theboys

Pumpkin Patch '09

We hit up the old Pumpkin Patch again this year with our good friends The Bergmans.  Here are some of our favorite pictures this year:

 

I LOVE this smile:
 

Little monsters:
 

Isaac picked out his outfit all by himself.

 

Five $50 pumpkins. One priceless little pumpkin.
 

The whole fam damily. 

Best buds.
 

Isaac's photography (pay no attention to my comb over).
 

Here are some past pumpkin patch pics to compare:

October '04.  Our first year visiting Rombach's Farm in Chesterfield.  I was pregnant with Isaac.  Look how many pumpkins we could afford that year!

 

October '05.
 

October '06 we got three out of the four family members.
 

October '07

Compare it to this year:

October '07 family photo:
 

October '08 we didn't get a family picture:

 

Until next year!

And They Called it Puppy Love

Asher's "best friend" is Claire.  They... usually... play well together but she is the cutest little 2 year old girl we know!  We got some sweet pictures of the two of them at this year's annual pumpkin patch visit.  The following is just stinkin cute, but also may be a good source of blackmail in about 10 years.  That or the beginnings of a wedding montage.  Only time will tell!

Watch the way she looks at him.

Stay tuned for more adorable pumpkin pictures.

The Little Things

It's been a very emotional week at the Littleton household.  We've been sick and tired and grieving.  Saturday was the anniversary of Grandpa Bill's passing.  It was hard.  We had a subdivision garage sale that day and thought that the day would be busy enough.  I think the extra work and fatigue just added to the emotions.  I found myself crying over the sale of this:

Yes, you see that right.  I teared up over selling a 20 something year old, mauve, La Z Boy.  Not only did this used to be Bill's chair, but it was THE chair in our nursery.  We had a lot of late nights when Isaac was born and countless nights were spent rocking a baby in the dark in this chair.  The chair was broken so it would recline, but not stay in a reclined position.  So you couldn't sleep in it (I tried when I was big and pregnant and couldn't sleep laying down).  And it squeaked loudly with every move.  So while the babies were being rocked back to sleep, there came a point when you'd have to slowly quit rocking and scoot over to the edge of the chair.  If the baby was asleep, you'd have to take your weight off of the chair every so slowly so it wouldn't creak and wake the baby.

Since the baby days, we also used the chair to read to the boys before bed time.  Sometimes, when Asher wouldn't let me brush his teeth, I'd threaten to take him to the "pink chair" and lay him in my lap and force the tooth brush in his mouth.  The night after we sold the chair, I found myself saying, "Asher, we're going to take you to the ... uh... we're going to MAKE you brush your teeth..."  It didn't have the same threat that the pink chair used to have.

We also sold the strollers and car seat, the crib, and a special pair of Asher's first shoes at the garage sale that just broke my heart.  It was my decision to have this garage sale and to get rid of the baby stuff, but there's still going to be some grieving that comes with it.  I think at any stage, I would have to eventually mourn the children that I never get to have and mourn the loss of the baby stage. 

I'll be okay.  I have Matt and Erika filling that hole for me!

Potty Training

If you really wanted to know what's going on in the Littleton household, I'll tell you.  But remember, you really wanted to know...

Asher started potty training this week.  We've been looking at the potty and testing it and singing about it (I know, right?) for months now.  We rented the movies and requested the books from the library.  We have been up to our eyes in potty talk for ages. 

This week, I decided to strip the kid and let him go. On Monday, Asher had been running around half naked for a few hours, when I took my eyes off of him and went up stairs for a few minutes.  When I finally gave him that privacy, he went all by himself! 

He yelled up the stairs, "MOMMY, I PEED!"  Now that could mean a number of things to this little boy.  My first question was, "Where?!"  and to which he replied, "THE POTTY!"  He was so proud of himself!  It made me smile just to see him proud of himself!  But sure enough, he had peed in the potty all by himself! 

Now, this is practically a miracle!  The boy had never been able to communicate that he had even already wet himself, much less announce that he had to go.  So he was able to recognize that he needed to go and made it to the potty all by himself.  He climbed onto our biggest potty and managed not to fall in, as he sat down and let it go!  There wasn't even any pee on the seat or floor!  What a way to start the official potty training season!

He spent the rest of the day naked or in pull ups and managed to make it to the potty every time.  The next day worked pretty much the same, but we nixed the pull ups for training underwear (thanks Aunt Jeanna).  Asher remained dry except during naptime.  Today I took Asher to our 2 hour long Bible Study in training underwear!  He stayed dry the whole time and attempted to pee, but didn't get that privacy so wasn't able to go.  He had an accident when we got home and then two more on the floor.  THe first accident in three days didn't phase me one bit! 

I put him down for a nap in pull ups and expected him to get those wet, but instead he woke up and yelled, "I have to go potty!"  We made it to the potty with a dry pull up and Asher even peed in front of me on the potty!  Today was a successful day and gave me some hope for this potty training phase!

While I was typing this he made it to the potty on his own again!

Woohoo! 

Maybe I'll post pictures later ;)

Felix Kirkland

We have a new cousin!!!

There is not a word in the English language that expresses how happy I am right now to welcome this sweet baby boy into the world. 

Part Kirkland

Do you want to know how I know that Asher is at least part Kirkland?  It's not just the obvious reasons: the looks, and the fact that I bore him. 

I took Asher to the store the other day and he saw pumpkins for sale.  He begged me to buy one and we took it home to show Isaac.  Here's the conversation that went down:

Isaac: Yay!  We'll have to cut out eyes and a scary mouth and put a stick in it with some fire.

Asher: Yeah!  And make PIE!

I love that our two year old already knows that when the weather gets cool (or not) and the pumpkins come out, it is PIE season!

 

Believe it or not, our number of pies is still growing every year!

Amateur Photography

Isaac took these photos.

This one after preschool one day:

And these on our anniversary.

Growing up!

Peach Picking

first time at the dentist