Fall Festival & Pumpkin Carving Party

Nate's daycare had a Fall Festival last Friday night. There was baked goods, raffles, duck ponds, games, pumpkin painting, pie in the face, and much more.

Within the first minute Nate ran over to the baked goods table and wanted us to buy him a cupcake. He loved the cupcake... well actually he LOVED the cupcake icing. As soon as he finished the icing, he said he was done and proceeded to drop the remainder of the cupcake in the middle of the floor! Apparently I'm raising a vagrant... who loves cupcakes.



Nate was very excited to play the Duck Pond 'game'. More appropriately, Nate was very excited to play in a giant bucket of water that happened to have ducks in it. After an EXTREMELY long turn I explained that you get a prize and Nate was very dismayed to learn that he couldn't have one of the ducks as a prize. Instead he got a stupid plastic whistle that didn't even work. Poor kid. We consoled him with another cupcake. :)



Painting pumpkins. Adorable. Nate was very focused on covering every inch of his pumpkin with paint. A budding artist?



Love at first Cheeto. Nate spent most of the night playing with his adorable friend Zoe. When we got Nate some cheetos he shared them with her. Infact at one point he was feeing them to her. Does this count as their first date?



On Saturday we went up to Walton, KY to go to a Pumpkin Carving party hosted by my best friend Lauren (fellow blogger http://destinationbabyville.blogspot.com/2008/10/tagged-again.html). Nate was very excited to be going because his cousin Kaylee was coming as well. Here they are just a short while after Kaylee got a nasty boo-boo on her nose from a run in with the bar counter overhang.



More cupcakes? Really? Seriously what do we feed this kid?



One probably would guess that pumpkin drawing would be the less messy activity at a pumpkin carving party... however, that person never gave 3 toddlers loads of markers....



Ahh, this is what a pumpkin carving party is all about! Kaylee abandoned her pumpkin and came over to help Nate. They actually did a really great job getting the "guts" out of our pumpkin.



A very Mickey Halloween. Out of the 8 pumpkins featured below, 5 of them were Mickey and friends. Not exactly a scary sight...

We stayed way past Nate's bedtime, so we changed him into jammies and then headed home. He was asleep within minutes and once home he went straight to bed. We all had a great time!

Hammsters Celebrate Fall!

This past weekend the Hammsters decided to take a trip to Huber's Orchard. The weather was perfect for the Fall outing, the sun was shining and yet chilly enough to wear jackets and hoodies. If we had gone even just the weekend before we'd have been wearing tshirts and shorts... not exactly fall attire.

One of the activities they had in the kids section was a "straw barn" where the kids could play in the straw... and in about 30 seconds the kids realized that straw isn't really all that fun. Luckily there was a ladder that led up to a 40 foot slide for kids and adults. Mike and Nate headed on up...

After about 5 minutes of coaxing Nate into going down the tunnel, and Mike trying to figure out how to get him and Nate to slide down together, Nate finally decided he wanted to try it all by himself. Here he is on his first slide down... and 2 minutes later I could have taken the picture and it would have looked very much like this. His descent down the slide was so slow it was comical. Like I'm sure I've seen a cartoon sketch similar to this. Eventually he made it out and then decided this was the greatest thing he'd ever done in his 2 years and must repeat as many times as possible...

And here's Mike coming out of the same tunnel, however with a much different outlook on the situation... it was most likely ranking up there with one of the most unpleasant rides down a slide he'd ever taken and was quite sure he wouldn't be repeating...

Part of the children's section had those inflatables that all children love, and parents hate because it's a pay per turn type scenario. Nate in the past has always been too nervous to do them by himself but this time there was only one other kid in the bounce house and so Nate attempted it on his own. I was so proud and amazed at how well he did and how much he LOVED it!

They had several animals in a pen that the kids could see and feed corn through the open fence. There was a sign though that said DO NOT FEED LUCY THE PIG. I spent some time looking to see if there was more than one pig, if poor Lucy was being singled out... and how in the world would I be able to tell Lucy from Ethel? Luckily for us there was only one pig. And Lucy stayed far away from the crowds, apparently boycotting the children since she didn't get any corn. Nate did amazingly well with all the animals up close. His favorites were the goats and turkeys.

Nate and Daddy on the wagon ride over to the pumpkin patch... an extremely LOOONG ride. Probably made even longer by the fact that Nate did NOT like this ride at all.

Nate checking out the pumpkins at the patch. The goldfish that Nate wouldn't let go of apparently wanted to check out the pumpkins as well...


Nate and Mommy trying to decide on a pumpkin we wanted to bring home with us. This is surprisingly a tough choice for an indecisive family...

Nate and Daddy with our pumpkin. We decided it was the pick of the patch. Nate seemed to like it and that's all that matters. :)


We all had a great time, it was an amazing family day. As we were leaving Huber's, we hadn't even gotten down the driveway and Nate was already fast asleep. He slept the entire way home (45 mins) and then once home he slept 3 more hours in his crib. I'm quite sure his dreams were filled with pumpkins, tunnel slides, and bounce houses... a 2 year old's dream day.

Happy 2nd Birthday my son

It happened. I have a two year old. Nate turned 2 on September 25th. I'm such a sappy mom... on September 24th as I was getting ready to lay Nate down for bed, I rocked him extra long, hugged him extra tight, and whispered "goodnight my one year old boy". *sigh*

Here's Nate playing around on his birthday. If you notice the bump on his forehead, he fell a few weeks ago and this is the bump that is STILL there. If I get up the courage to look at the pictures again, I might post pictures of him 3 days after the fall. (I didn't take pictures the first few days, I was too upset)


On his birthday we sent cupcakes to daycare for his friends and him to celebrate. Nate would say bear and growl each time he saw the cupcakes.



Nate's birthday party was on Saturday. We had a Sesame Street theme since Nate LOVES it. He routinely asks for Elmo, Ernie, Oscar, and Cookie. A lady at Nate's daycare makes cakes and she made this cake for Nate

And these are the cupcakes that some crazy mom thought she could make to look like Cookie Monster. Silly mommy... if placed next to the awesome Elmo cake the Cookie Monster cupcakes looks rather depressing... so I placed them far apart. HEY don't laugh at me! I tried!

One of the first "shifts" of people to sit down to get something to eat. Going around the table starting with birthday boy, Daddy, Uncle Aaron, Uncle Brian, Brandy.

Nate while we were singing him Happy Birthday. He loved the hats, loved the singing, and LOVED that his best friend Joey was sitting next to him.

I maybe shouldn't have said, "Sure you guys can help Nate open his gifts..." This was the quiet before the storm....

Here is one where cousin Kaylee was letting Nate help her open his gifts. :) Uncle Luke supervising...

I believe this was the moment that all the younger boys "invaded" the older boys football game. "Whoa guys! Where'd all these kids come from?" :)

The kids all took turns drawing with chalk. Or in Joey and Kaylee's case, rubbing their hands in chalk dust and then their hands on their clothes. I'm sure their parents just looooved me. :)
We got Nate a bubble bucket as one of his gifts, outside bubble time was a HUGE hit amongst kids of all ages. Note to self, if ever having to watch more than one child at a time... bring bubble bucket.


Nate and Joey enjoying dinner together after everyone had left. This little picnic table was so cute, all the kids took turns eating at it and it was adorable. Nate says, "Thanks Grandma, I LOVE my table! Can you convince my mommy to let me eat here every meal?"

I think a good time was had by all, and most importantly Nate had a BLAST! The kids played and played and played some more, ate, and played again. :) The older boys all started a game of football, which was great because I'm sure they would have been bored watching the kids play and the weather was just great to be outside and playing. The kids played with our collection of outdoor toys. The party started at 2 and the last guests left at 7. Nate got so many nice gifts and we are so grateful to all. Nate's TN Grandparents (Nana and Grandpa D) weren't able to come but they sent a giftcard and the CUTEST Memphis jersey outfit. We will need to have him wear it Friday to support Memphis over Louisville. I'll get a picture then. Nate also got some great sports toys, lawn mower toy, Puppy, Diego, Pablo and Ming Ming stuffed 'animals', COOKIES, picnic table, clothes, elmo and ernie kinex, little people castle, booster chair, potty, books, and money. We were wiped out but all very happy with how the day went. Nate really loved having everyone there.

Nate says, "Thanks for coming Grandma, Grandpa Doug, Grandma Dawn, Uncle Josh, Aunt Amanda, Uncle Brian, Uncle Aaron, Uncle Luke, Cousin Kaylee, BFF Joey, Joshua, Leah, Lauren, Brad, and Brandy. You made my day extra special!"

Nearly a month in the life of Nate

Wow, so it's been nearly a month since I've posted. I'll try to give you the quick picture and video break down of our activities.

Nate's cousin, Sydney turned 1. We celebrated her birthday at my mom's house. Before smash cake:

After smash cake!
Sydney sporting her new Minnie ears that Nate gave her.
Nate driving in his coupe car. Beep beep! Watch out mom, this will be a REAL car in just 14 short years!
Nate and Daddy having fun: Nate splashing around in his Elmo sprinkler mat.
Nate's first corn dog at the Kentucky State Fair. He ate the WHOLE thing!
Nate checking out the cows at the fair. They were his favorite thing about the fair... well that and the corn dogs... :) He kept saying "COW!" "MOO!" "COW!" "MOO!" everytime we passed one.
Nate playing his first fair game. The duck pond.

The prize he won:

Videos (click the arrow to play)

One, Two, Three!

"Quality Time" with Grandma... OUCH!

Whee!

The next post should be a birthday palooza blog! Check back soon...

Walking in Memphis

The Hammsters made a weekend getaway trip to Memphis to go to my BFF's 1st baby shower and to visit Mike's family.

Nate "helped" us pack for the trip. A must have, his new backpack. When we get out of the car from daycare his first word to me is, "Backpack?" He can't wait to go in the house and get it. Of all the toys around our house, and to be sure there are quite a few, the only things allowed in the backpack is... his two Ernie's. We have had many a "Journey to Ernie" trips around the house in which I must find Ernie as fast as possible or be subjected to the constant barrage of "Ernie, Ernie, Ernie, ERNIE, ERNIE, ERNIE!"

I had so much fun playing with my Nana and Grampa D!!

Here's me and Grampa D, tuckered out after lots of playing. "I seep" *snore snore snore*

Me and my new friend, Trey, playing at the baby shower. We found each other very funny. Well until he stole my ball, and my balloon, and anything else I deemed mine. (Even with all the toys around the BEST toy of all was this free bee from the Nasonex commercials. Remind me again why we bother to BUY toys?)


My best friend, Lauren, and her sweet niece, Princess Gabrielle. :) (Gabrielle just turned 1! Happy Birthday Gabrielle!)



Even though the visit was a short one, we had lots of fun. It was so great to see Nate bonding with his grandparents. We left dreading the long road home, but with our tummies full of yummy food, our hearts full of love, and the promise that they will be coming to visit us soon, for both the "boys" birthdays in September!

(I better start cleaning the house now! :) )

Hammsters in Hotlanta! Part 4

On the final day of our trip in Atlanta we went to the Aquarium with my mommy friends and their children. Nate was REALLY excited about all the fish but not nearly excited about the 50 gazillion people all crammed in each tunnel. Whenever the spaces opened up though, Nate would want to get down and go point to all the fish. He was also SUPER excited about a shark. I was extremely impressed each time a shark went by (maybe it was just the same sad shark circling around?) he'd yell out, "Shark, shark!"

A rare family photo. Sadly we're by the ugliest fish in the whole place (a bunch of Grady fish. - only like 3 people would get this reference, but I made it nonetheless).


Nate thought the otters we so funny playing around in the water. Until they got a bit too aggressive in their play and then his screaming alerted us it was time to move along to the next animal. There was quite a bit of fit-throwing, screaming, scared shaking, and crying throughout the Aquarium.


Here's a rare photo of all my mommy friends and their little ones together. Look closely and you will see all the September '06 babies are all wearing the same shirt. Two of the mommies made up shirts with pictures of all our kids on it. Adorable. If you looked closely you'll also notice I'm the one holding the crying child. Did I mention there was crying?


This was a GIANT fish tank and it was in a nice open area. This was Nate's favorite place and we spent like 30 minutes in here. Honestly it was nice and bright in this room and the fish were gorgeous.


Getting ready to leave, Nate hugging his new friend, Gage.


That's it. That's our trip to Atlanta. Well there was a whole 6 and a half hour drive home. But it was not exciting and no photos. We hope to make a return trip to Atlanta sometime in the future.