the apple festival.

When Emma Kate was just a couple of weeks old, we loaded up the SUV (which I wish was even bigger these days) and headed up to North Georgia to the Apple Festival in Ellijay. We skipped the actual festival and just spent the day playing at one of the best orchards in town. They had so much to do and the weather was gorgeous. Plus, I had to take EK somewhere where this adorable little hat was appropriate ;-)


It seems like all of these farms/orchards/ranches have the same activities.

More pig races.




A really cool slide.





Another cool and really fast slide.





And I just had to get some pictures in the orchards. Do you remember the one of P in the orchards last year? And the year before? I don't even know if my blog goes back that far.



Sweet girl.


One proud mama and her babies.


I think the orchards have become a yearly tradition in this family. There is no better way to kick off the Fall season than with some warm apple cider from a local orchard. But it never fails, our u-pick apples end up rotting in the crisper in the fridge. Maybe next year we'll just go for the scenery and leave the apples on the trees for someone else to pick.

my apple dumplin'.

punkin smashin.

Granny and I took the kiddos to the annual Pumpkin Smashing at The Rock Ranch. Since P is all about destroying things these days, we just knew he would love it. They had all sorts of activities to keep P entertained. He rode a gator, took a train ride, watched monster trucks run over cars (and pumpkins), and smashed his own pumpkin by a method of his choosing.

P has this exact gator at Beme and Grandaddy's house. He has never quite figured out how to steer.


I got a good laugh watching Granny chase P around the track yelling, "turn, turn!" Hilarious!


Since the kids had to be under four to ride the gators, the track was basically full of bumper cars. They ran into each other, the hay bale walls, and my mom. I think she got a good workout and a few bruises.



The Ranch had all sorts of pumpkin smashing activities. There was a pumpkin cannon, a monster truck pumpkin smashing, pumpkin bowling, and even airplanes were dropping pumpkins from the sky. We chose this.


Did you remember that heights are not my friend?


I begged P to let Granny take him. She really wanted to participate. But he only wanted mommy to go up with him. Oh, brother.


Ready. Set. Go.


Smash.


P laughed hysterically at each and every pumpkin destruction. He's all boy. We had a great time at the Rock Ranch. We'll definitely return next year and allow more time to participate in all of the farm's activities. There was so much to do.

back to work.

Six weeks has flown by. I headed back to work today after a fabulous, yet far too short, maternity leave. I made it through my day. I only cried once. The highlight of my day? Coming home to this sweet face and my son telling me at least ten times that he missed me. I am lucky to be a mom to two wonderful kiddos.

one month old.

Nine pounds, ten ounces of sweetness.


Twenty one inches of perfection.


Thirty days of pure joy.


We are so blessed.

trick-or-treat.

The Costumes

I searched and searched for a Halloween costume for Emma Kate before she was even born. All I found was either way too big or entirely impractical. Baby Gap had some cute, soft one pieces with matching animal-themed booties and hats that were actually sensible for newborns. Since I'm all about pink these days, I just had to get the pink pig outfit. Who would have ever known that she was going to be born 8 pounds, 10 ounces? A true little oink at birth. Her costume suited her very well.

P, on the other hand, would not decide on a costume. He kept saying he wanted to be Elmo, which was his costume last year. I think he kept going back to Elmo because that's all he knows of Halloween. He doesn't even watch Elmo anymore. Once EK arrived and the jealousy set in, he decided that he wanted to be a pink pig, just like his baby sister. I agreed, thinking he would change his mind before Halloween. But he stood firm. He wanted to be a pig. Try finding a pig costume that looks masculine. Not possible. He is going to kill me one day when he sees these pictures.

The Collaboration

Since P and EK were both dressing as pigs and Taylor and I wanted to dress up also this year, I decided we could go as the three little pigs and the big, bad wolf. This is P's favorite bedtime story. We tell it to him almost every night. "I'm gonna huff and puff....." P loved the whole scenario. The part he didn't love? Actually wearing the costume. He's a typical two year old. If he is not fully convinced of something, he's just not gonna do it. We spent the two weeks before Halloween building it up. We all went shopping for the big, bad wolf outfit. Daddy tried on his costume. Mommy tried on hers. We tried to get P to try his on to make sure it fit. Nope. He wanted no part of it. So, we just crossed our fingers and hoped that he would be more enthusiastic on the day of Halloween. Otherwise, little piggy number three would just be MIA.

The Candy

On the day of Halloween, P kept saying that he was only going to wear the hat. Not the shirt or the shoes. My response, "You don't get candy from the neighbors unless you wear the entire costume." I'm so mean, aren't I? It worked, though. What can I say? My kid loves candy. He fully cooperated, minus velcroing the hat. We visited approximately four houses, got lots of M&M's (P's favorite), and then headed back to the house. P decided that he liked giving out the candy better than receiving it. He stood at the door with Grandaddy all night handing out candy and watching daddy the big, bad wolf scare the kids. He was too cute. He told each and every trick-or-treater "Happy Halloween" and put the candy in their bucket.

The Candids






















Happy Halloween!

jack-o-lantern.

My days fly by in the blink of an eye. By the time I get both kids up, bathed, dressed, and myself dressed, at least three hours have elapsed. Then it's lunch time. So we eat. Take naps. Then it's practically supper time. Then bedtime. Then we get up the next day and start all over again. Emma Kate will be a month old tomorrow. Where has the time gone? I feel like I'm going to wake up one day and my little darlings will be headed off to college. In all of the business and commotion of having a newborn at home, we completely ran out of time to carve a pumpkin. These traditions are very important to me, so my sweet mom brought one over to carve with P on Halloween day. Thanks, Granny! I was able to snap a couple of pictures of the carving....

We let my mom be in charge of the knife.


And P let my mom be in charge of the guts.


And I was in charge of roasting the pumpkin seeds.


Can you tell what it is?


Beme, Granny, and P all helped with the carving. P made sure the pumpkin had freckles.


Ta-da. Meet our pumpkin the pig. Or our pig the pumpkin. We just call him Hamlet.