits for Bright Beginnings came for a home visit a few weeks ago she brought playdoh - the perfect new activity for Joshua. We found my playdoh recipe and made our own. Unfortunately Joshua isn't one who likes to get his hands messy (hopefully this isn't a sensory issue). So, I found lots of cookie cutters and odd objects around that Joshua can use to poke the playdoh with instead of touch it with his hands. Hopefully the more he is exposed to playdoh the more willing he will be to actually use his hands to play with it. It also doesn't help that his attention span is only a few minutes for any one activity either! I just gotta give it time and patience!

More Fall Fun!

Throwing balls at the "Pumpkin Pitch"


Racing bigwheels!

Joshua, Owen and I went to Koetsier's today. For those of you who aren't aware, Koetsier's is a greenhouse over in Cascade that has some beautiful plants and flowers and apparently has gotten into the whole fall entertainment thing. So, we met a few other moms from MOPS along with their children for a morning of fun. We happened to be the only people there this morning which was fantastic. Half of their large greenhouse is set up with fun fall/pumpkin things for kids to do. There were huge blow-up structures, one that the kids could crawl through, one that the kids could go in and try to catch balloons and one that was a throwing game. Joshua wasn't fond of the structure we could crawl because he had a terrible time balancing on the air cushions throughout. He really liked trying to catch the balloons and he loved throwing the balls at the pitching game. Joshua wasn't thrilled by the "Midnight Maze" which was a simple maze that you could walk through, but was fairly dark; Owen on the other hand loved the maze, especially the big light up characters we found along the way. Riding big wheels around a "race track" was a lot of fun for all the kids too. We also had popcorn for a treat to end our morning. Due to the raindrops that were falling we didn't get to go on a hay ride though - bummer! All in all a great time though!

SNOW!!!!!!!

Yes, the title and date on this post is correct - Snow in October!!! Let me just say, the exclamation marks after the word snow are for the disbelief and shock I felt when I say the white junk today, they are definitely not declaring my excitement for the little white flakes. Joshua was a bit surprised to see the snow falling when he woke up this morning too. He didn't want to stop staring out the window to eat breakfast. Poor kid couldn't even go out in the snow because we haven't bought him a winter coat yet and I couldn't even find his hat and mittens from last year! Guess we know what we need to purchase in the next day or so! Needless to say, we spent most of our day inside in the warm house. Joshua and Owen even snuggled up close to each other while they were playing - too cute!

Autumn Fun

We headed out to the Potter farm (the farm Erin's dad owns) with Shawn, Erin and Owen for our annual October trip yesterday morning. Joel, Erin's dad, is always so great about letting us cut down corn stalks for decorating our houses and he even gets us huge hay bales! This year having both boys we decided to also make our stop at the farm a time for lots of great photos in their Halloween costumes. Of course the boys, I'm not talking about the little ones here, had to try out all the farm equipment while we were there too! Then we made our annual stop at Paulson's which happens to be just across the street from the farm. They have such great gourds, squash and pumpkins! Paulson's also offered lots of photo opportunities too! Check out the video below to share in our fun.

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Last Taste of Summer. . .

Yesterday it was in the mid 70's here and just beautiful! We just had to get outside and enjoy the weather! It was so great to be back in shorts again and spending a large part of the day outside. We went for a nice long walk and Joshua rode his bike around and drove his car around all before lunch. After getting a little nourishment we headed outside on the deck to play. Joshua toddled around with his dump truck loading and unloading rocks while Owen looked on from his seat in the walker and played with his toys happily. Oh how we will all be yearning for these beautiful days again when we are stuck in the house this winter!

91 Years and Counting. . .

It was my grandpa's 91st birthday this past Friday! Pretty significant I think! So, when I asked my grandpa how he was going to celebrate I was disappointed to hear him say he didn't want to celebrate. I understand because I'm not big on birthdays either (for kids they are fun, for adults it's just another day). I just couldn't let it go, thinking that we had to recognize God blessing him with 91 years of life somehow. So instead of making it a big deal we just had them over for dinner tonight, nothing big, but at least it was a small celebration. It's incredible to see how full of life my grandpa still is at 91 years old. Happy Birthday Grandpa, may God bless you with many more! (Just had to add this picture to the post because it pictures the oldest member of the family and the youngest member of the family together - 91 and 1 - Pretty amazing!)