Fall is here and so is our annual pumpkin patch outing!

As has become tradition in our family, we have made it a point to go to the pumpkin patch every year since Ava was born.  This year was no different, and we picked an absolutely gorgeous Sunday to go.  The weather was simply perfect, in the mid 70s, sunny, blue skies, low humidity - and plenty of people seemed to agree - the pumpkin patch was packed!!!!

Vovo and Voovoo met us there, and the first thing the kids wanted to do was ride the little train.  We thought it was a good idea to just go ahead and get that part done, since we needed to wait in line. So we waited, and waited, and waited some more!  It took us an hour of waiting to get our turn on a little train ride around the Christmas tree farm where the pumpkin patch was; the ride was not that long, maybe 10 minutes, but the kids seemed to enjoy it.  For days now after our outing, Alex still wakes up talking about it - "Mommy, I went on a train at the pumpkin patch! Vovo and Voovoo went on the train too, and Daddy, and Ava, and Sofia!"  So I suppose all the waiting was worth it!  Besides, the kids got to enjoy a snow cone while we waited, and I think that made the whole experience that much sweeter!

Alex patiently waiting for the little train  

After the train ride, we went take some pictures among the pumpkins. Ava was practicing her balancing and climbing skills, and Alex was enjoying climbing over and through all the pumpkins too.  Sofia seemed to enjoy not only the weather, but these huge pumpkins too!

Adventures in "pumpkin climbing"! (Alex and Ava)

Oh how they love their baby sister!

While Alex had to go potty, Sofia and Ava got to pretend to be scarecrows.

Ava picked out her most favorite Christmas tree - she looks so grown up here!

My little girls - such a wonderful sister bond!

Just guess how many pictures it took to try to get most of us looking at the camera, with eyes open, and smiling?

It was such a fun outing, and one I'm glad that we do every year.  Now on to pumpkin carving!! :)

Playing dress-up is so much fun!!!

Our house has been filled with dress up lately!  The kids find it so much fun, but even more so, they find it funny.  They often get dressed up, and then come in to the room where I am and announce themselves like this:

"Here comes a funny joke!" giggling all the way in:

Ava dressing up in Daddy's clothes

Alex balancing himself in Mommy's shoes

My little mountain climber - complete with his shoes, daddy's socks, cuecas, pj top, backpack, and Santa's hat!

Alex the dinosaur

Ava the dinosaur

Ava the dinosaur and Alex the fox

Sometimes dress-up includes seeing what Ava's hair would look like straight.  She often says she wants straight hair like Mommy's, though I LOVE her curly hair.  So the other day I indulged her and straightened it for her.  She could not have been happier!

To me she looks even more like Tia Marthi with her hair like this!!

Oh the things Ava says!

Today when I picked up Ava from school, we had the following little conversation:

Ava: Wow, this is such beautiful weather!
Me: How was your day at school?
Ava: Great!
Me: Did you get to play outside a lot today?
Ava: Yep!
Me: Who do you play with at school?
Ava: Liam Cam., Liam Wilson, and Aedric. (Liam Cam is actually Liam Campbell, but I guess that's probably what she hears when they are differentiating between the two Liams)
Me: That's who you play with on the playground?
Ava: Yes, they like to play tag.  Aedric can run pretty fast, but he can't catch me.
Me: Do any of the girls play tag?
Ava: Only one girl plays.
Me: Who? (thinking that she meant only one other girl can play)
Ava, just looks at me with a little grin on her face, and raises her hand with a little shrug of her shoulders and raising her eyebrows a bit.

Sofia - 5 months old!

This little deliciousness is just growing and growing!!  She is getting quite ready to eat people food, and loves sitting at the table at mealtime with us.  She has only tasted a couple fruits (banana, apple, and pear), but not really eaten any quite yet.

She loves her siblings and is quite entertained by them. Ava and Alex are the most successful in getting Sofia to giggle and giggle!

She loves eating her toes and seems to be getting ready to get her first tooth any day now!!  Anything that can provide a little counter pressure on her gums is quite welcome!

Sofia also loves standing in her exersaucer to play. She grabs at everything, spins around, and loves playing in an upright position.

She is our little laid back, sweet as can be, deliciously chubby, little girl!  Could not love her more!!

 

 

 

 

And suddenly we're down to only one in diapers!

It's quite funny to think about the topics of conversation that take place in our house these days, potty training being one of them. 

Ava has been daytime trained since she was two, but always had such a habit of drinking a lot of milk/water before bed; so, we had not yet gotten to nighttime training.  We have slowly weaned her from drinking so much after dinner, so we graduated her about 4 months ago to pull-ups in the hopes that she might eventually be fully potty trained.  I had always heard the tip/rule that when they wake up dry most mornings, that you can move on to underwear. So I've been waiting, and waiting, and waiting, only to discover that my Ava is too smart and logical to follow tips sometimes.  The pull-ups just made Ava a little lazy - she knew that there was no real reason she had to get up at night to go to the bathroom, since her pull-up was essentially a diaper.  So a couple weeks ago, I just said - okay, you're done, you're wearing your calcinha tonight.  Funny thing was, Ava did not object, she just said "okay", picked out which one she wanted, and has successfully stayed dry throughout the night since.  If she needs to go during the night, she gets up and goes.  Let this be a lesson to me to not underestimate my little ones; when they are ready, they are ready!

This July, Alex started potty training at school and really picked it up quite quickly, so we have been successful during the day as well.  I had not been brave enough to try night time with Alex, until it just happened by accident.  With Christina's wedding, we had been getting home late and our nighttime routine was a mess.  Alex was often falling asleep in the car before we got home, so in an effort to not wake him up to change him into a diaper, we would just risk it - and guess what? Alex woke up dry!  So we took our lesson from Ava and just decided to graduate Alex to his cuecas at night too, and he has been doing great!

Now I am sure we will have an accident or two, now and then, but it is amazing to think that we went from 3 in diapers at night to now just having Sofia in diapers.  Oh how amusing it is to feel so accomplished by these milestones! ;)