Pictures from Maris Farms

Here's Johnny when we went to Maris Farms.

Daddy and kids going down the slide.

Johnny sitting with Grandpa.

Holiday riding the cow train.

Holly on a pony ride.

She really liked riding the ponies.

Holiday feeding goats.

Grandpa, Daddy and Holiday feeding goats.

Johnny about to get goat kisses.

I just love his dinosaur jacket, it's going to double as his Halloween costume this year.

Pig races!

Holiday just had to go back and visit Daisy on the cow train again.

Grandma and Holiday, Grandpa and Johnny on the hayride.  You can see the corn maze in the background.  The grounds also include a haunted forest and pumpkin patch area.

David got the gutters cleaned out and trimmed some branches off the maple tree this last weekend and I managed to put away the cushions from the patio furniture.  We'll have to wait till our green bin is emptied this week to rake leaves.  There's a lot on the ground since it's been a little windy since yesterday.  But there's still a lot left on the trees.  We also carved some Jack-o-lanterns yesterday so we're pretty much set for Halloween.

Pictures!

We were at a playground near Spanaway Lake which is close to Grandma Claudia's house.  Here's Holiday's funny face.

Playing with bells.

Smiles!

More smiles!

Mommy and Johnny.

Holiday loves to slide.

Grandpa Jet helping Holiday across the obstacle course.

Johnny wants to do it too.

Next the bridge, I see Grandma Claudia down to the right.

Johnny did it!

Holiday also likes to swing.

Now we're all snuggly.

Little chatterbox

Johnny does have a few words now.  Holiday could talk more at that age, but then they said girls generally learn words more quickly than boys do.  Makes sense, girls really do know how to talk a lot, don't they?  But Johnny is hardly quiet, he makes all kinds of noise.

Some of Johnny's latest words are:
Dada
Mama
Holiday (it's hard to hear but it's there)
Kittie or Kittiecat
Ball
Book
Grandma
Hello
Thank you

He has other ways of communicating as well.  He can shake his head 'yes' and 'no' and I should say that he shakes his head in response to a question not just to shake his head, kids do that sometimes.  He also points at things so it's a little easier to figure out what he wants or that he's simply noticing at time.  Also, he has great comprehension.  You can ask him to pick something up and he'll do it.  I'll ask him to go find Dada or Holiday and he is on the case.  He really likes pretending to talk on the phone.  Typically when Johnny makes a call it's either Dada or Grandma. :)

Johnny's ear infections

Johnny is recovering from two ear infections from last week.  He's doing much better.  The fever is gone, his appetite has returned, he sleeps through the night and is back in daycare.  I went through a lot that stuff as a kid and he has had a double ear infection before so we figured out what it was before he became completely miserable and got him treated.  Poor baby boy.  We didn't do much this weekend, but we did get a family membership to the Seattle Children's Museum and let the kids play.  I didn't see too much of it last time we were there.  Holiday really liked the grocery store and the restaurant and even showed us some of her dance moves on the theater stage.  We went to the park yesterday since it was so nice out and let the kids run around.  I think that helped Johnny get less fussy by giving him some room to roam after being couped up for so long.  It's supposed to dry all week and reasonably warm for October so maybe we can get some more yard work done this weekend. We'll see.

Pumpkin Patch

After Holiday's dance class on Saturday we went to Maris Farms.  Grandma Claudia and Grandpa Jet were there too.  I think Holiday's favorite part was either riding the cow train or the hay ride.  Johnny's favorite part was getting goat kisses.  We were feeding the goats and they just kept nibbling when the food was gone, Johnny was laughing pretty hard.  My glasses fell out of my pocket while we were there (I was wearing my prescription sunglasses at the time since it was so sunny), but they were found and I managed to get them back.  I think my favorite part was doing the corn maze, we haven't been able to do that for a while.  David did manage to get the lawn done this weekend too along with all our other errands and chores.  We don't have anything huge planned for this month so maybe we'll be able to catch up with all the other yard stuff.  Surveying all the toys the kids have collected I'm really starting to think I need to sort them out soon.  I bet there's some that the kids have aged out on and we could donate.  There's probably stuff that's no longer functional too and should just be thrown out altogether.  It's probably a good time for a purge before the holidays arrive.

Quiet week

There isn't much exciting to report this week.  Especially since it has rained so much lately we haven't had any outings much less spent any time in the yard.  This weekend is looking like it might by dry so hopefully we can get some fresh air.  I know our yard still needs to be winterized and we haven't had a chance to start on that since we were so busy in September.  The lawn needs the final mow of the year, some of the bushes need trimming, lots of weeds to pull, the greenhouse needs to be cleaned out and the gutters desperately need to be cleaned.  The gutters are so full of sloppy wet decomposing leaves that the birds are rooting around in them looking for food (probably worms in there too) so there's big chunks of it being flung out.  And that's by the basement door entrance so hopefully no one happens to be there when the birds decide to have lunch.  We might even make it out to the pumpkin patch so hopefully the weather holds out for us.