georgia

we did it!

two small kids, one nicely packed van and almost 20 hours on the road later, we're in georgia.

(never in my dreams did i think i'd attempt a road trip myself, but i guess stranger things have happened...)

the kids were EXCELLENT little travellers, so there weren't any issues there. i'm quite proud of them!

this is the little place we're staying at.

*snicker*... "little". hahahaha!

seriously, this house is nice! it's on a golf course- the driving range is right across the street. the kitchen is awesome, there are plenty of rooms (so that all the guys staying here get their own rooms and bathrooms, plus there's even a spare room for the kids!) so we're not all jam-packed together. i like it.

there's also a very wee playmate for the kids.

maybe "playmate" isn't the right word... but they're sure enjoying him!

cole wants to hold the little man all the time

(i think he's going to like it when OUR baby comes!)

the little man isn't always as enthusiastic about being held by a small preschooler, but he's very cooperative. total sweetie!

little man's mommy is a hair stylist. she's been in the business for over nine years, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get cole a real haircut.
his very first official cut... it's always been me with the razor and attachments. it's usually a fairly loud affair. fortunately, cole didn't cry once (he whined a little, but i think it was mostly he didn't like the apron around his neck) and sat much better than i thought he would.

see? not nearly as enthused as mommy.

madison wasn't quite sure what to think...

finishing with the scissors on top.

now cole looks like a big boy instead of a little boy... *sniff*

madi got her "turn" with little man.

they both were watching "spongebob".

cole talked to grandma on the phone last night. he almost always says his "i love you's" and "goodbyes" after he takes the phone away from his ear.

(you can kind of see his new 'do... enough to get the idea, anyway!)

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we're happy to be able to see kelvin for a little bit here and there... we got in on friday afternoon, then he had to work saturday and now they've started shut-down work, which means they're working 12-hour days. it's a little disappointing, because i was hoping we'd get down here in time to take a weekend and go see charleston, sc and the beach, but that's not going to happen. my ultrasound is scheduled for the day before thanksgiving, and i have my next prenatal appointment in two weeks, so i plan to be home in time for both.

in any case, it's nice to be able to see our hubby/daddy for a LITTLE bit each night, anyway!

fall weekend

i took the kids into waupaca friday after lunch- we thought we'd show up at my mom's work (at the high school) and surprise her!

it was homecoming week, though, and the food service department got out a little early, so by the time we got there, she was already gone. we missed her by mere minutes, though.

(madi didn't understand that she had already left, so when we left the school, she started crying and calling, "gamma! gamma!")

we stayed over friday and saturday night, and came back home sunday afternoon. the weather was perfect, so the kids had a blast playing outside.

i love that they're old enough to play and imagine together now.

sometimes madison's a little "out of the loop" but she tags along with her big brother anyway.

cole spotted an airplane... every plane he sees is "gweat-gwappa's airplane"!

saturday we spent most of the day outside... my mom let the kids and i tag along to the grocery store with her, and then we stopped by a local apple orchard on the way home.
after that, we raked pine needles. mom and dad have a rather large yard, so there's lots of raking to do!

cole and madi were so eager to help, taking handfuls of needles and trying to put them in the wagon. little miss madi was so cute- she had a little bunch of pine needles in her tiny hands, waiting very patiently for someone to help her put them in the wagon.

grandma came to her rescue and gave her a boost.

(this one's out of order- it was sunday morning, and we were trying to keep settled down before meeting [our first since being switched to mom and dad's!], and our sweet littles were sitting so nicely together, giggling quietly at the bob the builder "lap top".)

in the afternoon, after the kids were down for a nap, kayla and levi came up to the farm for an engagement photo session. the fall colors were great, and the woods were nice and quiet, so it was a great day for photos!

this is one of my favorites... there are more posted here.

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we all had a fun weekend, even with the sinus colds we all came down with. nothing major... it'll pass, and in a week or so, we'll all be back to normal i'm sure!

yesterday was my 14-week prenatal check... everything's right on track, baby's heartbeat is great (right around 150 bpm) and we scheduled our ultrasound for november 23rd. we may change that to the 24th, but that's where it's at for now.

oh, and i've only gained a pound this entire pregnancy so far! almost three months of nausea and no appetite will do that... the last week and a half, i've been finding that i'm able to tolerate just about everything again, and i'm starved. i thought for sure that i'd have put on at least 5 lbs, but i was pleasantly surprised. my track record is around 12 lbs by 14 weeks, so this is a nice change. but... baby's healthy and that's all that matters!

(6 weeks till we can "meet" him or her, and find out what this little one is.... oh, that seems so far away!!)

how many did YOU guess?

thank you to everyone who played along!

it was fun to watch the guesses come in, and for a day there, i thought we'd have to do a drawing because there were two guess that were closest.

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so how many peppers where there?

33.

so susie, you were the closest with a guess of 32.

good job!

i will send the loot your way :)

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thanks again for playing- and now, i must go get lunch for my littles and sing another round of "tell me the story of jesus" for cole.

have an awesome weekend, everyone!

guessing game!

alrighty...

i promised a contest, so here it is!

and, as promised, it totally relates to peppers.

your job is to guess how many chili peppers we got from this brave little plant.

the closest guess wins.

(in the event of a tie, we'll have to draw names)

just leave a comment with your guess here on this post...

you have till noon on friday.

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ready?

GO!!!

(the prize? chipotle chili dark chocolate, tortilla soup mix, mexican hot cocoa and a reuseable "drive-thru" coffee cup. told you it was all about peppers!)
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sorry- apparently there was some confusion, which is my fault because i didn't specify...
the number i'm looking for is the number of peppers we got on the last picking. if you need or want to change your guess, go for it! i'll just disregard your first guess and use the second one. :)

pre-contest...

i said i'd do another pepper-related post in the near future...

i will, i promise.

i even went shopping for the prize.

but...

there's no point in doing a contest if only one or two people participate.

so before i put up the pepper post, i have one quick question:

who reads this?

anyone?

i'd love to know whether or not it's worth the effort of putting together and publishing posts if nobody reads them.

(fellow bloggers know what i mean, lol!)

so-

if you pop in, kindly leave a comment so i know you're there.

thanks! :)

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(oh... and by "the near future". i mean sometime within the next 48 hours)

adventures in the garden!

i may not post as much as i used to, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to post about.

(well, some days are uneventful. or not blog-worthy.)

late last week we tried adventures in potty training for madison.

it was a short adventure...

to be continued later.

before her hiatus from potty adventures, i snapped a few photos.

just because.

the kids had some balloons to play with.
ya know, something new and out of the ordinary
(because balloons aren't an every-day thing here).

cole discovere, all by himself, what happens when you put a balloon in front of the register (when the fan, furnace or a/c is going. it's wisconsin- anyone's guess as to which of the three will be running on any given day!).
i didn't suggest it. i was doing my own thing when i heard him squealing and laughing with delight. the kid's inquisitive, that's for sure.

the weather was decent on saturday, so the kids and i went to the farm to help with bringing in the garden.

we started with apple-picking.
(there's a tree right behind mom and dad's house)

i love this photo- it's like trick-or-treating!
(and it's the closest they'll come; personally, i'm not into celebrating halloween. it's a personal choice, and i don't think any less of people who DO celebrate!)

i haven't taken them to an orchard yet, so this is the first time they've picked apples.

they had a ball!

maybe we'll hit an orchard or two next year.

"ah-poh, gamma!!"

oh, he's lovin' it!

sorry, madi- that bag weighs more than you!
(didn't stop her from trying to haul it around, though)

it wouldn't be apple-picking without an apple picker, now, would it?

two in the hand is worth... ummm... a huge grin?

yum. can't you just smell 'em?

as if picking apples (and throwing the icky ones out in the weeds) weren't fun enough, great-grandpa flew over the farm, which REALLY got the kids excited.

after the apples, there was the garden.

mom planted a few mini pumpkins- i thought the kids would get a kick out of that, too, but apparently it didn't have the appeal that apple-picking did.

they attempted it

(for photos'-sake)...

and then moved on to running up

and down the cornrows.

oh, and they decided to harvest dirt clumps.

(at least they were having fun, right?)

after lunch, madi went down for her nap, but i know attempting cole's would be futile.

so he went with dad to bring in wood.

what's more fun than getting a four-wheeler ride AND helping grandpa?

meanwhile, mom and i brought in what was ripe from the garden.

some of it could have used more ripening, but with freeze warnings out, that wasn't an option.

we did get all this, though!

two pots of tomatillas, several butternut and buttercup squash, two bags of apples, a muskmelon (that may be tasty after spending a week on mom's counter), a bunch of mini pumpkins, some big pumpkins (half of them ripe, but green ones are nice for fall decorating too!), and a mess of chili peppers.

this one single plant, knee-high and not very bushy, yielded more chili peppers than i thought was possible. it made me chuckle... one tiny plant, SO many peppers!

(watch for another pepper-themed post, coming soon!)

one of the things that cole looks foward to doing at the farm is riding the "motorcycle".

it's a ritual.

this time, he parked it VERY carefully next to his daddy's four-wheeler... he lined it up perfectly!

(i think he misses his daddy)

even though he got to ride on grandpa's four-wheeler, i took him out for a spin on ours. it was the first time i've ever driven it. (there's a reason for that- me and motorized toys don't get along very well. it has to do with a dirtbike and a tree, a snowmobile and a tree... you get the idea).

i didn't hit anything, and both cole and i had fun!

we even followed my dad back out to the woodpile, then got caught in a downpour halfway through loading the trailer. we hid under some pines until it passed, but by then cole was ready to go back to the house. he started walking that way himself (and dad told me he'd walked all the way back himself before), but turned around and ran back with a grin once he heard the four-wheelers start.

funny how engines have that kind of persuasive power over little boys!
so...

after a long, fun day, we had mom's tuna noodle casserole and sour-cream apple pie for supper- totally yummy! and the best part? for the first time in two months, i was not only hungry enough to eat but didn't feel awful afterwards. i think we're hitting the end of a rough first trimester, yay!

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that was our weekend.

what did YOU do?? :)