Fall activities: Picking apples

One sunny Thursday, Logan, the husband, my sister-in-law, and I ventured to the apple orchard. (Which, by the way, is what Logan calls it).

Last year, this little peanut could barely walk, and now he was running around. He was excited by everything.

We looked at pumpkins.

And raced through the fields. (Okay, Logan was racing. Me? Not so much).

Of course, we picked lots of apples along the way. We even ate a couple. Shhhh.... don't tell.

Fall activities: Go to a large fair

So this past weekend we went to another fair.

There was lots to see...




And lots to do.....




To say that Logan had fun, would be an understatement.

Fall activities: Celebrate grandparent's anniversary

My in-laws just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

It was a happy day.
We took lots of pictures.

And the little one enjoyed lots of food

and lots of dancing.

Happy Anniversary to Grandma and Grandpa!!!!

Fall in love with autumn

New season, new list of activities with the little guy.

Tumbling class for Logan (in progress)

Go apple picking

Go to a large fair

Celebrate Grandma and Grandpa's 50th wedding anniversary

Story time at the library

Celebrate Logan's second birthday!!!!! (November 8th)

Pick pumpkins

See how apple cider is made

Visit the children's museum

Go trick or treating

Paint a pumpkin

Make apple crisp.

Make playdough

Go to cousin's birthday party

Celebrate Thanksgiving

Visit the zoo Saw the pumpkin spectacular

Make homemade pizza with my little chef

Feed chickens

Make a leaf garland Made a leaf collage

Visit the nature center

Go to a farmer's market missed this

Make homemade goop

Start a monthly sensory bin

Feed the ducks

Read 75 books (We read 50 new ones this past summer).

Ride a train

Make handprints

Get two year old photo taken

Visit the seaport

Finish our alphabet book

Go for a hike

Take a picture everyday

Make giant bubbles

Have a late night movie night It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Go to Aunt S's baby shower

Visit the beach in fall

Go visit a castle

Walk through a corn maze

Go on a trip

Jump in a pile of leaves

Make a bird feeder

Plant bulbs for the spring

22 months

Dear LoLo Boy,

So, you've been on this Earth for twenty-two months. And you have accomplished a lot. Far more than your mommy has, and I am proud of you. You are a busy boy with a family that just adores you. It makes me happy to see that both sets of grandparents take such an active role in your life. You are just over the moon about all four of them.

You are so lucky to have so many wonderful aunts and uncles too. It's great daddy has such a big family, because beside your two aunts that are Mommy's sisters, you have twelve more from Daddy. They all think you are funny and smart. Which is true. You are a total comedian and I may be biased, being your mom and all, but you are soooo smart.

People stop me in stores all the time, and are amazed with how much you can communicate. You call all old men, "Papa." People are always comment on how cute and happy you are. Basically, you are just plain awesome!

Love, Mama

Letters to my 16 year old self

Dear Justine,
Seriously..... stop harming your body in the nine hundred various ways that only you can do. Dummy.

Dear Justine,
Wait. Forget the dummy part. Stop being so critical of yourself. Stop putting yourself down. And stop thinking you are fat. You weigh 90 pounds. That is not fat. One day you'll look back and wish for your 16 year old body again.

Dear Justine,
Look around at all your friends. The ones you love and would do anything for. You think you will be best friends. Forever. You'll grow up and grow apart. Love them the best you can for the time that you have. One day, the stories you tell about growing up will have them in starring roles.

Dear Justine,
Actually there will be a couple that you will still be friends with. You will think of them like family.

Dear Justine,
The things that devastate you will one day not seem so important. Actually let me rephrase that. Some of them will still break your heart a bit, but you will have hindsight. Others though? The terrible things, the embarrassing things, all the times you screamed, "OH MY GOD!!!!! I will never get over this!!!" type things? You will. You might even laugh about them. No, really..... you will.


Dear Justine,
Purple lip gloss..... not such a good idea. And I hate to break it to you, but crushed velvet isn't really either.

Dear Justine,
Here is what I will leave you with. Try new things. Don't live your life afraid to be hurt. That's no way to live. Make mistakes. Trust me, you will. Love who you love, and don't regret it. Don't rush growing up. It will get here soon enough. There are a lot of other things that I could warn you about. Tell you not to do. Avoid at all costs. But you are 16, and you wouldn't listen to me anyway because, "Dude, you are like totally old." Plus, I kind of like you just the way you are.

Ketchup (21 Months)

Dear Peanut Boy,


Yes. That is one of my many nicknames for you, even though you hate peanut butter. You gave yourself your own nickname. You call yourself "LoLo Boy." I'm not sure where you came up with it, but I blame your Aunt Mo-geek (formerly known as Momo).





What's new this month? You can hold conversations now. You string words into sentences and can sing whole entire songs. Your favorites? ABC and Row, row your boat. You also sing songs you hear on the radio. One day you started singing that you wanted to be a billionare "so freakin' bad." Whoops..... You also love to sing the part in the Paramore song that goes, "you are the only exception." I had to stop for a moment to cover you in kisses. Speaking of kisses, you now tell me whether you want them or not. "No kissing on the nose, Mama" you'll say as you stick your little hand out at me.

You are D-R-A-M-A-T-I-C at times, my little friend. I love it. Declaring your scared is one of your new favorite things. Some of the things that you have claimed to be scared of recently? Smudge and Scout, the library, crayons, leaves, family members, Big Puppy (your stuffed animal), animals, Dora, and ice cream. "I'm scared of ice cream, Mama!" You even add a pretend shake for emphasis. I don't think you are really afraid, I think you just want hugs. I'm happy to oblige.

Love, Mama

Wait it was still broken

Finally my computer is fixed. For good. I am happy.