Pumpkin Picking

On Sunday, we went to a local pumpkin patch before the the Vikes game. We visited "Peter's Pumpins and Carmen's Corn"; it was a cute place and we are all about supporting the local businesses, but at $0.35/pound for the pumkins, we sure did our civic duty.

It was certainly a bit chilly and a lot windy, but Lauryn had a blast running around in the dusty field. She enjoyed trying to pick up every pumpkin that weighed more than she does. She found a few favorites, and we brought those home! We managed to get a decent family pic in our Vikings garb before the 5th loss of the season. One can't ever say we are fair weather fans...Vikings fans through it all. You know, they could have a come back....

Painting with Pudding

So, one night this week...Wednesday..., mommy decided to let some of her stress out by letting Lauryn finger paint with chocolate pudding. Stripping her down to just her diaper and taking the cover off the high chair sounded like a pretty good idea. Mommy would have been quite upset if she hadn't, as the pictures below show. Yes, it seems like the same pudding pictures over and over, but it was such a fun time watching Lauryn let loose with the pudding. We've actually got somewhat of a play-by-play...there were nearly 90 pictures taken ;-) So go make yourself a bowl of chocolate pudding and enjoy! Lauryn says it won't be as cute and comical as this was, but hopefully it tastes better (mommy had the fat free, sugar free kind...erg!)

Autumn Arboretum Awesomeness

Last Sunday afternoon, after the Vikings FINALLY WON, we decided to spend a few hours at the Arboretum. It was awesome checking out the fall colors, working our way through the kiddie maze, being little Ms. Daredvil, sitting, throwing, and picking up every pumpkin, and just enjoying the beauty.

A morning at the orchard!

This morning, we decided to head out to the Minnesota Harvest Orchard between Jordan and Belle Plaine. It was certainly a chilly morning once we got out there! The wagon ride out to pick the apples was a bit chilly, but once we were in the orchards picking, it was much better. We were so glad we got there early, because once we got back from picking apples, there were hundreds of people everywhere.

Lauryn had a blast watching the other kids jump up and down on the hay bale mound, and she was thouroughly entertained by the ponies. We think she was speaking their language! We also enjoyed walking around inside, seeing the hundreds of items you can make with apples. The wagon ride out to the orchards was a bit dangerous, as we think the tractor drivers are told to go fast and take chances, especially when there are kids on the ride. The poor baby (probably less than 6 month old) next to us sure did have his breakfast jumbled around.

We are set with our Honey Gold apples, and they are a new favorite of Lauryn's. We went through 3-4 apples while picking, since she didn't manage to hold on to them very well. The last one she picked was going to be a bear to get out of her hands. She held on to it through the rough wagon ride, the entire car ride home, and luckily dropped it on the floor of the car, just before we rolled into the garage. Whew...we avoided another temper tantrum in the driveway. There are probably many of you that can relate, but a few weeks ago, the temper tantrum where she was sprawled out on her back at the end of the driveway (because mommy didn't let her take the trike on the road) was definately one for the books. There were lots of neighbors out that were gawking, and mommy just stood there, waiting for it to be over - probably red as a tomato. The walk-away method was all Megan wanted to do, but that would have left a toddler, screaming at the top of her lungs while laying down at the end of the driveway, by herself. We didn't want social services to show up. Good thing we know our neighbors!

We hope to make it back to the orchard one more time - we've got to ride those ponies!!

Dancing Shoes

Well, they might not exactly be dancing shoes, but Lauryn sure does like to dance in them. She has drawn a liking to a pair of Megan's shoes, and parades around the house in them for as long as she can. It is comical, and we seem to be taking lots of pictures of it. Maybe a video would do the little shoes song-and-dance better justice. We will work on that.

Swimming Lessons!

We decided to enroll Lauryn in parent & child swimming lessons at our local community center. It works out perfect, as they are on Monday nights, when Eric has off, and they are at a time that forces Megan to leave work at a decent time in order to get there!

Lauryn absolutely loves the water, which is why we decided to have her take lessons. Of course, the lessons are all about the parents making a fool out of themselves in order to get the kids to laugh and do what they are asking. Lauryn's favorite part is starting at mom and dad as they try to get her to do "monkey cheeks", and inside her head she is probably making fun of us. She loves the kiddy catepillar water slide, and we even broke the rules & let her go down herself last week - she did great!