Pumpkin Patch Fun

Yesterday we went to the farm down the road from us and got our pumpkins. It was such a nice day out to do this. We lucked out. Nicole joined us and we got to take lots of fun pictures. The farm has a lot of stuff for kids to do. The only thing we didn't get to participate in was the hay ride and the pumpkin cannon, those are only available on the weekend. It was fun anyways. We went and looked at the roosters, pigs, and goats. Alyssa seemed to like the pigs until they started getting a little excited and making lots of noises. We were having a hard time picking out our pumpkins. They have so many there. We eventually ended up just getting four small ones. Alyssa was starting to get a little fussy, it was her dinner time. One thing she doesn't mess with is eating! We headed back to the house carved our pumpkins and had dinner. It was nice to see Nicole and catch up on all the things that's going on in her life.

A few days ago I met up with two friends whom I hadn't seen for such a long time. We went to the Rain Forest Cafe at Southcenter Mall. I had never been there before and the kids sure seemed to like it. My friend Mandy brought her son, Owen, with her. He is two months younger than Alyssa. He is just adorable and such a flirt! He was just all smiles. They sat next to each other in their highchairs and kept trying to grab each other. I can't wait to get them together somewhere where we can just let them play. Hopefully Dawn didn't feel too left out but we did tell her to bring her cabbage patch doll...right!?!?!?! Anyhow it was great seeing the both of them and hopefully we all get to spend more time together more often.

Alyssa is doing great and continuing to change daily. She got a little mark underneath her eye. She fell and hit her head on one of her toys and it swelled up. I have been trying to get her to hold her own bottle. She can do it but is refusing. I have been trying everything! I finally laid her down on the floor and gave it to her she held it with both hands and then even held it with one and looked at me and threw it to the floor. I tell you I sure hope she didn't get my stubbornness but I think it's a little too late. Her top two teeth are still trying to come through. You can see them through the gums but just haven't pushed all the way out yet. She can now roll over from front to back and back to front. So that has been a little less frustrating for her and us. Now if she will only crawl!!! She continues to enjoy standing and walking around.

Halloween should be fun we are taking her to the hockey game with all of her grandparents. I'm sure it will be a little chaotic but hopefully it all runs smoothly.

Cousins

This last week Amanda and Tyson were up here so we were able to all hang out and get the kids together. Nolan is growing so fast. He is walking all around and just the cutest little boy. Alyssa and him played a little together, but I think Nolan was more interested in running around. They were very cute together. Alyssa loves other children. We took them to the zoo because it was such a nice day. It was fun but there weren't too many animals out. Alyssa didn't seem all that interested this time she was starting to get pretty tired and crabby. Alyssa has her top teeth coming in so she has been really drooling and a little crabby.

Cory and I went to our friends house, Kurt and Michelle, for dinner. It was great to see them. They have a little boy who is almost two and are expecting another boy in February. Their little boy, Mason, is very cute. He is learning to talk and is able to say "I love you" which just melted my heart. I'm sure it melts Michelle's more!

I attended the Celine Dion concert this weekend. I'm not a huge fan but she put on a fantastic show it was definitely worth going to. We had great seats they were in the fourth row from the floor and we were right by the stage. During the whole time all I could think about was the SNL skits where they are doing her and how right they got it.

Fall is here!!!!

I am so excited that fall is here! I love the crisp days, bundling up and having a nice warm drink. Sitting by the fireplace watching college football and having great homemade soups. Even tho the Cougs are not doing that well, OK they are horrible at least they have a better record than the Huskies. But we wont get into that. And we don't get the beautiful colors as others do it's still a great time of year. Also that means the holidays are just around the corner!

We have been very busy this last week. Cory and I attended the Robert Plant/ Alison Krause concert with his parents. This was a fantastic show. Such an odd pair but they did a terrific job. My mom came up and hung out with us for awhile because she couldn't wait until Halloween to see Alyssa. So we enjoyed some shopping, spoiling Alyssa, and one of my favorite places the Wingdome. It was Alyssa's first time there and she seemed to like it. She got color crayons and a place mat to write on. This didn't happen but I tried to show her how. She was more interested in chewing on the metal plate. Alyssa stood by herself for approx. 15 seconds in the middle of the room. My mom and I couldn't believe it. She is getting so strong.

She has absolutely no interest in trying to crawl and hates sitting. She wants to be standing up or trying to walk. She has been loving pulling the magazines down from the table and pulling the pages out her and Harley shared one of them. She is shaking her head no a lot and I am trying to get her to say "yes mama" but I somehow do not think that's going to happen.

Cory's mom came up and stayed with us for a few days and watched her while we went to Chelan for the night. It was beautiful over there. I love the east side of the state so much. I keep trying to get Cory to lateral over there but he doesn't seem too interested at this point. So we stayed at Campbell's Resort and went wine tasting. It was such a blast! It was a crazy drive over. It was pouring down rain here and then at the pass it was snowing. Once we hit Leavenworth it started to clear up and in Chelan it was beautiful out, windy, but nice. We bought a bunch of wine, chatted with the locals and they told us of some great places to go check out.

Once back it was back to work for us. I'm still working part time and Cory had to go back and he had two off duty jobs he was working this week. Alyssa continued to stand periodically by herself and making all kinds of new sounds. She makes this one that almost sounds like she is growling. I notice she likes to do this when I am walking around with her. She loves hopping up the stairs and she thinks this is soooo funny! Her and Harley continue to try and play with each other. He will give her his toys but doesn't understand why she can't throw them for him and ends up walking away disappointed. Alyssa graduated from her first session of swim lessons. She got her little report card on the last day. She can't move onto the next class yet until she is three. So she is going to start the next session on Tuesday. We will probably take a break after this one until after the first of the year. She has been enjoying them but gets a little cranky because it's during nap time.