Apple Picking

Fall is our favorite time of year. We love how the weather starts to get cool again, everyone is outside chillin' out, the landscape becomes gorgeous due to the leaves changing and apple picking, amongst other activities. Every year, back in Jersey, we would go to a local apple orchard and pick tons of apples and then end the day with a fresh baked cinnamon sugar donut. Once we left we would go home and make applesauce, apple pies and apple crisp. Of course we would save some of the apples to eat at a later date. Yummy, just typing about it makes me want to bake up a pie. Below is a picture of the orchard we went to every year. Just a beautiful view, if you ask me.


Since moving to Texas, we still love the fall but for different reasons. Mainly because come the end of October the weather finally cools down and everyone is outside again just chillin' out. The leaves here don't change so much like back home and apple picking is not quite the same. Below is a picture of where we do our apple picking in Texas.


I guess regardless of where we get our apples, though straight off the tree just taste better, they are still delicious. Grace has always loved applesauce but the other day we found out that she loves apples just the same. We went shopping and she so wanted me to let her have the apples in the store. Which I would have gladly given her but she doesn't just hold it, she eats it. Once we got home she would stand in the kitchen and point up to the apples and say "ball" nonstop. I finally gave in and let her have one.







This is all that was left once I got the apple out of her mighty little grip.


However, this is how she looked.:( Guess she likes apples just a little bit. :)

Old McDonald...

had a farm and little did all of you know his farm is in Texas! At least one of his farms, something tells me that he probably has several through out the US. Mark and I decided that we were going to take Grace to a pumpkin patch this year. I googled area pumpkin patches and came up with a huge list. I quickly narrowed my search down once I deleted the ones that did not have anything more than pumpkins. See in my mind when I think of pumpkin patches I think of a huge field full of pumpkins, a hay rack ride to the field, a petting zoo and other fun games. I have this in my head cause this is the way it was back in Jersey and until Jersey I never went to a pumpkin patch. Anyways I narrowed the search down to 4 area patches and then Mark and I choose the one that seemed good and yet not too big for Grace to be overwhelmed.

Old McDonald was a great place but was less of a pumpkin patch then we both imagined. Basically it was a petting zoo with a bunch of small pumpkins and each child got one pumpkin upon either entering or leaving and you could not buy any more. We were sort of hoping to get a couple of bigger pumpkins to carve but no such luck. However, as you will see from the pictures and videos below Grace had a blast!! Honestly that is all that really matters in the end anyways. :)



Old McDonald had a farm, Ee-I-Ee-I-O, and on that farm he had some...

Pigs


Chickens


Donkeys


Goat (However the sign said they were miniature deer of some sort.)





Cows and no I'm not calling Grace and Mark cows, they were looking at the cows. :)


Rabbits
For some reason she would not touch the rabbits. She actually touched every animal that was there and had a mix reaction to all of them. She either loved them and continued petting them or she jerked her hand away and just looked at them. The rabbits saw no love, she just would not pet them.


One of my favorite pictures.
As you can see the farm even had deer. For whatever reason they were out of their cages just roaming around. Which was great because you could actually get really close to them, just take a look at the video below.


Once we saw all of the animals we explored the rest of the farm.



Riding a horse....a swing horse that is.


And last but not least, the train. It was her first time ever being on a train and she loved it. When she saw all the animals again she would point to them and say Ooh ooh. As we went by the last of the animals she started turning around in my lap so she could continue looking at all of them.


We got our pumpkin before leaving and then attempted getting a cute picture of Grace with her pumpkin. I say attempt because in most of the pictures she was to busy looking at all the planes going over or at all the kids running around. At least in this photo she is some what looking at the camera but it is slightly blurry. Oh well such is life with kids.

Chocolate vs. Potato

We gave Grace her first taste of chocolate. We were both a little curious yet nervous about how it would go. Not that we thought it would go horribly wrong but we were a little nervous that she would love it so much that she wouldn't want anything else.


Of course we had no reason to worry at all. Shortly after she had her first glorious taste of chocolate, Mark started making dinner. He was cutting up some potatoes to roast and Grace and I were standing in the kitchen chatting with him. Next thing we know Grace has leaned so far over that she was able to get a hold of a potato.


So for now it seems that she will be taking after her Daddy!! She would much rather eat or gnaw at the potato then eat chocolate. That is not to say she won't eat chocolate but if she had a choice the veggie wins!!

Winner Potato!!

Can you find the potato???
She did not want to give it up and since a raw potato doesn't really make a mess, we let her take it from the table. Figured this way we are encouraging her to eat her veggies!!

Big Step

Since going to the doctors for Grace's 1 year check up we had to go back. A couple of weeks after her yearly appointment Grace was not feeling the best so we took her back to the doctors. It was a Friday and more or less I just wanted her ears looked at to make sure she was not getting an ear infection heading into the weekend. She was completely fine. However, she did have to get up on the scale again. She was over 20lbs.!! She weighed 20lbs 3oz., so she was just over but that was 3oz enough to turn her around in her seat!!

What is that!??


I'm not so sure about this....


Are you sure you didn't do something wrong? This just does not seem right.

She loved it!! At first I think she was a little confused about the whole thing but after we started driving she thought it was pretty cool. She was chatting away back there and every time we turned around to look at her she had a huge smile on her face. Driving in the car has been tons better since the flip.

Sorry the quality of the video is not the greatest but at least you can hear her. :)

Garage Sale

The first weekend in October my neighbors and I had a garage sale. We were only out there for one day but we didn't do too bad. We figured we would start at 8 that way we didn't have to get up too early to set up. Of course I think I was up earlier that morning than I am most mornings. We were outside shortly after 6, trying to set up. For those late risers, I say trying because at 6 it is still dark out. Which ideally would not be an issue however my neighbor's outdoor light was not working. :) We managed and got it all sorted out.
We had one guy come before 7 and wanted to go through everything. We sent him away and told him to come back later. We were not sure if he would but he came back and was our first customer!

We ended up setting up on our drive as well as my neighbors. Household items were mainly on our drive while children items and clothes were on my neighbors.
If you look closely in the picture above that is my parents checking out an item. They were able to come down over the weekend. It was great having them here. Gracie had so much fun playing with them and hanging out while Momma worked the sale.



We even sold lemonade!!


While it was slow Lori and Jen decided to have a spinning contest!! I'm not sure who won but we were having tons of fun. :)


Taking a break...


Mark and Grace all tired out after a long day.

Overall we had a really great turn out. However, we didn't bring in that much. Not because we didn't sell our stuff, it had more to do with the fact that I was buying all the neighbors stuff!! :) ;)

1 year stats

We went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago for Grace's yearly appointment. Everything went great and there were no concerns. As to what is new with her, she now loves to climb on everything. She can climb up onto the fireplace hearth, the window seals, the computer table, furniture and the list goes on and on. I think I'm going to have to start putting my camera in my pocket as most days when I want to snap a picture real quick it has to be real quick. Grace is very busy and does not stay engaged in one activity for very long. Apparently she has her Daddy's ADD or at least the energy level that he had as a child. :)

Other than her climbing and running around everywhere she has started talking more. She can now say Momma, Daddy, kitty, doggy, and ball. She can also tell you what an elephant says and what a dog says. Each day she seems to be doing something new and becoming more independent. Such as eating, she no longer likes it when we feed her and thinks she can do it all on her own. Which is great but I would say about 60% of the food never makes it to her mouth! :)

1 Year Stats
Weight - 19lbs 14 oz - 25th percentile
Height - 29" - 50th percentile
Head - no idea but she is in the 75th percentile

Another post below...

Pool Party....

We went to an End of the Summer/Labor Day pool Party at our neighbor's house. Below are some pictures that our friend Rob took while we were there. He took so many good ones that is was just too hard to pick one or two to post. Even with all of the ones below there were many more that I have left out. Hope you enjoy them.





















Picking flowers...






Ooh, ooh....

Long over due.....

Alright this post is long over due but hey better late than never, right.

A good friend, Maria, came from Sweden to visit at the beginning of September and it was so great to see her. Maria and I had not seen each other in 2 years and it was just wonderful to be able to see her and actually talk in person with each other. Maria and I met each other when we were both nannies in Jersey about 5 or 6 years ago.

It was the first time her and Grace got to meet or even see each other. However, Gracie gave her a nice warm welcome. We went to the airport to pick her up and after Maria and I hugged Gracie leaned over and gave Maria a hug as well!! I thought it was very sweet although maybe I should be slightly concerned that she has no fear to strangers. I keep telling myself the reason she did it is cause she saw Momma do it first.

Maria brought along her boyfriend, Linus, and it was the first time either of them had been to Houston. Linus has had a flight connection in Houston but he never made it out of the airport. Since they had never been here that meant we got to do all of the tourist activities or at least some of them. They went to the Space Center, Galveston, Kemah and a ballgame. We had a few more things in mind but while they were here they spent a few days up in Arkansas. Linus was a foreign exchange student there so they went back to see some of his friends that still live there.


Random pictures from when they were here, really most of them come from our trip to Kemah.

Maria reading the book "I Love Cats" probably for the hundredth time to Grace




Bustin' Out


Waiting for Maria and Linus to get off the Bullet, aka the wooden roller coaster.


This is how Grace looked each time it went by.


They survived!!


It was so nice to have them here with us. I just wish that time had not gone by so fast or that we lived much closer. I'm just praying it will be less time between this visit and the next. I keep telling Mark the next time Maria and I see each other it should be in Sweden! :);)