How to make your kid hate Halloween...

This is "Elmo" - we found him out one day and Alex loved him - loves to carry him around and point to him. Last night we tried to practice putting "Elmo" on to get prepared for the school parade on Friday. No luck - tears and kicking and screaming.

So I figured OK - he really does not like things on his head so buy another costume. I found a cheap Superman costume today and said to Alex that they were pajamas to try on. Here are the results...
Crying while getting the thing on

Crying because of the cape

And crying while trying to rip the costume off.

I also realized that my 22 month old cannot be bribed - even with EO's (Oreos) to keep it on.

Helping Hand

Loading the trailer
Raking the leaves

Loading his wagon wiht rocks and leaves

This is the first year we have had a yard so its also the first one where we have to rake leaves. This was one of those gorgeous New England fall days where we all came home early from work and school and decided to work outside. Daddy blew the leaves into a big pile and we picked them all up!

And so it begins...

Alex has been invited to his first - non-family birthday party! It is on the day after Auntie J's and M's wedding so I am not sure if we will be able to go or not - I have to decide that by next week. I am excited - he is becoming a real big kid and yet a bit ho hum about it because here we go with buying gifts etc for everyone in class' birthday party and I am so un-creative when it comes to gifts. What do I get a 2 year old that we dont know all that well?

We have been hanging low lately - working around the house and such. The weekend weather has not cooperated with us for apple picking or pumpkin picking. Oh well - next year I guess.

Look who came to visit!

A Preying Mantis! It was about 6 inches long and was hanging out on Alex's adirondack chair!

Swinging

We went to our friends' baby shower this past weekend - it was a gorgeous day and they have a great yard with the perfect view! Alex spent most of his time exploring around the yard. He found their kayaks....
And the tree swing....

That was pretty far off the ground on a slope - so it was not easy for Daddy to hang on!

Ride 'em Cowboy

Today was our first official outing in our new town. It was the Annual Harvest Fair - small with vendors and food - made me miss Ithaca a lot. I miss the farmer's market and the crazy parades and every weekend in the fall it seemed there was some sort of festival on the common. I miss that.

Anyway....Alex discovered the ride on ponies at daycare the other day and LOVED them. Every morning since discovering it he runs over and gets on. So I thought OK we need one so I go out on Friday and get one. He likes this one too!

Then today there are pony rides. One black one one brown one and there are little kids on them so I figure what the heck - ALEX LOVES THE PONIES! We watched for a while and asked him if he wanted to ride. He says Yes so off he goes with Daddy. He cried - because he had to get OFF! So we walked around a while and decided to go back for one more ride. He rode the smaller brown one first and the bigger black one the second time. He held on to the saddle tight!

Where have we been?

Back to school and daycare but here are a few pictures of the last few weeks. This weekend we were in sweatshirts feeding the ducks: Here is Alex trying to get the ducks to come over to him.

Here is Alex and Daddy feeding the ducks some bread.

Chilling on Mommy's bed watching Thomas the Train on the TV. Daddy doesnt like how the narrator does all the voices.

Amazingly last weekend we were in the big pool - well everyone but Alex was. He chose to sit on the edge and try and empty the pool one cup at a time in his truck.

But he really likes his little pool and jumps and splashes and "swims" as best he can in it!

What a difference a week makes! Gotta love New England!