Pumpkins for My Peanut

We've never been big on Halloween festivities but Decker enjoyed some of the delights that go along with...like carving pumpkins (and a squash), eating marshmallows (his favorite candy in addition to m&ms), going on his first hayride, passing out candy to the neighborhood kids, and dressing up as a horsey for music class. This past week Decker learned to jump-once he discovered it he jumped all over the house. Each day he says new words. Two of my favorites are "Candy GG" (to GG Hansel) (he calls his grandmas GG) and "Gracious" (from GG Decker)!! It's pretty funny. He still says "no" to most everything and is also starting to use "me" a lot. I bought a book called "The Happiest Toddler on the Block"-how to eliminate tantrums and raise a patient, respectful and cooperative one to four year old-is this possible-ha!

Birthday Blog

I've been slacking on the blog-again-sorry. Lots to catch up on. The biggest thing-Decker turned 2! The picture of him on the water slide is at his joint birthday party with his cousins. As you can see he loves the water. We are thinking of maybe taking some swimming lessons this winter. I've been busy lately with 3 unexpected projects from A&W, farmers' market and the start of MOPS. I'm ready for the market to wind down so we can relax a little more on the weekend and have more family time. I have a small patch of spinach and lettuce that I covered tonight in case of frost. Also-we planted a couple of pear trees-one of Decks favorite fruits. Someone at the market today gave me a bunch-I may try poached pears? Tonight Decker had his first roasted marshmallow-how fun! It was all over both of us-ha!

Hot Summer Eats

What does a donut wedding cake, ribs from the Brickyard BBQ Fest, local sweet corn and a lemon shake-up from the fair have in common? They're all very very tasty! Hope you are having a great summer!

Geeze I Haven't Blogged In A While!

Sorry everyone...I feel like I haven't updated the blog in forever and that there is so much going on to report in our ordinary lives! Since Disney I have been very busy getting the farmers' market off to a good start. Which so far I haven't received too many complaints-lucky for me the market is not based on my media appearances-ha but the great goods produced and grown by local farmers and artisans! We have about 34 vendors now. My next recruit is a local winery. Please vote for our market in America's Favorite Farmers Market Contest-see link. What next...We got to catch up with friends from Indy at a wedding-reception at the Skyline Club-very chic! We visited Todd at his new crib in Indy. I was away from my baby for two weekends back to back. My college girlfriends and I went to New Harmony for a relaxing time of eating, talking, biking and laughing! Then is was off to the South Bend area for a dear high school buddy's wedding in which I met a professional blogger-"The Queen of Free". Decker is changing and continues to be lots of fun-running, climbing and getting into mischief! He got his first pair of Nike running shoes-watch out!

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The Wait is Over

...for Disney pics! We had a great trip-Decker did wonderful. He loved the all the characters and the public transportation (planes, buses)-ha! Thanks to Grammy Hansel for allowing us this special time with family and fuzzy friends.

Pack N Play

I keep meaning to blog but the month slipped away from me. I've had a lot of nervous energy swirling through my veins over the past couple weeks. First-we are going to Disney and flying with a Toddler for the first time-yikes! So I've been trying to prepare the best I can-asking friends for advice and reading a book-which states don't expect to go to Disney to relax-you can sleep when Mickey is done with you! Ha! And second I've entered the working world again with a part time job of sorts. I'm going to be the Market Master for the Downtown Terre Haute Farmers' Market. The job has already started but the market doesn't start til the first weekend in June. I'm excited to have the opportunity to work on something I'm passionate about. I also may be taking a leadership role with MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), leading hospitality and/or craft time. So hopefully I can keep my cool with all these new endeavors. Decker is enjoying spring-today he ate a peeled apple like one of us big people for the first time, and the other day he walked in the grass barefoot for the first time-so fun to experience these firsts! Well, the next post will hopefully include the Hansels having breakfast with Tigger and Poo! Til then...

Hair Today Gone Tomorrow

I finally took the plunge and cut the locks-they were bothering me and gave Decker too much to pull on. I mailed them off to Locks of Love. We had a fun week with Uncle Todd as he was off work last week. We went to the Children's Museum and did an overnight stay at Spring Mill State Park. We woke up to a beautiful snow on Sunday morning. Maybe our last snow of the season? Decker enjoyed getting out sidewalk chalk last week although he still like the taste of it better than the looks of it-ha (along with dog food, crayons, stickers and rocks).

March Madness

Decker loves his basketball as much as his dad. Brady went to Cleveland Friday to cheer on the Sycamores who ended up with a tough loss-still a great season that we had fun following. Deck and I have been spending lots of time outdoors and are looking forward to a new swing set that is to be installed next week. I transplanted some lilacs from my parents yard to ours and have hopes of planting much more this spring-my wish list includes a grape arbor, blueberries, a cherry tree, a persimmon tree and a pear tree. I'm a little disappointed with the lack of bulbs that have come up at our new house but am excited to find Forsythia shrubs lining our driveway that are starting to bloom. Happy Spring!

Snowed in and out!

Well, here is a summery of some of our snow day activities. We are fighting our cabin fever with tent building, play dough making, coloring, and ice cycle and snow eating-I forgot how fun it was to sample snow but remember not the yellow snow (is what we keep telling Deck!). To paraphrase a phone call conversation my sister in law received from a local minister that ended up being a wrong number -but anyway he was calling about interest in a mission trip-she told him "Mister I've been on a mission all week snowed in with two kids!" Pretty funny huh?

Ho Ho Ho and Happy New Year

Well, sorry it's been a while since I've blogged. December was full of fun and excitement. Weaning, cutting down a live Christmas tree (next year we'll go on Thanksgiving weekend as we only had like 10 to choose from), sledding on our baby hill during the first snow of the season, tree decorating, gingerbread house making, having friends over from Indy, and spending time with family. Now January is challenging us to run and eat right (it's going to be hard for Brady and me as we've had a steady diet of 3 squares of sweet snacks a day or more for the past few months). Brady has a new running partner, I've been attending MOPS meetings, gone to a few ISU basketball games, reconnected with college friends, had a great New Years Eve at the Ohio Building (and Deck stayed the night at my parents for the first time-and we both survived) and I'm trying to start back running. Here are a few pics and I'm sure I've forgot some of the memory making as I write this.