Halloween!!

We really get into Halloween at our house. I think mostly because for me, it marks the real beginning of the Thanksgiving and Christmas season- my favorite time of year! We had some family over for dinner and trick-or-treating!


Addison dressed as a garden gnome. (Niko was also a garden gnome- with a long white beard!)



Here is little Niko at his first trick-or-treating adventure. He is trying to hide from the rain.


Addison can't help but check out what is in her bag in between houses. She never got the phrase "trick-or-treat" down, but managed to say...."BAG!"

This is the life!!

Don't you love my Nana and Patti? Nana is a witch (a good witch) and Patti is a beekeeper! So much fun!

Post trick-or-treating. Addison was munching down as we watched The Great Pumpkin!


Addison and Chris the following day......CANDY COMA!

Burt's Farm 2009

We had a great time at the requisite Burt's Farm trip this year. We decided to go a little earlier this year to avoid the crowd and it was a lot easier to navigate without the crowds. We took a picnic lunch and enjoyed the beautiful weather before finding our pumpkin!

I just love how the pumpkins are laid out so pretty and organized. What is up with white pumpkins?


Here is little Niko enjoying the farm! Sorry I made you sideways, little buddy!


Check out the big daddy pumpkin that we took home. It required both Chris and John to load it into the car. I picked it out because it has this cool wrinkle on it that looks like a frowny face.



"Helping" dad.
Addison loves pumpkins!



"Whew! Time for a break!"


I usually only get to photograph Addison's backside as she is constantly running away from me.

Wait, there she is!

Don't worry folks, it is water in the sippy cup. No cavities allowed up in here.

How cute is Niko?!


Addison and her best cousin!


Yep, more pumpkins!





What a great day! On a side note, I heard that the world's largest pumpkin in America this year weighed 1600 pounds!!! Yowzers!

Labor Day 2009

Wow! I am seriously delinquent in updating this blog!! If I am not careful, Mandy might delete me off of the links of her blog!! Well, I know that I already have a letterbox entry and an entry for Nana's house, but for Labor Day we went back to Nana's and ended up going off to find a letterbox at Mercier's Orchards. It was the perfect weekend.


Patti and I unwrapping the letterbox!!



Corinne, John and Niko!

"Patti Dee" leaving her mark!


Niko finding his first letterbox :)

So after this exciting adventure, we went into the apple house and loaded up on fried pies!!! Yum! I think my favorite was the coconut. We tried chocolate, espresso, peach, apple, and apple cranberry. They were all delicious. Then we sampled some apple cider and found a cute witch's hat embellished with feathers for Nana to wear on Halloween. (Stay tuned for photos!)

Pterodactyl attack!


Addy giving Niko his pacifier. Maybe she will be a big helper when Will and Sydney are born. Any bets?

The "crew" getting ready to pull out on Monday afternoon. We topped off this great weekend of fun and eating with lunch at Longhorns. YUM! Who is that lady with the incredibly large stomach??

Storm in the Mountains

During our letterboxing adventure, a storm was whipping through the mountains at Nana's house! Luckily, the house was spared, and most of the mulberry tree is still standing. I have no idea why this text is underlined.










On a happier note, the above are some of the pretty daylilies from Nana's garden!

Letterboxing!!

My Aunt Patti has gotten involved recently with letterboxing and has had so much fun doing it that I decided to invite myself along on an adventure! Patti, my Nana, Addison and myself set out on a beautiful Saturday morning to hunt a letterbox in Harbins Park called "Life is a Picnic". If you are not familiar with letterboxing- it is sort of an outdoor adventure treasure hunt. You find clues on the internet leading to a letterbox that is hidden somewhere- and you hunt an actual box housing a custom made stamp which you stamp your journal with. The clues are fun, like "Hunt for the 4 trunked tree and take 10 paces to the 1:00 direction" - that sort of thing. We got turned around with this particular box, because we had some confusion about where the halfway point of the walking trail was. Anyway, persistance paid off- we found it!!
Addison trying to get involved with stamping our journals. Bad girl!

The allusive halfway point- where our clues began.
Patti signing the "Life is a Picnic" logbook. Her trail name is "PattiDee". She rocks!

PattiDee and ToothFairy.


Nana didn't make it into any of these pics- but she was there!! Who else has a grandmother who can hike 4.5 miles like it is nothing?! What a lady! We'll definitely be hunting more soon!

Jake and Addison at Gymboree

Addison and Jake are big fans of Gymboree. They go to class together on Fridays and have so much fun! BFFs!!!

Memorial Day in the Mountains

This weekend we (Chris, Addison, Corinne, John, Niko and I) went to Blue Ridge to visit our Nana. We had SO MUCH FUN!!! We played lots of RummiKube and Balderdash, ate tons of homemade chocolate chip cookies, went on several walks on my Nana's mountain road, and generally just hung out and had a great time. My favorite time was walking down the road to see the horses and having Addison call it a "doggie". Pretty typical for an 18 month old, I think! There is nothing like the mountains!! Nana, when can we move in?


We spent some time sitting on the porch and enjoying the view (until Chris broke the chair!)


Addison looking into the garden- yummm.....asparagus!

I thought this flower was pretty- a peony!!

Addy loves chickens- especially in the nugget form!!!

The neighbor's garden
One of the views from my Nana's road

This rooster is a mean sucker!

Look! A doggie!!

"See ya, mom!"

Just some relaxation time!


This was on one of our nighttime walks!


A huge mulberry tree in my Nana's front pasture.


Pretty view!

Looking at the house from the garden.

Peace, homies.
The opposite of peace!