Apple Picking

Luckily for us, there are tons of farms not too far outside DC so this Saturday we headed out to do a little apple picking while the weather was so nice. Autumn truly is spectacular out here.

Tavish now has a fake smile for pictures which shows when he is posing. He is still cute though.

There are probably twenty pictures of Paxton eating apples while we are picking them...because that is how many apples he probably ate.

Tavish was excited to find this ladder left leaning against one of the trees...so up he went.

And because little brother wants to do whatever big brother does...up he went too.

It's so easy to fill up a big bag with apples! I kept saying we have enough but they kept picking!

I would love to say that this sweet picture shows how much these guys love to be together, which they do, but the reality is Paxton is actually trying to pull his hand away because he is mr. independent.

One more apple!

Raspberries were in season too so we headed over to another field to pick those too.

Paxton picking raspberries from the comfort of the wagon.

And the little orange and blue dot in front of the corn field is Tavish. We had a great time at the farm and went home and made salted caramel apple cake (superyummy!), apple hazelnut blondies (yum!) and crepes with Nutella and our raspberries. And we still had tons of apples left over!

Kindergarten

Here's my baby all grown up, ready for his first day of school. He picked out his own shirt...he liked it because it has lots of colors like a rainbow. And when asked what he wants to be when he grows up he answered "a soldier, a missionary, and a secret agent".

One of the most exciting things about school...riding the bus. Tavish has been asking about riding the bus to school for the past year. Lucky for us, because we live on such a busy street with no sidewalks, the bus has to pick him up right at our driveway. So here we are waiting....and then when the bus finally came, the bus driver said he only stopped because he saw us standing there and that he wasn't told to stop there. Argh! I had arranged for it last week with the bus company!

Since this was Tavish's first time going to school and riding the bus...as soon as he got on the bus, Auntie Lana and I hopped in the car and zoomed off behind it to make sure Tavish got to class okay. They have a system in place to specifically keep track of the kindergarteners getting on/off the bus and to/from class...but this is my baby and I had to know for myself (along with a million other moms)! Here he is sitting nicely at his desk. He seemed a little shy and overwhelmed so I suggested he introduce himself to the other kids at his desk and ask their names. He turned out to be sitting next to a boy named Brody...and they got separated within the week. The first day of school Brody was doing something a little naughty that made Tavish laugh "I tried not to laugh mom but I couldn't help it!" and they both got in trouble.

After we left Tavish at school, I made another phone call to the bus company...the morning driver hadn't gotten the memo about Tavish's stop before he left. Luckily, the afternoon driver did and here is our grown up boy returning home from his first day of school.

Little Slugger

Tavish just finished a week of baseball camp. I figured with a dad who didn't grow up with baseball and a mom who hasn't played since elementary school he probably needed a little help learning. He had a great time and we got lucky with the weather...usually this is one of the hottest weeks of the year but on the second day it cooled off to the low 80's so it was tolerable to be out on the field. Of course when I showed up early to watch him play on his last day he was at second base building a dirt pile on the base and not paying attention to the game whatsoever. Money well spent :)

Spaghetti Night

Friday nights is spaghetti night at Auntie Lana's house and sometimes we get to go...and even remember to bring things like bibs and a highchair. Which is fortunate because both boys LOVE Auntie Lana's spaghetti sauce and won't eat anyone else's, I've tried. I don't even bother trying to make my own...it won't get eaten. Auntie Lana brings us supplies of her spaghetti sauce on a regular basis so we can have a stockpile in the freezer. Thank goodness!

Apparently his own dish of spaghetti wasn't enough...

Tavish must always eat his out of one of Uncle Joe's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle bowls.

Puppy cousins begging for treats at the kitchen door after dinner.

They both have the same sad look in their eyes..."how come we're not allowed in the kitchen?"

Some after dinner cookie making.

And Wolverine claws...just because.

not my kid

We were having dinner with some friends from church tonight, including the Primary president who had a little story to share about Tavish....

She was teaching a lesson in Primary to the kids and asked them the question "Do you know anyone perfect?" One of the kids raised their hand and said "Tavish!" The Primary president said she tried to gently guide them to the answer she was looking for which was Jesus :) when another kid raised their hand and said "No, its Tavish! He's perfect!" Apparently some other kids gave consensus and there you have it. Primary kids think Tavish is perfect.

If only they knew the truth...

A Play Date

This is a selfie of Tavish and I on a date to see his first play, Miss Nelson is Missing. This was so much fun because Grandma Marsha had sent Tavish a copy of the book a while ago and we love the story. So when I saw it was playing at the Adventure Theater I knew Tavish would love it. He was so cute and would get excited about all the different parts of the story he knew as it was acted out. At one point one of the characters came up near us in the audience as part of the play and he shouted out excitedly "I have the book at home!"

And now it's gone...

Out of the blue, Tavish had been saying recently that he wished he would lose his teeth. I dismissed it thinking it wouldn't happen for another year or two. Then one day I glanced at his teeth and thought the bottom ones seemed to be getting more crooked...which I'm probably sensitive to since I've had my braces on for two and half years and am getting a little sick of them. Anyhow...the next day it seemed even worse and when I looked more closely I realized it wasn't crooked but loose! And then the one next to it was loose too! Then Sunday morning he came running in to our room, tooth in hand, and woke us up telling us he had pulled out his tooth...  

This wiggly tooth came out the following Thursday...it was hanging on by a thread and when I went to work, Tara the babysitter pulled it out because she was afraid he would aspirate it. So I've missed both teeth coming out. But we have a happy boy.

And this is the pillow the Tooth Fairy brought Tavish after he lost his first tooth so he could put his lost tooth in the pocket and she would in return leave him a little treat in there. Funny story...as we were putting him to bed the night he lost his first tooth and leaving it out for the tooth fairy, Tavish told me in all seriousness that the Tooth Fairy brings a gold coin for lost teeth (I think he saw it on a cartoon somewhere).  But he really believed it and expected it. What's a Tooth Fairy to do at 8pm on Sunday night??? Luckily the Tooth Fairy's helper had happened to go through a toll while driving recently and gotten a gold coin which he donated to the lost tooth fund. For the second tooth the Tooth Fairy brought two chocolate gold coins :)