pumpkin patch 2011

forget the costumes, forget the trick or treating, forget the spooky decorations, forget the candy, wait maybe don't forget the candy, give me the pumpkin patch any day! it is by far my favourite halloween tradition! or fall tradition I suppose. it's no surprise to those who know me that fall is my favourite season. and this year particularly, pregnancy does weird things to me. I have had the biggest compulsion to be one of those mom's who has bins for every season/holiday filled with decorations for the house. I have resisted for the most part, but some very cute decorative pumpkins and owls have been purchased and are being displayed proudly. also the desire to eat/drink everything pumpkin has been ridiculously strong. anyways, as for this post it's all about the pumpkin patch with our good buddies Arden, Bobby and Cason. Grandma came too but she narrowly dodged the camera. sneaky Grandma. is two years in a row a tradition? if the answer is yes, then we have an tradition with them of packing up the kiddos and heading to the pumpkin patch out in Cedar.

{buddies}

{another perk of fall, amazing lighting for my snap happy side}

{so funny, for all the comments we get about Rupert looking like me, he IS his father. same facial expressions right down to occasionally talking out the side of their mouths. crazy boys}

My precious boy is growing up so much. His little personality comes out more and more each day. and for a little boy who's speech is a little bit harder to understand, he is a very expressive kid! and we are thankful for that. because honestly I love that we have a kid with a sense of humor and heart as sweet as his and I would take them over perfect diction any day!

{ma mere nana : translation : come here Cason :D}

this was one of my favourite kind of days, sunny but crisp and it was nice to be able to get outside! my looming belly has kept us from taking any kind of big walks lately so we are fairly restricted to the back yard or small park down the road. and rainy days don't help either. so getting to spend so much time outside running around was a special treat!

{Cason showing off his muscles}

{precious little pumpkin patch kids}

a big highlight of the day was riding on the tractor. not that we are on the actual tractor, but if you ask Rupert we were.

{white pumpkins are my joy. I was so thrilled to find them amongst the orange. doesn't it always feel like you've found a treasure when something is not the colour it's supposed to be?and yes if you saw the field you would see that there were loads of them, but that's besides the point. pumpkins are supposed to be orange, and this one wasn't, so it's a treasure end of story}

{brief public service announcement, my boy is ridiculously cute and that's why there is four photos instead of one following...}

{apparently Rupert and Cason got tired of my snap happiness}

{strong boys}

{daddies and the crew}

{Rupe saying hi to the ostriches from afar}

{Cason is braver :D}

this kid seriously cracks me up! Such a little poser, how could I not take a hundred pictures? as well as his beautiful momma. we are so glad to have them as friends and get to watch our little boys, and new babies (she's due 10 days before me) grow up together.

hard to believe that next year we will have our little bambinos with us as well and that our boys will be three! it goes by so fast and I am so thankful that I'm able to stay home with him. makes the mad house that we live in with little children running in circles worth it! well child is awake so I suppose I should close this off and go cuddle, man it's a hard life. happy falling!

Fall photo shoot 2011

Oh Fall how I love thee! I think Fall is by far my favourite time of year... especially for taking pictures of my boy. Every fall thus far we have done a little Fall photo shoot with the boy. You can find last years here and his very first here.

And here is this years. I amazed at the differences and also the similarities! So anyways, just photos for now, I'm just proud of myself for putting up a blog! Enjoy.

caaaammmppppiiinnnggg!!!!!!!!!

hello friends!!!!! here it is.. our camping adventure! Colin and I have only been camping with our families, never with each other so as we booked our site at Rathtrevor for our camping adventure panic set in as we realized we didn't know how to camp! I madly started writing lists of things we would need. And although our tent was too small, our axe too dull, and our food unglamorous... Rupert left the site in tears crying "more camping! more camping!"

We dined on hot dogs, smores and alphaghetties! I loved camping because although it's cliche it does really force you to slow down and relax because there really is nothing to do! so that's what we did... not a whole lot of anything. we played in the campsite, went for walks, went to the beach and played in the tent! it was lovely.

{he just keeps growing and growing this boy!!!!!! I don't always notice it day to day, but then I take a picture of him and there he is a lot older looking than the last...}

{after "helping" daddy get the fire ready}

Our boy loves camping. He had a perma smile on his face the whole time. We decided just to go for two nights as we didn't know how he would do. The first night was a gong show. We got Rupe a mattress that had a sleeping bag attached to it. Seems like a good idea right? he's locked in with no where to go.... oh wait except for up. He kept popping out the top of the sleeping bag and falling off his mattress! eventually we just brought him in with us... and the next night put him on top of his sleeping bag with some blankets... He slept from 9pm till 8am. what a champ!

This boy loves marshmallows! he asked for them for weeks afterwards. Although, when asked what his favorite part of camping was he said, "Aylah and Autumn" two of his friends from home who we did not see at all during camping. haha.

Rathtrevor was just the perfect place for our first camping adventure. It was close to home, close to the beach and also has a fantastic parks program! Including Jerry's Rangers, which although is not funded anymore they are choosing to still run! We got to see an owl... just saying.

I think Rupe was made for camping. I think we will have many more camping adventures in the coming years. Now that we have got our feet wet and have realized that camping with a toddler wasn't as bad as once imagined, I hope it will become a regular occurrence each summer.

Ucluelet adventure to come!

and without further delay... birthday number 2!

oh birthday number two... you happened about a month ago now and I am just sitting down to share you. shoot!

I read other momma's blogs and they are all so well spoken and have such deep and meaningful things to say about their lives and their children. But as I sit down to write about Rupert's second birthday party... all I have to say is that it was just plain old fun. Maybe I should buy a thesaurus so that I could use a different word than fun... hmmm. But honestly that is what it was. It was the best day. I stayed up ridiculously late the night before working on cupcakes and decorations because I am huuuuge procrastinator. But when the day came I just sat back and relaxed and had fun with my boy and our family and friends.

We could not have asked for better weather... it was perfect, which made a 2 year old's birthday party much more enjoyable as we all headed outside!

Anyways.. here are some photos from our 2 year old's big day!

{woodland animals theme, cute no?}

{opening presents... way too much fun! we were so blessed!}

{cuddles with my big boy}

{birthday boy!}

{could an Aunty get any cooler? I think not.}

{a ridiculously good looking family}

{such a scavenger. he mooched off of everyone's plates! Invited a buddy in for backup}

{Pinata time!}

{we were so blessed to have many friends and family join us on Rupe's birthday... including the ever cool Uncle Thomas who taught the kids how to walk down a hill properly. :D }

It was a wonderful day and it didn't end there but this post will for now. I will leave you with a photo of me and my boy on his last night as a one year old. I love my little buddy.