Lawrence Farms!

Our computer has finally arrived... so here's update #2!

We headed upstate to Lawrence Farms last month for our annual apple and pumpkin picking fun. I grew up going to this place and it's been so much fun to watch my kids enjoy it too. We spent the weekend at grandma's house and then headed over to the farm on Columbus Day. The location is so picturesque and we always go away with a great pick of apples. This year was no exception. Noah had been talking a lot about apples at school. They made apple pie and did some great apple artwork at school, so he was very excited to see where they actually came from! There's a great little children's village that was a lot of fun this year and we were able to get a few little decorative pumpkins too. Gabriel enjoyed being strapped to me (his favorite place) most of the time while he napped and then woke up in a good mood to get some good pics. Oh, and I also finally decided what my favorite kind of apple is... Gala!

To Infinity... and Beyond!

Our new computer is on its way! In the meantime, one of our friends let us borrow her netbook so I figured I could start playing catch-up with a few things I wanted to post.

This year the boys dressed up as Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story. Noah has been completely obsessed with this movie all summer... just in time for it to make a comeback too! I really wanted them to have a theme to their costumes especially since Noah LOVES for him and Gabriel to match. So, whatever helps them bond more is fine by me! So, I picked up these costumes at good ol' Tar-jay and then crafted a jetpack and wings for Buzz. It ended up being quite the little project, but came out really great.

I think I might have played up Halloween a little too much because it was actually a really hard day for Noah. Who would have thought asking people to give you free candy would be so traumatic, but it was! On our way to a neighborhood trick-or-treat parade to local businesses, the dry cleaner lady and the nail salon lady saw Noah and ran out to give him candy. He totally freaked and refused to say "trick-or-treat". They were very gracious and gave him the candy anyway, but I quickly realized we were not off to a good start! So, I tried to remind him on the train that he needed to say "trick-or-treat" so people would give him candy. His response was: "I'm a little stressed about saying trick or treat, mom!" HA! I couldn't believe he said that... but I totally got it (and now I realize that I must say "stressed" way too much!). So, as you can imagine the trick-or-treat parade was a total bust because he didn't want to talk to anyone. He would only go if his friend Lexi was there to help him out or if I dragged him in. So, he didn't get much loot (total bummer for us!) and I also kind of think he didn't like people recognizing who he was. Everywhere we went people were calling him "Buzz" and saying "to infinity and beyond" and he was totally embarrassed. I was kind of sad for him, because I totally thought this would be a great age for him to finally 'get' Halloween, but apparently not!

I guess there's always next year...

here are some pics:

Buzz and Woody

(BFFs eventually...)

Woody

Buzz

(taken the week before... when he was still excited about it!)

on the train after our little pep talk...

'stressed' little Buzz refusing to trick-or-treat

Woody chillin' in the stroller!

technical difficulties

It happened. Our computer officially died... hence the lack of posts these past few weeks. I am dying to post pics of the boys in their Halloween costumes, Gabe's 7 month update, and a few other recent adventures. But it looks like it will have to wait another week until we order a new computer :(

I've gotten a lot of housework done in the meantime!

until then...