Fun Fun.

We've been loving the fall here. . .we're very busy, but having lots of fun...here are some photos.


I know that jeans and a tank top don't exactly scream 'fall' to many of you, but in Texas, it's the way. She did have a sweatshirt on earlier in the day. Abby is a very calm, observant baby. If we take her somewhere with enough action going on, she'll watch for a long, long time and not become upset or try to escape her stroller as big brother often did.

Today was the annual homecoming parade and, as always, it did not disappoint. Nathanael loves, loves, loves the parade.


This year he actually understood that it was candy they were throwing and was pretty excited about filling his bag. It was pretty cute! And I am not kidding when I tell you that a couple times Matthew had to be gently reminded that it was not cool to compete with children for candy. Once he actually had to hand a piece to another child after basically snatching it right out from under her hand*. His self-control is that of an infant when it comes to candy. Here is Nathanael showing off his loot.

For this year, Abby was content with a straw.

This afternoon we went to the pumpkin patch. I think actually it would be more appropriate to just say we went to the farm because of all the fun activities they had, the pumpkin patch ranked low low lowest of all. It was basically about fifteen pumpkins thrown in the same general area.

Nate enjoyed racing ducks,


riding the cow trains (This thing went really fast, actually. It did have a seat belt, which was good, and he had his little 'I'm proud of myself for doing this alone' look on his face the whole time, but didn't want to do it again.),

and above all else, shooting the corn guns. What's a corn gun, you ask? Well, it's a gun that shoots corn. Duh.

I suppose the look of mild terror on her face upon boarding the hay ride should have tipped us off that maybe this wasn't going to go well. . .she hated it. The whole ride she alternated between clutching me and screaming and trying to get the heck off of the hayride however possible (which obviously resulted in me clutching her as tightly as possible.) Nate, on the other hand spent most of the ride jumping from seat to seat and trying to stand up during the bumpier parts. Cut from very different cloths, these two.

And finally, a rare family photo.



*ETA: I told Matthew that I had shared the story of when he 'had to give that little girl the candy' and his response (no kidding) was, 'I didn't have to give it back. And I only gave her one piece-I kept the other for myself.' Not only is his self-control alarmingly low, but he also apparently believes brownie points are deserved for this eensy-weensy display of generosity. And by generosity I do mean lapse in greed.