Happy Halloween!

This picture is from a house on the main street in Arthur, a local Amish community. The variety of the carvings was eye catching and amazing!

The little train engineer ready to get some candy!

The Great Pumpkin Patch

We have the honor of living close to a premiere pumpkin patch that has been featured on Martha Stewart (show and magazine), the DIY network, Travel and Leisure magazine and Country Living. This pumpkin patch is filled with interesting displays, mazes, pumpkins from around the world, farm animals, etc. I am amazed at how creative they get each year to come up with unique and different displays. Ty had a blast running of his lunch from a local Amish restaurant while amazed by all the pumpkins.

Isn't this the sweetest face ever?

Look at all the creations...from a train, to spider, to Noah's Ark, rainbow of pumpkins...

The mums and pumpkin trees are works of art in themselves.

Ty posing outside the Amish restaurant. He found the perfect rock and bale of hay to sit on. Perfect photo opportunity!

Rain, Rain Go Away

Ty catching raindrops on his mouth. My son loves to play in the rain and I let him!

Fall is my favorite time of the year...cooler temperatures, carmel apples, visit to the pumpkin patch, leaves changing, comfort food... we have all of that and some rain. This has been the wettest Fall I can remember in my 8 years of living in the Midwest. It is gorgeous one day and gloomy the next. At least it makes for good potty training weather. I am so proud of my son! We are still in diapers at nap and bedtime, but he didn't even want to pee in his diaper this evening when getting ready for bed! After I interpreted "PP Potty" for Troy who was putting Ty to bed, the little guy did his business!

Art in Central Park

Every September brings the juried art show to our local downtown park. This is where we began to "shop" for pieces of art for our house. Our first year in town, we purchased 2 framed prints from Randall Shedd, a photographer from Indiana who started to photograph his own flowers to save gas money during the high fuel prices. His photography is beyond anything I have seen before and I do not even know where to begin to describe it except, "I want it all!" He did put out a calender one year which enabled me to savor a taste of his work each month.

We missed the show last year while we were in China and couldn't wait to expose Ty to this yearly ritual. This was the first year we did not purchase a piece of art as we figured out we had already purchased our favorites from our preferred artists who were present. This year offered a different dimension in the fact that Ty got to be a part of the children's activities. They had a white van that was to be painted as desired. Ty didn't know what to think, but carefully took his time to paint what he could reach. A car was a different subject for him which brought a lot of confusion. He looked at us like, "I am really allowed to do this?" We said, "YES! Go for it!" He was still unsure but attempted to do what he could while it started to rain.

It's Potty Time!

It all started Monday night while in the tub. Ty said "PP" and he peed in an old Nuby cup that he plays with in the bathtub. We cheered and did a little potty dance and told Daddy who was super proud. There wasn't anything on the calender on Tuesday so Ty spent the morning in his big boy underwear and he went potty every time! He has continued this routine while we are at home. We still haven't ventured out in big boy pants, but he does understand the concept. His face lights up and he does his own little dance when he accomplishes the deed. It is too cute! Of course he wants the gummy bear that waits for him at the end. I wasn't going to bribe him with food (stickers and stamps on the hand instead), but the grandparents brought candy from my mom's recent trip to Germany. Ty has been constantly running to the freezer where we keep the candy (we prefer our sweets frozen for some reason) wanting the yummies and I have denied him. Finally I told him he can have a gummy once he goes potty. That was the trick!

Howdy Ya'll!

Yep, we are alive and kicking. My Mommy and Daddy have been busy with life that posting on the blog has been their last priority. They have been busy doing paperwork (along with work and church stuff) so I might have a little sister in a couple of years.

Guess what? I no longer qualify for speech services! Unheard of coming from a child born with cleft lip and palate, but Mommy and Daddy agree. They are going to let me see Ms. Linda once a week until I am 3 and then decide from there. Ms. Linda says I do not sound nasally, I can make all the appropriate sounds for my age and I am on target both expressively and receptively in language. My articulation is not great at times, but gets better each day.

My grandma and grandpa just visited from Texas. Mommy has lots of cute pictures to post from our trip to the pumpkin patch. I had so much fun looking at all the different animals, pumpkins and chasing Daddy in the corn maze. By the way, I can now say "Daddy"! I still call him YaYa at times, but I have come a long way from calling both my parents "Mama".

Time for my mommy to get to bed. Talk to you soon.