State Fair & Fall Fun

 

I decided to brave the NC State Fair this year by myself with 3 kids. It was a big undertaking, but I think the kids had a lot of fun. I didn’t get a lot of pictures but here’s a few of the things we did:

I told them they could get one treat and they wanted cotton candy. Andrew liked it for awhile but then he said it was “too messy” and didn’t want anymore. Leah loved it because it was pink. Abigail really could have cared less for her bite.

 

They loved the waterfall even though it was really cold outside.

We rode one ride (which was $10 for all of us!)—the carousel. They of course wanted to ride more but I had to limit it and promised them we’d ride the carousel and the train at Pullen Park another day! We all sat on the chariot part of the carousel that didn’t go up and down. Only Leah was a little disappointed that she didn’t get to go up and down. Abigail was in awe.

Of course Andrew loved the tractors. They all loved an exhibit where they could go through and pick pretend fruits & vegetables and then trade them in for “money” at the “Farmer’s Market”. They got a little bag with some goodies in it at the end.

 

Of course we always have to check out the animals. They love looking at the cows and chickens and whatever else they have. Andrew wanted to pet them but that wasn’t an option!

They all are asking to go back to the Fair already. I think they just love the atmosphere, with the rides & the games and the fresh air. I think that’s why I love it too. Maybe next year we’ll ride more rides but now while they’re so little I think we did the perfect amount!

A week later, we spent some time at the Park near our house enjoying the unusually warm weather. I took our annual pictures in fall leaves. It was also the day before Abigail’s birthday so they serve as her one-year-old pictures too! I didn’t have a rake to make a big pile but you can see there are leaves that have fallen!

 

 

 

  

She was not a big fan of lying in the leaves, but I was trying to recreate last year’s photo.

 

She did like sitting in the leaves. I call this one “The Wonder of a Child.”

 

 

And when did this little girl get so grown up??

   

Abigail @ 1 year

 

Oh how time flies! Was it really a whole year ago that God entrusted us with this little girl? And what a sweet and easy baby she’s been!

Abigail adds so much joy to our lives. She has a fun little giggle that makes everyone smile. She’s generally very happy and easygoing. She loves mischief—she’s already discovered toilet paper in the bathroom & cups of water left on the table (anything played with on the floor is fair game for Baby-Zilla!). She especially loves to climb around on pillows or stuffed animals (or her sister’s bed). She also loves peekaboo and hiding from me. She also loves things that make noise, small things she can carry around in her hand, and anything that Andrew’s playing with. Andrew can almost always make her giggle when he’s being silly, and the other day when Andrew wasn’t feeling good, she could almost sense it and kept coming over to put her head down on him.

 

She’s still a great sleeper, generally going down for her nap and bedtime without me even having to rock her and stays asleep all night. She sleeps well when she’s sick or doesn’t feel good, like this past week, when she’s had a horrible cough and some pain from her tooth that’s finally coming in! She naps about 1 1/2 or 2 hours in the morning and then usually she’s a little more difficult to put down in the afternoon, but usually she will nap again about an hour or two. Soon I’ll be pushing that morning nap later so we can combine two naps into one.

She’s nursing only 3 times a day now, and doesn’t have to nurse to go to sleep. Usually the last feeding is shortly after dinner and then she stays up another hour or so. She eats meals very well—usually a jar of baby food at every meal plus some other type of finger food—she loves canned peaches, peas & carrots, all kinds of bread (she was a huge fan of her birthday cinnamon roll & ate the.whole.thing), and pretty much anything she can mash up in her little gums. Although many times she thinks its fun to shove all her food off her high chair onto the floor if she doesn’t want it! She’ll take juice well out of a cup  but I haven’t yet tried milk.

 

She’s pretty close to walking but not quite there, although she definitely gets anywhere she wants to go! She’ll stand by herself for a few seconds but then catapult herself into my lap. She pulls herself onto low chairs or furniture.

 

I had fun taking some pictures with her in her birthday outfit a couple weeks ago. Even though they’re clearly not professional, I was really pleased with these and thought they really showed her personality! I couldn’t pick my favorite! She still always has those middle two fingers in her mouth for comfort.

         

 

 

Pumpkin Carving 2013

 

Friday night it was time to carve our little pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns. We usually just let the kids decide what kind of face they want. So Leah did a happy face, Andrew did a scary face & Abigail’s was just a silly face with one tooth like her! Daddy did most of the work, the silly kids never even want to touch the pumpkin goop with their hands, but they still had fun. We read a couple books about pumpkins while Daddy was working on cutting the faces.

  

 

Abigail had been whiny and fussy most of the night but when it comes to something on floor-level that’s messy, she is all over it! She loved holding her little spoon and playing with the pumpkin tops. She didn’t get into the goop too much and only ended up with a little on her hands.

 

 

The finished products!

 

Remember last year when my littlest pumpkin wasn’t even here yet?