Tall Grass

Almost 5 years ago when my parents moved into their place they started working on restoring some of their land to natural prairie. This time of year the grass is quite an amazing thing to see. It it so tall it feels like you are driving through a tunnel when you pull up the drive way. It makes me wonder what the country side looked like when the pioneers came to Iowa back in the day. My dad says that back then you could drive from Chicago to Des Moines without seeing a single tree. Everytime I go for a walk out back at their place now I wonder when a buffalo is going to come sneaking out! (well not really anymore since my dad informed me of the regulations and types of fences one must have to actually raise bison) Anyway, I love the tall grass and finally got Leah to venture in it this fall! She is learning to love the "tickle grass" too.

New Blog

So over the weekend my sisters, mom, and I decided that we need a family recipe blog. Here it is.

Slap The Turkey/

Fun times at the Grandparents

This past weekend Leah, Jonah and I headed up to my parents for a much anticipated visit while Paul was in New Orleans for a business trip. Leah and I even made a paper chain to count down the days until we go to go! Anyway, Leah had a fabulous time and it was very nice for me to have other people around to entertain the munchkins. Leah is still talking about the projects she did at grandma & grandpa's and her auties & Peter & Ryan!

making spooky spiders!

helping grandma make breakfast

Jonah chilling with grandma

"A Nightmare in My Closet" with grandpa

(this photo deserves a post of it's own)

on a walk to see the pond & where the bees live

What a difference a year makes!

Yesterday was what will hopefully be our playgroup's annual visit to Daniel's Farm and Greenhouse in St.Peters. Honestly, looking at these photos I can not get over how much Leah has changed from a year ago. Of course, I guess lots has changed since then since Jonah was not even a twinkle in our eye then! I know that everyone says your kids will be grown before you know it and it all goes to fast. Well, it really does.

Our Boy

I totally forgot to post about Jonah's 2 month "well baby" doctor visit. Anyway, it was last Thursday and he did just fine. He wasn't too happy the the four immunizations he got but he lived. He weighed in at 13 pounds and is 23 inches long. That puts him in the 75th percentile for baby boys his age. SO yeah, he is growing just fine. He continues to be a happy baby most of the time. He fusses when he needs a change of scenery or when he has a burp to get out. Unfortuneatly he is sort of a crappy sleeper. HE wants to sleep in bed with us all the time. He snorts and grunts and such in his cradle in the middle of the night. Hopefully we'll get that all sorted out here before too long.

Leah sings her ABC's

She has been doing it for awhile but I finally got her on video. I have to thank Paul for really helping her get it down. Now we just have to learn which letters are which.


oh and I'll snazzy up the appearance of this place when both of my kids agree to sleep at the same time!

excuse the wierd stuff

So I decided that I want my blog to look cute. In the process I have ended up with some pictures of someone else's kids and weird links etc. Please just ignore it until I figure out how to fix it. Thanks!

FFF - Fall Family Fun

Now if my sisters just read the title of this post they are thinking "FORCED FAMILY FUN". It's what we used to call family time on weekends when we were teenagers and would rather have been doing something with our friends. It's sort of silly because looking back we usually had a good time during our "forced" family time.

Yesterday was FFF day at our house. Paul probably would have liked to spend the day napping in the recliner watching football but I had other plans. I really enjoy all of the fall activities but had never been apple picking so off we went to Centennial Farms. It was a long winding drive through some gorgeous Missiouri countryside. Had we not had the air condiditioning on and the windows down there may have been some car sickness. This was how Leah spent the ride.



We were a bit bummed when we got there that very few apples were left on the trees due it being a busy weekend but there were enough for us to have the experience and bring home a few. Paul and Leah of course had to sample the merchandise and Jonah slept through it all.






Oh and Jonah did join in the fun of our family day. He woke up for the hayride!



. . . . Now, to figure out what we should do next weekend!!

He Smiles

So Jonah has been smiling consitently for about two weeks now. It's just been really hard to catch him doing it on camera till now. Usually when I pull the camera out he looks at it with a very serious furrowed brow. Here's one of our smily boy though.

A trip to the Pumpkin Farm

Today we ventured out to the HUGE pumpkin farm in Chesterfield with our playgroup. Leah wasn't too keen on posing for all the cute photos I would have liked to get. Jonah wasn't too into it either. Leah was thrilled that one of her best buddies, Brayden was able to come along at the last minute. (aren't they too cute holding hands, Leah LOVES her friends) Paul was able to join us for a bit too which was a nice surprise!

Funny Stuff

The though and language processes of two year olds really crack me up.

Me: "Your hair is so nice and soft since we put hair conditioner in it Leah"
Leah: "Mama, don't put air conditioner in my hair. I'm cold!"

Me: "Sing Root, root, root for the home team, if they don't win it's a shame"
Leah: "Mama, we are home"

I am also greatly amused by the fact that Leah rarely answers "yes" or "no" when asked a questions her responses are things like

"I did"
"that would be nice"
and my personal favorite "am are" (this is instead of I am)

Oh and today at lunch after a few bites of macaroni and cheese she exclaimed. "DELICIOUS!"

not much to say

I'm pooped today due to Jonah doing his heavy breathing / snorting thing ALL NIGHT LONG. Just wanted to drop off photos from yesterday afternoon.

High Hopes

I'm not positive, but it seems like most dads I talk to have high hopes for thier son's future athletic ability. My husband is one of those guys. Usually we talk about what great rugby players our kids will be since both of us spent years devoted to the sport, but this week it's basketball thanks to our buddy Derrick & his wife Lisa. They were nice enough to get Jonah started with the proper attire for the sport by giving him his first pair of Air Jordans. Now if the shoes could only make the man! Guess we'll just have to wait and see, but it sure looks like Jonah's working on his moves already!

'sconsin

So it's Thursday and I think we may have finally recovered from our long weekend up in "sconsin". That Wisconsin in Leah talk. We did our best to see all of our family and friends in the short time we were there. We also did our best to eat all of our favorite Wausau food: fried chicken at Lee's, fish fry at Chatterbox, gyros at Danny's, Angelo's pizza and fried cheese curds. Good thing the O'Fallon Mom's Group Biggest Loser competion started this week!

"Jonah with Grandpa Chicken & Grandma Cindy"


The highlight of the weekend for Leah was the "party". Paul's nephew Dave married his finace Sarah on Saturday and Leah danced her butt off at the reception. She is still talking about it and asking if she can go to another party. She and her cousin Gavin were a riot to watch. Leah chased him around the dance floor all night. I unfortunately was lazy and didn't get any pics but Gavin's mom Jessica got this one.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours!"