My Dress

I'm so thankful that my mom and grandmother saved several of the dresses I wore when I was a child.  I wish they had saved ALL of them but am happy that they're not all gone.  I'm sure that alllllll those years ago they would have never thought that I would ever want to have any of my children wear these clothes.  I love having them!  Last Sunday, Audrey wore one of my oldies.  The shirt I put Parker in that day just so happened to match, so I tried to get a couple pictures of them together because they looked so sweet!  They weren't super-cooperative, though.

Sometimes you just love someone so much, you've got to squeeze them!  

.....aaaaaaaand then we got to this place.

Gorgeous girl--thanks for the hand assist, Honey!

Air-kissing baby Leah.

I tried again when we got home but the together pictures again didn't work, so I took a couple more of miss by herself.

Would not look at the camera...acted like I wasn't even there!

Here we are!  Looking forward to more "then and nows."

Halloween 2013

For Halloween this year, I was desperately trying to have Parker and Audrey coordinate again.  I am sure that next year I won't be able to do it again, so I was excited when I came up with this year's costumes for them.  Parker was a farmer and Audrey was a pig.  This stemmed from Audrey's recent learning of "Old MacDonald."  It took a while to convince Parker to "want" to be a farmer, and I'm so glad it all worked out!  We visited with Ryan's parents and my grandparents for a few minutes each before trick-or-treating through our neighborhood.  My mom and sister joined in and walked with us toward the end.  Audrey stayed in the wagon for the most part.  Parker requested that we stay in the street so that he could go to almost every door by himself.  He did a pretty good job of saying "Trick-or-Treat!" and "Thank You!" on his own.  We were so proud of him!  He also threw in a few "Happy Halloween!"'s with a tip of his farmer's hat.  We had a great time! 

 

This is real life right here.  They do love each other so much, but she gets SO irritated when he holds on to her and won't let go!

Much better.  At this point, we decided that the hat was just way too big.  I broke out the scissors and cut it down a few inches. 

Rounding up his piggy.

 Keeping a good hold on her.

Love this one!  Perfect farmer with his pig :)

 

My sweet boy.  Notice Audrey's shoe in his pocket.

 

Miss Mischevious Piggy and "Farmer Brown" (Parker chose this name).  Love these two with all my heart!  

The Rest of Massanutten

While on the trip, there were two "hikes" that happened around the building where we stayed.  They were short but intense because of the steep hills!  Here is Parker and Ryan on the "rocky trail". 

 

He had the best time!  

On Sunday, we woke up first thing and headed out to Carter Mountain Orchard for some apple picking.  This has been a tradition now since 2008 (minus last year).  We love going up to the top of the mountain to take in the gorgeous view and grab a few fresh apples.  

Did I mention that Parker wore his backpack almost all weekend?  It was pretty cute.

 

This little girl was not in the mood to smile that day.  It was pretty cold and SO muddy.  Our shoes were covered in mud and there are still stains in some of the clothes Audrey and I wore (ivory sweater for me and ivory leggings for her--clearly I was not prepared for getting dirty).  We both ended up carrying them up and down the hill to get to the apples. 

She was pretty interested in the process.

Trying to get this boy to cooperate and smile "normal" is always interesting.  This would not be the last picture of the day where he's banging someone on the head!

Again with the not smiling.

 I was trying SO HARD to get them to look and smile!  A half smile from Parker and an irritated screech from Audrey is all I got--haha.

At this point I threw an apple to them and Parker gave it to her to eat.  I love seeing his face as he's telling her to take a bite as well as his hand on her waist.  The sweetness is just too much.

 

Actually, this was the first picture after I tossed over the apple.  Playing bongos on her head?  This makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Classic "CHEESE!" face.  At this point I was wrangling with both kids while Ryan was going to get the car.  Notice the intense mud beneath his feet!

Making the trip to Charlottesville to visit Carter Mountain is one of the many things I love about fall.  It brings back so many memories of all the trips before.  It's fun to see how our family has grown since we started going:

Oh hey, babies!  How are things back in 2008?  Disclaimer:  this was taken at Monticello, but we did go to Carter Mountain during this trip! :)

Pregnant with Parker.

Parker at about 8 months old.  Disclaimer:  I forgot that this year we went the Carter Mountain's sister orchard in Crozet that lets you pick your own pumpkins.  This picture was actually taken at a nearby vineyard.

Parker at about 20 months old.  I was a month pregnant with Audrey!

.....and here we are today!  Looking forward to next year's trip already :)

Massanutten Festival

Two weekends ago, we traveled to Massanutten with my mom and sister for a short trip due to a super great deal my mom found for a condo.  We went just for a getaway but there was a festival going on while we were there.  The festival overall was not that great, but Parker tried a rock-climbing wall and Audrey tried...........some cheese fries.  Haha!

 

Sharing with NayNay.

Good to the last fry!

Stepping into his "gear."  We couldn't believe he was actually doing it.  Usually he says he'll want to do things and then back out at the last second.

 

Getting the hang of it with the rock-climbing guy.

I thought he did pretty well!

....aaaaaand then he was done.  

More to come from Massanutten and beyond! 

Labor Day

On Labor Day, we went to the beach in the morning and then went to Ryan's parents' house for an afternoon celebration.  I completely forgot all about taking pictures at their house!  Once we got there, I set everything down and didn't pick any of it back up--including the camera!  Anyway, here are the pictures I took at the beach.  I tried to get more of Parker, but he would not sit still and look at the camera at the same time for the most part.  We really enjoyed it and I'm still hoping to get back to the beach at least one more time before summer is completely gone. 

LOVING the pigtails on this girl.  Seriously.

Going to try to use this one as a silhouette.  We shall see if it turns out.  

This boy is happy in the water!  Even when he's shivering and his lips are turning blue.  Haha.