I love caramel apples and they were selling freshly made ones at Young's--the caramel was still warm and gooey! I was sure Kenton was going to like it too, since he LOVES apples and will eat pretty much anything sweet. He took one bite and got mad because it was "too hard to taste the apple," as he put it. Edward got some warm, fresh pumpkin-cinnamon donut holes and both the kids went nuts for those. I got my apple all to myself while they shared the donuts.

After much searching, we found the perfect pumpkin and it's now gracing our front porch. After we placed it on the porch, Kenton suggested we give it a bath to get the dirt off.

My little punkins in the pumpkins

If you want to make a cool baby even cooler, just add sunglasses.

Hopefully Emery's incredible cuteness will distract you from the fact that it looks like the toy box exploded in our den in this picture.

Rice is so tasty!

But apples just might be tastier

We continued the farm-visiting today with a trip to an apple orchard. Kenton talked for days about visiting an orchard and picking apples off the trees . We packed a picnic and headed out, thinking it was going to be a great day and we were going to have lots of fun. We were wrong. You may notice Kenton doesn't look too happy in the picture. That was taken as soon as we arrived, and it was pretty much the high point of the trip. He whined and fussed and griped and cried the whole time we were there. I think Emery still managed to enjoy herself, but she was the only one. Kenton fell asleep about 30 seconds into the trip home. He doesn't usually nap, but I guess he was exhausted today, and a sleep-deprived 3 year old can really ruin your plans.

Kenton, Emery, and a llama...just another ordinary day around our house. Just kidding, of course. We've had many pets through the years but never a llama. Yesterday while I was stuck at work, Edward and the kids visited a nearby farm that has llamas and goats and other interesting critters. They also had free hot dogs and lemonade. Based on what he told me about the day, Kenton was most impressed with the lemonade. Apparently it was way better than any lemonade we've every given him at home.

I love that they can finally play together. It usually doesn't last too long before someone's screaming and crying, but it still puts a smile on my face to see them together.

Emery wasn't too impressed with the whole Thomas experience, but she did get seriously excited about this balloon flower. Unfortunately, she also tried to chew on it so we had to take it away from her which resulted in much weeping and wailing. Balloons don't last too long in the hands of 3 year olds, though, so we didn't have to worry about it for long.

On Saturday we went to see Thomas! Kenton was far more excited about the trip than this picture would lead you to believe. Granny came up to visit and took the train ride with us. The weather was nice, although a little warm, and we had a nice morning out with Thomas.

We used to live about 75 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and never saw any real damage from hurricanes or tropical storms, although several hit the area while we lived there. Now we're in Ohio, and we got hit pretty hard by what was left of Hurricane Ike yesterday! Unlike most people in the area, we never lost power. However, a line went down in our neighbor's yard yesterday afternoon and the sparks from it caught a tree in our back yard on fire. At first it was just smoldering, but shortly after I took this picture it burst into flames and spread quickly. With the wind gusting up to 75 mph, it spread fast and I was getting ready to grab the kids and the pets and head out about the time the fire truck showed up to take care of it. They got the fire put out quickly, but it was a little scary for a few minutes. Schools and most businesses were closed here today since so many places were without power. We ran to Kroger to grab a few groceries this morning and it was crazy in there! Lots of the people were looking for flashlights, batteries, water, and ice. They're saying it may be a week or more before they can get power back on for everyone in the area.

Last week I found a good deal on snow boots and bought some for Kenton, Edward and me. Snow boots were not on our shopping list in Georgia. Kenton is really excited about his and likes to put them on and run around the house asking us if it's snowing yet. He seems to think that putting on the boots will cause the snow. We've tried explaining that winter is still a long time away, but he doesn't seem to be getting it.

We went to the Beavercreek Popcorn Festival today, and Kenton had his first experience with a popcorn ball. And it was no ordinary popcorn ball--it was flavored with kool-aid or jello or something that made it bright red and super-duper sweet. Needless to say, he loved it. I love Emy's face it this picture. It looks like she's thinking "They never give me a bite of the good stuff!"

Kenton, looking snappy for the first day of school

His bag is packed and he's ready to go

Walking across the parking lot

Finding his nametag on the table

Okay, dad...you can leave now!

Kenton hasn't been taking naps for a couple of months now, but today he crashed in his beanbag while watching tv. He slept like that for at least an hour.

Dad brought us a bunch of tomatoes when he came up last week, and I decided to use them to make some spaghetti sauce today in my crockpot. It turned out fabulous! We ate some for supper and licked our bowls clean. I used my vacuum sealer and sealed the rest up in a couple of quart jars, so it should last for a while in the fridge. We have a few puny tomato plants in pots in our back yard, and I did get two tomatoes off them to add to the sauce. We also grew the basil and parsley that went into it. Our herbs are doing much better than our tomatoes!

I made refrigerator pickles a couple weeks ago (the cucumbers were also from mom & dad's garden) and was quite pleased with the way they turned out, too. I couldn't decide between cutting them into spears or big chunks I could snack on, so I decided to do some of both. I like a good garlicky dill pickle so you'll notice there's a lot of garlic in the bottom of the jar. When you make your own, you can make 'em however you want! Next year we really want to have our own garden and do some real canning.

We spent yesterday morning at Carriage Hill Park in Dayton and had such a great time. We've visited nice parks in several towns around here, but the ones in Dayton have really impressed us. Carriage Hill is a working farm and also has several historical recreations. They were hosting the national draft horse plowing competition yesterday. The kids weren't too interested in that, but we did see some of the horses. They're such beautiful animals!

Kenton and Edward walked across the little creek on some big rocks. Kenton thought this was too cool.

Since the stroller wasn't going to cross the creek too well, Emy and I only got to watch the rock-throwing fun. It won't be long until she's big enough to join in!

There were a couple of barn cats running around and both the kids found them very interesting.

Kenton made a friend when he went to check out the cats

Em watched the chickens from her stroller

Kenton offered the chickens some treats...unfortunately they were pretend treats, so the chickens weren't too impressed.

Xenia hosted a little railroad festival today and we spent a couple of hours downtown enjoying it and having lunch. The festival had lots of model railroad displays and a couple of free rides. Kenton didn't want to ride this one alone, so I squished on with him. There were other adults riding with their children, and the guy running it assured me that I wasn't too big to ride, even though I look ridiculously large sitting on there. We all had a good time and will definitely plan to attend railfest again next year.

Em enjoyed Kenton's birthday, too.

It's not a very good picture--too much light coming in from the window, I guess. But I thought his face was so cute when he blew out the candle. Notice the chunk missing from the right side of the candle. That's where Kenton picked it up and tried to take a bite of it, despite Edward telling him repeatedly that it wasn't edible. I guess there are some things he just needs to figure out for himself.

My son, who hardly ever gets sick, has been to the doctor twice in the last two weeks, and his regular check-up is scheduled for next week. Edward is getting very familiar with the new pediatrician's office. Last week he went in because he fell and cut his toe somehow while running around the house. He whined and complained, but we didn't think much of it. The next day he was still crying and whining about it so we started to get concerned. The doctor said the cut was a little infected and she was worried that he might have a fracture in one of the bones in the top of his foot. So he had to go get x-rays. Thankfully nothing was broken--just getting the x-rays was enough of an adventure!

This week's visit was for the sty you see on his eye in the picture. It showed up last Friday, so we read all we could find on stys and learned that they usually go away on their own in about a week. Kenton's was getting bigger and not showing any signs of going away, so off to the doctor he went yesterday morning. He got a very expensive antiobiotic and the sty seems to be a little smaller today. Hopefully after next week's checkup we can stay away from the doctor for a while!

Kenton got a Diego video and a Chutes & Ladders game with his birthday money from Nana and Papaw.

Emy loves her new doll. Thanks Aunt Peggy !

Kenton got a cool remote-controlled Thomas from Aunt Peggy

My boy loves the great outdoors

Nana, Papaw, and aunt Bobbie came up on Friday and we celebrated the kiddos' birthdays. We let Kenton choose what we should do for the day and he opted to go to Young's Dairy, which is his very favorite place to visit. The weather was unbelievably beautiful and we had a great time!

Aunt Bobbie and Uncle John give great presents!

Aunt Bobbie gets picture of our little cowgirl in action

Papaw and Kenton feed the goats

Nana gives Em some advice on driving the tractor

Kenton and Papaw check out Emy's new tank top

Opening presents with Aunt Bobbie and Nana

Just a-swingin'

My cutie-pies in the bathtub tonight. Emy just loves getting to play in the tub with brother!

Happy first birthday, baby girl!

Emery one year ago

Our blue-eyed girl loves to eat! She's just about given up the bottle. Most days she only has one first thing in the morning and right before bed, but I don't think it's going to be hard to take those away. She'd rather eat "real food" than take the bottle any day.