Pumpkin Patch!

Today was Matt's preschool pumpkin patch trip that they invited the whole family to.  I was seriously SO excited to go, I'm not gonna lie, I love pumpkin patches. This pumpkin patch in particular was probably the best that I've been to.  It was Lakeview Farm which was about a 15 min drive from our house.  Nate and I decided that Oregon has really cool pumpkin patches because there is so much competition they have to keep one-upping each other.  I for one am really glad because everyone that we have been to has been great.
Matt was nervous the whole week to go to it though, which is kind of funny.  We told him about the boat ride and the train ride that would be there and showed him pictures, which to our surprise just made his anxiety worse about going.  You see, Matt doesn't really like the idea of new situations and will get really upset about trying new things, something we've been trying to help him overcome.  He started to get a little better as the week went on, probably because there was a lot of excitement from the other children. However, once we arrived at the farm and started to buy our tickets he had a complete melt down.  We decided to eat our picnic lunch near where the boat was so he could see how slow the boat went and how much fun the children were having riding it.

He was giggling with excitement as he watched the boat and we were feeling pretty confident that he would be okay with that aspect of the pumpkin patch.  The next obstacle was the train ride.  This pumpkin patch is unique in the way that it takes people by train to the patch and takes them back by boat (or the other way around, depending on what one prefers).  Luckily Matt saw one of his friends from school get in line for the train with his family and Matt was set on us getting in line.

He was so happy waiting in line for the train:

Getting on the train was a different story:

You may not be able to completely tell from this picture but he was pretty sulky and wanted to get off.  Before we even started going.

The rest of us were all smiles:

After the train started going, Matt realized it wasn't a fast train and his worries were subsided.

What a cute train:

Everyone, especially Matt loved the pumpkin patch itself, especially since there was an adorable little hay maze.  Matt went through it three times all together, twice by himself.

Matt and Nate made it their goal to find a "double pumpkin", basically a deformed pumpkin that looked like two were stuck together.  Here they are with their much sought after double pumpkin:

Lydia was super content the whole time looking for her pumpkin and everyone just loved watching her wander around picking up pumpkins, then setting them back down again to look for a better one.

What a doll!  I just can't get enough of her, she's such a cutie!

We were all smiles until we got on the boat.  Matt totally freaked out and Nate and I had to hold him back from running off the boat, all the while he was screaming "I want to get off!"

We got him to relax a little once the boat started going, but he was completely still and gripped Nate's hand as tight as he could.

Surprisingly Matt told us the boat ride was one of his favorite parts of the trip.

The boat ride was probably my least favorite part.  A bumble bee flew into my hair and got caught, I didn't know what was in my hair, I just felt something like a bug and tried to grab it out.  Nate didn't want to tell me what it actually was and I'm glad it didn't sting me.

All in all it was probably one of my favorite pumpkin patch experiences and I would definitely go again next year!

Here are just a couple more photos, unless you've all been visually overloaded by the massive amount of pictures shared.

Happy Autumn!

Preschool Year 2

Our Matt man has started school again.  He pretty much gets to go to the BEST preschool ever!  It is affiliated with Pacific University's early childhood education program and is right next to Nate's optometry building. Matt obviously loves going there, making the separation of Monday-Friday 9-3 a little more tolerable. It has a large play room for dramatic play, an art and science room- since they teach reading and math through art and science- class rooms where a lot of core learning is done, a giant playground with multiple gardens that the children plant and harvest and a kitchen where the kids can learn to prepare and cook the food from their garden.  In all honesty, I would love to play there all day!  It is a really good fit for Matt since he is excited to learn but needs constant stimulation and structure, something I'm not always able to give him.  Since this is his second year going there he is more familiar with how the routine goes and is better at solving problems with kids at school.  Nate and I are so happy with the progress he's made since going there and love hearing all about the fun things they get to do everyday.  Here's a few pictures of Matt at school:

Toddler Bed = Singing Time

So, my precious little Lydia has been moved to a toddler bed.  Mind you, she is still my baby and I'm refusing to refer to her as anything else until her little sister comes in December and we have another little baby. We decided to move her so young because once little baby sister comes we will need the third bedroom for her and will  need Matt and Lydia to share a room.  I would have loved to keep Lydia in a crib forever but all good things must come to an end.  She's actually surprised us with how well she's adjusted.  The first week she would open and shut her door then run back to her bed; though, once I started taking her baby doll away for her naughty shenanigans she wasn't so keen on doing that anymore.
I love her little nap/bedtime routine: first we rock together in her rocking chair until she decides it's time to go put her baby doll to bed.  She has me swaddle her baby nice and tight then she lays her down in bed and climbs in next to it.  After she feels she is sufficiently tucked into her blanket, she tells me to hold her hand, which then is followed by her telling me the songs she would like me to sing her her: "Sunshine", "Child of God" and "Spider".
Lydia has always been a little singer and loves to imitate sounds and this week she has surprised me by singing along with all of the songs I sing to her.  She mostly babbles most of the words except for the word that is held out longer, which she gets every time.  One of these days, if Nate is home while I put her down I'll have him record her doing it so everyone can hear.  After I shut the door she usually sings all of her songs to herself for a good 20 minutes or so until she falls asleep.  I really love my baby girl and just want her to stay my baby for a little bit longer.

A Visit from Family

Last week we had the opportunity to have family come visit.  My dad, his wife Ruth and her daugher, Raquel, as well as my brother and his family came for 4 days to Oregon and played with us.  Because i' super lame and I forget my camera all the time, I have very few picture to show you.  So, I will just have to paint with my words their visit...
We tried to give them a true "Oregon experience" by taking them to some worthwhile places.  First was the beach.  We went to Oswald beach about an hour and a half a way from us, which in my opinion is the nicest beach that I have been to in Oregon.  It is a nice cove surrounded by a beautiful forest that has a sweet little water fall and lots of small sea creatures.  The only pictures I took are of Nate and Matt, although there were lots of family members there, just not in my pictures (because I am really lame).

My two favorite guys walking along the beach

Matt is actually terrified of the beach (biggest understatement of the year). So, as they were walking, Matt pretty much cried most of the way.

He spent most of his time far away from the water building "sand castles".

This would be one of his sand castles.  Notice the impressive architectural detail.

Adorable!

There were some really cool trees on the hike down to the beach.

On the way back home, Lydia was sad, so Matt held her hand. He is such a good big brother!

I should also mention that My aunt Karen came up with my dad and we were able to spend the day at the beach with her and her son Jason who lives in Portland, as well as his very nice girlfriend Julieanne.

Some other activities that we did with my family while they were here were berry picking (of course), canning strawberry jam that we made with our berries, having fun at Out of this World Pizza and lots of playing at the parks.  It was a really fun visit and we're glad that everyone was able to make the trip up to see us!  It's always really fun to see family since we live kind of far away.

Swimming Lessons

Now that Matt is 3 1/2 we decided that now is a good time to put him in a more structured activity so someone else can entertain him, where he can learn something new.  We enrolled him in the two week course for at the local aquatic center, where he goes Mon. through Fri. for a half an hour to swim.  He was really excited to go to the first lesson, but when he realized that it wasn't just playing with toys in the water, he decided he didn't want to do it anymore.  The second day he cried through his whole lesson.  Luckily his teachers are young and don't have any kids really patient and they worked with him a lot to help him be happy in the water.  After the third day he was pretty much loving swimming lessons.  We have only completed the first week and have one more week left to do, hopefully this week Matt can work on listening to his teachers instead of just wanting to start water fights with the girl next to him :)

He loves to bob up and down on the side of the pool, and that would be the little girl who he loves to splash. My children are classy.

Summer Goings On

Having Nate home for the summer has been a lot of fun.  It's been nice to have time together and lots of fun activities as a family.  Although, there are those times when Nate is a work and we have to be really creative how we spend our time so as to not get insanely bored!

So, we plan with dish soap, milk and food coloring and get really messy!

And make really cool bubbles

And have entertainment for an hour!

While Lulu watches and laughs at her brother :)

Having Nate home also means that I am able to go to the berry farms by myself and pick 9 lbs of berries to make jam.  

I love living in a place where I can go to a farm and pick such yummy fruit!  I love summer in Oregon!

Teeth!

Our sweet little Lydia is such an angel!  So, when she was having a hard time sleeping at night and not letting anyone but mom and dad hold her we knew something definitely was up. We knew she was teething, but it seemed liked it had been since she was 4 months old that she was teething.  She has always been drooly and chewed on her fingers nonstop, so we really weren't sure this time it was the real deal.  Luckily, for everyone's sake it was!  Within two days of each other, she had two teeth come in; one on top and one on bottom on the same side.

I always thought that I loved a toothless smile the best, but now seeing such a happy smile all the time with her little top tooth, I think I love that even more!  Seriously, adorable!  She has been so happy with her two teeth, especially since now she gets to eat so many new things: watermelon, banana (not pureed), apple pie, pretty much all of Matt's cracker snacks, just to name a few.  That's right, this little girl loves food, so anything that lets her try new foods is amazing!

Just because I know you all really wanted to see another picture of such an adorable baby!