Weathered the Storm

We survived Hurricane Sandy!

It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be (or what the news made it out to be).

We got ALOT of rain and wind, but never loss power.

A little water leaking through the front door, but other than that, we were very fortunate.  My husband ended up staying up most of the night soaking up the water with towels. 

We are very grateful to have a roof over our heads. 

My prayers are with those who were not as fortunate up north on the eastern coast.

Earlier in the day, I sent Steve to the store to get milk and he comes back with milk AND 4 quarts of icecream!  Lucky for him, we didn't lose power so he didn't have to eat all that icecream in one sitting.

But if he did, Matthew would have loved to help him.  He loves ice cream!

Apple Pie In a Jar!!

As if the previous apple picking wasn't enough, we ventured back for round two.

This time it was granny smith and fuji apples.

Matthew actually got to pick some this time.  Last time he just sat in the wagon while we did the picking.  He got a 'lift' from daddy so he could reach the higher apples. 



My pumpkin in the orchard.

 

Look at how much difference a year makes.

If only I can get him to keep a hat on his head now!

(And I really should put some lipstick on to add some color to my face!)

  

And what do we do with all those apples??

We make apple pie in a jar!

We made these about two years ago and we just used our last two jars recently.

So yummy (food storage)! Ha!

 

Here's the instagram version of what we did.

For the recipe with instructions check out Reluctant Entertainer

(We had dinner guest over and I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the pie before we at half of it.)

 

I love seeing all the apple recipes posted on blogs recently.  Lots of yummy ideas out there!



Pumpkin

The pumpkin patch is a MUST every year for us.  Last year Matthew was too little to really enjoy it, but he seemed to have fun this year.  He loved petting all the animals.

 

So hard to believe my pumpkin is such a big boy now.  He just looked so little last year. And now he's almost two and starting to throw tantrums.  Good times.

 

 

He'll always be a momma's boy to me.  Although that title goes out the window as soon as daddy walks in the door!

 

It's SO hard to get a 20 month old to stand still enough for a picture!! 

But, you get what you can get, right?

 

And now to the best part......

I got Matthew's pumpkin shirt off Etsy from Crafty Creations!  Lori is the super talented shop owner and she is SO easy to work with and super responsive.  I got Matthew's shirt in about 3 days.

All her items are just adorable and AFFORDABLE!

 

Just look at all this cuteness!

 

*Pictures were used with permission*

 

Lori is giving away a $20 gift certificate to her shop Crafty Creations. 

 

I'll make this the easiest giveaway EVER because I hate the giveaways where you have to do a million things just to enter.

 

Since Fall is my favorite season, all you have to do is leave a comment and tell me what your favorite thing about Fall is.  That's it! (Please make sure to leave your email so I can contact you).

 

Not required, but if you would like to show Lori some love, please 'like' Crafty Creations on Facebook

 

Easie Peasie right?!

 

Giveaway will end 11:59 PM on Saturday, Oct 20th.

I will email the winner and they will have 3 days to respond.  If no response, I will pick another winner.

UPDATE:   Congrats to Anonymous Commenter (#3).  She won the giveaway.  Hope you will enjoy Crafty Creations!

Time Out

These two pictures were taken 15 mins apart.

 

The first one was when Matthew was pushing his face against the screen on the sliding glass door and I told him 'no'.  He responded by hitting mommy and was put in timeout.

 

(Just look at that face!)



 

Time out only lasted a minute.

 

Then 15 minutes later, he was trying to climb into the dishwasher and I said 'no' to him and again, he proceeded to hit mommy, again.

 

Back to the corner he went.

 

I think he was just having a rough day.  Although lately, it seems like he's been having a lot of bad days.  Maybe early signs of terrible two's?!  Who knows.  We suspect he might be hitting a growth spurt too.  His sleep's been slightly off and like I said, he's been having a lot of bad days recently.

 

Even when he's bad, he's still stinkin' cute!

 

We Have A Climber!

Matthew was super tired but refused to take his morning nap.  I tried everything and he was fighting me on it, as he's rubbing his tired little eyes.  So, I decided to put him in his crib and let him 'cry it out', hoping he would tire himself out and lay down.

 

I sat outside his door as he cried for a good 10 minutes straight.  (That's an eternity when you're a tired little toddler!).  He would get quiet and then start whimpering again.  Finally I looked thru the crack in the door and found him on the changing station side of his crib!!

 

 

 He was sitting down and only stood up when I cam into the room.  I think he realized he was 'stuck' on the changing station since he couldn't figure out where to go from there or get down.

 

We may be making the transition to toddler bed soon!!

 

Once he mastered the stairs (that's old news), he's discovered there's a world of things to climb on around the house.  The couch armrest, window sills, tables, desks, chairs.  

 

The stools are his favorite.  

 

And then there's the oven! 

 

He's really keeping us on our toes now!

My Boy and His Balloon

I was going thru some of my pictures on my iphone and came across this one
from a few weeks ago.  We had just returned from the fall fair and Matthew was having fun with his yellow balloon.  I love how kids always get so excited when they see balloons.

  

He loves his balloon and his daddy!

Apple Picking

Apple picking has been an annual activity for us (since we kinda live in what's considered apple country).  It's one of the many things we look forward to in the fall. 

My sister came out with three (out of five) of her kids and joined us.  The kids all had fun and I think the best part is the apple cider donuts! Oh so yummy.

Matthew mostly stayed in the wagon and tried to 'taste' all the apples in the bags. We picked Golden and Red Delicious, Nittany, and Stayman apples.

We are going back this weekend to pick Granny Smith and Fuji apples!

How many more times can I say I love fall ya'll?!!

19 Months - What Matthew's Been Up To

With each passing month my baby toddler is growing right before my eyes.

He is wearing size 18 months (and still some size 12 month pants).

He has discovered sidewalk chalk and loves to draw on the driveway.

He loves to eat and there's not much he won't eat (besides peanuts since he may be allergic). We have to be careful not to over feed him because he'll throw up.

He's starting to only take one nap a day, which makes him a little grouchy/tired earlier.  Now that it's getting darker earlier, we can put him down around 8 or 8:30 pm. 

When he wakes up in the morning, he  plays in his crib for a little bit, then I hear him on the monitor saying, 'Mommy, Mom, Mommy, Mom-meeee'.  Yep, he's my alarm clock. 

He is starting to recognize animals and tries to mimmick the sounds they make.  (We're still working on it).

Last month when I took him in for his 18 month check up, the dr was a little concerned because he was really only saying two words (mommy and Abbey).  She suggested we take him to a speech specialist, but I think I will wait until he's 2 yrs old.  I'm not too concerned because we've actually started noticing him trying to say more words. 

He is starting to say words like 'pe' (please), amen, daddy, 'ca' (cow), 'micme' (mickey mouse), bye bye, and a few more words. 

Matthew's having a hard time sitting through church (understandably for a 19 month old).  We need to get him some books/activities he can play with quietly.

He's enjoying nursery (because I'm in there with him).  If it was up to him, we would just blow bubbles the entire time in nursery.

He still very attached to mommy and daddy.  It takes him a long time to warm up to others (even the grandparents!).  I really wish I didn't have to work so I could take him on playdates so he can interact with other kids his age.  It makes me feel like a bad  mom (in my crazy mind).

He is my world!  I would do anything for my son.

I never get tired of hearing him laugh or say 'mommy'. 

It makes my heart happy.