Thursday, September 17, 2009

Farm Fest 2009

Our town's annual Farm Fest, filled with some of our favorite things: apple picking, animal feeding, hay riding, tractor pulling, apple cider drinking and donut eating. Does it get any better than this? I heart fall (for oh-so-many reasons: the crisp weather, the sweaters, the changing leaves, but mostly--the return of decent television).



I swear he likes me--you'd just never know it by looking at his face.


I think we took at least ten thousand photos of him feeding the animals. Feel lucky I only posted this one.





18 at 18

Eighteen at eighteen
Weighs 27 lbs (50%), is 33 1/3 in. tall (75%) and has a 48 cm. head circumference (50%). Obsessed with boats. Loves all animals, especially dogs, cats and bears (tries to hug them...except for bears). Loves books. Loves nursery. Is a brute (loves wrestling with, jumping on and climbing all over dada). Throws everything. Drags shoe baskets around the entire house, stuffing his treasures inside. Has 25 plus words in his vocabulary but still signs for milk and please (favorite words: "tat" (for cat); "show" (for a movie); "take oo" (for thank you) and "aaaaarhh" (for bear). Plays constantly in the car (vroom) and truck. Has a classic throw (moves his whole upper body side to side before throwing it). Wants a show every two seconds (esp. the boat show, the bear show and the truck show). Can't get enough of his best pal Luna. Simply cannot function without his nigh-nigh. Is a lover of the great outdoors and constantly begs to go "side". Can throw a tantrum like nobody's business. Gives hugs with pats. Allows you to kiss him but never returns the favor (when asked for a kiss, just leans his head toward you so that you can plant one on him). Loves the boat park. Is a great bike rider (in our bike trailer--he just leans back, relaxes and puts his feet up). Loves babies and whenever we ask him if we should have a baby, he nods his head yes. Is quite possibly the cutest thing ever and we simply cannot get enough of him.
Here he is coloring. Notice how much of the ink is on him.
Posing with his mama on his first day of nursery.


This is how he MUST watch his shows: with blankey, dog and bear right by his side (the lack of shirt is the way he MUST eat his breakfast since he insists on raspberry jam on his toast and refuses to keep a bib on. Thus, I take off his shirt so that his clothes remain stain-free).

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Thank You, AAA Man

Dear Mr. AAA Man,
In accordance with my utmost and sincere gratitude, I would like to say a few words to express how deeply I appreciated your assistance last Tuesday morning. First and foremost, thank you for responding quickly to my call and arriving only a short 15-minutes later to Walmart, where your assistance was required. Secondly, and almost as importantly as the first, thank you for not being scary, smoking, beer-bellied, mechanic type but a decent, normal type with children who knew how to work a car seat. Thank you for not laughing at me when my "car" problem was that my steering wheel was locked and I really couldn't get it unlocked (lame problem, I know). Thank you even more for validating said problem by also being unable to start the car. Thank you for then not mocking me when determining that the real problem was that since I had tried too hard to get the key to turn in the ignition, I had then bent the key so badly that there was no way to start the car with that particular key. Thank you for then telling me that the problem could easily be remedied by using an alternate key. Thank you for waiting patiently for me to try to call my husband and beg him to come rescue me with his key, only to discover that my husband was, in fact, in meetings all day long. Thank you for, after offering to drop me off at my house, then offering to tow the entire car home to save my precious groceries. Thank you for spending over a half an hour trying to get my car onto your flatbed truck, my car being a bit of a stickler since the wheels were locked perpendicular to the car, making it impossible to steer straight (and making it impossible for other Walmart customers to leave their parking spaces due to one huge truck blocking their way. Dirty stares from fellow angry Walmart customers always makes my day). Thank you as well for strapping the car seat into the front seat of your huge truck, since I have little knowledge of this process (Josh always does this. I'm helpless, I know). Thank you for making my son's day by allowing him to ride in your monster truck. Thank you as well for smiling at my son's incessant screams of "truck" and the pointing out of every single truck we passed as well as pointing out the actual truck we were riding in. Thank you for not judging me that my son had on no shoes as he had long ago discarded them in the car back at Walmart while waiting for you to arrive. Thank you again for not judging me that I had NO spare key at home to start the car thus easing the transition of the car from flatbed truck to driveway. Thank you, then, for spending yet another half an hour depositing my car in our street. Thank you for not being present when you saw that, in fact, all this work could have been avoided had I had a spare key (my car quickly started with Josh's key later that day). Mostly, though, thank you for making my half hour trip to Walmart stretch out to more than two hours. I really can't think of a better way I would have liked to spend my morning. As the service you rendered was truly invaluable, you may rest assured that I am now a AAA customer for life.
Yours Truly,
A Valued (I'm sure) AAA Customer