Trick-or-Treat!

We trick-or-treated in Glen Ellyn tonight with one of my bff's, Katie Borst, and her sister and family.  Parker and Nadia became fast friends.  

Nadia is such a sweet little girl, and she is very active, too!  She was always way ahead of Parker while he strolled down the sidewalk and took in the scenary.  They would both say "Trick-or-Treat," grab candy, say "Thank You," and then Nadia would be off to the next place while Parker would spend a few minutes checking out all of the other kids and their costumes.  It was quite funny.  

We made it up and down a few streets before the kids go tired and we got hungry.  When we were done, Parker said "I have a fun day!  I please have a trick or treat?"

Katie's sister made us all an AMAZING lasagna supper.  Thanks Melissa!  It was DELISH! Now Parker is in bed, Ryan is on shift, and I'm just trying to practice self control while I stare at a pumpkin full of candy.

Goebberts Pumpkin Patch

When you go to an Apple Orchard, you eat a cider donut, buy some apples, and sit on an occasional tractor or walk through a small petting zoo.  You get your apple fix and then you go home.  Not the case with the pumpkin patch...  If you go to Goebberts pumpkin patch, you play on all sorts of different vehicles, such as firetrucks,

tractors,

monster trucks, school buses, pirate ships, etc etc.

When you're bored with those things, you can go check out the giraffe, 

and an entire tent full of exotic animals that you've never heard of.  Then you can play on the wooden train, see the pumpkin-eating dinosaur, watch the pig races and the magic show, walk through Western Town, ride a camel, ride a pony, and/or ride a choo choo train!

When you get hungry, you can eat some cider donuts or eat a brick oven pizza in a giant greenhouse.  Then it's time to take pictures with every Disney character ever created, like Parker's favorite - 

Little Einsteins!

By that time, you have had a lot of fun, your hands and nose are freezing, and you've forgotten the fact that you came to a pumpkin patch to get a PUMPKIN....and you run to the car =)

In a nutshell, we have a blast when we go to Goebbert's.  Especially when we get to go with our best friends.  But I always find myself wondering whether I love this place or whether it is just extremely unusual and random.  Maybe I will make up my mind after next year's visit :)

Halloween Sneak-Peak

I hadn't really put much thought into Parker's costume this year because Ryan will be on shift.  I still want to take him out, but it won't be the same as being able to do it as a family.  If you ask Parker what he wants to be for Halloween, he will answer, "Papa."  Have I told you how much he loves my dad?     Totally cute.  I think I will still try to do something that resembles Papa when we go home next weekend, but last night we decided on the fireman.  He had a hat from last year and Nat had a coat, so we thought that would be just fine.  

I ran out to get a Redbox last night and ended up getting a little pumpkin for Parker to put his candy in. I showed it to him when I got home and he said, "Is this for me? Oh, thank you mommy!"  Ten seconds later..."Mommy, is this mine?  Oh thank you!"  He said that at least 50 more times throughout the night.  When it was time to go to bed, he asked for his pumpkin to be in his big-boy bed with him.

We  took him to Downtown Wheaton for their business trick-or-treat this morning and boy was it ever fun!  At first he kind of just looked around and walked super slow.  Then after he got his first sucker, he asked if he could eat it, so we let him.

Then we went to the next store where he got some Skittles.  He said, "I please eat this now?" Haha.  Don't worry, we cut him off after the sucker.

We went up and down the streets and he got more and more used to saying "Trick or Treat!" and thanking them after they gave him candy.  We saw SO many cute kids!  The streets were filled.  We stopped in at Starbucks and got an apple cider to complete the morning.

Edible Arrangements had chocolate-covered apples.

When we were all done, Daddy gave him a shoulder ride...but he didn't leave go of his pumpkin!

We got home and Ryan made omelettes for lunch.  Of course, Parker was begging for a "trick or treat," and he ended up refusing lunch and throwing quite the fit until falling asleep for two hours.  I'm just going to block that part out of my memory;)  It was the perfect morning!

Great Aunt Jeannie's Farm

Ryan had last week off, originally to help with harvest, but since that was over so quick, he had a week at home =)  On Tuesday, he took Parker out to Great Aunt Jeannie's Farm in Polo.  Her farm is the place where she and Ryan's Grandma grew up.  It is special place for Ryan and it didn't take Parker long to love it there either.  Well for one, she has toy semi's. 

And a mule!

And acres and acres of woods to play in.

And a big dog named, Tobi =)

Aunt Jeannie and Ryan have always had a special relationship, and I love that he drives 2 hours one way on his day off to spend time with her.  She is an amazing woman and an incredibly hard worker!  

Later that day, they went to Mt. Morris to meet up with Great Grandma for pizza.  They all had a wonderful day together.

Parker was wiped out after such a fun day.  He fell asleep in the car and stayed sleeping on the couch next to me when they got home.  Then he woke up once in the middle of the night and told me how he rode the mule and that Tobi was a big dog ;)  He is still talking about his day with Great Aunt Jeannie!

A Visit From My SBF

A couple of weekends ago, my SBF, Steph, was able to visit for the day.  She currently lives in Denver and recently accepted at job at Denver Children's Hospital...that's how awesome she is.

Steph and I grew up in the same church, GVCRC.  I still have no idea why her family chose to drive all the way from Freeport to attend a small country church, but I'm sure glad they did!  We decided to be best friends our Junior year of high school, and we went through a lot together.  Steph has always has such a firm faith in God and I could always count on her to point me in the right direction.  Despite the fact that we went to different high schools and had a lot of different interests, we somehow maintained an incredibly close relationship.  People told us that would diminish after we left for college, but it didn't.  I'd even say it got stronger.  I feel so special that she only spends a few weeks in Illinois every year, and  somehow I see her every time she comes home.  Last year we were able to visit her in Denver, too!  

I had high hopes for our time together.  I knew she missed the colors of Fall, so we were going to go to a festival at the forest preserve, carve pumpkins, and do everything Fall... it rained.  We still carved pumpkins, drank hot nutella-chocolate and watched a movie though.  I even took of work on Monday.  I was all excited to go out to breakfast that morning, and for some reason I accidently picked an up-scale creperie in downtown Wheaton.  We showed up in holey jeans, hoodies, and messy hair.  The other customers were wearing fur sweaters. Oh the memories!

I love you, Steph!  You have been such a blessing to my whole life and I am always encouraged by you!  Thanks for being awesome and sticking with me!

The Last Present

Ryan and I were pretty excited for Parker's birthday party for several reasons.  Here's one of the biggest ones...

Yay!  We're going to be a family of four!  We couldn't be more thrilled, and it went over well with our family, too ;)  We had been planning the announcement for a few weeks and it was perfect!  More details to come!

Cutie in the Carhartt

Pappo (Ryan's dad) got Parker this Carhartt coat last Christmas and then Aunt Jeannie got him some Carhartt Jeans.  With those and the boots from Ryan, he really looks like a farm boy!

Let the Harvest begin!! (And end)

My three favorite things to do in Fall - in no particular order.

- Go to an Apple Orchard

- Go to an Illini Game (or Bears)

- Ride with my Dad, brother, Ryan, and my Uncles and cousins during harvest.

I can't explain why it's so great to ride out to the field in a semi and jump in the combine and grain carts, but it just is.  I've always loved riding.  When I was little, I would get home from school and go right out to the field with my dad.  Sometimes I would even take naps on the floor of the combine.  I've always loved playing in the corn, bringing food out to the workers, and having one-on-one time with my Dad and everyone else.  That's probably why every Fall I re-convince myself that we need to move out to the country and be closer to the farm.  It is just SO special, I'm incredibly thankful that I grew up around it all, and I can't think of a better way for my kids to grow up.

Well, we're pretty sure that if Parker had a choice, he would live on the farm.  Actually, he'd never leave Papa's house if we didn't make him.  He loves riding everything.  He'll talk about it all week and then ride for hours on the weekend.  One of the best weekends for harvest is Columbus Day weekend.  (This year they actually finished harvesting everything on that day, which is almost unheard of).  Pretty much the entire Ross Family comes home, no matter where they live, and everything is solely run by relatives.  It's like a Case IH Roulette throughout the day because every driver has at least one rider at all times.  Now it's getting be more like two or three riders at a time since there are so many grandkids these days.  Parker and I got out to the field twenty minutes after he woke up on Monday.  When he walked out the door he said, "Hi Scout! (dog) Yay! Oh and there's the corn!  Yay! And there's Papa up there. Hi Papa!  How are you?  There's the corn! Yay!"  He was clapping and jumping around like crazy.  Of course he had to take his combine out with him.

Here he is riding in everything.

Cool picture with the cart, semi, and my parents house and bins in the background.