Super Heroine

Picture it:  I was in the laundry room trying to shove as much laundry as will fit into the machine.  And I look up to see the heroine of my dreams.  Patriotic (flag), eagle-eyed (binoculars), armed (water gun), communicative (phone), offbeat (hula hoop) and prepared to swim if necessary, Ashley was ready to take on the world.

After the heroine helped with the laundry, world order seemed to be restored.  Ahhhh.

Surprise Guests

There was one surprise at Tate's birthday.  Not even MLM knew about it!  Watch and listen closely for MLD's reaction:

Tate and the Tumblebus

The celebrating continued across state lines.  The Tumblebus rolled in to town, so Tate and his friends hopped on.  It might have been cloudy and a weirdly muggy outside, but inside the bus was all sunshine and happiness.

Lots of videos today, so grab your coffee cup and settle in.  It's going to be a fun ride!

First we see Tate checking out the equipment:

Then we see Daddy entertaining himself and Tate:

Tate wasn't such a fan of the rings, but his big bro and sis sure were:

What Tate really enjoyed was rolling on his head:

And what's a party without a zipline?

Even Adam and Ashley loved riding it:

And what better way to wrap up a party than to eat cake?

Tate's Two!

Oh what fun it is to turn two!  And to celebrate, we had two parties!  First one was in NY with our family.  Tate's favorite part?  The ice cream cake.

Wait until you see tomorrow's post.  Whooowee!  More birthday celebrations!

West Travels East

A few weeks ago we attended a fun family reunion in NY.  Aunt Toby and Uncle Marty made the long schlep to the East coast to see family and friends. It was so exciting to see them!  Uncle Marty suggested we snap a few photos.  That was a brilliant idea.  Here are the results:

If You Build It, We Will Help

Each year we've been invited to help our friends set up their sukkah.  It's always a fun afternoon.

Rockin' the Look

The A-team is rockin' it this fall in their fancy sweatshirt jackets:

What a cozy way to keep warm while hiking through Menotomy Rocks.

Double Double Toil and Trouble

... found a few witches brewing a mystical potion in the driveway:

Cousins in the Park

We love visiting our NY cousins.  They took us to a park during our last visit:

Amanda's Big Day

OK, so the posts about birthdays have been a bit belated.  It gives everyone a chance to celebrate again.

In this clip, Tate sings "Happy Birthday" to Amanda!

Swinging

Something about swinging is just so much fun!

Toothbrushing with Cousins

We had a sleepover with our cousins!  It was so much fun.  Y'know, there's nothing like some old fashioned toothbrushing to bring families together:

PreSchool Update

Tate's teachers send us photos to show us just how happy he is at school. 

Return to the Orchards

We had so much fun at Carlson Orchards that we went back for more.  I was determined to snap a cute fall photo.  MLD was determined to snap a shot of me.  Score one for Daddy-O!

Precocious Peanut

My precocious peanut misses the school cut-off by only 6 weeks.  So close!  Not to worry, our favorite preschool was excited to welcome Tate to their ranks this fall.  We're proud to report that Tate has adjusted quite well to preschool.  His favorite part?  "Goin' ow-tide".

Here are some photos from his first day just before drop-off:

And here he is with Daddy at the end of a long day:

Nighty-night!

Fall Soccer

In between the apples and the cider donuts, we manage to squeeze in soccer.  It's often a lot of fun, unless there's something more exciting happening on the field, as Adam so happily demonstrates in this clip:

Carlson Orchards

Carlson Orchards to the rescue!

They had cider donuts.  And peaches.  And raspberries.  And a hayride out to the orchard.  Everything we were looking for.

First we purchased the cider donuts and then we hopped on to the hayride:

We tore into the bag and devoured the cider donuts.  All of us except for Tate.  He took his time and really enjoyed his donut:

And even once the ride was finished, Tate was still workin' on that donut:

He worked very hard:

I'm happy to report that Tate managed to polish off the donut on his own, sadly without assistance from Mommy.

Doe Orchards

This has been the apple pickin'est fall we've ever had.  This trip started out at Doe Orchards.  Tate was asleep in the car. so while he and Daddy snoozed, the A-team and I headed into the fields:

The little guy woke up and headed immediately for the nearest tractor:

It was so much fun!

Then we met up with an adorable puppy:

There was only one thing missing from this trip.  Cider donuts!  Tune in tomorrow to see how we solved the problem.