The Great Pumpkin....

It's Fall. It's official. Yesterday we went to our first Fall Festival of the year. Cute little place about a 1/2 hour from us.

Max and Karl went for a hayride and picked a couple of pumpkins while Emma and I took a stroll through a cute little gift shop. Then while Karl strolled around with Emma Max and I went through a fun corn maze....well it was fun until 1/2 way through Max no longer wanted to walk so I had to carry him on my shoulders. :)

I love fall. I am so in the mood it's ridiculous. Yesterday I was on a baking mission. I made Apple Cake AND Cinnamon-Sugar Apple Chips. Man did the house smell AMAZING! I love the smell of apples, pumpkins and cinnamon baking. It just smells warm and cozy. Looking forward to more fall activities AND fall food!

Obsession....

I don't often watch TV but now that Max is in school I have been catching a few shows here and there when Emma goes down for her nap. I forgot how much fun stuff is on during the day.

But mostly I have been watching The Cooking Channel and The Food Network. It's quickly becoming an obsession. This past year I have really started to get more into cooking and have found that I am LOVING it! Of course I have lots to learn but am really having alot of fun getting there.

One of the coolest gifts I have gotten in a long time was from Karl. He bought me an old fashioned tortilla maker. I have not got up the gumption to use it yet but plan on busting it out this weekend. I am nervous and excited all at the same time. I plan on getting LOTS of pictures whether it turns out or not. About a month ago I created a food blog, At the Cookery. It's pretty basic but I have started posting recipes that I make throughout the week. Stay tuned for the Tortilla Making session!

At a loss....

Max used to be my champion sleeper. Of course it took us the first 9 months of his life to get him there but this kid could sleep.

He used to take 2 two hour naps AND would go to bed around 6 pm, sometimes we had to fight to keep him awake at 5:30 pm. He would usually sleep till about 6:30 am the next morning.

At around 15 months or some he went from 2 naps to just one. But they were great naps. He usually went down around 1:30 pm and would sleep till 3ish, sometimes even 4 pm. Around the time that Emma was born he started fighting naps all together and I can't remember the last time he took a nap in the middle of the day that wasn't in the car. The plus side of all that was that he was still going to sleep fairly early and getting up around the same time.

Ever since school has started he has been getting up early, 5:30ish am and in the last two weeks it has been impossible to get him to go to bed. Tonight for example I put him down about 7 pm and JUST got him to go to bed after almost 2 hours of fighting. He stands in his room and kicks the door, throws toys, screams and I mean SCREAMS - like Jason is coming to get me scream. If it weren't for Emma I would let him scream and cry and just fall asleep where he is but I have Emma and I don't want him to wake her because who knows if and when she will go back to sleep.
I don't know what to do, short of laying in there with him every night (which I really, really, really don't want to do) I am at a loss.

A Huge Milestone....

And we made it. More Specifically I made it. :)
Max started school. We have had a few bumps in the road....like him detouring through the school and getting found in the parking lot (that was scary), getting three weeks into it THEN suddenly developing separation anxiety (that was sad) but today he seemed OK getting on the bus and even cracked a smile at the bus driver. Of course it didn't hurt that he had a huge chunk of toast sticking out of his mouth and she thought that was hilarious.

Here are a few pics of his big day.....

Some are from his first day starting school and then some are from his very first bus ride. :)