Pumpkin Decorating

The boys drew out the kind of face they wanted on their pumpkin, then we helped them cut it out.  They all thought the insides were disgusting.  Kaylee and Dawson put stickers and paint all over their pumpkins.  We had a lot of fun with our pumpkins!! 

The Pumpkin Patch

We picked a day and visited the pumpkin patch in Leo.  So many pumpkins in all different shapes and sizes.  How could we all possibly choose?  Cooper and dad got a large fat pumpkin to share, jaxton and mom got another large but taller one to share.  Kaylee and Dawson got to pick out their own smaller pumpkins to decorate. The kids even picked out a small pumpkin for Baby Nathan.  Dawson especially couldn't believe how many pumpkins he saw there at the pumpkin patch.  It was a fun tradition.

3 Months Old

At 3 months old, Little Nathan has found his voice.  He will yell and make his voice louder and louder because I think he thinks its interesting.  It seems like he is trying to tell us something when he does that.  However, if he's crying in his crib, the moment he hears my voice when I come into his room, he stops.  He is so darn smart.  One thing that he dislikes very much is his car seat.  If he's just been fed, he may be ok in the car seat.  But often times he just screams his head off no matter what time of day.  Hopefully he will outgrow that one.

We love this little man so very very much.  His little reddish hair is still growing in.  We officially have a second red head in the family.  Happy 3 months!! 

Oak Farm Fall Festival

I love fall.  It is so beautiful and the weather is so nice.  The  kids school had a fall festival that they invited us to.  We volunteered to help put together a pumpkin bowling game.  They had all sorts of fun activities for the kids to do.  They cracked all different kinds of nuts, had a wagon ride, made some fun fall crafts and played with their friends in the woods.  Their classes performed some folk songs they'd been practicing too.  I got a chance to meet the parents of some of the kids friends and got to know lots of different people.  It is an amazing school.  We are so glad to be a part of the Oak Farm Community. 

Fall Leaves

Fall is my favorite time of year. It is just beautiful to be outside! I love these cute kids in the colorful leaves.

Nathan 2 Months

My little boy is 2 months old!!  His first laugh was on October 5.  I can get him to crack a chuckle every now and again by lifting his arms and tickling his little armpits.  Or by nudging his sides by his ribs.  What a cutie!

This little guy slept all night long on October 13.  He slept from 9:30pm till 6am the next morning!  I fed him at 6 and then he went right back to sleep until 10am!!  I couldn't believe it and kept checking on him.  He was just cozy and swaddled and warm.  Best night ever!  

Nathan is cooing more and more. I love it so much.  He focuses on the sounds I make at him and sometimes will try to mimic me.  

Of course he still loves to be held, and I love to hold him.  He dislikes tummy time very very much.  Once I pick him back up, he's happy again.  He has barely started to find his hands.  I first noticed this on October 15th.  He will examine them in front of him as if he's trying to figure out what they are.

He loves Mommys voice.  I think he recognizes it.  I also think he recognizes the song "I am a Child of God." When crying, he will stop when he hears that song.  I don't know if it's music in general or if it really is that song.  He definitely is sensitive to music.     

Jaxton's Poison Ivy

Jaxton loves to play outside in the woods.  He’s lucky because his school’s “playground” is a couple acres of woods.  The kids love to run through the woods, build forts out of old tree branches, and search for acorns and pinecones and other treasures out in nature.  Their school has a big treehouse in the woods for the kids to play in.  Jaxton has been working on a big fort made out of fallen branches at his school.  At home, the boys have made a fort in the tall grasses in the middle of our woods.  Somewhere amongst this fun play, Jaxton fell in a nice big green patch of poison ivy.  He was wearing shorts, so it started on his lower legs, with a couple patches on his forearms.  After scrubbing really well, he thought those little patches would blister and weep and then heal.  Well, those little blisters got big.  And more blisters appeared.  And more and more blisters appeared.  Blisters were appearing in all sorts of random places all over his body.  His face had patches on it.  His ear, his thighs, his feet, his hands, his upper arms, even his tummy. 

As I began to research poison ivy, everything I read told me that the weeping fluid from the blisters does not spread poison ivy rash to other areas.  The initial oil that he touched would be the only thing that could spread.  Once that oil was washed, then it wouldn’t spread.  A week or so later, as soon as blisters began appearing on his eyelid, I got worried.  If the blisters on his eye were left to develop, bubble up, and weep, he could have it spread into his eye!  Something had to be done!  I did some more research and found that some individuals have a systemic reaction to poison ivy.  I am pretty darn sure this is what was happening to Jaxton.  His body had taken the oil through his skin and cells were carrying it to all other parts of his body and new blisters would appear everywhere.  Poor guy was miserable. 

The brave little man decided he could handle a shot.  So we went in to a redimed on Sunday afternoon and got him a shot to get rid of the poison ivy.  That shot took about 2 days and the poison ivy was gone!  What an experience!!

Dawson's Birthday Party

We had a fun birthday party for Dawson and invited several families over for a barbecue and cake and ice cream.  Dawson is way into Thomas the Train, so his cake was actually a train of cupcakes, pulled by a  giant Thomas toy that he got to keep and play with afterward.  He knew it was a day just for him.  He LOVED blowing out his candles!  He got all sorts of fun toys from grandparents, friends, and from us.  What a happy boy!  We love you so much Daws!  Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Dawson

Dawson is 2!!!  I can hardly believe it!!  He is growing up so very fast!  Here are some fun things about Dawson at 2 years old:

1.  Dawson loves to eat.  He will raid the pantry for snacks often.  Sometimes he knows we will tell him that it's not time for snacks, so he will sneaks snacks and go hide somewhere in the house!  We will find him snacking away with a bag of crackers or chips ("tips") in a cupboard or  closet.  He's a smart and sly little guy!!!

2.  Dawson has gone poopy in the potty 2 times now.  He sometimes will tell us he needs to be changed by saing "chu chooo" (change you) and pat his diaper and say "pyper" (diaper).  One time he did this, so I proceeded to change him and he hadn't gone yet.  So we ran to the potty and he went on the potty.  It was an exciting moment! 

3. Dawson loves his warm milk, just as all the kids have.  Kaylee always asks for "warm milk in a cup and a cap."  Dawson picked up on this phrase, and he will ask for a "bub-it-a-bup."  It's the cutest thing he says, working his tongue like a tongue twister to get all those syllabals in.  It's pretty funny.

4. Dawson sleeps in his little room in a toddler bed.  He has a baby gate that closes his room off from Jaxtons.  Actually, most nights he starts in bed but somehow wiggles his way out at night and finds a cozy place on the carpet to sleep.  He has a warm cozy carpet in his room that I think he finds more comfortable than his bed.  He has a window that looks out to our driveway and often Nate or the Simplx workers will see him waving at his window.  It's awefully cute!  

5. He loves nursery these days.  His favorite song is by far "popcorn popping" which he calls "po-kahn."  He knows all the motions to that song.  Besides that, popcorn might be at the top of the list of his favorite foods.  So no wonder his favorite song is the same!

6. Dawson loves to be outside.  He loves to ride his little bike or play in the little red car.  He used to be very cautious and careful outside.  He was afraid to walk on the back patio deck or the swing set deck because you can see through the boards to the ground and that made him very nervous and afraid of heights.  However, he got over that phase and has turned into quite the daredevil!  He will climb up the swing set super fast.  In fact, if he can figure out a way, he will climb up anything and anywhere.  Luckily he hasn't figured out a way to climb out of his room yet:).

7. His favorite show these days is Thomas the Train, curious George, or Pingu.  He definitely is a train boy.  He loves loves loves his "choo choos."

8. Dawson certainly has his own language.  He will talk all day long in his language.  Every now and again he will throw in an English word.  It is so darn cute.  He can now say just about anything you ask him to say, he will repeat the words back to you.  But he still prefers his little language.  It is super super cute.

9. Dawson loves to play with his big sister.  They will play "kitchen" a lot and will play "school" sometimes too.  They will fill their little backpacks up with toys and pretend they are going to school like the big boys. He loves to wrestle with Jaxton and Cooper.  His so strong and solid that he can pin his big brothers down.  They go easy on him and he loves that!  

10. Dawson still has such sweet innocence.  He is just a sweet hearted boy.  He is still learning what's right and wrong and what's ok to do and what's not.  So it makes him so innocent and pure.  He is so loving.  He loves to give kisses, especially his baby brother.  Sometimes he will smother Baby Nathan or put a coriander over Baby's head because he thinks it looks interesting.  But his sweet innocence is what Christ teaches us to be like.  I love my Dawsy-Boo soo soo much!! For some reason that nickname for him evolved.  We all love him so very much!!

Silver Beach, Michigan

 We took a last minute get away vacation one weekend to Silver Beach, Michigan.  It’s a small beach town and it was beautiful!  There was perfect fine sand and blue skies.  The weather couldn’t have been better.  We stayed at a little beach hotel and walked down to the beach a few different times.  There is also a lighthouse and we took the kids out onto the port to see the lighthouse.  It was kind of a neat attraction.  The beach was so much fun!  The kids loved the sand.  Dawson was a little unsure of the waves, but he loved digging endlessly in the sand.  The kids enjoyed throwing bread for the seagulls.  Even little Nathan enjoyed being snug up with mommy during the trip.  It was a lot of fun, and a much needed getaway.

Preschool Field Trip

Our Preschool Co-op group went on a field trip to the Grabill Fire Station.  It was definitely a fun event for all the kids.  Dawson & Kaylee absolutely loved it!  They loved getting inside the firetruck and Dawson wouldn’t come out once he was in!  They tried on the seatbelts, had to try out each seat to see how each one felt sitting in.  They got to try out the drivers seat and pretend to drive.  We learned all sorts of fun facts about the fire station and the firemen.  The wheels on the firetruck were as big as the kids!  Each of them got a fire hat to bring home.  What a fun adventure!