Anniversary

Today is mine and Ed's 8 year wedding anniversary. Traditionally, the gift for the eighth anniversary is bronze or pottery (?) but Ed (thankfully) opted to give me beautiful flowers and a lovely card and I gave him music and a card as well. Happy Anniversary, Ed! Love you!

More Autumn Fun

We've been learning about apples over the past few weeks and Fletcher has been asking to make an apple pie, so while at the grocery store yesterday I got the things we needed. Fletcher enjoyed helping slice the apples, pouring in the sugar and cinnamon, and pouring the apples into the pie shell. Daddy put the pie into the oven and 50 minutes later...ding, ding, ding.....Apple Pie! Today we bought mums on our way home from school.

Apple Festival!

Saturday afternoon we wanted something to do outdoors to enjoy the beautiful weather, so we decided to go to the Taylorsville Apple Festival. We got there about 2pm and Fletcher enjoyed all the bouncers, riding the little blue train around town, and listening to live music. We all enjoyed eating funnel cake and drinking fresh lemonade and apple cider (Fletcher got to help toss apples into the cider press), and people-watching.

Sock Puppets!

Well, we didn't end up going to my Mom's this weekend. So Saturday morning while Ed caught up on some much needed and deserved sleep, Fletcher and I had a great time making sock puppets and painting a backdrop for a puppet show. When Daddy woke up we put on a puppet show for him starring a farmer and little girl who wanted to buy the "biggest pumpkin in the whole wide world"! It was a blockbuster!

Pumpkin Patch at DUMC

Today the boys and I stopped at the Pumpkin Patch at Davidson United Methodist Church on the way home from school. The boys enjoyed looking at big pumpkins and small pumpkins, orange ones and white ones, and gourds of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Trying to get in as much fall as we can!

To the Farmers Market with the Boys

Today Cam, Fletcher, and I decided to head to the library and playground but made a stop by the Farmer's Market on the way. The boys loved climbing on the big red caboose. We saw tomatoes, beautiful flowers, and green peppers. We had a very nice morning together and played very hard at the playground so we all took a very good nap, too.

Carving Pumpkins

Emma Kate invited us to her house to carve pumpkins on Sunday night. Tonya made us a delicious dinner and we had fun visiting with Tonya's family and Danielle some more.

Pumpkin Patch

We just got back from the Carrigan Farms Pumpkin Patch and couldn't wait to look at my pictures. This year we went with Chris, Tonya, Emma Kate, and Jack (our 3rd year with the Harrington's), Evelyn and Nickolas, and Danielle. We all had a great time! Danielle is a photographer and I am so glad she wanted to take pictures at the pumpkin patch with us! I'm sure she got some great ones! We all enjoyed a "family dinner" of pizza afterwards. Much, much fall time fun! Plus, Danielle took a look at my camera and changed some settings so it will take better pictures! Yeah! Here are some of my pics of Fletcher enjoying the day. Can't wait to see Danielle's!

Beautiful Niece

Just wanted to share with you all a photo of our beautiful niece Emily that Cathy and Louis recently emailed. We have another beautiful niece, Caitlin, but don't have a recent one of her (hint, hint). Emily is celebrating her 7th birthday this month.

At the Fire Station

While Mommy was at a baby shower, Fletcher and Daddy attended an open house at the Cornelius Fire Department and by all reports had a wonderful time. Fletcher got an individual tour of a fire truck and learned about all the parts, got to spray a real fire hose, won a drawing to ride up to the top of the ladder of the ladder truck (110 ft in the air) in a 'cherry picker', and enjoyed bouncing in the bouncer there. He came home with a firefighters helmet, a Fire Chief sticker, and a coloring book! Being a firefighter is hard work and our Jr. Firefighter is now asleep in the sofa.

Recent Projects

I've been feeling crafty lately. I made custom burp cloths for Emily's baby shower (lovely!) with cloth diapers and ribbon and fabric. Also made Halloween cards for Fletcher's class at preschool. Let me know what you think. I'm obviously no product photographer. Is there a market for super cute burp cloths for baby shower gifts? I can see these in numerous color schemes!

Busy Days in the 'Boro!

Fletcher and I just got back from my Mom's. We had gone on Sunday to help her do some things to get ready to move. My Mom had so much stuff! I know we all acquire stuff in life, but we put 12 big black garbage bags full of junk at the curb over the past 3 days! Mom needed to pare down because she hasn't in many years and she is moving into an apartment from a house. Aaron and I worked really hard since Mom isn't really able to do the physical work of sorting, etc (although she did more than she should have and was really feeling poorly today). We sorted stuff in storage into trash/keep/sale. At her house we went through 55 years worth of cards, letters, photos, mementos, etc. I put in order all the photos I had sent my Mom since Fletcher's birth and placed them into albums. We cleaned and painted 4 large potting containers, 2 tables, and 6 lawn chairs. We cleaned out bathroom and kitchen cabinets, bedroom closets, drawers, desks, and more. Whooo! I'm tired just thinking about it! But it's 12 bags of stuff she doesn't have to move to her new apartment or that will have to be gone through during the actual move. And hopefully rids Mom of some 'baggage'. Fletcher did great and really kept himself occupied a lot of the time. We'll be going back in 2 weeks to help some more and maybe start the actual move. Wish us luck!

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The Orchard at Altapass

Today we headed west and went to the Orchard at Altapass in Little Switzerland, NC. We went last year and I couldn't wait to go back! It is such a beautiful and special place. If you want character, this is the place! A great photo op. Glorious views! We enjoyed cloggers, a hayride, the Hit or Miss Band, and a walk in the orchard. Fletcher enjoyed climbing trees and collecting sticks. There were no apples to pick this year because their crop was destroyed by a late frost that killed all the apple blossoms. Between the 3 of us we ate a fried apple pie (Jo), and apple (Fletcher), ice cream (Ed and Fletcher), and homemade fudge (Jo and Ed). Yum! They also have crafts and everything you can thing of made from apples! Such fun!

Thomas and Bob!

Today, Fletcher, Ed, and I went to the NC Transportation Museum in Spenser, NC for Day Out With Thomas. We saw a fire truck, took a train ride, saw a Bob the Builder show, took a look a old cars and trains, enjoyed climbing and bouncing in the bouncers, got a Dizzy tattoo, and much more. The weather was nice (not too hot) and we all had a good time!

Bathtub Fun

Fletcher and Ed had a great time at bath time the other night. Ed told the story of the shark and the ducky (similar to the tortoise and the hare.) Fletcher enjoyed "shaving" Daddy and I got some giggles watching Fletcher shave Daddy. Then we made some "pictures" with Fletcher's hair: that's what he calls it when we sculpt shapes from shampoo and hair!

Boys and Trucks

Cam, Fletcher, and I got a treat on Wednesday. When we arrived home from school we found road paving machines in our neighborhood, on our road. The boys got an up close look at a bulldozer, a road roller, and a paving machine. A dream come true!