VOLLER FARM...FALL FUN

This post is a little late, but rather late than never I guess.
Last Saturday we took the kids to Vollmer Farm.
We went for the first time last year, right after Kate was born, and instantly realised it was a fun place for the kids... only this year it  was SOOO much better, because Luke is really at a great age for fun activities. I think as long as we live in North Carolina, it'll be an October tradition.

Here are the pictures from our fun day out.

Fun with the Rat Races

 The Great Jumping Pumpkin

 Duck races

 The Barrel Train - This was 'Captain Kates' favourite part of the day :)

 
Tire Swings

 Our Little Sweetheart

 The most fun Luke, mommy and Daddy had all day... the tunnel slide
We all went about 4 or 5 times :)

 

 This hot air balloon was right above us, and looked sooo much closer than this picture portrays.
I wish we'd all been able to go for a ride.

I'm already excited for our fun day at Vollmer farm next year. Kate will be older and it'll be all that much more fun :) I love this time of year.

1 TO 10 AND BACK AGAIN

Luke is growing up so fast. He's continuing to develop his own personality, likes and dislikes and learning more and more every day.
This evening, I spent a few minutes watching videos that we'd taken of Luke in the past year. My heart ached a little bit when I realised how much in even just the past 9 months, Luke has grown and changed. Right before our eyes he has been changing from a little toddler into a big boy.
I keep thinking how much Kate has grown this past year, at such a rapid rate, like all babies do in their first year or two, but when I looked back at those videos, I realised that Luke has changed almost just as quickly. I hope that in the chaos of having a new baby and learning to be the parents of two children, that Jake and I haven't missed too much.

This is a video that we got about a week ago. I knew that Luke was pretty much able to count from 1 to 10, though I partly thought that he was just rambling it off from memory in the form of a song or rhyme... I didn't realize he was actually able to identify each individual number. To our amazement, he could not only count from 1 to 10, but he could count from 10 back to 1 again.
What a little smarty pants we have.

I love my big boy so much. He's funny and silly and smart, and even though he's getting so big, he's always going to be my baby.

I'M A BIG GIRL NOW

So I guess the title of this post is a little inaccurate. lol.
Today was Kate's 12 month check up, and she's still as petite as ever.

Weight: 17lb 11oz (8kg) - 5th percentile
Height: 28 inches (71cm) - 10th percentile
Head: 17.5 inches (44.45cm) - 25th percentile

She's walking like a pro now, and just into everything. We love it though... I never get tired of watching babies learning to walk. It's definitely one of my favourite milestones.

She's babbling a lot too, with her favourite 'sound' being 'dadadadada'... imagine that...a daddy's girl saying dadada! lol

She much prefers eating 'big people food' to anything pureed. In fact she's never really liked baby food, and I don't think she's ever going to be a vegetarian. lol. She seems to really like anything meat... pieces of grilled chicken, pork chops, ground turkey etc

She's a sweet little girl, and we love her so much


Here are a few pictures we took the other day of the kids playing in the sprinkler.
It was an impromptu play time while we were out doing yard work.. hence the lack of swimsuits. lol

KATE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Yesterday we had Kate's little birthday party. She celebrates her birthday in the same week as her little friend Scarlett, so we decided to combine their parties and have a dessert party together.
The decorations were all pink, and we had cupcake theme.

I think everything went really well. Now I have to spend the next few weeks working off all those delicious sugary calories :)

The Girls cute smash cakes

Cheesecake stuffed strawberries, cream puffs & Carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Bite size cinnamon rolls

Bite size brownies

Chocolate dipped pretzel rods

A friend made this ball and Kate LOVES it

Scarletts cute family

Ready for their CAKE

 

 These next few pictures were taken today, on her actual birthday, when we opened a few more gifts with her after church.

 

Luke has really enjoyed the picnic basket toy