Pumpkin Carving

This Saturday we (and by "we" I mostly mean Nathan) got around to carving Makaela's pumpkin! I have this thing with the sliminess of pumpkin innards, and I thought with my current pregnant state, it might not be wise for me to try and gut the pumpkin unless we wanted to clean up more than just pumpkin innards :) I suppose that's enough, if not too much, said :) So, I was the designated photographer and Nathan and Makaela gutted the pumpkin. Since she seems to have no fear of anything, I figured she'd have no problem with the feeling of the pumpkin innards, and she didn't. She had fun pulling out pumpkin seeds when they weren't slipping out of her hands :)

Dada got busy carving the cutest ladybug on the face of the planet into her ladybug--all freehand!! We found a cute picture online to mimic and Nathan did an AWESOME job!! Here are pictures and a video of the festivities :)

Probably more excited about eating and sitting on top of the

table than the actual pumpkin and the task at hand :)

Assessing the situation

She saw mama cut the top off the pumpkin, so she decided to

pick up the knife and "cut it" herself...saying "cut it, cut it" :)

her latest "smile" :)

Getting the template on the pumpkin

helping dada clean out the inside

Picking up the seeds off the table

Back up to the table for some more action!!

Working hard and Hardly working--which is which? :)

Checking out the progress

Hard at work

checking out the candles inside

hm...what to think about this whole pumpkin thing??

The proud maker, and proud owner :)

Showing off her pumpkin :)

The finished product--way to go dada!!

Family Pumpkin Patch Trip

Here are a few pictures from our trip to our local pumpkin patch. It was a fun little place here in Port Orchard with 2 patches of pumpkins, and 1 patch of small sweet pumpkins to make fresh pumpkin pie. There was also a "hay castle" with a few slides for the kiddos and a trail through the woods following a little story. This particular farm allows you to come toward the beginning of pumpkin season and choose your pumpkin, personalize it, then the pumpkin grows with the personalization in it. Kinda fun thing we will have to keep in mind for next year :) Anyway, I forgot the camera so these pics are from my phone, and because we were using my phone, we couldn't get a clear picture of all 3 of us :)

A friend of mine who works for Deere says this one is probably from the 80's!!

In the Hay Castle

Sliding down with Dada

The wagon ride probably would have been much more fun (at least for dada)

if the handle of the wagon wasn't broken :) but we made do :)

She loved this rocking horse! She was rocking so hard she was

close to tipping herself off the front side!!

Sweet girl and dada in the pumpkin patches.

Pumpkin Time

A few weeks back, our friend Rosie invited us to a "mommy fellowship" group at her husbands old church. The event for the day was going to a local farm and pumpkin patch :) Makaela's first experience with pumpkins and pumpkin patches, but not her first experience with farms and chickens. She had fun talking to the turkey's and the chickens, and enjoyed looking at all the different pumpkins. The girl has no fear, I tell you. She was ready to just tear through the patch no matter how wet it was, no matter what vines tripped her, she just kept going :) Unfortunately, dada had to work, so our first experience in the pumpkin patch wasn't with him, but we went again to a different one 2 days later to have a family pumpkin event :) Here are some pics from our time :) Pumpkin carving post is coming next!!

Checking out all the pumpkins

Gotta choose just the right one :)

For whatever reason, this was a favored face for pictures during the day :)

More Giveaway Items

Hello blogging world :) I'm here to just do a quick little note on some awesome giveaways from MommyandMegiveaways!! They always review such fun things and so I stick my name into the pot a few times to try out my luck. Today's lucky blog items I'm going for are:

A Labor Gown from a company called Labor Looks. Super cute and much more modest little gowns for the hospital :) I'd love to have one of those suckers when April rolls around :)

An electric breast pump from Evenflo

and...a cutsie little trike from a company called Angeles. Here's a picture!!

Here's to hoping--and getting a few extra entries for blogging :)

Bella VS. The Bunny

Recently, Makaela was given one of those little furry toys that have plastic feet on the bottom, and you can wind them up and they hop/jump all over the place. I must admit, there are a whole slew of toys that make me think "I wonder what Bella would do with that". :) you know you've got a good dog who will provide LOTS of entertainment when you look at things and ask yourself that question. So, of course, I thought "I wonder what Bella would do with this bunny". Well, here are 2 videos of what she did. We knew she would probably freak out a little and definitely want to play with it. In the first video, you get the idea of how she initially reacted to it. It wasn't even 2 minutes before she had the plastic feet off of that little bunny, so you were left with the bunny, the little winder gadget on the side, and a buzzing noise when the area where the feet used to be was triggered. The result is in these 2 videos. Enjoy an if you're like me, grab a tissue or 2 because I was laughing so hard I cried :) We love our crazy Bella

p.s. please excuse the condition of my house in these videos :) We were having a lazy day :)

p.s.s. I just watched the videos again and yep---still laughing so hard I cry :)

19/20 months

I cannot believe how fast this little girl changes! Every day new things happen or new words are said. It is crazy to think about everything she has learned since she was a baby, and it hasn't even been 2 full years!!

Now, she is quite the talker and has made our communication much easier (for the most part) :) I can decipher most of what she is saying or asking for which is really helpful. I did have my first instance of the "guessing game" in trying to figure out what she was saying the other day and after several wrong guesses she very frustratedly said "no!!" then said it one more time and PTL (praise the Lord) I got it right :) Some of the things she talks about constantly are:

milk*juice*dilla (quesadilla, which she asks for almost every day)*bars (little healthy snack bars we have)*crackers*banana*apple*orange*melon*Gunnar(s), Rowen, Canon (Patterson Boys)*Rosie and Pravis (Travis)*Big Truck (any time she sees a truck on the road, although her rendition of "big truck" sounds A LOT like "peacock")*ABC's*Twinkle Twinkle Little Star*Stairs (big step)*Bama and Pepaw (grandma and grandpa)*soggy diaper*'toot'ing*potty*

.....and a whole slew of other things. I could go on and on! Like I said, it is so helpful that she is talking so much because it makes communicating a lot easier :) Here are just a few random (and funny!!) pictures from September.

She LOVES Blackberries and we had several bushes nearby our house so we picked some and she ate them faster than I've seen her eat anything before. Seriously, within 30 seconds, she had eaten 10-15 berries. She cannot shovel them in fast enough :)

She loves to pray and that is such a delight to us! Before we eat she always says "pray" and we pray before bed. We also pray after times of discipline. It is cute to hear her pray on her own where she just gets out a few random words that we often use while praying. One night, during dinner, her prayer went something like this "Dear God, thank you...Jesus...obey...spankins" Last night in the car she kept repeating herself over and over saying to us "obey dada, obey mama". :) She is starting to understand how that all works, and now we're working on responding the right way to obedience. I like what my sis in law has taught her daughter--to "obey all the time, all the way, and with a happy heart" We're working toward those things--meanwhile being humbled and convicted myself. Parenting is such a joy because in the process of striving to teach and bring Makaela up in the ways of the Lord, I am convicted myself of my own shortcomings and failures. My gracious Father is using me teaching my daughter to teach His daughter (me). I'm reminded of and thankful for his mercy and lovingkindness every day. Praise the Lord for parenting :)

Zoo Day

Hello blogging world! It's been such a long time since I've visited you :) Sorry friends and family, again, for the long dry spurt in posting :) I suppose if I loaded our pictures onto the computer quicker, I might be inclined to blog more often :) Needless to say, we finally loaded the pictures onto the computer, so I can update on a few things with some pictures :)

A while back, probably in August, Makaela and I took a trip to the zoo with our dear friendsThe Pattersons. Makaela had been to the zoo once before, but it wasn't with me so it was fun to go with her and see her enjoy all the animals! I'm sure if we went back now, she would be even more chatty and interested in the animals!! It is crazy how much changes in such a short time! Anyway, here are a few pictures from our outing.

You can't really see it so well, but she is sitting on a Seal :)

After you've gone through to see all the animals, there is a fun little play area with a handful of gadgets for the kids to play on. One is a large bird nest which she was checking out.

Also, a little set of "rocks" to climb on.

They had a really fun water feature that M was a little apprehensive about at first, but once she saw Gunnar and Rowen running around having a blast, she decided to join in the fun.

This was the end result of her playing in the water :)

And here is video of her checking out the little water fountains.