Week 138

Oct 19-25

We had lots of fun this week! Now that I'm looking at all my pictures I'm realizing we had a busy week. It is definitely starting to feel more like October. The October I remember as a kid...not the Florida October (which feels like a regular person's June....haha). The leaves are starting to change, the air is becoming cool and crisp at night, and there are fun, fall activities to partake in. :)

Random: these first few pictures were taken by my sister Caroline!

One of the most important things I did this week was finally finish my application to transfer my nursing license from Florida to South Carolina. For all my nurse friends who have never had the pleasure of doing this, let me warn you. It is a PAIN IN THE @**!!! The application alone was 14 pages and it had many, many detailed steps to complete before I could turn it in.

I'm talking FBI checks, SLED checks, digital fingerprints, 2x2 passport photo, online verification using their program to verify that I carry a license in FL, a copy of everything from my birth certificate, to my social security card, to my nursing license. It took forever, but I FINALLY put it in the mail!!! Hopefully it was all done correctly because it cost $$$ hundreds of dollars and is non-refundable. Another thing I did was start applying for jobs. I haven't found a job yet that I feel is "perfect" yet, but I am applying because at this point I just need a job. I can continue looking in the next year or two for the one I really want.

Okay back to the more fun things of the week. We finally had a play date with Hailee. Let me explain. Ed has a friend from high school that he hasn't hung out with in a long time. He has a daughter who is close in age to Jack. She is super cute and we have kept up with her through Facebook for the past few years. We have always said she and Jack should meet. Well they did and it was love at first sight! Jack had a blast with her. At one point she went to the bathroom and he started crying saying, "I want my Hay-hee!" So cute!

We definitely need to get those two together again.

For the weekend we headed up to Sumter on Saturday to Grandma's house (Ed's mom). We brought Hope with us so she could play with Ed's moms dog, Scarlet. Jack started playing this new game where he pretends he is a doggie. He crawls around on all fours and begs for treats. If you don't play along he gets annoyed. It is pretty hilarious. At least he is using his imagination.

Our plan was to check out this Farm that had a real pumpkin patch along with all kinds of activities for kids. Well when we got there they were closed for a "private party" so it was kind of a bust. They re-opened on Sunday at noon so we decided we would go the next day. Jack started getting upset when we turned around so we quickly decided on a Plan B and took him to a local church in Sumter that sold pumpkins. We told him that was the pumpkin patch that we had been talking about all morning and he didn't seem to notice the difference.

We let him play in the pumpkin patch and run around for a little while. He kept insisting that he wanted a "little pumpkin" so that is what we got him. Ed picked out a big pumpkin to carve for his moms front porch. We got some cute pictures of the boys. We definitely realize how much harder it is to get a picture of four people. Nearly impossible.

When we got home we carved our pumpkins. Jack actually decorated his with a kit that Cindy had bought for him. He had a blast. It was so cute how serious he was in executing the task of decorating his beloved "little pumpkin." When Ed was gutting the big pumpkin he kept trying to get Jack to help him. Jack was grossed out by the slimy insides of the pumpkin so Ed kept putting it on his arm. It was hilarious because Jack would get so mad that Daddy interrupted his little pumpkin time.

Abel just chilled in the background and watched from the arms of whoever was holding him. Maybe next year he will be more excited about Halloween.

The next day we headed back out to the farm to check out all of the fun. Jack went straight for all of the fun things they had for kids to play on. There was a huge bounce thing to jump on, wooden tractors to climb on, and a gigantic dirt hill with tube slides. We let him wear off some energy and then we rode the big tractor out to the corn maze. Talk about hilarious! Me, Ed, his mom, Abel, and Jack all wandering through a corn maze to try and find check points with clues to solve a crime. Since it is so late in the season the corn was pretty much dead and so it was easier to see through the path to the check points. Thank goodness, because we would have been LOST! :) It was fun walking around.

We were pretty hungry after the maze so we decided to go into the little shop for some lunch. They had all kinds of goodies and served the cokes in glass bottles, which was a nice touch. After my cheeseburger I had a homemade pumpkin milkshake...yummy!!!

That night we watched the Steelers game and drove two sleepy kids home. Jack went straight to bed in his Steelers jersey since he was fast asleep and wouldn't let me take it off. It was a lovely family weekend.

Week 137

Oct 12-18

We went to the South Carolina State Fair! This year it is free for military and since we had our military ID cards for a few more days we figured it was a great idea. Who doesn't love fair food? We picked a day in the middle of the week and got there in the morning right as they opened. It was a little bit overcast, but nice because there wasn't a huge crowd. Now that we have two kids, we really try to avoid a crowd. There is nothing worse then trying to keep a 2 year old happy while waiting in line.

This was one of our first big outings as a 4 person family. Luckily we had an extra set of hands. Uncle Ryan (Ed's brother) came along with us. We figured we would get there in the morning (this is when 2 year olds are in a good mood), walk around and look at the animals, ride some rides, and then indulge in some delicious fair food for lunch. All in all, a great plan for the day.

We got there and scoped out where everything was. Most of the "little kid" rides were grouped together and the minimum height to ride on most of them was 36". Jack measured in at around 39". The next height for some of the rides was 42" so hopefully he will be there next year. There was still plenty for him to do.

We walked through quite a few buildings to look at animals. There were cows, pigs, goats, sheep, and tons of chickens. We also saw an elephant and a camel behind the tents. Personally, I'm not a big fan of animals at the fair. It seems kind of cruel to tie them so they can just stand there for people to look at them. Worse than the zoo...at least at the zoo they have a little bit of space to move around. Oh well. Jack loved it. He fed the goats and made some fast friends.

The rides were pretty neat. He went crazy for the fire truck. The motorcycle was funny because it kind of went up and down like there were hills and he looked like Evil Knievel or something. Every ride he went on alone he took very seriously. It was adorable.

There was this one "fun house" type thing you could walk through. I had to go with him. There were noises, distorted mirrors, moving floors, etc. At the very end there was this cylindrical piece that moved in a circle. In order to get out of the house you had to walk across it. Well Jack didn't realize initially what it was doing so he decided at first to just walk right on it. Of course it started moving him up and then he slid down toward the bottom. He freaked out and jumped back out onto me. I had to push him to go to the other side. I would have carried him, but I already had the baby on me and couldn't risk it. His face was priceless and I was laughing hysterically. Such a mean mommy. I couldn't help myself.

Uncle Ryan, Ed and Jack played one fair game. The good old shoot the water at the target. Of course since they were the only ones playing someone automatically won a prize. We got Jack a big fluffy monster type stuffed animal thing. I love how intense Ryan and Ed are while they are playing. Competitive much? Jack thought it was fun so that's all that matters.

After all the games, animals, and walking around it was finally time for lunch. Mmm...FAIR FOOD! My favorite part! Apparently there were these amazing corn dogs at this one particular stand. Well Jack loves corn dogs so we had to try them out. They were SO GOOD!! Huge! Jack loved it. Ed was on the hunt for an Elephant Ear (better known as a funnel cake). He found one and it was awesome as well. Jack and I split a strawberry shortcake for our dessert. Yum, yum, yum!

I think the last picture of Jack at the fair with food all over his shirt and face pretty much sums up the end of the day. We had a great time and will definitely check it out again next year! Sadly once we got home Daddy had to leave for his trip to Pittsburgh. It would be my first time alone with the boys without Ed's help. We had planned on Jack staying with Uncle Ryan and Aunt Amanda, but Amanda was coming down with a bad cold and didn't want to get Jack sick. Lucky for me Aunt Caroline was on fall break from Clemson and came down to stay with us so I had a ton of help.

I really wanted to get Jack's fire fighter room put together. I had been collecting all of the stuff for the past year and couldn't wait to decorate! I waited until we moved when he got a big boy bed. Caroline helped a TON! We had to paint tables and chairs, shelves, and his 'JACK' letters. Then we had to put everything up on the wall, make the bed, organize everything. Doesn't seem like a whole lot of work but when you have the day already filled with feeding, diapering, bathing, and entertaining two children your slate is pretty much full.

This particular weekend we also baked Halloween cookies. Caroline has witnessed my neurotic cookie making tendencies before. She helped me make the cookies for Jack's 2nd birthday party (appropriately fire fighter themed...haha). I'm surprised she was up for the challenge knowing what a perfectionist I am. She is a lot like me in the fact that she likes to do creative things and she likes to bake too. :)

We actually got in a little over our heads. Originally there was going to be 3 cookies: a pumpkin, ghost, and bat. Well I got a new box of cookie cutters to add to my collection. 101 new cookie cutters. We ended up making pumpkins, ghosts, bats, witches, haunted houses, candy corn, and black cats! Simple cookie decorating turned into two nights of hard work with hours of frosting coloring and decorating. Haha! It was so worth it though, because they looked AMAZING!

All in all the whole weekend was a success. We spent lots of time playing with the boys. Here is a picture of Jack doing his "ABC's" puzzle. It was great spending time with my little sister. :)

Week 136

Oct 5-11

I thought it would be fun to put a couple of comparison pictures of Jack and Abel. They look similar in some ways, but very different in other ways. I think they look like brothers, but they have their own unique traits. I can't wait to see what Abel will look like when he gets a little older.

So one morning this week we decided that we were sick of being cooped up in the house. We decided to go and get some fresh air. We drove to a local state park called Sesqui-Centennial. It was a beautiful day with cool, crisp, fresh air. There was tons of stuff for us to do. I wrapped up Abel and he pretty much slept the whole time. First we walked around and checked everything out. There was this old log cabin from the 1700's that had been moved from a remote location to the park. It was taken down log by log and rebuilt on site. Pretty cool.

There was also a huge park that Jack could play on. There were some other kids he hung out with for a little bit. He had a blast. After I fed Abel we decided to hike the trail around the lake. It was a little over 2 miles but we didn't care. Jack was a trooper and loved walking through the woods. We sang songs, pointed out birds, and enjoyed the sunshine. Fall was in the air and the leaves had just started changing. It was beautiful.

Jack and Abel looked super cute in their Halloween shirts. :) Here are some pictures.

Jack continues to be a good big brother. Abel is really starting to get big!