Local Apples

Last year I went to a huge apple orchard the week Micah was due and had a blast with Camden.  We went on a hayride, jumped in a bouncy house, played on a swing set and ate ice cream.  Oh yeah, and we picked apples too.  It was super fun, but there was something special about the simplicity of our apple picking experience this fall.  Instead of driving an hour to a huge commercial orchard, we drove 10 minutes to the small local orchard in our very own town.  It didn't have the same hype surrounding it.  It was simple.  It was authentic.  We went all together as a family of four and the boys chomped on apples and laughed at Mama sitting high on Daddy's shoulders trying to reach the highest, juiciest looking fruit.  We've already made apple crisp once, munched on numerous apples throughout the last week, and there are still more...so I've decided I'm making apple crisp again tomorrow.  Take advantage of the season, right?!?

 I love small, family-owned, local farms and am so glad we had such a beautiful fall day to enjoy it!

Wonderful Whirlwind

We had such a wonderful weekend - full of outdoor adventures, our students, family, food...We're both exhausted heading into this week, but are so thankful for the time we got to spend together as a family this weekend.
On Saturday morning we had Scott's Economics students over to our house for breakfast! When we bought this home, we decided that we really wanted to share it, and it has been so fun to have kids over. They are always so thankful to get off of campus, have a homecooked meal and just be in a real home! Our boys, of course, had a blast with the big kids!

After the students left, my mom and I brought our boys just down the road to a little pumpkin festival. They had a huge pumpkin chunker that flies pumpkins through the air, but we left before that actually happened. Camden and Micah didn't care...they had fun walking around, seeing a few other friends and of course, Camden had fun eating a hot dog as a special treat!

After nap time we went over to watch Scott's soccer game. They tied 1-1 and I had the lovely task of trying to keep two crazy boys busy and happy when all they wanted to do was go stand with their Daddy! Oh, and do you like Camden's outfit - he refused to get out of his jammies - pick your battles!

We enjoyed a nice quiet evening together Saturday night and went to church on Sunday morning. I ended up having to hang out with Micah for most of the service, but Camden did a great job in the toddler room! Yahoo! After running a few errands, we came home and went for a walk down behind our house in the meadow. Some Proctor people were going on a trail ride, and Micah is obsessed with horses, so we thought it would be fun to go see them! We also let the boys sit on some huge tractors!

After everyone got back I even got to get up on one for a few minutes! :)

Camden was really excited to go look at the old, old car that is buried behind our house. There is a lot of history surrounding this little road and the three houses along it and there is some crazy stuff in the woods behind the house!

Scott finished residing most of the house last weekend! He's so handy! Next year we will paint and the exterior of our house will finally look as good as the inside!

Tonight we had one of Scott's advisees over for chili and cornbread. He's going through a tough time and (i think) he had fun getting off campus and hanging out with the boys (although Camden was a maniac running on not-enough sleep! Eeek! We'll see if this kid ever wants to come back again!).
Another busy week lies ahead. So thankful for my home, my family, our job, my boys and the beautiful place we live.

One Year

My littlest man just turned one year old on September 30th!  I can't even believe how quickly Micah is growing up.  He brings such joy to all of our lives.  He is happy, mischievous and has a smile that could light the world.  See how much our little guy has grown?!?!

We celebrated his life with a wonderful brunch with family.

  The birthday boy...

 Brotherly love...

 Mama's boy...

I just finished working on both boys' yearly photo books in which I document their year in pictures and a little note to them summing up all the things they learned and ways they grew.  Camden's note was included in his Birthday Blog last month and below is the note that appears in Micah's book reflecting on his first year.  As I was working on their books I enjoyed looking back at some of my old posts, especially Camden's Birth Story, Micah's Birth Story and Love Grows.  It's incredible how you can't imagine your life without your children.  We are so lucky to have our two boys who we love so deeply. 

    Micah,

You were born on Saturday September 30^, 2010 at 10:30am at Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital in Lebanon, NH.  You weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces and were 20.5 inches long.  Just like your brother, you were born six days past your due date, but you were well worth the wait.  You entered this world screaming, and I wondered if that was an indication of your personality, but you are the sweetest and happiest little boy I know.  To be honest, we were nervous to bring another child into this world and wondered how we would be able to share all of our love between two boys, but the moment I pulled you up onto my chest, my world changed forever.  You were perfect in every way and we were in awe at how immediate our overflowing love for you was.  You have definitely kept us busy this year, and although you are generally happy, you are a little mischief-maker!  You aren’t a very good sleeper.  You like to sleep right next to Mama and nurse every 2-4 hours throughout the night.  Your Daddy and I are pretty much always tired, but you’re worth it!  You smiled her first smile at 2 ½  weeks and Camden made you laugh for the first time at 11 weeks.  Your laugh is the most amazing sound in the world!   

Around 5 ½ months you started sitting up by yourself and you cut your first tooth just after turning 6 months old!  At 6 ½ months you started walking holding onto our hands, you learned to crawl at 8 months and you started walking completely on your own during the Women’s World Cup final game at 9 ½ months!  You love to communicate with us using sign language and learned your first sign, “book,” around 10 months old.  Now you can also sign more, night-night, eat, tubby, nurse, please, water, cheese, giraffe and elephant.  You don’t have many words yet, but you sometimes say “Mama” and “Dada” and you love to wave goodbye, give high fives and give lots of wet kisses!  You have pretty much sustained yourself on blueberries and breastmilk, but are finally starting to eat a little more food now that you are one.  You love to climb up the stairs even though you aren’t supposed to and you have a tendency to steal your brother’s toys, which makes him really mad.  You like to sneak into the bathroom and splash around in the toilet bowl and you generally get more food on the floor than in your mouth.  But, you have the brightest smile and the sweetest disposition we couldn’t imagine our world without you in it.     

Happy First Birthday, Micah Gray.  We love you to pieces! 

Beech Hill

Last week my mom joined me and my friend Amy and our kiddos for a fun trip to Beech Hill Farm.  I'm obsessed with this place for many reasons.  First of all, they have delicious homemade ice cream and give big servings!  There are SO many places like that in MA where I went to college, and I really miss being able to eat huge servings of ice cream at an affordable price on a daily basis!  Beech Hill also has so many fun animals to look at, cool trails to hike, corn mazes to explore and a huge pile of dirt with tons of trucks for the boys to play with.  In fact, Camden is obsessed with these trucks and pretty much refused to go anywhere else.  Needless to say, we didn't join Amy and her kids in the corn mazes and kind of did our own thing...but we had a great time with my mom and enjoyed one of the last warm, sunny days of fall.

 Camden's favorite activity...

 Love these two little men...

 Micah was trying to climb up to see the pigs too!