Monday, October 3, 2011

Pumpkin play date

Megan has become great friends with a little girl who lives a few blocks from us, and this morning, we all went together to a local pumpkin patch for some fun. My camera batteries died unexpectedly, or I would have taken even more photos. I still got some good ones, though. I got Megan to pause for a few seconds for this picture just outside a big straw maze.


She likes to "feed" animals at petting zoos. I think the pigs were mostly gnawing on the straw she kept shoving at their mouths and weren't really eating it. They also had ponies, cows, donkeys, goats, sheep, chickens, and kittens.


The big sandboxes filled with corn are one of the highlights of this particular pumpkin patch. 


It's always fun to jump in the corn!



The tractors took some real effort to pedal.


I tried to shake Megan down after playing in the corn, and we dumped lots out of her shoes, but when we got home I still emptied a good-sized handful of corn out of her underwear. 


Another action shot as she jumps into the corn!


Megan and friends on one of the giant tire swings! The girls sat in this swing for probably a good half hour while I twisted the swing up and let it unwind. This place also had slides made of corrugated plastic tunnels/tubing, horse swings made out of tires, a wooden fort maze, and lots of pumpkins to look at. We are slated to return here with some other friends in a few weeks, as long as baby girl #2 doesn't arrive before then, so more pictures may be coming ...

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Surprise baby shower!

Our Sunday school class surprised me with a baby shower today after church. They are a great bunch of people and treated us to a lunch that included fried chicken, veggies and fruit with dips, potato salad, baked beans, and, of course, cake.

Our class also was very generous with gifts. Naturally, Josh had been in cahoots with everyone for the last few weeks, often discussing plans with the class during weekends when I sang on the praise team and wasn't in Sunday school because of practice. He gave them our registry info and told them what things I wanted most. One big item I really wanted was an Arm's Reach co-sleeper bassinet. They got us one, with an extra sheet to match. We also got a new umbrella stroller I'd had my eye on, a crib sheet, photo album, several packs of diapers, a few outfits, a Babies R Us gift card, and a Pampered Chef food chopper (from a friend who sells Pampered Chef, in case I want to make my own baby food). Megan also came away with some big sister loot: a Sesame Street book, a butterfly-shaped notepad and pen, a headband, and her own giant bag of animal crackers.

Josh didn't bring the camera because he wasn't sure how to sneak it out of the house without me asking questions, so hopefully some folks will share their pictures with us. For now, here's a goofy picture of Megan enjoying some leftover cake!


This was Megan right before we left for church this morning. She got this little jacket from another granddaughter of Grandpa Bill's who sometimes passes down outgrown clothes to us.


And I guess she's into making faces for the camera now. 

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Big siblings' class!

I took Megan to a siblings' class at the hospital this morning. Here she is waiting for the class to start and sporting a name tag and pretty "I'm the big sister" sticker.


Megan said her favorite part of the class was the puppet presentation. They had an older sister puppet talking about her baby brother puppet. Megan's in the middle, in the orange shirt.


At the end, the kids all got to hug Molly, the big sister puppet.


They practiced holding babies, but I think Megan wanted to hold a baby with a pink outfit on rather than this one. She wasn't too excited.



Our spot in the hospital's parking garage. First time I've ever parked in a space for pregnant moms. I mostly did it just so I could say I had done it. These spots were still fairly far from the hospital entrance; not sure who thought it was a good idea to put them there.


Also, here's Megan playing on the starfall.com website the other week. It's an educational site that teaches letters and phonics, and Megan likes that she can use the computer mouse and navigate the site by herself for the most part.
We made apple crisp yesterday. Megan used the crank device to peel and core the apples and thought it was great fun. Here she is with our bowl of prepared apples and our long strands of apple peel.