KerryAndGabe.com

Something that makes me happy: Being caught up on the uploading and sorting part of photo organization. I have a lot of work to do when it comes to doing something with those photos, but sorting/uploading is a huge step.

Something I’m thinking: We have so many fun things to do this time of year, but it is quite busy!

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping to get some good photos of the kiddos in their costumes tonight.

Something happening around the house: We got rid of our big, tall bushes in front of our house. Yay!!!! I have never liked them much, and they tended to harbor spiders who build webs across our entryway. I’m so happy to have them GONE!

Something I’m reading: I finished Enchanted, Inc. and started on our next book club selection, The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I enjoyed Enchanted, Inc. and hope to read more of that series eventually. I’m thinking about getting back to the library habit before too long. Gabe has been reading a lot, too. He’s going to be finished with The Hunger Games series soon!

Something I’m watching: We finished Shutter Island after my last somethings post. Eh. By the time we got to the “big reveal,” we had already figured out the gist of it. I wonder if it would have felt different to watch it all in one night or to watch in the theater. Gabe said he saw some reviews of it that suggested that we weren’t the only ones to feel underwhelmed by the end.

Something I’m playing: We played Euchre with our neighbors on Friday night. It was fun to play some cards!

Something tasty: I had pizza last night. So far so good with Cullen today, so we’ll see!!

Something Maddie is doing (32 months old): We have been introducing more movies to her lately. This week, she watched Cars and Monsters, Inc for the first time. Well, she watched part of the movies, anyway. She usually loses interest within the first 15 minutes of anything. Her eyes were as big as saucers when we turned on cars. After watching for a couple of minutes, she said, “The cars are talking!” and then matter-of-factly, “Some cars talk. Some cars don’t talk.” We tried to get her to play a little Mariokart, but she’s still not quite getting the hang of that!!!

Something Cullen is doing (40 weeks old): He continues to scream the majority of the night. He had his 9 month check up this week, and they didn’t find anything obvious wrong with him. I don’t know if it is teething since he doesn’t seem to be better when he has Tylenol. I do think he’s probably doing some more teething. He still only has half a tooth, and I think he’s getting the second tooth on the bottom. At his check up, he weighed 18 pounds, 12 ounces which is about 20th percentile, according to the CDC. He’s 29 1/4″ long which is about 80th percentile. He’s long and lean! The student shadowing our pediatrician seemed to be concerned about Cullen’s growth chart, but I am not at all concerned. This is the pattern that Maddie followed as well. I refuse to get stressed about weight again unless the doctors really are concerned. I don’t think that they are, but they did recommend focusing on foods higher in fat. He continues to hate his antibiotic. It’s a major struggle to get him to take it every day. We decided to start giving it to him in the morning as we weren’t sure if it was upsetting his tummy at night. We are also giving him probiotics to see if that improves his nights.

Something I am struggling with: As mentioned, giving Cullen his antibiotic is a huge struggle!

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I worked a little bit on our 2010 photobooks! Whew, that is a lot of work!

Something I learned: I learned that you can display coupons on your phone and use them at the Carter’s outlet. I love not having to remember to print coupons!

Something I’m looking forward to: Trick or treating tonight!

Something random: You know what’s random? Halloween weather around here. You never know if it’s going to be 35 degrees or 88. Looks like tonight will be nice, but we were just outside early this afternoon and it was HOT.

Something captured: Tigger and Winnie the Pooh are ready for candy tonight! Too bad Tigger’s hood doesn’t fit terribly well.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

We decided that we wanted to try our hand at pumpkin carving this year. Maddie has been so excited about pumpkins, and we’ve been talking about how we were going to carve them into fancy jack-o-lanterns. We had some pattern books – a Disney one and one with UK designs.

Gabe scoops out the pumpkin and gets it ready for carving.

Let the carving begin! Gabe selected the UK logo.

Maddie was fascinated by what I was doing. I wanted to do the treat-or-treat Mickey as well as Winnie the Pooh (since Maddie’s costume is Winnie the Pooh this year). I’m punching out the trick-or-treat Mickey which was a bit tedious.

Cullen didn’t want to miss out on the fun.

I later carved Pooh while Maddie and Cullen played in the front yard.

The jack-o-lanterns look great, even in the light of the day.

They looked even better at night!

After reminding Gabe of our upcoming flu shots, the following conversation occurred with Maddie.

Maddie: Why are you and Daddy getting flu shots?
Mommy: So we can stay healthy. You and Cullen already had your flu shots, but Mommy and Daddy didn’t get theirs.
Maddie: Daddy’s not staying healthy. He’s old.

Ha!!!

Maddie and I joined our BFFs Keira and Shannon for a fun day at the fair! I don’t think that I had been to the fair since 1998. I haven’t missed it, honestly. I know everyone raves about the fair every year, but I don’t think it’s going to be a yearly tradition for us! I guess I’m just not a fair person!

I am very glad that we chose a weekday. The weather was perfect, and we weren’t the only ones with the idea to go during the day. I’m sure the crowds we saw do not compare to the weekend and evening crowds! We were at the fair for about 4 hours or so. That was plenty of fair to me, maybe for the next decade. I have a feeling that I’m going to have to make a few more trips for the kids…

We did have a wonderful day with our friends, and I’m glad that we went.

We started with a walk from the parking lot to the entrance. We entered near the Village of Yesteryear, so we took a little walk through that building and the Antique Farm Equipment. It turns out that neither of these things are very interesting for a toddler (who knew, right?). Maddie kept asking, “where’s the fair??” She enjoyed the Children’s Barnyard a bit better.

We encountered the pony rides, and Maddie and Keira both wanted to ride the ponies. Maddie was very excited about riding the pony, but then she was so scared that she was shaking once she was actually on the pony. I thought that we were going to have to exit before the ride, but I got her calmed down enough to enjoy it.

I told her how proud I was of her afterward, and she couldn’t stop talking about the pony ride. When we got home that afternoon, she ran into the house shouting, “Daddy, Daddy!!! I rode a pony!!!!”

We were not tempted by the vast array of fried foods, nor did we seek out this year’s Krispy Kreme burger (seriously, a burger with Krispy Kreme donuts instead of buns).

We headed to Kiddieland next where they have a good number of rides and games for little kids. We scoped out our choices and selected a few rides.

Shannon, Keira, and Maddie rode the Wiggle Wurm. The girls were very excited about the ride!

Maddie was a little nervous on the ride, and Keira helped her feel safe by putting her arm around her. Keira told Maddie that she would protect her. It was very sweet.

After the ride, they held hands and hugged each other. Those girls really love each other!

We rode the carousel next. This is how Maddie looks while she’s riding rides. She did this at Disney World, too, and I could never tell if she was enjoying it or not. Afterward, she would often say, “I want to ride it again!!!”

I rode Jalopy Junction with the girls next. The girls especially enjoyed pretending to drive with the steering wheel and pressing the button to make the horn sound.

We had lunch next. Maddie and I shared some overdone fried chicken on a stick and a cup of fries. More than half of the fries were burnt. I was very disappointed with my terrible choice of lunch. Oh well. So much for the food. Maddie and I both enjoyed the giant lemonade that we shared, at least.

We walked around the Midway a bit and ended up at the petless petting zoo. Maddie always likes seeing animals, and they even had some alpacas. Someone near us gave Maddie a couple of carrots that she could use to feed some goats. We made sure to wash our hands afterward!!!

We had a wonderful fun-filled day with our friends. It was nice to have a special mommy/daughter day! I look forward to more of these in the future.

This is another one that I wrote up a couple months ago but didn’t get around to posting. I’m glad I wrote this one down – I would have forgotten it!

After being told her options for lunch, Maddie said the following to daddy:

Maddie: YOU can have lettuce.

Lettuce!! Ha!!!

A little later, she hands Daddy a play potato.

Maddie: Here’s some lettuce.
Daddy: This isn’t lettuce; this is a potato.
Maddie: It’s pretend lettuce.

We have many pumpkin patch opportunities near us ranging from the stand by the side of the road to the big farms with all kinds of fun and activities for the little ones. We chose a farm about 45 minutes from our house. The weather was perfect.

Maddie started in the bouncy house, since she had just played in one the day before. She had a lot of fun, but we weren’t able to get any good photos of her jumping around.

Next up was the little kid maze. She was unsure at first until Daddy joined her in the maze.

Maddie spotted the playground structure next and had to go down the slide several times. Can’t find that in parks near our house for free!

Next up was the hay jump and hay tunnel. Maddie had a lot of fun jumping in the hay! She made friends with a boy about a year or two older than her. It was the sweetest thing as he helped her onto each hay bale and showed her the proper way to jump into the hay.

We spent some time looking at the rabbits and their rabbit houses. I was quite amused by the bunnies hanging out on their front porch. We walked over to what I called “The Cornbox.” It was like a sandbox but filled with corn kernels instead of sand. Maddie was unsure at first. I think she was then amused by all the corn.

I’m pretty sure that my child was the only one trying to get the corn kernels off of herself before she even left the cornbox.

Walking in the corn kernels is tricky.

After the cornbox, we did some gem mining. Maddie loves collecting rocks at school, so I thought she would enjoy getting some special rocks. We collected a few “gems.”

A trip to the pumpkin patch wouldn’t be complete without a hay ride! The hay ride was just the right length. I knew that Maddie would enjoy it because her favorite part of the festival a few weeks ago was the tractor that took us from the parking lot to the entrance of the festival. She was excited to “ride a tractor” again.

Cullen enjoyed hanging out in the sling while we experienced the pumpkin patch fun. He liked the wind blowing on his hair while riding the hay ride.

It was then time to select the perfect pumpkins. Maddie is fascinated by pumpkins and points them out on people’s porches constantly. She was very excited to be in a field of pumpkins. She is lovingly showing us a perfect pumpkin.

I tried to get a few photos of the kiddos.

Cullen seemed to enjoy sitting amongst the pumpkins!

We enjoyed our first pumpkin patch experience and plan to do it again next year! We may return to this farm or try another one of the great options in our area.

Lately, Maddie has wanted me to put her to bed at night and to lay with her for a few minutes. Before I leave, she wants me to sing a few songs. Her favorite is what she calls, “the baby bird song.” We have been singing this one almost every night. It’s the one that goes, “Hush little baby don’t say a word, Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.” So I know this stanza and the next one (“And if that mockingbird doesn’t sing, Mama’s gonna buy you a diamond ring”). After this, Maddie has started making up the next lines. She gets a little redundant. Aside from the first two stanzas and half of the third one, she made it all up herself.

Sometime last week, this was her version:

Hush little baby don’t say a word,
Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.
And if that mockingbird doesn’t sing,
Mama’s gonna buy you a diamond ring.
And if that diamond ring doesn’t shine,
Mama’s gonna buy you a shark.
And if that shark tries to bite,
Mama’s gonna buy you….another shark.
And if that other shark tries to bite,
Mama’s gonna buy you….another shark.
And if that other shark tries to bite,
…
(a few more repeats of this)
…
(and then she changes it a little)
Mama’s gonna buy you a white shark.

A few nights ago was a another good one:

Hush little baby don’t say a word,
Mama’s gonna buy you a mockingbird.
And if that mockingbird doesn’t sing,
Mama’s gonna buy you a diamond ring.
And if that diamond ring doesn’t shine,
Mama’s gonna buy you a shark.
And if that shark tries to bite,
Mama’s gonna buy you an ice cream pie.
And if that ice cream pie doesn’t work,
Mama’s gonna buy you some batteries.
And if those batteries don’t work,
Mama’s gonna buy you some batteries to work.
And if those batteries don’t work,
…
(repeat a few more times)
…
And if those batteries don’t work,
Mama’s gonna buy you some white batteries to work.

Something that makes me happy: Celebrating our wedding anniversary (four wonderful years and counting!).

Something I’m thinking: I think I ate too much dinner. We had meatloaf and potatoes in a crockpot. It was yummy, but it’s pretty dense.

Something happening around the house: We carved pumpkins today!

Something I’m reading: Still reading bits and pieces of Enchanted, Inc. here and there. I’m excited that Gabe has been reading The Hunger Games series. He will probably finish the trilogy before me.

Something I’m watching: We started watching Shutter Island last night, but we weren’t able to finish it. I hope we’ll finish watching it tonight after The Amazing Race.

Something tasty: We went out to dinner to Acme Food and Beverage Company for our anniversary. It was great!!! I especially loved my appetizer which included heirloom tomatoes (best tomatoes I’ve ever had!), mozzarella cheese (I made a rare exception to the no dairy as I didn’t feel I could pass up that appetizer!), deviled eggs, and pickled something…squash? regular pickles? I am not sure, but it was all very, very good.

Something Maddie is doing (32 months old): Maddie and I went to the fair with Shannon and Keira. I think the most memorable moment for Maddie was riding the pony. She was so scared while doing it that she was shaking, but then afterward she couldn’t stop talking about it. When we got home, she couldn’t wait to tell Daddy. This is a good season for Maddie as she’s very excited about pumpkins. Ever since we went to the pumpkin patch, Maddie loves pulling into the driveway and excitedly points out the pumpkins on our front porch. She thought the pumpkin carving was interesting today. I made the Pooh pumpkin just for her.

Something Cullen is doing (39 weeks old): Cullen turned 9 months old this week. He has his 9-month appointment this week. He has started crawling on his hands and knees a bit more, though still finds that he is faster doing the army crawl. He’s started resisting his antibiotic. This is particularly frustrating since we will be giving it to him every day for who knows how long. I hate that we’ll have to fight him daily to take it. He had some exciting new foods this week: saltine crackers, blueberry muffin, multigrain cheerios, and pancakes (technically, he had a little bit once before, but this time he had a bit more).

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I’m getting caught up on organizing my photos (not specifically listed on my goals, but still related to my goals). I’m also formulating a plan to run a 5k next year. I’m excited about the idea! I hope I can keep my motivation and complete it next year.

Something planned: Book club, play date, a trip to the museum, and Halloween fun!

Something captured: Keira, Cullen, and Maddie at a Halloween festival on Saturday.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

Four years ago today, Gabe and I were getting married in beautiful Sedona, Arizona. We have had a wonderful, and very eventful, four years and I look forward to many, many more.

I’m excited about our dinner tonight at Acme Food and Beverage Company in Carrboro. Each year, we have picked a restaurant recommended by friends that neither of us have experienced. We had hoped to eat at Lantern this year, but unfortunately we waited too long to make reservations. Maybe we will try it another year. Acme also sounded interesting, and we found plenty of things on their menu that we wanted to try.

In previous years, we have eaten at 18 Seaboard, Mo’s Diner, and Second Empire. Our favorite anniversary dinner was Mo’s Diner, hands down. I think it may have even been my favorite meal ever.

Speaking of favorite things, this is one of my favorite photos from our wedding day. Our ceremony was perfect and beautiful.

Any time I think that the months cannot go by any quicker, they do. Life is pretty amazing with the kiddos. It’s time for another letter to Cullen! (more…)