Over the river and through the woods

Dear Andrew and Abby,

This past weekend, we visited your Papa and Grandma Dottie. It's been a while since we went to see them (July!). We had a very fun time - we carved pumpkins



(Abby's is the frog-o-lantern, Andrew's is the mummy-o-lantern)

and went deer-sight-seeing



and Andrew went fishing and then we went to the Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur on the way home on Sunday.

You love going to Grandma and Papa's house. Their house is bigger than ours - there's a basement! With a toy closet! And a big TV! And a fun yard! And Grandma cooks yummy food! And Papa takes you fishing! And there are lots of other exclamation points there!!

There were a couple of trouble points, though. First, Mommy got an idea - and you know how those usually turn out. I packed your little mini tents and sleeping bags; you know, the ones you kept up in your rooms for a week. I thought (first mistake) that you would be thrilled to set up both your tents in the basement, and then Mommy and Daddy could actually have the bed downstairs without trying to cram four people into a two-person bed. Well, that was a bust. Of course, you ended up in bed with us Friday night. For Saturday, Grandma stepped in and put you both to bed in your own beds upstairs. I wish I knew her secret, but you both went to sleep without yelling and stayed there all night!!

Andrew got to go fishing on Sunday, but unfortunately, he didn't catch anything. He was NOT happy. And then there was Abby and her issue with the arrangement of Grandma's bathroom. Apparently, there is a BIG problem with the placement of the toilet paper roll. Here it is, in all of its wrongness:



Abby asked all weekend to have it moved to the other side of the potty (just like at our house, I suppose). She was very troubled by the whole thing.

In all, it was a great weekend. My favorite part was our visit to the pumpkin patch. Mommy loves going to the patch. I think you get pretty tired of Mommy trying to make you stop for pictures. But mostly, you go along. After all, there are PUMPKINS! Here are some of my favorite shots:

in front of the hay maze:

Abby as the Pumpkin Queen, complete with pumpkin crown:

the coolest scarecrow ever:

Mommy's pretty pictures:

eating ice cream with Grandma:

From now until the end of the year, things are going to be fun...

Love,
your Mommy-o-Lantern

1000 pictures are worth a word

Dear Andrew & Abby,


Mommy loves to take pictures. I love my camera and I carry it with me ALL the time. Sometimes I take pictures of random things, just because. It's what I do. I've always like picture-taking, but I kind of developed an obsession when Andrew was born. In his first three months of life, I filled a 600-picture photo album. I've slowed down some since then, but you two are still my very favorite photo subjects. Just as you are my favorite writing subjects and conversation subjects...


I have a bunch of pictures posted on Flickr, but they aren't really connected to these blog entries I write. A few entries have had pictures, but not too many. And my hope is that one day, you'll read through all of this and get a feel for what our life was like when you were little (hopefully you will still like me after you read all of this, but I'll try not to worry about that too much). So, I'm going to try to add more pictures of you to the entries I post. Maybe not every post, but most of them.


To get started, here are a few of my favorites from the year so far...

January - cheering on the Colts:

January - Abby's 3rd birthday picture with the birthday hippo:
February - Andrew's 8th birthday, Crown Royal bag full of "treasure" (coins) - probably his favorite gift:

February - Abby posing before school in one of her new outfits and with her special new pink cowboy boots:

February - Andrew on one of the "King Mountains" of snow drifts after our Valentine's Day snow-in:March - Abby showing her "diva" look:
March - Andrew looking intent during a basketball game with friends:

February - Valentine's Day, showing some sibling love while Daddy shovels snow outside. You really liked each other when you were 8 and 3. One day, I'll show you this picture to prove it:

love,
Your picture-crazy Mommy