Pumpkin pickin' and carvin'

Yesterday after church Karsten and I took Kellen to a local pumpkin patch/Farmer's Market. He had been looking forward to carving pumpkins ever since we started reading his Pumpkin Day, Pumpkin Night book several times a day.
Mayes Farmers market has lots of produce, several pumpkin patch fields, hay rides, corn mazes and straw mazes for the kids. We had a great time and it was probably one of the last nice days we are going to have for awhile.

Hey Dad, I found my pumpkin!!

Kellen in the straw maze

Look how much I've grown. (It doesn't look like much compared to last year!) :-)

Driving to school - although I'd rather be in a combine! Let's get home and carve those pumpkins!!

Later that evening Daddy and Kellen carved the pumpkins while I roasted the pumpkin seeds. They are very good I might add!


Kellen thought he was pretty special after he received his very own kid friendly knife. However, Kellen did NOT like scooping out the seeds or touching the inside of the pumpkin whatsoever - are you surprised!?!

Here he is showing off his knife.

Check out the final project!! Kellen was very proud of his work (eh hemm.. Daddy's work).

We lit the jack-o-lanterns right before he went to bed. It was a very special pumpkin day indeed!

A night of golf

Karsten's residency program sponsored a putt-putt golf contest at a local course friday night. There were prizes for the top 3 winners - and Karsten won $20 for 3rd place. Kellen has been putt-putting before but was not interested on this night. He was much more interested in wandering (which Karsten attests to his 3rd place score instead of 1st!).





Kellen observing one of the many waterfalls instead of golf.







Daddy and Kellen celebrating their 3rd place win.







Finally a preggo shot!!! The Oldham's were also at the golf outing and Betsy and I FINALLY took a picture together!

We are 6 weeks apart in our due dates.





Betsy is due with Nolan Dec. 12 and me with no name boy Slater Jan. 20th.

I'll try to post some pregnant pictures more often so you all can see how big I get!

Our little helper

I was fixing lunch today and Kellen wanted to help me. He says "I help you mommy?" So I let him try his chef skills out. He is really into helping right now. I hope this carries through to January when I need a diaper or a burp rag!

Stirring the soup

Attempting to flip the grilled cheese sandwhiches

My mutilated sandwhich

I tried to get him to look up at the camera but he was concentrating very hard.

On a different note, Kellen and I traveled home to Springfield again this last weekend so Kellen could have his 2 year pics taken by Aunt Shannon and so he could get some more rides on the combine.

We were heading into town one evening and saw a school bus and Nana said "it won't be too long and you will be riding a school bus to school!" and Kellen's response was: "NO, combine!" We both thought that was pretty funny.

Here are some pics of Kellen in the combine with Pa.

Kellen sitting on the "tool bench" just like mommy used to. It's actually a lunch box but we use to sit on a tool box when we were little.

Kellen thought he was pretty special when Pa let him take the wheel. We did donuts in the middle of the field.

Kellen had a great time. We spent quite a while in the combine that evening. He saw a skunk, 5 deer, and a coyote.

By the way, my sister is starting up her photography business. You can visit her blog site at http://www.shanderson.blogspot.com/ or her photo website Entertaining Angels.

Georgia, Sweet Georgia

Karsten and I took a long weekend and traveled with Kellen back to where he grew up on Sand Mountain in Georgia. Karsten's parents still have their house there but Kellen had never been nor had any of his relatives seen him since he had been born. So we decided to make the trip. Karsten was also able to golf with his buddies on his uncle's golf course in Alabama. We had a great time. Here are some highlights of the weekend.

Friday morning we went to Nana Virginia's house. Virginia is Karsten's "adopted" grandmother. She fixed us a wonderful breakfast and Jim and Virginia were able to visit with Kellen for awhile. Kellen really enjoyed looking out off her porch to the valley beneath. (They live on the very edge of the mountain - seriously).

Saturday while Karsten was golfing, Nana took us to Coolidge Park in Chattanooga, TN. It is pretty much a tradition for all the grandchildren to go. Cousin Kaylee made the trip up with Nana and Poppa so she was able to enjoy it as well. There is a large indoor Merry-go-round, water fountains that you can run around in and a foot bridge that crosses the river. Kellen enjoyed the bridge but was disappointed when Thomas the Train didn't show up.

While we were at the park, Aunt Linda and Uncle Randy came to see us and took us out to lunch. We had a great time with them.

Thank you Nana for our special morning.

Saturday evening Mark and Robin had us over to their new home for a large friends and family cookout. Kellen really enjoyed playing with their 3 year old son Grayson, while Karsten and I visited with old friends and family.

Grayson and Kellen playing with their "froggie" sprinkler.

Sunday afternoon Papa took Kellen for a tractor ride and Nana helped Kellen pick an apple from their very own apple tree.

Thank you Nana and Papa for the special weekend. We really enjoyed it!!!!

An event "fall" weekend

This weekend our family - including the dogs - traveled back home for some quality time with the grandparents. Our first adventure was taking Kellen to ride in the combine with Pa and see all the tractors, wagons, and trucks. He had been asking for about a month to see the combines and spend some time with Pa in them.

These are my favorite two pictures. It's sad because next year Kellen will probably be too tall to stand inside the tractor wheel.

Kellen got tested for allergies - i.e. the bean dust whipping around us in the 2nd picture. So far so good.

The next day we all decided that we should have a weiner roast. There's nothing like a cool fall evening, hot chocolate, apple cider and some s'mores. Morgan and Luke made the trip from Nashville to join in the festivities. We all had a great time. In case you didn't know, Mom and Dad have a wonderful place in their back yard called the secret garden. It's secluded and just the perfect place for a cookout.

Nana and Pa spending time with Kellen during the cookout.

Kellen and Aunt Morgan in the secret garden - and Kellen trying to blow out the tiki torches.

Yes, I know I look bad - give me a break. I don't have any make up on.

Great Grandad and Grandma Dudley stopped for a visit.

So here is the story on this one. Morgan's large rear broke the bench. Okay, that's not very nice. Actually, it was a homeade bench out of tree stumps and the stumps were rotten and when she sat down - well you can figure out the rest. It could have happened to any one. But the funny thing was Grandma Dudley yelled out "my how much weight have you gained!?!!!" It was so funny!!

Yummy....caramel apples

Another reason I love fall!!

Caramel apples

Today our good friends Betsy and Hallie Kate came over to make caramel apples with the apples we picked last week at the orchard. The two kids enjoyed eating the caramels before we melted them (as did the two pregnant moms). They thought they were pretty special when they got to dip their apples into the caramel bowl - they had a great time.

We are heading to Springfield on Friday so I will hopefully have some pictures of Kellen and Pa in the combine soon along with pictures of Nana and Papa Slater.