Pumpkin Carving

Last night Amelia and I had a girls night with Lisa and Marie! Lisa had her own pumpkin patch this year and it yielded around 30 pumpkins, wow! She gave some away but still had around 15 left so she invited Marie and I over to carve some. Amelia wasn't too interested in the whole process at first. She just kind of stared:



We eventually just let her run around and play and she eventually joined us on her own and found herself a chunk of pumpkin to "teeth" on:



It was pretty funny!

We had a lot of fun carving but it is hard work!



Marie got really into it and that's probably why she had the best pumpkin...and she finished first! Here are our finished products:


And a close-up of each one:


Lisa also carved this one yesterday afternoon:


We had a lot of fun last night and we hope to make this a Halloween tradition! Next year, Lisa's husband wants to try and grow giant pumpkins. Wouldn't that be fun? I hope they do it!

Visiting and Visitors

We have been busy visiting with family and friends this past week! Last Saturday Jason and I drove up near Hinckley to visit with friends who recently had a new baby boy!


Baby T is their fourth little one and only boy!

Amelia had a blast playing in their yard with their girls.





Earlier this week my cousin, Marcie, flew in from California to visit for a couple of days.


She hadn't seen Amelia since the day she came from the hospital so it was good she could come! They had some frun at the airport on Wednesday when we brought Marcie there:




Marcie took her up and down the escalators at least a dozen times!

Now my grandparents are here from Indiana for the weekend! What a busy past week we have had!

Fall Fun

Today, my mom, sister, Jason, Amelia and I had some fall fun in Stillwater!


She's a tall girl!


Goat friends!





The fam is watching the Twins/Yankees playoff game now which could get interesting since mom and Kim are Yankee fans and Jason is a Twins fan. Twins are winning so far so Jason is happy!

Fall at Lutsen

Today we went north to Grand Marais and Lutsen. It is gorgeous up here this time of year. See for yourself:






(see the hawk, smack dab in the middle of the above photo?)



These photos were all taken in Lutsen. It rained all morning in Grand Marais but we did grab lunch at Sven and Ole's!

The View From Here:

(MN's Sawtooth Mountains)

What Have We Been Up To?

I haven't had Internet access for almost a week because I use my parent's wifi and they were having issues installing their new Apple Airport (router) so those of us with PCs were without Internet access since mid-last week. It's all straightened out and working again so here I am!

What have we been up to? LOTS!

Last Wednesday we took Amelia to the Mall of America to Underwater Adventures. Jason had never been there so it was an extra special trip! We didn't take a ton of pictures but here are a few:




After Underwater Adventures, Amelia took a little snooze in her stroller while Jason and I (mostly window) shopped:


We had a really great day together which I think we all needed!

Another fun thing we did just yesterday was going to the apple orchard! We went to Aamodt's Farm in Stillwater. Our first stop was yummy apple treats:


(apple cider, apple oatmeal cookies and apple crisp with cinammon ice cream!)

Amelia had a blast in the hay maze:




They even had apples low enough for Amelia to reach!


Yesterday was another great day for us!

We have been soaking up fall days this past week and it has been so awesome! I LOVE this time of year :)

2 More Pictures!

I forgot to include a couple of pictures in my last post...oops!

First, Amelia has found "another" baby to occupy her time:


I love it. If you enlarge the picture and look at the expression on her face (seen in the reflection) it is priceless!

Second, with fall and winter comes one plus...we have a lake view apartment:


See that blue beyond the trees? Yep! That is Lake Michigan :) It is nice to sit at the kitchen table and see it, even if it isn't the greatest view. How many people can say they have a view of Lake Michigan from their apartment for what we pay in rent? Not too many!

Pumpkin Patch

This afternoon Amelia and I went to Basse's Farm for fall fun with our friend Dawn. It was a chilly afternoon which made Amelia cold and crabby but we still had fun! Amelia dressed up like a jack'o'lantern. Here are some pictures from our afternoon:



Amelia in a few cut-outs:




What a BIG girl she is:


Amelia made friends with a goat:


Dawn with our pumpkin selections:


(ours is the big one in the front of the wagon)

A creative spider:


Here is one crabby little baby, who missed her afternoon nap, with her own pumpkin:


BEDTIME :)