YELLOW

You may or may not know that my kid's favorite color is yellow. If you don't know, you haven't been around him the past few weeks. Anything yellow is awesome. If you ask him how old he's going to be, he'll tell you "yellow." He will only drink out of yellow cups. It is as fun as it sounds. So Stinker was thrilled to the depths of his little toddler soul when we went out to buy mums Sunday morning.


The yellow ones smell the best, apparently.


And when he smells them ... he SMELLS them. I had to tell him more than once not to eat them.

So excited by yellow flowers he can't stand it.

Then I blew his mind by taking him to the yellow aisle. He ran up and down yelling YEYYOW!!!

Uh Oh Mommy! (he didn't actually knock this one off, but he was VERY CONCERNED about it).

This one wasn't even for sale; he just ran over to their landscaping to continue his yellow party.

Being Indiana, the ridiculously nice people at the greenhouse let Colin pick out a free! little yellow perennial to take home. Guess I know what color cupcakes I should make when Colin turns "yellow" next week!

fall fun

Are you sick of my fall photo extravaganza yet? While I overdose on pumpkin spice lattes and caramel apples, enjoy More Fun Fall Pictures!

We put Colin to work sweeping the leaves off the driveway this weekend.

He's gotten over his recent fear of leaves (my child) ... and now enjoys throwing them in the air...

Although he has a baby-sized rake, he insists on using Mike's.

spent some time burying dad in leaves

and jumping into the leaves himself

Mom got some cuddles ...

While dad was ordered to give rides around the yard

then he said "night night" and laid down on Mike. ha!

Nothing cooler than a guy with his own leaf pile, so Sophia came over and jumped right in.

Serious toddler gibberish conversation was going on at this point. This is right before Colin threw a bunch of leaves at Sophia. Thankfully, she laughed.

Then they ran up to the porch and climbed into the rocking chair together.

I was there with a camera... as I plan to be on all their future dates. I know, they look thrilled.

day at the orchard

In my never-ending quest to embrace everything Fall, on Saturday afternoon we took Colin to the apple orchard and pumpkin patch.

Colin's favorite part was the two dogs that live there. As it turns out, I know one of the owners of the apple farm (The headless farmer below). He asked if Colin would like to pet the dogs. I said, "oh probably not, he gets scared up close."

So Colin immediately ran up and started petting the dogs and telling them about their tails.

Then they asked if he'd like to go on a haywagon ride. I said, "oh, I don't know if he'd put up with that or not..." So we asked him and got an immediate "YES! Tractor!!" So off we went.

It was a perfect day for a hayride.. other than the 50 mph winds.

So we headed out to the pumpkin patch, where Colin began to scream, "APPLES!" Close, buddy. The dogs came on the wagon with us. I honestly believe this may have been the highlight of Colin's life. We've been hearing about it for two days now. "Puppies! Ride! Tractor!"

I had visions of getting cute pictures of Colin frolicking in a pumpkin patch. This is what I got.

The older farmer and Colin had a sweet moment when he gave him a squash to keep. Sadly, Colin dropped it on the hayride back and the sweet sweet puppy ATE IT.

Did I mention it was very windy?

Colin loved the tractor wheels and spent lots of time playing in them. This was an old old John Deere tractor that we liked to think maybe Grandpa Louie helped build.

So after buying a ton of apples and a pumpkin, we headed home. Colin helped find the perfect place to put the pumpkin on our porch.

My pumpkins.

sunday morning snapshot

helping mommy make pumpkin muffins

Power of Love Tour 2011: Trip to Virginia!!

Thursday night Mike and I set off for our long-awaited road trip to Virginia for our friends Emily and Jeremiah's wedding. Emily is my oldest friend in the world. We have been friends since we were three - just a year older than Colin - in nursery school together. This is us, circa 1982:


fast-forward 29 years ...

Emily's wedding was held on the most perfect fall day, on top of a mountain in the Shenandoah Valley. It was so Emily and just ... perfect.

(those are actually cows behind emily.. they seemed very unimpressed with the whole party).

We had a wonderful time :)

The setting was perfect and the dinner and reception were literally something out of a magazine. We watched the sun go down behind the mountains and danced the night away.

We took advantage of the opportunity to drive through scenic national forests, eat at great little local places, and spent Saturday exploring Charlottesville and the surrounding areas. We spent the afternoon at Blenheim Vineyards, which is owned by Dave Matthews. Unfortunately, it was not one of his random, unannounced stopby days (I interrogated the tasting guy thorougly on this point). But it was a gorgeous setting and we enjoyed some tasty wine and sitting in the sunshine

But, after a long drive home Sunday, we were thrilled to get back to this guy:

(this is his "camera smile" face he's been doing.. hilarious).

We hear that Colin had a great weekend with his grandma and grandpa, who were nice enough to stay with him all weekend so we could have a getaway. Picutres of our roadtrip and Emily's wedding are here: http://tinyurl.com/3cqxchh .

Class pic

Is this a surly group, or what?

pics of our trip to virginia coming soon!

dancin' man

Colin is obsessed with this song on Mike's Frank Sinatra CD.. his rendition of "EIEIO". He asks for us to put on the song.. and then he does this bizarre dance... you can't help but laugh at him...

and... the return of the 'happy feet' dance!