Happy Birthday Chance!

Jack's getting some practice with the Birthday crown.

Chance isn't crazy about it!

But cake can really work wonders.

After a flurry of weekend, it came to a close with another Birthday celebration. Or rather three. We celebrated Chance's, Isaac's and Great-Grandma Lewis's Birthdays on Sunday night. We even made Isaac wear the crown.

It was great fun, but I'm really not looking forward to celebrating Jack's first birthday. I'm already wondering where my little baby has gone.

I think that's the part of motherhood I was least prepared for --- the overwhelming certainty that time is indeed fleeting. Sure, in recent years I've seen the furrow in my brow grow a little deeper and I don't even want to talk about those gray hairs I'm finding. That's just getting older, but a child makes you really realize that there's no capturing his smile or the warmth you feel when he falls asleep on your chest. I think Jack has taught me the meaning of the word bittersweet ... and he can't even speak yet.

Jack and Chance Learn to Share

Sorta!

Jack at 7 months

As a way to gage his growth, I take a picture of Jack with this bear each month. It's getting a little harder to get a good picture because he just wants to hug and eat the bear now, but I still plan to stick with this tradition until my little stuffed-animal muncher turns 1.

Happy Birthday Elliot and Nolan

First we went to Elliot's Birthday.
And then Nolan's. Both these cuties turn 1 on Oct. 30.
Watching them eat cake made Jack a little hungry.
So he went to town on this cup. Yummy.
And now for some straw!

Pumpkin Path

Guess who's here to see you Chance?

It's cousin Jack...look behind you.


I think we could get into some trouble here.


Who needs a plane, when you've got Daddy.


Boy, that was fun, but who's going to eat all the candy? I'm just now getting started on solids.

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We met Aunt Lori, Uncle Joe and Chance at Flushing's Pumpkin Path. I thought it was a good chance to preview Jack's costume. I was a little concerned people wouldn't know what he was and I so excited when some older ladies stopped by to coo over him and to say, "Where's your plane?"

Yaya got the little "flight" suit for him shortly after he was born and we both envisioned him using it sometime this fall or winter, but he's nearly grown out of it. I loved it so much though that I wanted to use it for Halloween. So I was on search for a hat that would look like some an avaitor's and then some goggles, which aren't that easy to find this time of year.

Luckily I found some Basketball goggles and I think they really finish the outfit. I made a little scarf out of an old tea towel to complete his daring little ensemble. Doesn't he look like he's about to crawl into a B-1 Bomber, or something?

I also bought him some little crib shoes that have planes on them. I thought they would help clue people in on his getup. When I told this to Bob, he said, "Why do pilots have planes on his shoes?" Ha, ha.

Though he's almost out of the flight suit, his hat and shoes will fit him for awhile.

Corn Crazy!

Jack liked the pumpkins!
He didn't mind getting his haircut either,

but he wasn't sure about the actual corn maze.

We took Jack to my friend Bernie's (the Edward Scissorhands above) corn maze a couple weeks ago. This is her third year operating it and I've really been wanting to go. We had a lot of fun, but it was really hot, around 90 degrees, so Jack got a little tired of traipsing around the corn field. He did like the pumpkins though and Bernie let me take home the most perfect pumpkin for him. I like to pretend it's my pumpkin though. It's so perfect, I don't think I'll even carve it,

I know everyone wants photos

I edited pictures of our recent trip to my friend's corn maze. Right now the computer won't let me upload them.

I was very close to crying, because it's late, I'm tired and I thought the problem was my own computer illiteracy. Turns out it might not be my fault. I went to the help desk and it looks like others are having the same problems. I'm going to try again tomorrow.

I hope it works because, if it is my computer illiteracy, this might be my last post.

What's this thing?

At Flushing's Harvest Festival there was lots to see. A petting zoo, chalk artists and live performances, but nothing was exciting to Jack as this balloon. He also gets quite a thrill from crumpling paper. Christmas will be pretty easy this year...Santa and his reindeer will probably appreciate just dropping off a couple sheets of notebook paper, what with all Wiis and Playstations they normally have to lug around.

We'll see

I decided to finally start a blog ... Bob and I still don't know how to get our dvd and vcr working since we got Dish Network, but I figured that's no reason not to embrace the 21st Century in other ways. Maybe next I'll get an ipod or at least learn how to use the music function on my cell phone.