Prayer request

Please be praying for this family at http://mycharmingkids.net as the writer mom gives birth to a baby boy tomorrow morning who has a serious heart condition. I've been following her blog for awhile now, and her faith and strength in the Lord are so encouraging and inspirational.

Birthday Weekend

This weekend was Andy's 30th birthday, and we had a great time celebrating. Friday night I threw a surprise party for him that was a ton of fun. It's really hard to keep that kind of surprise from the person you live with, especially when the party is at your house, but somehow I got all the planning and cleaning done on the sly, and it worked! Then on Saturday, Quinn's Grandma Mary and Grandpa Dennis kindly agreed to come and spend the night with Quinn so we could go downtown overnight. We stayed at a 5-star hotel that we love, ate 2 great meals, and had a wonderful time just the two of us. I loved having a weekend to focus a lot of attention on my awesome husband because he couldn't be a more loving husband or daddy. :)

Today we tried to be outside as much as we could, even though it was super windy, because it's supposed to get really cold the next few days, with maybe some flurries. Yikes! I love the colors of the leaves, so I had to get some pictures of us goofing around after we raked a bit.

And finally, in honor of Andy's birthday, I am finally posting video of Quinn singing the Notre Dame fight song. He sings all kinds of songs these days, but this is definitely his favorite.

Russell Farm

We went to another farm this weekend. As I mentioned earlier, I am LOVING fall this year, which, as those of you who have known me for a long time know, is a big development for me. I usually dislike fall because I hate winter, and fall leads to winter. Thankfully, this year, I've been praying that I would get over my weather issues (I'm just a sunlight-warmth-loving girl!), and I think I have! One of the things I've loved about this fall is all the playing we're able to do outside without worrying about sunburn or overheating. I've made it my quest to take advantage of as many pumpkin patches and farms as we can, and I think we've done a good job! Thanks to my friend Virginia, we discovered Russell Farms, which I think is our favorite place so far.

Going on a hay ride

This might be kind of cheesy, but I just loved the drama of the blue sky and cornfield.

Quinn loves goats now because they seem to be at every farm. This farm was the first one where he could actually hug one . . . so he did! (:

Petting the goats. Please note that this is not wind blowing Quinn's hair straight up in the air--that is just what it does these days. I love it, but I think we're going to have to get a haircut this week.

Walking through the corn maze.

Big corn, little boy.

Love my baby!

P.S. A special hi to Quinn's overseas Poppa S. and Papa Bruce, who are checking this blog miles and miles away! Poppa S. is in Hong Kong, and Papa Bruce is in Italy. We can't wait to see you again soon and hear about your trips!

Our Backyard

Andy and I have lived in our house since we moved in the day after our honeymoon. Looking back, I realize how young we were and how little we knew what to look for in a house. I thought we'd live here for 5 years tops--it's been over six already with no end in sight--and I gave very little thought to how the house would be with kids, especially paying no attention to the backyard, which I didn't even see until we were in the process of buying the place. I realize now how blessed we were to have "fallen" into a home that is just a wonderful place to have a little family. We live on a very un-busy street, have wonderful neighbors all around us, and we have a great, great backyard. As Quinn has gotten older, I've realized more and more how awesome our yard is. Where as before we had a child, I literally only stepped far enough into the yard to lay out in the summer, we now run all over the place, and we find new things all the time. This summer, for example, my dad showed us that one of our trees is an apricot tree. Every day for weeks thereafter, Quinn and I picked apricots off the tree and ate them while we played. What a treat! Anyway, I know I'm waxing poetic about a pretty mundane topic, but a good backyard is a blessing to a stay-at-home mom with a very energetic little one, and I'm so thankful for it!
These pictures were from our discovery today--raking and playing in leaves. Quinn thought it was just awesome to crunch, throw, rake, and dive in the leaves. I thought it was great that we have a plentiful supply of free "toys" for the next few weeks!

And I just love this sweet picture that needs a short explanation. I think I've mentioned before how Quinn loves to be "like Daddy", by wearing his shoes, ties, or shirts or playing sports Daddy plays. I've actually discovered I can use that as a manipulation, I mean, a motivation for things I need Q to do, i.e. "Blow your nose like Daddy!" Well, lately Quinn has discovered that he has pockets in most of his outfits, and I get such a kick out of seeing him walk around with his hands in his pockets like such a big boy. In this picture, Quinn saw Andy walking with his hands in his pockets and quickly copied him. I love how he's looking up at his hero-daddy too. So sweet! There's no one I'd want Q to be like more. ( :

Crazy Kid!

How hilarious is the following picture?! Quinn and I met my good friend Amy for lunch the other day. She wanted to take a picture of Q, so I told him to say cheese. And this is what he did. I have never seen him make this face before, so I'm so happy she caught it! When I look at him sometimes, and actually more and more these days, I see these glimpses of an ornery-but-so-funny kid, and I wonder what my life is going to turn into soon! ( :

And here is my sweet, sweet boy. I was taking pictures, so of course he had to get his camera too. I love this picture. (Christina, do you recognize this shirt?!)

And finally, how could I take pictures in the backyard with pumpkins without the silly pumpkin face appearing again?

Ahhh. I love my crazy boy!

Fantastic Fall!

This has been a gorgeous week. The weather is incredible--today is 80 degrees and tomorrow we might break the record of 86 degrees! It's almost too warm for my liking because I'm anxious to get Quinn into new fall clothes as I'm tired of his summer clothes. But I'll take the sunshine and warmth while we can get it! Today Andy and I took Quinn back to Tuttle Orchard and picked our own pumpkins. Quinn wasn't as smiley as usual because he has a bit of a cold and was quite warm. Still, we got some cute pics.

The tree line in our backyard is now turning colors, and the colors are just brilliant this year. I decided to take some pics outside the other day, and even though I cropped most of them so tightly you can't really see the leaves, I was still happy with these because they really show Q's personality.

p.s. Don't forget you can click on the collages to see the pictures bigger. (:

Pumpkin Patch

My mom, sister, and niece went with us to a nearby farm/pumpkin patch last week. It was an overcast day that, lucky for us, had a few breaks in the clouds just during the hours we happened to be there. As a result of the cooler temps, we only saw about 5 other people, so the kids had a blast with the place all to themselves. We were so excited about some of the beautiful pictures my mom took of the kids who were matching in their overalls (yes, that was planned).

Here are the two cousins looking at the camera, at the same time, and in happy moods for the first time ever! A miracle!!

I just loved these kind of artistic shots of Quinn chasing the geese.

Looking oh-so-boy and down home on the farm. I adore overalls on little kids!

Pretending to drive the tractor, though with his hair blowing in the wind, this picture looks like he really is driving!

This is Quinn's "silly pumpkin" look, as he named it. Some of you might remember that this "Oh!" face has been around since he was about 9 months old, but I haven't seen it for awhile. It still cracks me up.

I loved how they hung real pumpkins all over this tree.

I've got sunshine . . .

Okay, so is it even possible to look at the above picture without smiling yourself? How hilarious is Quinn's cheesy face? As you can see in the below collage, he made this face a few more times for my dad, who was trying to take a normal picture of him looking like such a little boy in his ND jersey and his new sneakers! I love this picture so much, so I had to begin my post with it.

Obviously, my little piece of sunshine in boy form keeps me well aware of the blessings I have instead of focusing on what I've recently lost. These last two weeks I have purposefully stayed very busy, almost insanely busy, so we could have an overload of fun. In the last two weeks, we've gone to story hour, at least 3 parks, the zoo for the first time, to mom's group at church, the Children's Museum, home to my parents' house, to a farm for the first time, to a pumpkin patch, and to music class. Whew! I have some cute pictures to share from our recent adventures, many of which are taken by either my dad or my mom, since both of them have a great eye for picture opportunities and free hands to take advantage of those opportunities!

Most of our fun times are shared with my sister and niece Fiona, who Quinn calls "Mina" or "Wee-na". We find good toddler activities to do on the days my other niece is in school. These pictures are from the Children's Museum, and in the above collage is a picture of the two of them at the zoo. It's to the point now that Quinn just assumes Mina will be there when we go somewhere. The other day he got in his play car and said, "Bye-bye, Mama!" I said, "Where are you going?" and he said, "To zoo." I asked him what he was going to see there, and he said, "El-fants and Mina.". Of course!