Pumpkin Pickin'

Fall is finally here!!! I love fall! I love October!! I love pumpkins! I love Halloween (not only because it is my birthday!!) The day was absolutely beautiful! Jake got up and went on an early morning canoe run with a buddy and after nap time Gus and I headed to the pumpkin patch with Pinki. He loves to hold hands and walk to where ever we are going (near or far). Before I can even ask him to hold my hand he is already reaching up for it! I love it! It was a little walk from the car to the patch, but as long as Gus had Pinki and I's fingers he was good to go!

Once we got to the patch his objective was clear.....roll over any pumpkins that were standing up right and that he did. As he would roll them over we were right behind him standing them back up. Once he had rolled enough pumpkins he was on to collecting kernels of corn and placing them in a nice little pile! I love this child!!

Free at last.......running through the patch!

Which one should I roll over next??!

Pumpkin tippin'!

Even tippin' the littlest of little pumpkins!! Do you see his little pile of corn??!

Collecting more corn!

Adding to the pile!!!

Let's just say this was a great afternoon and it is a good thing that the patch is run by Boy Scouts and they really liked Gus and hope that some day he joins their Troop!!!

Takin' it to the Beach!

I will start this post off by apologizing for the picture overload. I am behind and figured one post dedicated to our beach vacation would suffice. So here we go...

Back in September, we left Louisiana and we headed to the Destin/Grayton Beach, FL area. This was Gusley's second time at the beach (1st was when he was 7/8 weeks old). HE HAD A BLAST!!! We have decided that this is a new family tradition of ours and we will be back year after year after year!

This is the sunset we were greeted with as we took Gus to Grayton for the first time.....

Nothing but smiles as he could see the surf and feel the sand in his toes!

FULL SPEED AHEAD!!

Waiting for the waves to crash upon the shore.....

loving every minute of it!

eager for the next wave!

Day #2 - GOOD MORNING FLORIDA

Getting a few licks in before we head to the beach!

Back to Grayton we went!

It was a little bright, but lots of fun!

Chasing his shadow!

Building castles in the sand with mommy!

Family fun!

Seaside, FL....We just love it there! Thanks to the Bergerons' for introducing Jake to this neck of the woods and thanks to Jake for sharing this hidden piece of paradise with me!!

Gus played in this little playhouse while Jake and I fulfilled another tradition....

Pickles for fried pickles and a beer!

Catching raindrops!

Ahhh....

Afternoon playdate with Mommy....where else, but at the swings!

Having a great time in the fountain at the resort!

I do believe he really thought he was driving at this point!

DAY #3

Gusley gets to meet sweet Ava for the first time. It was a great treat that our cajun cutie friend, Crystal and here family were in FL at the same time. We don't get to see each other very often so when we do it is always a good time and a good time it was!

A tea party on the beach...why not!

Back in the Gulf.....he was feeling a little froggy on this day, but still a little trooper!

Watching the tide roll in....

time to bury toes.......

Taking a snack break.

I just love this picture of Gus and Crystal. They had the best time burying each others toes in the sand!

Back at the pool with Fred the turtle!

My favorite picture from our entire vacation! I love these two more than anything!

Nothing like some refreshing watermelon after a big day at the beach!

Ready to head out to dinner!

Rainy day schedule.....not feeling to hot.

Jake and Gus in front of Hard Rock....this was as far as we got on Day #4.

90 miles from home......

So glad to be home and reunited with his tractor.....that was a loooooong, but fun and memorable 10 days!!

Special Days

Yesterday, 10.17.09 was 5 years since Jake asked me to be his beloved wife....I remember the day like it was yesterday. We went listen to the Philharmonic Orchestra play at Southdown Plantation and after Jake asked if I wanted to go to Lumen Christi (we used to always go there to feed the ducks, dream and talk). I thought we were going to go on our usual walk then sit on our usual bench and talk about the future. Jake told me to go ahead and start walking that he would catch up to me. When we got to the top of the hill, Jake met me up there and got down on one knee and pulled out a little white box and asked me the question I had secretly been longing to hear, "Lauren, will you marry me?" I am sure he said some other really sweet things besides that, but I was so surprised that that is all I heard! We had NEVER went ring shopping EVER, and he did a fabulous job! I was surprised, shocked, nervous, anxious, excited, jubilant and wanted to tell someone so bad. I remember asking Jake do my parents know, do your parents and siblings know...it seemed liked everyone I asked already knew that he was going to do this, Finally I said tell me someone that doesn't know and he said Maw, so I called my grandma to tell her first!!! I love you, Jake! What a great surprise!

Yesterday was also Jake's Uncle Donny's birthday. Which I think after all these years I can just say Uncle Donny, I mean I am family after all! We would like to wish Uncle Donny a very Happy, Happy Birthday and wish we were in the northwest to celebrate with him!

Today is my bosom buddy Andrea's birthday! We have been friends since 2nd grade, Ms. Betty Davis' class. Though we are far apart, she is always in my heart. I love you "Dup-inator" and hope you have a wonderful birthday and can't wait to see you in a few weeks!!!

Lastly, today was the first Saints game we got to watch all season and what a game to watch!!! Can't wait to see what happens next week!!

The Mullet is gone......

10.10.09 - The day has come...Gusley gets his first haircut! Jake and I have been going back and forth with the whole "to cut" or "not to cut" and we decided TO CUT!! Off with the baby mullet!! I made the appointment with this really nice lady Suzan who has a Mini Cooper for the children to sit in while she cuts their hair! I was a little nervous because our appointment was during naptime but we were able to keep him awake and in a good mood.

Here are two before pictures that I took 2 days before while we were out playing in the yard enjoying the wonderful fall weather!

While we were waiting our turn in the lobby, Gus could see the Mini Cooper so when it was his turn, Ms. Suzan came out to get him and he quickly grabbed her finger and walked over to the Mini....(at this moment I had to hold back tears, what a big boy and he didn't need Mommy or Daddy's finger too). He got in the car and began pressing the buttons and listening to the music it played. Ms. Suzan tried to put the cape, but he was not having that so we gave him a dum-dum sucker and off went the curls. He was such a big boy for the entire 5 minutes it took her to snip his hair. Then the meltdown came.....his dum-dum was full of hair so we wanted to give him a fresh one that he could enjoy. Let's just say he was attached to that particular dum-dum so much so that once he finally settled for the new, clean one he fell asleep with it and when he woke up he was looking for it!

Here he is getting all strapped in for the big event!

The hairy dum-dum......

Off with the curls.....sniff, sniff!