ya think they're related!? 
thank you, kristie, for capturing this precious view of ethan and caroline. i'm sure i couldn't recreate this pose if i tried! but knowing me, i probably WILL try it with three kids. i'm always up for a challenge. :)
we ventured out to the mosquito patch, er, i mean the pumpkin patch earlier this week, and it was quite an adventure! we met brian and his parents there after work, when the lighting is the best, and man, i was never expecting the mosquitos to be SO BAD this time of year. i think the pumpkin patch was set up in a BIG DITCH, and the mosquitoes wanted their home back! anyway, the kids were very tolerant of us taking so many pictures despite the feasting upon their faces.
i've shared my feelings about the lack of authenticity of our town's selection of pumpkin patches, so i won't go there again. but i will say that this year was the same. except we added mosquitoes. :) there were some nice hay backdrops that were a step up from the traffic we had as backgrounds last year. being the OCD photo mama that i am, i insisted on us moving 20 or so pumpkins over to the hay so that there would actually be pumpkins in our pictures of ya know, the pumpkin patch! so thanks, family, for humoring me! below you can see the kids exploring, and in the background, you can see our self-created photo studio. :)
the cousins were excited to see cute little white pumpkins, and that held them still for ohhhhh, 10 seconds!
later, we tried for another cousin shot, but the bugs were just too bad, and karina had had ENOUGH! 
i subjected my kids to a few more pictures, and i thought this one turned out sweet. i could just eat them up! (oh wait, that was the mosquitoes' job!) 
poor ethan was just a scratchin'! it wasn't long before they grew tired of the bugs and such, so we were about to let them run free...
but i remembered that we hadn't taken a family picture. so ethan and caroline knew the drill..."just a few more pictures!" 
don't worry....we didn't make them sit for much longer... they were off and running to pick out pumpkins!
brian said there were too many shadows in this picture, but i had to laugh because all those shadows are all of us hovered around taking pictures! :) 
"hmmm, i wonder which little pumpkin would be the best to throw?!"
this would be my entry for the "harvest boy poster child 2008" contest. :) if there was such a thing. 
caroline was so proud of the pumpkin she found! thanks, aunt kristie, for capturing this shot, as well as several others in this post!
the pumpkin patch sold various sizes of pumpkins...
here, ethan is modeling the 36B style!
this picture shows the way i feel some days! but that little boy is priceless, and he is definitely not for sale!
this sign made me smile and then laugh. i laughed because i was glad that it didn't say "may your heart for others be bigger than your belly!" haha!
"did someone say belly?!"
so our visit to the pumpkin patch marks the beginning of our fall. we are excited that cool(er) weather is finally here! i look forward to preparing for thanksgiving over the next several weeks. are there any special "thanksgiving" activities that you do with your kids (that you don't mind me stealing!!)?
so this baby is a growing. or at least her momma is! i'm now at 26 weeks. this photo was taken a week ago, at 25 weeks for those of you who don't want to do the math. :) amelia and i are doing fine. this pregnancy has (thankfully) been pretty uneventful so far, besides expected back pain from carting around a teething toddler. i am trying to take it easy by relinquishing bath duty to daddy (and gram when she comes over! thanks!!) and by enlisting ethan & caroline to pick up anything off the floor that requires me to bend down. :) but a mother's work is never done. so my back is just going to hurt.
several strangers have commented that i must be due "any day now". (kristi, i know you're laughing right now...) i try to just smile and graciously reply that i have three more months to go (actually more like 3 1/2!). if it's a fellow mom, i will bring up that it's my third pregnancy and "you know you just start showing earlier", blah blah blah... all my justifications for why i am so big (though i never really mention in public that i love desserts and have not exactly routinely exercised lately!) well, the other day, i received the "any day now" comment from a skinny skinny girl checking me out at a store. so i told her it was my third pregnancy, trying to retain an ounce of pride... and then she said, "yeah, i'm on my third pregnancy too". well that did it. almost. then when i shockingly replied that she didn't even look pregnant, she said "i'm four months!" and proceeded to lift up her shirt and show me her six pack adorned with a belly ring. i really wanted to punch her. but i don't think i could've reached across the counter to get to her with, ya know, my big belly in the way. so i smiled and waddled out. i know brian would tell me that if i would stay home and not go SHOPPING, i wouldn't get those comments. :)
the kids are getting more excited about amelia. ethan and caroline are sharing a room now (definitely another post for another time!!), so ethan loves referring to caroline's old room as "amelia's room". anytime we talk about the baby, caroline lifts up her shirt to see the baby that is apparently in her belly. ethan got the thrill of the year the other night when he felt amelia kicking for the first time. (his first time... she has been kicking very often for awhile now.) as soon as he put his hand on my belly, she gave a little punch to her big bro, and he was AMAZED. i wish i would have had that moment on video. it was priceless. she kicked a few more times, and he just giggled and giggled. anytime i tell him that she's kicking, he comes a runnin' in a hurry! i love it. we'll see how long it takes for the excitement to wear off there.
as for me, the excitement never wears off! i remember the thrill of feeling ethan move around for the first time. it was an unusual yet wonderful feeling. and the first time amelia gave us a little kick, brian and i were giddy like new parents all over again. the wonder and miracle of God creating a precious life inside me will never grow old. ever. i hear women say, "i miss being pregnant". and when you're waddling around with an aching back and running to the bathroom every 10 minutes, it's tempting to kind of laugh that off and say, "are you crazy?!" but i think what those women are saying is that they remember the joy of carrying a child. they remember the awesome witness that it is of our Creator. they remember the hope and curiosity that they also carried, wondering what this child will be like. it is a special time each time, for each pregnancy brings with it a new set of circumstances and experiences. for example, this is the first time i've really been able to share the excitement of the baby with one of my children! and oh what a joy that has been! seeing the look on ethan's face as amelia kicks makes me even more excited for the day when he will get to see his new baby sister in the flesh!
so we've got 14 weeks to go. kristie's mom gave me the most wonderful encouragement in passing a few weeks ago. she said, "you know, once the holidays get here, your pregnancy is going to fly by." i'd never really thought about that until she said it, but it gave me a new attitude about my last trimester. it really IS going to fly by! october will be over before too long, and then november and december will be full with birthdays and holiday activities. (oh dear! two feasting holidays! how big WILL this child be?!) and before we know it, january will be here, and we will be anxiously awaiting amelia's arrival. (and detoxing from christmas cookies!) these next few months really will be full of joy and celebration. and amelia's birth will just extend the celebration! God is so good.
Psalm 100
make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
serve the LORD with gladness!
come into His presence with singing!
know that the LORD, He is God!
it is HE who made us, and we are His;
we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
enter His gates with thanksgiving,
and His courts with praise!
give thanks to Him; bless His name!
for the LORD is good;
His steadfast love endures forever,
and His steadfastness to all generations.
while we were in orlando, we thought we'd let the kids experience a little disney without actually "going" to disney world. call it cheap, call it "stickin' it to the mouse", call it whatever you want. we had a great time. so how do you do this? you get excellent tips from a friend with preschoolers who lives in the orlando area (thanks, hannah!)! we parked (for free) at the beautiful wilderness lodge, where we found a front row parking space! (it IS the year of a million dreams!) :) as soon as we got out of the car, ethan got so excited about the sparkly pavement and the huge rocks at the entrance. oh the little things that amaze a 3 year old! forget cinderella's castle, people! disney has sparkling parking lots!
from the wilderness lodge, we took a boat to the contemporary resort, where we planned to board the monorail. well, we tried to take a boat to the contemporary! the boat first stopped at fort wilderness, where everyone got off except us. the boat driver invited ethan to honk the horn three times to signal that we were off and away. after ethan honked the horn FIVE times, we left the dock only to hear a loud THUD. the driver responded, "what was that?!" 
i thought this was all part of disney, ya know, pretending there's something in the water on what is thought to be a routine boat ride! but nope, the boat's rudder was broken. then i started joking that they'd found out that we weren't paying customers!! haha. after a little wait, a "rescue boat" came to push the boat back to the dock. (after we were sitting in the middle of the lake for a good 10 minutes, i jokingly asked the rescue guy if he'd ever delivered a baby!) a couple of disney PR-type men also rode around in a boat watching the whole time... we assumed they were making sure that we were happy! after a half hour or so, we made it back to the dock, and we were greeted by one of the PR men who gave us fast passes for the next day. i didn't have the heart to tell the man that we weren't planning on visiting any of the parks! :) 
here's the boat we should have boarded!
the kids and i enjoyed what was supposed to be a very short ride
ethan honking the horn...we teased that he broke the boat
since he pushed the button too many times!
so we finally boarded a boat that successfully arrived at the magic kingdom. ethan was more than excited to ride the monorail! brian showed the kids videos of the monorail a few days before we left, and ethan could not stop talking about the modorail. we rode around for a little while and ethan couldn't have been happier! after ethan witnessed several stops of people getting on and off of his beloved ride, the modorail, he figured out that it was actually a means to an end and not the entertainment itself. he asked us, "where are we going!?" i did my best to enthusiastically tell him that this WAS where we were going... to ride the monorail! i think i convinced him for now, but he still took note of all the kids getting off with smiles on their faces and all the parents climbing aboard looking absolutely exhausted.
we made a stop at the contemporary resort, where the kids ran around while we shopped a little. ethan took home his very own die-cast monorail (which has already broken, by the way), and caroline was thrilled at the sight of mickey mouse! at disney! imagine that!
we took the monorail back to the magic kingdom and boarded the epcot monorail. the cool thing about riding this monorail is that it actually takes you all around epcot, not just to the entrance. brian couldn't wait to show ethan the big epcot ball (my terminology, not brian's!). and boy, did ethan LOVE seeing ep-a-cot! one day, he'll realize you can actually get out and walk around there. :) after our little tour of epcot, we took a disney bus back to the wilderness lodge. i guess i could have titled this post "milking disney transportation for all it's worth"! when we got back to the wilderness lodge, the kids (who had taken a catnap on the bus) got their second wind and ran all over that rustic lobby. caroline was quite fascinated with the disney totem pole (you'll never guess WHO was at the top!)
i tried to get a picture with the kids in front of the totem pole, but it was not happening. so here's a shot of ethan loving on caroline. for at least a second. :)
and here is why we chose to do disney the low-key way this time around... it was easy to just call it a night when we hadn't paid a dime. 
as we walked out of the wilderness lodge after our fun evening, ethan stopped and looked behind him. he sighed, looked at me with a big smile at his face and said, "that was disney world!" oh boy. i felt guilty and successful all at the same time!
the next night, we visited disney's boardwalk. this is another beautiful resort themed after a 1900's atlantic village. it was a nice cool evening to stroll around the lake, and the kids loved running all over the place (notice a theme here!?).
there were jugglers, magicians, and other entertainers setting up little shows all over the boardwalk. they were all drawing quite a crowd! and ethan was excited to play a midway game ! he tried to throw baseballs at the targets, and though my boy has quite an arm, he didn't hit a single target. :( but look at that smile nonetheless... i mean, c'mon! he's at disney world! 
we planned on introducing ethan and caroline to the joy of funnel cakes this night, but neither of them wanted to try it. yes, you read that right. my children refused something fried and covered in powered sugar! but we didn't press the issue... it meant more for us! i really wanted a picture of us eating funnel cake, but brian knew if he put down the plate to get the camera that there wouldn't be any left for him! haha!
this was such a relaxing way to spend our evening, and i can't wait to go back when the kids are older and rent the surries (with the fringe on top!). i bet they'll ask for a funnel cake next time! 
so this ends our orlando vacation. it was a blessing to spend a few days together as a family, and we made many memories that will make us smile for years to come. when ethan and caroline are older, i'm sure they will tease us about the time we took them to disney without really taking them to disney!
we had a couple of days to spend in orlando, but we weren't quite ready to do the "disney thing" with our young kids. (never fear, disney fans, the wheels for our 2011 trip to disney are already turning in my brain!) so we did disney the low-key, low-budget way... and ethan and caroline still wore million-dollar smiles! our first stop was downtown disney. the kids loved having dinner at the rainforest cafe. ethan wanted to eat "outside", which was actually the inside of the restaurant. we ate under a canopy of trees filled with gorillas that reminded us of their presence every now and then with loud ooo-ooo-ooo-ing! caroline especially loved the trumpeting elephants that we could hear across the room. ethan got a big kick out of the thunderstorms, and i appreciated that it was generally noisy in there so that nobody was bothered by frequent toddler outbursts! :) here's a family picture outside the restaurant the day after we ate there. apparently, the kids were on the lookout for those elephants! :)
my favorite store at downtown disney is "once upon a toy", where you can fill a box of mr. potato head parts. there are all kinds of cute disney original parts to buy for the regular mr. potato head, and i had a ball filling a box last december. the kids were overwhelmed by all the things to look at! caroline has recently figured out who mickey mouse is, and she found him on everything during this trip. it started in the toy store... "mi-y mouse! mi-y mouse!" and it continued as we passed billboards, bumper stickers, nametags, and antenna toppers on cars going 50 mph. she could spot the mouse! so the kids loved just looking at everything in the stores. upon entry to "the world of disney", caroline was greeted by two ladies who generously sprinkled her with "pixie dust"...glitter. we deemed this the everlasting disney souvenir because the glitter stayed in her curls after the pool and a bath, and it is probably still in the stroller! but she sure was cute and sparkly! "the world of disney" was quite overstimulating even for mom & dad, so i'm sure ethan and caroline's little brains had soaked up enough disney in the short time that we strolled through the mega-souvenir store! here's a shot of the mr. potato head headquarters at "once upon a toy".
apparently, "fill your own box for a slightly-ridiculous-but-not-too-ridiculous-when you're-on-vacation price" is the way to go for stores these days because the lego store had the same idea. the kids loved sticking their hands in the buckets of different colored legos that made up the rainbow wall of blocks. you could build your own little lego guys, or you could just watch the lego employee construct the taj mahal out of legos. now that's a dream job for a guy. come to work and build with legos! (no, brian, we are not moving to orlando! ha!) outside, they also had racing ramps set up where you could build little cars and race them... but it was pretty packed with boys and dads when we were there, so brian, um, i mean ethan will have to wait till next time to enjoy that. 
we really talked up riding the train at downtown disney, but ethan asked to ride the carousel twice vs. riding the train and the carousel. so double the carousel it was, and that meant double the squeals for ethan! he squealed the entire ride... i wish i could just bottle that up! i know the kids don't look super excited in these pictures, but they really were happy! :) 
during our first visit to downtown disney, it was raining, so we came back another day to take pictures of ethan and caroline with the disney characters. (because of the rain, i also slipped in the parking lot during the first 5 minutes of our vacation and landed on my very padded rear end. amelia was safe and sound on the other side, thankfully, but i ended up with a sore knee, very wet pants, and a very concerned husband!) back to the characters... ethan and caroline were absolutely ecstatic to take their picture with these guys! shhh, don't tell them that these are boring, immobile, non-autograph signing versions of the "real things" across the lake! look at those smiles! (and we were smiling because there was no waiting in line for these guys!!)
"to infinity and beyond!" anytime caroline sees a toy story character (besides woody), she exclaims, "woo-DY! woo-DY!" ironically, she doesn't really care about who woody is, but she associates all the other toys from the movie with his name. pretty funny. :)
so a nemo ball and a couple of disney stuffed toys later, the kids had their first taste of disney. it was short and sweet, and it made me and brian really want to go to disney for real! we also toured a little more of disney, which was an adventure that needed no fast pass...
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