I'm Baaaack!!!!

Today we went to the nursing home to say hi to Grandma and Grandpa. They were both so happy to see Michael again...he grows so fast at this age! Grandma was so happy to see him. Once she got to visit on her own with him for a few minutes, we brought in Grandpa. This man, who seldomly smiles, took one look at Michael and lit up like the Fourth of July! It was so fun to watch. He's not a man of many words, but he spent all afternoon just watching Michael play, all while having the faintest glisten of a smile. Luckily, we caught these moments that are few and far between on camera!

Papa's Pumpkin Patch

Once we got into North Dakota, we decided to take an extra day in Bismarck before we made the drive down to my grandparent's house. Thanks to my aunt Sandy, we found a pumpkin patch in the area and thought it would be a fun way to spend the day.

The pumpkin patch turned out to be a great idea! There was tons to do there, including mazes, hayrides, a pumpkin launch, and more we didn't even get to. Of course, this pumpkin patch was a MUCH colder trip than our last one! Little guy lasted long enough to see most of the farm activities though.

CRAZY thing happened at the pumpkin patch too....as we were sitting on the hay bales waiting for the pumpkin launch, I realized that the girl sitting next to us looked very familiar. Lo and behold...it was my friend from 5th grade that I hadn't seen or talked to since then!!!! It was nice getting to catch up with her as well...what a small world!!

Another Plane Ride

The time has finally come....we are off to see Great Grandma and Grandpa in North Dakota!!! They haven't gotten to see Michael since last year at this time, so we are excited to be able to make the trip this year. This time, the guys are even coming! For all of the plane trips Michael's already been on, this will be the first time that Marion's flown with him.

I have to admit....I was pretty nervous about the plane ride. He was so small last time we flew, he just fit in my lap and would fall asleep there. But now, he's this ball of energy that has no off switch, hates to cuddle, and will not fall asleep on laps.

BUT...thank goodness we hit a stroke of luck. He did pretty well just hanging out on the first leg of the flight, and by the time we caught our connection, he was so tired his eyelids were drooping before we even hit the runway. We got lucky enough to have a pretty empty second leg as well, so he got a whole row of seats to himself to snooze the trip away! So cute...

Sweet, sweet, slumber

Waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to land at the airport and its whopping 4 gates. That's their plane!!

The Pumpkin Patch

Adam and Danielle came down again! Yay! And of course, Danielle had her fancy schmancy camera in hand...shooting away. We went pumpkin picking a little early in the season, and that pumkin patch was CRAZY! It was like a jungle out there!!! Poor Michael almost got lost in it all. Thanks to my sis, she captured some good pics. I don't have them all to upload, but I've included the good ones that I have.

Apple Pickin'

Finally....a sunny weekend! We decided to take advantage of the nice weather and visit a local farm to participate in some apple picking. This one was much more commercialized than the one we went to for blueberries, and had a whole market and everything. They had made apple cider doughnuts, so of course we had to try them out. Delicious!!!

After our morning snack, we boarded the hayride and took off for the apple orchard. We got to sit right behind the tractor, and Michael was mesmerized. Michael tried helping us pick the apples off the trees once we got into the orchard, but he got frustrated easily since they were harder to pick than the blueberries. So he helped by putting them in the bag instead...always a helper!

On our way out, we got to go through a corn maze and scope out the pumpkin patch (a future trip to watch for!)

.

Adventures in Pottyland

So a few weeks ago, I bought Michael a potty to have...whenever I had the motivation to begin. I left it in the box during his nap, and when he got up, he would hardly drink his milk because he was so busy pointing at the box. He helped me open it and put it together, and then had all sorts of fun checking it out.

So, after that, I wasn't exactly motivated to put him on the potty everytime I thought he needed to go. Sure I put him on it every now and then, but it was more to just get him used to sitting on it.

My goal was to really start after Labor Day. So today, I put him on the potty after breakfast. He sat pretty well, as long as he was entertained with a book. As I was in the middle of reading, I hear the music coming from the potty. "What the.......?" OH! He actually PEED in the POTTY!!!! I was so excited it left me speechless for a few seconds. However, Michael couldn't have cared less, and after my enthusiastic praising, he just gave me a look that said, "Seriously woman, can we finish the book now?"

THEN, if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, he went back on after lunch, and lo and behold, here comes the music from the potty again! My big boy.....I'm so proud of you!!!!!

Doing Some Catching Up...

Yeah....so I haven't been great lately at keeping this thing up. I'm going to try and update it now, but I'll break it down into separate posts so it's not one huge novel. Make sure to scroll back a few to see all the new stuff!