Melanie's First Field Trip!

Mel's first bus ride!

Showing his support by wearing a pumpkin shirt

Joey is all about giving kisses these days.

Melanie took her very first field trip; to the Country Market in Zionsville.  She got to ride the bus there and back, learn about corn and soybeans, run through a corn maze, take a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick out her own pumpkin, and eat a bagged lunch she packed all by herself!  She was thrilled, and said "I smiled a LOT, Mommy."  I purposefully didn't go with her, so that she would interact with her friends and get out of her comfort zone more.

First Weekend in October

The first weekend in October proved a very nice weather-weekend!  We got to spend some time outdoors, and visiting with friends.  Saturday evening, the Huffords - with new baby Hailey - came over!

Two babies excited about a smaller baby!

Who would have thought these two would be double-teaming diaper duty?

Sunday, the kids and I went to Columbian Park Zoo for a family get-together.  What a great park!  Melanie surprised us all by riding from Lebanon to Lafayette with Suzi, Ernie, Wyatt, Jim and Shirley - no mommy or daddy!!  She was there about 30 minutes before Joey and I arrived.  She also went to the playground and the petting zoo with Suzi, Ernie, Wyatt and Molly for over an hour before we all joined up with them.  Branching out, with the help of her favorite "Aunt" Suzi!

Bounce house fun!

Monkeys trying to escape

Monkeys

Pretending to be animals

This picture was at about 4pm; Joey had not yet napped. Usually by 4, Joey is well into (or done with) his second nap of the day....

Joey stories

As mentioned before, Joey LOVES shoes.  He particularly loves Melanie's pink sandals, and takes any opportunity to wear them.  The other day, I asked him to go put on his shoes, and he went into the laundry room where all the shoes are kept, and came out with the pink sandals on, acting like it was perfectly normal.   

This weekend, Jeff and Joey were getting ready to go to Costco, when Jeff asked Joey to go in and kiss his sister and mom bye-bye.  Joey walked from the laundry room into the living room, kissed Mel, and went back out.  Jeff was delayed, so Joey repeated this scenario about three times before it was time to go.  It was adorable.  

Sunday evening, as we drove to Lebanon, Joey was very hyper most of the way.  Predictably, as we got closer, his eyes got heavier and heavier.  I turned around at one point and asked him if he was going to sleep.  He waved bye-bye and fell asleep.  The kid has plenty of ways of communicating without words :)

Other Joey tidbits - he's saying & signing "more" when he wants to eat.  He continues his champion sleeping behavior, going to bed with his binky bear and cup of milk anytime between 7 and 8; he goes straight to his crib and doesn't fuss about it.  He's wearing 12 month pants and 18 month shirts.  He plays shy, but is more outgoing and adaptable than Melanie.  He loves to laugh, scoot up to sit on our lap, give kisses (isn't a cuddler), doesn't like to swing, loves bathtime, doesn't get interested in TV, and loves his big sister, despite her torment of him.

Weekend Fun

Joey hard at work lugging sidewalk chalk

Grace's garage is fun for everyone.  And yes, that's my daughter dressed wildly inappropriately for a 60-degree evening.

Mel playing catch with her friends

Unusual moment of all four girls sitting still

Silly girls

 Friday night, all four neighborhood girls got together for the first time in a while.  Well, since Aya moved out of the neighborhood, that's part of the challenge of all of us getting together; but, our friend Amanda has been going through chemotherapy all summer, and has not been feeling too up for playdates, although we've still gotten to see Ellie a few times we've managed to whisk her away.  We were lucky this past weekend to have both Amanda and Ellie join us for pizza and girl conversations at Grace's house.  All four girls - and Joey trying to keep up with them - played well together all evening, with relatively few hiccups along the way.

Saturday, Joey and I tried a class at Gymboree, after the success of the pirate party.  He did great, but I might have had him in the "wrong" class - he was at the top of his age group, and one of the only ones walking in the class.  He still enjoyed himself, staying very busy with all of the activities.  While we were there, Mel & Jeff went to Charlie's soccer game, and then we all met in Fishers for some fun at Charlie & Sammie's before the guys hit the golf course.  Saturday night was a fun girls' night out to prepare my friend Erika for her surgery this week, and Sunday night was family night at Ron & Gaylynn's, visiting with Austin during his weekend "furlough" from boarding school.  Melanie enjoyed an evening of silliness with Molly & Lily - with Joey, once again, working hard to keep up.  My camera wasn't working that evening :(

Theater Workshop

Caught in a rare moment when they were both sitting still

Getting their groove on

Boundless energy

Melanie and Molly both attended a great workshop that Aunt Julie put on for the kids in Frankfort - it involved two acted-out books (one rehearsed, one with crowd participation) - and time on the stage playing with props, doing activities, acting out various scenarios, etc.  They had an awesome time.

While we were enjoying ourselves in Frankfort, Jeff and Joey were watching Charlie burn up the soccer fields once again!

Ahoy, Matey!

Two pirates ready for an adventure

Melanie had been looking forward all week to the "pirate ship" party at Gymboree.  She has been reading pirate books, and talking pretty incessantly about pirates.  So much so that when I went to an event at a local church during the week, and she found out the church is called "Zionsville Fellowship," she asked if it was like a pirate ship.  (if you don't get it, say it out loud - it's a pretty clever parallel!

Melanie took her job as Joey's caretaker VERY seriously

Since this was Joey's first trip to Gymboree, and Melanie is an old-school expert at it, she was instructed to take very good care of her brother, and show him the ropes.  She took her job very seriously, and was a great big sister.  It was hilarious to watch some of her antics to keep him involved.

Hey, who's that cute kid over there?

If I put my fingers in my mouth, so does he!

One of Joey's favorite activities was checking himself out in the mirror.  He found his buried treasure right there.

It was another good Gymboree party, complete with adventures, songs, a snack and a craft.  A great way to spend a Sunday!

Zionsville Fall Festival

On the Saturday after Labor Day, Zionsville had a parade through the downtown, and hosted a carnival in the park.  We got there with time to spare to see Joey's first, and Melanie's second, parade.  It got a little bit of a late start, so even though it was really a great parade, we decided to cut out a little early and head to the carnival.

We spent a couple of hours doing the inflatables at the carnival, and visiting the food and vendor booths, including the library's booth, where we got stickers, balloons, and, most notably, a face tattoo! We were really impressed by the setup, and thought it much better than the carnival we attended earlier in the summer.  After a while, we realized we were dressed too warmly for the weather, and we all needed naps, so we headed home and everyone napped while Jeff mowed the lawn.  After we woke up and ate, we went back for round two of the carnival!

Joey got on one ride, but got off before it started.  Mel rode several rides, and made another trip back to the inflatables as well.  When we left the carnival the first time, we promised Melanie that she could ride this train they had when we came back.  Well, of course, by the time we got to it during round two, it was closed for the evening.  You can bet we'll still be hearing about that tomorrow; she said on the way home, "I TOLD you I wanted to ride that train!!"  Uh-oh.  After taking part in most of what the carnival had to offer (while Jeff steered clear of the games....) Melanie wanted to go to the park, and since it was so crowded at the parks there, we headed home to the neighborhood park.  A fun day!!