Corn Maze

I was feeling a little down, because we were in North Carolina, far away from our favorite pumpkin patch we have visited the past two years. Luckily, Lori lives right near a farm that was doing lots of fun fall activities and invited us to go. That's how we ended up walking across the road from Lori's neighborhood to Green Acres farm, and spending a sunny October morning on a hayride getting licked by cows, wandering in a corn maze and jumping in a bouncy house.
Once we got onto the farm, we hopped right up on the wagon for the hayride. We drove past a little pond, through a field of cows and back to the main action. Jason got licked by a cow and we learned how to sign "cow" to Eliza, though she didn't feel like trying it herself. She was too busy taking it all in.

the cow that licked Jason - it's too bad we couldn't get a picture of that because it was QUITE the tongue.

After the hayride, Hayden insisted on going in the bounce house. It may have taken her awhile to get up the courage to enter a bounce house, but now that she's tried it, she's ready to jump whenever and wherever. She had a great time bouncing.

Then she tried her hand at milking a cow. You had to squeeze pretty hard to get any "milk" to come out but she managed.

Then we headed to the big draw of the day - the corn maze. This is what it looked like. Jason took a picture of it with his phone to use as a "map," though I'm not sure how much it helped us.

You were supposed to find ten stations throughout the maze, but we only managed to find 9 before we got tired and hungry. Eliza got bored early on and took a nap on my back. Hayden alternated between being bored in the stroller and eating anything we offered, and walking while insisting on being the "line leader" and telling us she'd find the next station with her "flashlight eyes."

the view of the cow pasture from inside the maze

After making an escape from the maze, Jason and I tried to "ring the bell" at a strong man game. Jason was indeed a strong man and rang the bell fairly easily on multiple tries. I had multiple tries but was unable to ring the bell. It's a lot harder than it looks - I was too worried about missing the pad to swing with all my might!

Then Eliza woke up and got to try climbing on the huge mound of hay they had for kids to play on. She wasn't too impressed, I think she was still waking up. She did do a wonderful "GQ" pose as Jason called it.

There were also plenty of other photo ops with those funny scene face cut outs. Lori and Wes did one near the corn maze. Then Lori got Hayden in a couple. Cute!and then right before we left to go find lunch, we stopped at the pumpkin display for some seasonal photo ops. Pumpkins were on the pricey side, but they still made a great backdrop. I do love a collection of pumpkins for taking photos! Hard to get the girls both smiling and looking at the camera in the bright sunshine, but even so, they still look cute. Also, please notice their themed shirts!

Happy October!

Eliza's big birthday

I think Eliza was really excited about her birthday. So excited that she was awake (sort of) at 12:01 am - it may have been teething, or maybe she just wanted me to wish her a Happy Birthday at the first possible moment. I did say Happy Birthday and then tried to ease her back into her crib to go to sleep. It sort of worked. She was up around 6 am again, and she got whisked into our bed for a little more sleep. We all got up around 7:30 after Hayden came to join us for a family birthday snuggle. Then we made birthday buttermilk pancakes and started the day!

E had a little trouble waking up - H was trying to "be cute" for the picture.

E got dressed in her birthday outfit so she's be ready for the day. She was all smiles!

Most of her birthday was fairly routine, at least for Eliza. There were pancakes, playing, a nap, a trip to Target, balloons, another nap and lots of smiles.

While Eliza was having fun, the rest of us were busy getting ready for her party. The main task (besides that trip to Target) was making the cake. I had decided to make a pumpkin cake for Eliza's birthday. She had loved zucchini bread, so I thought she'd like the light spices. Plus it was a way to welcome fall (even though it was in the 90s!) and to incorporate a little bit of State College. We had a pie pumpkin we'd picked up at our last stop at Way Fruit Farm on our way down to NC, and we needed to use it. This seemed like the perfect time!

A couple days earlier, Hayden had helped me cook the pumpkin. We cut it in half, seeded it, cut it into chunks and baked it. Once cool, I peel off the skin and pureed it.
I had lots of experience with pureeing from making baby food, so the puree turned out beautiful! And then, we followed this recipe and it turned into this!

Grammy and Granddad came into town, so Eliza had all of her grandparents in attendance at her party. She had a fun time opening presents. She actually played with everything as she opened things. Hayden was a big help of course, and VERY interested in everything that Eliza got. She liked her new water bottle, her new magnetic blocks and was especially excited about her new zoo train. Thanks Grammy and Granddad!
For dinner we had her favorites. Macaroni and cheese (homemade by Daddy!), fruit salad, and edamame. The adults got a green salad too with local pears and goat cheese. (We've been exploring local food options in NC!). Dinner was a big hit, with lots of food consumed.

Then there was a short walk outside, a few more presents, and finally THE CAKE! Eliza wasn't quite sure what to make of the burning candle. I think we could have hypnotized her with it if we had known how. And I'm not sure if she made a wish when I helped her blow out the candle, but she was ready to dig in when given her piece.

She was actually a fairly neat eater at first. Not too much cake wasted in being messy, it all went into her mouth. But apparently, we didn't give her enough cake. After she'd finished, I think she wanted more, because she went after the plate. And then things got a little more messy.
Don't worry, she did get more cake - the next day. And she enjoyed it then too! All in all, it was a great first birthday for our favorite blue-eyed baby. It's hard to believe it's been a whole year since she was born. Now she's walking, and starting to talk (said "nana" for banana quite clearly this morning), starting to sign (dog, airplane, tree, drink, etc.) Can't wait to see what the next year brings!

From this...
to this!

Hat's off to you, Eliza!!! Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Eliza!

There will be a more thorough entry soon, but I just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Eliza. She turned one two days ago. Can you believe it's been a year since she made her debut into the world? So far she's having a great time being one - walking at every chance she gets, eating whatever we will let her and just enjoying life. Happy Birthday Eliza - I hope your next year is even better than your first!

Eliza's walking!

A lot to post about, what with the move, and a family gathering of all the sisters and kids, meeting baby Charlotte, getting reacquainted with Durham, Hayden starting to use the potty, and everything else, but one of the biggest pieces of news is that Eliza is walking!!! She took her first steps just in time to be bragged about at the party we threw in honor of my mom's birthday, and has been working hard at two legged mobility ever since.

These aren't her first steps, but they are within a week. And as I write this she is actually toddling around the room! Today is the first day I've seen her really try to walk from point A to point B when there is some minimal distance involved. She's going to be running soon, I'm sure!





In other big Eliza news, she's starting to sign too. It is just so neat to watch her learn signs. I've seen her do more, cheese, drink, airplane, dog and baby. And she chatters up a storm. She actually "performed" for me just a couple minutes ago, as I was trying to capture her walking. Isn't she great?!

just because

Just because this is the CUTEST picture, but I couldn't quite fit it into the last post about Hayden's birthday.

B is for Baby Birthday Cupcakes

As I have a little bit of downtime while the girls nap (or sit quietly in their rooms chatting to themselves...) , I will write about Hayden's birthday. She turned THREE years old last month! I can't believe it's been so long from this...

to this...

We had a few friends over to help us celebrate her birthday. I think she had a great time being the center of attention. She was very into opening her gifts - reading the cards, finding out who they were from, and giving hugs to say thank you. She was especially excited about Candyland (which she had only recently learned how to play).
The highlight of her "party" was her selected dessert. Baby cupcakes. I had received this book for Christmas, and Hayden had enjoyed looking at all the different decorated cupcakes. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said baby cupcakes. No amount of encouragement would change her mind, and she stuck with that decision over several weeks. So I decided to try it. Brittany was kind enough to come over and help me with the decorating - Hayden helped too a little bit. And I think they turned out pretty cute! I give you

BABY CUPCAKES!

Hayden thought they were fantastic and couldn't wait to eat the. She did pretty well blowing out her candles and then dug right in. I think you can tell what her favorite part of the cupcake was.
The day after the party was her REAL birthday, and we celebrated it as a family. She got to open a big pile of presents. So big, it was climbable! Even Eliza tried to climb Mt. Present. She even tried to help with the unwrapping, but Hayden didn't need much help.
The reason the pile was so big was because from us, Hayden got a...... TRICYCLE!! She was thrilled since that was one of the few things she asked for consistently for her birthday (that and a baby crib (thanks Grammy!) and a doctor kit (thanks Aunt Lacey!). After nap time, she was ready to hop right on to test it out. She liked it a lot. Though I will admit, it has since been returned, because it wouldn't let her put on the breaks. (We're in the market for a balance bike or scoot bike. Any suggestions?!!!)

For her birthday dinner, Hayden had selected salmon and french fries. We were busy doing something (not sure what but probably related to the upcoming move), and didn't get around to heading out to get the salmon till just before dinner time. Alas, when we went to leave (Jason was already out dropping stuff off at our storage place), the car had a big ol' flat tire. Hayden was fascinated by this (ask her about it, she will still tell you the story), and a little bit bummed about not going to the store. But the Birthday Fairy waved her magic wand, and what should appear but the....

ICE CREAM TRUCK! We had yet to actually purchase anything from the truck, though it comes thru our neighborhood about once a week in the summer. We seized the opportunity since it was her birthday. So instead of salmon, Hayden had a sandwich for her birthday dinner - an ICE CREAM sandwich!

For the record, we did do her birthday dinner later on in the week. When I told her we were doing her birthday dinner, she said we couldn't "because my birthday was last week!" And then she promptly decided to eat NO salmon, despite having purchased it specially for her! :)

We also got to celebrate her birthday again a little bit when my parents came up to visit a week or so later. Hayden got a "band in a box" which she was very excited to open. She jumped up immediately to start dancing while playing the instruments. Eliza liked them too.

So there's the tale of Hayden's birthday. A little bit late, but still a lot of fun to tell. She is a darling, happy three year old these days who likes to "have a conversation", dance, sing, play with her babies and just generally enjoy life. She's still not quite big enough to fill our shoes, but she certainly keeps us entertained.

Happy Birthday Hayden!