Our Little Pumpkin

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'Tis the season for punkins!

These photos are from earlier this month, but thought you might like to see them today, this day before the big pumpkin day!

We didn't carve any pumpkins yet this year, but since we have our own cute little pumpkin to admire, so I'm not too heartbroken over it.

Happy Halloween!!!







Here is the original post that was to go with these photos:

Fall brings a blend of emotions. We sadly say goodbye to Saturday afternoons on the beach, weekend camping trips, the smell of burgers on the grill, ice cold beer on a hot summer day, and the freshest garden produce around. It is sad to see the tomato vines wither, to see the peas and beans grow tough and chewy. As much as I will miss the summer garden, fall brings a sense of relief at the same time. It recently froze here in Wisconsin, which means I don't need to worry about getting everything picked from the garden. It means more soups, stews, and spiced desserts and fewer garden-fresh salads and just-picked fruits.

Along with the busy-ness of harvest time on the farm, fall also brings some of my favorite hearty vegetables... squash, pumpkins, potatoes, parsnips. Gavin and I went out and picked the pumpkins, cucumbers, and watermelon before they froze. We also picked up as many groundcherries as we could before it got too dark to see. He loves to be outside. He didn't care that it was cold out and getting dark and he was plopped down right there in the middle of the pumpkin patch by himself while I hurried to gather everything we could save. He played happily with the little watermelons and pumpkins until I scooped him up and hauled him and our plentiful bounty up to the house for the night.

He's our happy little pumpkin.
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All Better

I am all better and I spent all day Saturday snuggling my sweet little boy. Thanks for your words of encouragement. There is nothing better in the world than the feeling I got holding my baby Saturday morning. Nothing. He wrapped his tiny arms around my neck and scooted as close in to me as he could, rubbing his soft fuzzy hair on my neck and my shoulder. Oh, it was bliss. And I am all better.

Need a Little Encouragement

Today I need a little support, a little encouragement, a little reassurance... I came down with the H1N1 Flu on Monday and have been in bed ever since. Today is the first day that I don't feel like I've been hit by a big truck and rather just by a mid-size sedan. That, however, isn't why I need the encouragement. As you know, this
Flu is incredibly contageous and if you have it, you're advised to isolate yourself until 24 hours after your fever comes down. This means that I haven't so much as left my bedroom since Monday, and it is now Friday afternoon. This also means that my loving and caring husband has been sleeping on the couch all week, and that I haven't even seen my sweet little boy, much less held him or hugged him or kissed his soft little head. I can't tell you how many times this week I have anticipated waking him up in the morning and feeling his tiny little arms wrap around my neck as he hugs me and nuzzles his soft head into my neck. I have been hopeful so many times that my fever was gone and that in a mere 24 hours I could hold him again. I haven't even let him know that I was home, because he would want to be with me and he can't. He doesn't even know I'm here. It could be a lot worse. It could be him that is sick, or both of us, or even worse, all three of us. I know that keeping myself quarantined in the bedroom is the smartest and most responsible thing to do - even the most caring. I do not want him to get this awful flu. That would be more heartbreaking than not seeing him for a week. But not seeing him is killing me. I don't hear much crying, it's mostly giggling and talking between Gavin and Cliff. Cliff has amazed me with his unwavering affection for Gavin and his incredible parenting. He plays with Gavin near the bedroom so I can hear him giggling. I can hear them chasing eachother around on their knees and playing games. I even heard storytime yesterday morning. Gavin has cried at bedtime the last few nights and Cliff has comforted him as much as he can. Of course, I think Gavin is crying because he realizes he's going to bed again without seeing me and that makes me cry too.

It's been over 24 hours since I had a fever. I was so anxious to play with Gavin again, I even thought I'd go get him early from daycare. But, Cliff suggested that I wait to see him until tomorrow morning, just to be extra safe. He's right. There would be little worse than Gavin now getting sick. Except I don't know if my heart can take it. I realize there are parents out there who go through much harder tests, much worse issues. This is really petty. I know that Gavin is fine. He's well and healthy and happy. This is really about me. I miss him so much and just want to hold him. Wish me the strength to wait until tomorrow to see him. I need it!

Photography

If I take 200 pictures in a day, there are about 5 that I really love. The pictures that I love - the good ones - are usually accidents. Somehow, the light hit just right, or my subject just did the cutest thing, or the angle just happened. Rarely, do any of my photos turn out the way I expected.

Then there are all of the really poor quality photos... the ones that are way out of focus, overexposed, underexposed, full of motion, wrong angle, poor composition, etc. These usually get deleted as soon as I upload the files to my computer. However, once in a while, one of these awful photos becomes one of my favorites. Here are a few pictures that would make a professional photographer cringe... and they make me smile inside.

Funny Faces

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When you take thousands of pictures of the same person, you're likely to capture some silly faces. In most pictures, Gavin is usually smiling, but occasionally we catch some funny faces. Here are just a few from the other night.

Rain, Sunshine, Snow

You may recall just last week I wrote about our ten days of rain. It did rain for ten days... and then we had two or three days of sunshine.

We spent as much time outside in those three days as we could. We bundled up and went for walks as the sun began to set, just to soak up as much of it as we could.

We walked through the woods...

...and down the road.

Admiring the golden sunshine on the corn fields.

We reveled in that last bit of sunshine peeking through the trees.

Because just a couple of days later, we got this...

(snow on the Honeycrisp Apple tree)

(snow on the climbing rose)

Goodbye Summer! Hello Winter! Fall - sorry to have missed you! Maybe I'll catch you next year!

Shed Progress

This post was actually written on Sept 24th. I'm running a little behind!

You may recall my post about our shed from just a few weeks ago. We've been working hard on that project... and when I say "we" I mean Cliff. Well, Cliff and his Mom actually.

Cliff, Gavin and I decided on a Friday night to head into Menard's to pick up the lumber that we needed for repairing the doors, adding the decorative trim we wanted on the doors, and replacing the trim on the ends of the shed. Quality family time at Menard's, I tell ya! The next morning Cliff called his parents house to see if his Dad and Uncle had time to help him with the shed doors. They were busy, so Cliff tried to work on the doors himself. He was doing fine except you kinda need two people for this, one to hold the board and one to mark it and attach it. Without two people, it's a lot of clamping and therefor a lot of extra time is involved. I was in the house with Gavin and Cliff was trying to measure and cut the boards for the doors by himself. Pretty soon, his Mom showed up to help! Gavin and I did come outside after a bit and helped too.

Cliff continued working on the repairs that weekend and made a lot of progress. We have a few more trim boards to replace and then we'll be ready to prime and paint! Now, THAT is going to be a big job!!

Anyone feel like painting?

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Hello?

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Anybody?

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Are you there?

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Where did everybody go?

Gavin's First Trip to Beaver Valley

Last weekend we went to the annual Beaver Valley Steak Fry. This year, it was actually a pig roast, but it's still the steak fry in my mind. This was Gavin's first trip to Beaver Valley. He wasn't sure what to think of the bumpy stroller ride down the old logging trail to the cabin! It's at least a 1/2 mile of rugged down-hill terrain. He loves being outside, so that wasn't an issue, it was just a bit rocky on the way down! Good thing we took the logging trail instead of the more steep, winding deer trail. I don't think I would have been able to hold on to the stroller on that trail!


Gavin loved his first 'steak fry' and enjoyed visiting with Grandma and Granpa, his cousins, and his aunts & uncles. He ate his first apple there, without it being cut up into cubes like he usually gets apple. He just reached for an apple and took a bite. We didn't let him eat the whole thing, but he sure couldn't get enough of it!

He played on the wet ground, looked at the trout ponds and ran his hands under the cold spring water running out from the hillside.

It's so amazing to think back to this time Last Year, when we were one month from Gavin's due date. We posted an entry on the blog about the steak fry and noted that in one year, we would be back with an 11 month old baby. And today, here we are. We never imagined how wonderful our little Gavin would be. We didn't know yet that he would be a boy - a fun, sweet, loving, snuggly, intelligent, delicious, blonde haired, blue eyed little boy. Here he is. Isn't he incredible?

Sunshine Today

Today, it isn't raining. The sun is out and the temperature might even reach 60 degrees. I am wearing my smile today... and yes, I'm still wearing my wool winter coat. It may be 60 at some point, but this morning it was still 34!

Hello sunshine. I love you. Please come back again tomorrow!

Erin

Rain

Today is a day that I wish Gavin knew how to walk. I wish he knew how to walk so that he could put on rain boots and walk and run and jump and splash in the rain puddles. I think we're on our tenth day of rain here. It's definitely been raining for the last week with a short break on Sunday. It did sprinke a few times on Sunday, but we had a nice (cold) break from the rain for most of the day. Today is Tuesday and Gavin is tired of being in the house. He's been out for walks in the stroller and wagon and he even got to crawl around on the wet ground on Sunday, but he really wants to play outside. I really want him to play outside. This is nice rain. It's soft, slow, and not too cold.

We really could have used this rain a month ago. We really needed it. Now that it's been raining for so long though, and so late in the season, I started feeling annoyed by the rain. I started wishing it would just stop raining and the sun would come out. I could use the sun. I know, though, that the rain is important. Even though it's so late, it will still help the plants and trees get ready for next year. It will soak the ground and save up the moisture through the winter. I needed something to make me feel good about the rain.

I found these pictures online and they made me smile. I wish Gavin could splash in the rain! Maybe next spring!

I also found these kids' poems about rain and they made me smile...

http://www.tooter4kids.com/classroom/Rain_poems.htm

...and then I said a little prayer of thanks for the rain... all ten days of it. But if it is sunny tomorrow, I will say a prayer of thanks for the sun - because I could sure use some sunshine!

Go out and dance in the rain! (and then pray for sun!)