Patterson's Pumpkins

For as long as I can remember my family has made the trek out to Chesterfield to visit Patterson's Fruit Farm. It was a welcome fall tradition full of apple slices, cups of cider and the most amazing apple cider donuts I've ever tasted.

And because I love the Fall and tradition, we've made sure to take Emma each year to pick out her very own pumpkin....or two.

So, on an unseasonably warm Fall morning we headed out to find the perfect pumpkin. We knew that many other people on the east side of Cleveland would have the same idea, so we left early. Judging by the stream of cars lined up down the road to turn into the farm as we left, we knew we had made the right decision!

I have managed to get some great pictures of my little baldie among the pumpkins each year.

When she was little she didn't have a choice since at the time she wasn't very mobile.

(Emma - 8 Months Old)

It was absolutely freezing, but Emma was a trooper - we have countless shots of the little miss, but this one if my favorite.

Last year took more effort to her to sit still among all the pumpkins. All she wanted to do was run and climb over the endless piles of perfectly orange gourds.

(Emma - 1 Year, 8 Months Old)

With the addition of a fancy new playground it was even harder to get a fiesty 2 year old to sit still. But even so, Daddy managed to snap a few good ones.

Someone is such a little ham!

I love these - when did someone get so big!!!



All settled into the wagon with her loot - she was so excited. But I think she was even more excited to get her Apple Cider Slush.

All this fun Fall stuff means one thing - Halloween! And with Boo at the Zoo and Trick or Treat right around the corner....I am sure there will be more fun Fall-themed posts to come.

Where Did the Summer Go?

It might have had something to do with the fact that we had a long and dreary (not to mention rainy) Spring. Or the fact that as midwesterners we tend to pack as much fun as we possibly can into the warm and sunny summer months. But, for whatever reason the summer of 2011 seemed to fly by.

So here is a quick recap of what how we spent our summer days.

Blowing bubbles - a skill that took the whole summer to master!

Playing in one of many pools - this girl could not get enough of the water. .

But thanks to Target's awesome clearance section - she had quite the variety to choose from and they will hopefully last the long winter in the attic. Just last week on a chilly, 50 degree fall evening I had to convince my stubborn two year old that it was probably not a good idea to fill her water table up

Duane took on the project of assembling Emma's very own play set -

Let's just say that after a good day or two of sorting the unlabeled pieces into piles he was on his way...

And a few weeks later we had the final result.

Of course Emma loves it- which made all the hard work worth it in the end.

She especially loves her swing - in fact so much that we have a hard time getting her out.

Do you know what else Emma loves about the summer?

Spending afternoons outside at Patty's house with her new pink car...

picking flowers on a morning walk...

lazy Saturday mornings snuggling and breakfast in bed...

playing babies in the middle of the kitchen...

and popsicles; lots and lots of popsicles!

We also decided to become members of the zoo.

And on our first visit of the season Emma got to feed a giraffe a leaf of lettuce.

She talked about it for weeks. And the next time we visited, I had to convince her that it was probably not a good idea to try and feed the giraffe her sun hat.

She also learned another valuable lesson in a little girl's life.

That Daddy is kind of a softie and sees no reason NOT to buy Emma two rubber light up catepillars because she can't make up her mind between purple and blue. Boy does she ever have him wrapped around her fingers...and toes.

Our summer included plenty of backyard BBQ's with both sides of the family.

Which meant learning to share the sandbox with Katie and Taylor

and her favorite raft with Ryan at Grampy & Grammy Lu's pool.

We took Emma to her first Indian's game...

and because of her cuteness were upgraded to field box loge seats next to the Indian's dugout.

Emma tried and fell in love...

with "fair" lemonade.

Speaking of the fair, Duane and I took Emma and her friend Ali to the great Geauga County Fair.

where I could not get enough of watching my little 'baby' walking hand in hand with her buddy. Kind of negates the fact that it was 90 degrees, humid beyond belief and that Emma was absolutely terrified of the barns of animals. Well, all of them except for the bunnies - figures.

So that was our summer in a nutshell. And now we move onto Fall - my most favorite time of year with colorful leaves and chilly evenings. Bonfires and hot cider, even better with a little bit of spiced rum. Pumpkins and halloween decorations. School buses and soccer games. Which naturally will bring plenty more opportunities to update this blog.