{Moments} That Take Your Breath Away!

Because my phone is done-zo .. you know, until Benny cooks it in the oven .. I'm lacking pictures of the last 2 weeks of my life. However, sometimes that's okay. Today was one of those "Can I please just hold these moments in my heart forever and ever and never ever forget them?" kind of days. So it was okay that I didn't waste time pulling out my camera and just really got to be 110% in the moment(s). 

So, in words, here are events of today I wish I could just imprint in my heart forever (which I fully plan on doing but my memory span is equivalent to a one-year-old's attention span, so chances are.. in time.. I will forget and will need this post to remind me).

Father/Son Snuggles. Getting ready while Benny and Trice were spooning in bed is so beautiful my heart aches. Any time Trice is sleeping I cry if I look at his sweet little face. I recently told an expecting mom that I've never felt a stronger relationship with God than I've felt these last 14 months when I snuggle and nurse my precious boy. He's definitely all the proof that I need.

Breakfast. As you'll read in a future post, I've been menu planning for Trice (I'll save the details for later). This morning, because he was asleep spooning with daddy, I made some muffins and covered his in yogurt and bananas. He always lights up when I make something new. He picked the bananas off one-by-one and then sucked every drop of yogurt out of the muffin before tearing it into a thousand pieces and throwing it on the floor (to which I did NOT put him in time-out as suggested in my babycenter email this week.. seriously, who write those emails? Get real.)

Baby Signs. I have been doing sign language with Trice for quite awhile now. He understands a ton of signs and uses quite a few. I love that we can really communicate with each other. Most of his signs are obviously not exactly what the "actual" sign is, but they are close enough for me to know. However, these past few days he has been signing "More" exactly as it looks.. with the tips of his fingers.. and my heart glows every.single.time. And then I give him more. :)

Crunchy Leaves. Trice and I went to the park this afternoon. I LOVE this weather .. seriously, perfect. We played a lot, but the BEST part of it was when I took him to the grass covered in leaves and taught him how to CRUNCH them. I'm an avid lover of leaf-crunching, so this was basically a dream come true. He ran around every inch of that park crunching the leaves and smiling great big and letting out the most heart-warming squeals. But seriously, if we could all have the joy that children have over the littlest things -- how happy would this world be? I think I'll go plant a tree tomorrow so we can leaf crunch whenever we want in our own yard. Oh, and Trice pointed out that all the leaves were red and yellow just like his favorite football team!! He's so smart.

Pumpkin Painting. I just couldn't wait any longer. So we painted. And this I DO have pictures of! Trice created quite the masterpiece. I insisted on using non-toxic paint so therefore it's not going to last, but that wasn't the point. And the painting wasn't the best part.. when he leaned in and gave the pumpkin a GREAT BIG HUG - that's what got me.

Bath Time. I am pretty sure when it's my time to die and I think back on the happiest moments of my life, most of them will revolve around bath time. The pure innocent joy that radiates out of a toddler during a seemingly simple activity cannot be topped. The splashing, the bubbles, the "here's my tummy", the peek-a-boo with the washcloth, the filling and dumping, the hooded towels, and the cute little clean baby bottom. Standing over the sink doing dishes tonight and hearing the squeals and the laughter along with Benny's daddy voice.. yep, my heart skipped 802 beats.

Oh, and then this happened...

A harmless trip to Walmart for some almond bark ended with Trice owning THE cutest dining sets ever created by man (or ever sold at WalMart). If you haven't already impulsively bought these, you should. I also might have bought the matching cups.. I did, however, hold myself back and did not purchase the absolutely adorable owl .. until my next trip. Benny took the cost out of my fun money, but they are SO cute I don't even care. Fun hater!

There will always be stress, work to be done, projects to be completed, and there will never be enough time.  But there is ALWAYS time for crunching leaves and getting wrinkled like a prune. That, my friends, is what life is all about. Have I mentioned I love this mommy thing?!

{Poppe's} Punkin Patch

Yes, I still get all giddy when I see the word "Poppy" (in this case spelled incorrectly because of course my version is the ONLY correct version..). I realize most of you have long forgotten the days of Poppy, but I can't help but go back in time and reminisce about those sweet days when he was snuggled safely in my belly.. ahh... the memories. 

So  we HAD to go to this pumpkin patch .. even if it is a frozen tundra outside and Trice was sick last week so it was a totally irresponsible decision. Judge away .. I'm not scared.

This was actually the last picture of the day and we woke him up to take it (yes, we're evil) .. he was going to wake up when we put him in the car anyway!

Woah, guys, this thing is big.. and horrifying.. no, really, I don't like it.

Seriously, dad, enough of the giant pumpkin... 

Well, well, well.. what do we have here???

"Hi!"

These furry things are pretty cool, mom!

Kisses from Mr. Goat!

Umm.. dad, I'm gonna need BOTH hands to play with my new friend!

But mom.. I promise I'll take care of him. Can we PLEASE just take them home?!

By this point (3 minutes in), I was shaking uncontrollably (probably as bad as when I was in the recovery room after having Trice). because it was so freaking cold outside. (Do NOT.. I repeat do NOT.. trust your husband when you try to change/add more clothing before leaving and he says, "Oh, the sun will be out. You'll be fine." Don't worry, he heard about it all day. Anyway, we went inside Kid's World to warm up a little...

Dump!

 Shortly after that picture, Trice went crazy on the corn and started flinging it everywhere. After 15 seconds of death glares from those mothers who apparently forgot how toddlers act, we moved along...

He was OBSESSED with this game. I was OBSESSED with him NOT touching the rusty nails. But seriously - has he had a Tetanus shot?! It was him/Benny against me.. they won.. and only one ball got launched so hard against the wall that it left a dent. ;)

What IS the answer?!

We then discovered that there was a corn table for Trice-sized people that didn't require him to sit on it. Whoops. This is him plotting how to turn the entire table over and dump out the corn. Luckily, he remembered that fun little golf ball game before he followed through with his plan.

He begged Benny to put him on this and then immediately had a meltdown and wanted off. Somehow in those 3 seconds between, I captured this.. 

If you want to come in, you'll HAVE to say the magic word... in Trice language.

Peek-a-boo!

We won't talk about that absolutely disgusting floor underneath. If I could put Trice in a bubble (a squeaky clean bubble), I would. But since I can't, we'll just get filthy at the pumpkin patch and then scrub his hands (while he screams) in the nearest available sink. After Kid's World, we enjoyed some warm food in the little cafe. We shared the most delicious homemade pumpkin bar (and broke my "one dessert a day" rule!)

He's not proud or anything..

"When daddy let me drive.."

Self-Explanatory.

My little pumpkin!

Cutest little piggie I've ever seen!

On top of the world daddy's shoulders!

Hay-Ridin' to the actual pumpkin patch! Once again, so very proud...

Don't EVEN get me started on the corn maze. Benny INSISTED we go.. So we went. We were covered in mud and Trice screamed most of the way because he had reached the point of total exhaustion. But.. it was fun, right?

He can't read signs so it's not his fault he picked the corn...

Look at that face.. ANNND.. DONE!

Passed out 'lil punkin!

So I'm sure ya'll are wondering why I'm not in any pictures... I promise I full-heartedly interacted in each and every one of these activities (Okay, so my heart was only HALF interacting in the corn maze because the other half was complaining about the mud, the cold, the length, the tired baby.. and on and on..), but Benny didn't ever grab the camera to snap pictures of me.. and that's okay because my shoes did NOT match. They especially didn't match when I searched every inch of my car for a warmer pair and could only find boots that really just shouldn't ever be worn in public... But we had a blast. But really Trice was a TOTAL daddy's boy today. He didn't want to do anything without daddy by his side. I tried not to take TOO many pictures so we could just enjoy the day, but I guess I still took a few. We are probably going to go back if there is a warmer day left this Fall!! I was ready to buy a "season pass" before we even went in, but Benny thought that might be a little extreme... My love affair with Fall is getting a little out of control.

Stay tuned for pictures of our Fall crafts, recipes, and pumpkin painting adventures (Oh, and the 500 other posts I have saved in my drafts because life has been too busy for bloggin')... Happy Pumpkin-ing!