Fall Fun Outside

These are a couple of pictures I took last week...before Mark raked up all the leaves. James had fun playing in them!

Pumpkin Carving I & II

PJames dressed as a panda bear because the costume was a hand-me-down from his cousins! I'm not sure what he thought of the whole get-up. And he actually wore it a week before Halloween, at our annual Pumpkin Carving Party. The expression on his face in the picture above pretty much sums up how that night went for our family of three. He was in a pretty wild mood. He didn't want to sleep (no way! not during a party!) and we spent most of the evening chasing him around. Needless to say, Mark and I did not get a chance to carve our pumpkin that night. However, it was great to see friends, most of whom are college friends that have attended his event over the past five years....

Then this past Friday, the night before Halloween, we finally got around to carving our pumpkin. James got to observe the initial cutting-the-top-off and gutting of the pumpkin.

He thought he was sooooo cool getting to touch the slimy pumpkin guts. (yes, of course he tasted them)

But he felt even more cool when he got to help Daddy scrape out the stringy stuff with our ice cream scoop.

Voila! Nothing too special....three teeth and two eyes. The pumpkin was so thick that Mark and I actually decided our little guy didn't need a nose.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch yesterday! There's a GREAT family operation just West of us about 25 minutes, free hay-rack rides and all! James' favorite part was getting to touch as many pumpkins as he wanted. He had a little trouble walking amongst all the vines, but didn't seem to be bothered by it. He'd just tap and try to lift whichever pumpkin he was closest to! I think Mark and I may have enjoyed the whole experience even more than James! We ended up picking out two; a big orange one and a small still-green one. We're pretty sure it will continue to ripen, but in the meantime, it's fun to have a multi-colored pumpkin! We were so thankful for the sunshine on a weekend day so we could all go together. It seemed like everybody else had the same idea; it was a busy place. I actually ran into a former co-worker, a family from church, a new friend from MOPS, and an old classmate from high school.

Enjoy the pictures! (If they go by too quickly, you can pause them and click through each picture at your own pace)

Back in Business!

Woo-hoo and thanks Mark, my in-laws, and parents for the new camera! Mark picked out a Ca*non Rebel XSi (I think) for my birthday and I am loving it so far. I have a lot of re-learnin' to do, though. I took photography in high school but have forgotten so many of the basics after using 'point-and-shoots' for the last ten years....TEN YEARS?! A decade?! I turned 28 last week. No, it doesn't really feel any different.

Back to the photos...these were all taken with the automatic settings and I think it does a great job...I'm excited to do a little more research and take some more artsy pictures, too!

It's been two weeks since I posted last. We've been to two weddings (congrats Jenny and Drew, Warren and Casie), Mark painted the basement, I started using cloth diapers (that deserves its own post, really), made some fun treats I've been dying to try for a year (cupcake pops), and found out I'm going to have a niece!! My brother Joel and his wife Elizabeth are due in February! I'll include more details and photos later...