Pumpkin Search

In honor of All Hallow's Eve, I am going to tell you a little story I call "Pumpkin Search."Once upon a time, when Rock was just a month old, we took him to search for a pumpkin. But for some reason he doesn't remember that outing. So, we set out this past Monday to find a pumpkin to carve.
But we couldn't find the same pumpkin patch. We were going on the power of my memory -- which is usually very good for directions -- but again, we couldn't find the pumpkin patch. In fact, even the GPS on Fix's phone couldn't find the pumpkin patch.

We did find some beautiful horses. Rock insisted we get out of the car and take pictures.

Then we went to Homestead Gardens to find our pumpkin. It wasn't a traditional 'patch' in that they had no field, but they had plenty of pumpkins so Rock could pick the perfect one. This is not it. This one had a huge crack down the back of it.

Rock is saying "There are no pumpkins my size!"

He wanted one that he could carry.

We finally found one that was just his size. And we won't talk about how we discovered that it was rotting when we got home and that we couldn't in fact carve it because it was 'gross.'

Then we explored the rest of the fun Fall festivities... Having Daddy next to him gave Rock just enough bravery to stand somewhat close to the sheep.

Then, with his bravery bolstered, he ventured into the hay maze on his own. Dad hollered out "LEFT" "RIGHT" and Rock sometimes knew what that meant.

A few slide rides and we were ready to go back home for naps. The End. Happy Halloween everyone!

Logo

"Mommy, is this the logo for ice water?"

A Series of Pictures

Question: Where does Rock's crazy smile come from?
You'll have to scroll through this series of pictures to find out.

Answer: He gets his crazy smile from his crazy mother!

Pink or Blue?

Hard to believe, but I'm almost halfway through this pregnancy. I have plans to sew a few things for Fetus Fix #2 but before I buy more blue or pink thread, I'd like to find out if this baby will be a boy or girl.

Lord willing (and as long as Fetus Fix #2 cooperates), we will find out the gender of our baby next Tuesday morning. For a variety of reasons, Fix and I both think that we'll be using a lot of pink thread in the near future...

But we could be wrong! Perhaps we've got another boy on the way. Either way, we will be thrilled. The question is, what do YOU think?! Leave a comment with your prediction (pink or blue) and let your voice be heard! We'll let you know which color 'wins' next week!

Coloring

Someone has been doing a lot of coloring these days.

But he doesn't like to do it on his own. He always wants Rachel (what he's calling me these days despite my protests) or Daddy to color with him. And he is always ready to command you to draw specific things.

The most recent requests were for big bread, little bread, an orange starfish, and a grey fish.

Chucks

Found by Rock's father at Once Upon A Child.
Purchased last winter even though they were too big to wear then.
Now worn almost every day because they are impossibly cute.

Natural History Museum

Rock loved loved LOVED the giant stuffed elephant in the atrium of the Natural History Museum.

Even the dinosaurs did not compare.

He was also very insistent that we stare at this modern-day fish for a long period of time.

The Hope Diamond was so brilliant it can keep you from taking it's picture... or at least keep you from taking a good picture of it.

But seriously, did you know there is an elephant there?! Fascinating.

We made sure to stop by the DIG IT exhibit in honor of Marty. Rock found the video presentation there particularly mesmerizing.

While his father was mesmerized by all the different soil samples.

But he was MOST thrilled by the mini tablets with ancient Akkadian writings. He took at least six more pictures of them, but I edited them out in consideration for you readers.

One of these things is not like the others.

People in 2000 BC were not tall.

An emu (skeleton) picture for Stephen C.

I now say "Act like a hippo" when I want to brush Rock's teeth.

By the end Rock was quite tired. In the picture above he is deliriously singing "Give me a home, where the buffalo roam..."

IRS

This past Monday we took a jaunt into DC. After breakfast at Cosi, we stopped at the IRS building.

In case you can't see what the building says, you should know that "Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society."

It was the perfect place to sit and soak up the morning sun and be patriotic.

And advertise for Starbucks.

It was also just across the street from the Natural History Museum which was our ultimate destination. I mean, c'mon! Who really likes taxes anyway?!

Fix Birthday Pix

Flash back to September 6th. We called my parents on the way home from the beach to tell them we were coming for dinner whether they liked it or not. My Aunt Valeta and Uncle Bob were in town to celebrate Valeta's birthday, and we wanted to see them before they headed back to Ohio.
Ever the perfect hostess, my mom transformed the meal she had already planned into a birthday meal for Fix. The one problem was that she had planned a meal including the one thing Fix cannot eat. But Rock and I really enjoyed it! This was Rock's first straight-off-the-cob experience.But who can complain about the corn when Susanna made Fix a cake!

And by 'made Fix a cake,' I mean that she wrote Happy B'Day Fix on the half-eaten Happy Birthday Valeta cake from the day before. Regardless, it was delicious and it was fun to celebrate with the family!
p.s. I stole all these pictures from Aunt Valeta's Facebook page.

Chaos

While we were painting the living room this past week...

We had to crowd a bunch of our junk treasures to the dining room.

Thankfully, there was still plenty of room to play.

Renzo

If you know Rock's Uncle Kelly and Aunt Bethany, you know that they have an awesome dog named Renzo. When we went to their house last year for Thanksgiving, Renzo made a big impression on Rock.
So, when Juju gave Rock this stuffed animal dog, he gave him a very unique name. You guessed it -- RENZO! He loves this little puppy so much and wants to take him everywhere. But there is one place that Renzo is not allowed.

Rock's high chair. Renzo is just one of many beloved toys that have been set aside (with many tears) while the boy makes a mess at mealtime.

But like any faithful pooch, Renzo stays close by and keeps an eye on his owner and his food.
p.s. Thank you Juju for the Curious George pajamas! Rock keeps asking to wear them in the daytime so I think they are a hit!

P.S.

A big thank you to Susanna for letting us borrow her camera before she left for London so we could document Rock's birthday and her going away dinner. Thankfully my repaired camera lens just arrived in the mail this week so we will be able to take our own pictures from here on out! Hopefully that'll mean more consistent blog posts.

Look Who's Talking

I'm totally copying my friend Lynn here, but I've decided to start including some posts of Rock's funny sayings. Rock just says too many funny things these days -- and if I don't record them here, I'll never remember them.

So, the other day we were at Juju's house and we were looking at a book that had a bunch of pictures of real animals. Rock was identifying most of them with ease but when we got to the mice he was confused. I said "What are those animals Rock?" "Uh... I can't say this word" "Think about it for a second, what are they called?" "Uh....uh....bunny kids?"
We've been teaching Rock the Shorter Catechism. If he says it right, he gets a special surprise -- CANDY! The other day I asked question number 1 "What is the chief end of man?" The correct response is "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." Usually Rock nails it. This day, his response was "Man's chief end is to.... eat some candy!" *big grin*
We are also trying to explain the various aspects of our church service to Rock. On Sunday night we were driving home from church and we got into quite an intelligent conversation about the Lord's Supper where Rock was explaining that the bread represented Christ's body. I was impressed that he had remembered this and I said "Rock, you are smart cookie!" "I not a cookie! I'm a boy!"
And finally... Rock doesn't usually like to pray out loud with us. But the other night he asked to pray and here's his prayer. "Dear God, Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for Nana and Papa. Thank you for Juju. Thank you for Rocket. Thank you for Five Guys. Thank you for Rocket at Five Guys..... Amen."

Nationals

The last time Rock went to a baseball game, he was rather little.

So he was extra excited to go to a Nationals game with Rocket. And he's been talking about it ever since.

He talks about the metro train at least once a day. "We ride the Metro train! Stand back! Doors opening!"

At the game we met this random dog mascot for the Newseum. I think.

Our tickets were amazing. Three rows back right next to the visiting team's (in this case, the Mets) dugout.

Not only did the Nationals end their last home game with a win in an exciting, bottom of the ninth, full count GRAND SLAM... Rock even got a ball from one of the players (via the nice man in front of us who actually caught it). I explained to him that this is not an every game occurrence but something that most people wait their entire lives to experience. And even though he still likes to take off his hat...

We still managed to get a good picture of the three of us.