Pumpkin Patch

We went on our annual trip to a local pumpkin patch on Thanksgiving weekend. This year it was quite a bit colder than previous years, but it was nice and sunny. The kids love it there and never seem to get tired of it :) Owen's class trip was to the same farm & Noah goes there next week on his first preschool outing. 

Here are some photos from our day at the farm.

Trying to get them to all look at the camera is no easy task, especially when Grayson just wanted to run in the open space.

We've been going to this farm for the past 5 years, unbelievable how quickly time flies. 

Grayson's First Haircut

Grayson went for his first haircut on Sunday. He's been in need of a haircut for awhile now, there were days the curls looked adorable & other days his hair was crazy! He's still adorable with shorter hair, but he's lost the 'baby look' 

Here is his before photo - looking a little worried.

Oh here come some tears! first he was pouty & then the tears came. He was reaching for me & trying to climb out of the thomas chair. Once I popped his soother in his mouth & he got distracted by watching Jake & the Neverland Pirates on TV, he was good to continue with the haircut :)

This isn't so bad! he's almost done & smiling :)

My handsome boy! so much older looking.

When we got home Gavin had given the other two boys haircuts in the backyard :) Here are my handsome boys all cleaned up. 

On a side note, we were looking at photos last night of Gavin & I when we were kids/babies. We showed a photo of Gavin when he was a baby to the boys & asked them who it was - they both thought it was Grayson! 

I'm so far behind in blog posts that I'm not sure I'll ever catch up! I'm going to try my best to get a few posts up over the next few days & hopefully, fingers crossed, I'll be caught up by the end of the month!


The boys and I enjoyed an afternoon at a local farm, while Gavin got to have a weekend away with some friends :) The kids love anything outdoors and if there are tractors and ride on toys involved they are beyond happy!

Noah wasn't quite big enough to try out the go carts, but he had fun on this little ride on toy :)

This go cart track was difficult! it was hard for the kids to steer around the other carts & bigger kids would try and get past the smaller kids, there were traffic jams around every corner! finally my boy made it to the end & only had to get unstuck by one of the workers a couple of times :) He didn't give up though - he made sure to finish what he started, I would have got off the thing and walked back :)

LOVES his tractors! I don't see his love of machines ending any time soon.

Noah could play in the sand all day - he loves it!

Grayson is also turning into a lover of all things outdoors and loves to get dirty!

Pumpkin Cannon - the kids loves watching him stuff pumpkins and other veggies into the cannon and guess how far they'd travel. I was surprised that they made it past the haystacks in the photo :)

Noah got his face painted, Owen wasn't interested in having it done.

We had a great afternoon together :)

14 Months Old

14 Months and acts like he's three years old! reading through his brother Noah's 14 month update, I'm reminded that he too was a climber, thrill seeker and wanted to act like the big kids, but I have no memory about how annoying & difficult this stage is! Oh my Grayson keeps me busy :) he is constantly climbing things & can even get up on the couch and chair by himself now. It seems that most of my day is pulling him off of the table or side of the staircase. He's learned already how to use the toddler slide downstairs & I have a clear memory of having to "teach" Owen how to do it when he was about 20 months old! 

My little sweetie has a temper when he doesn't get his way! he throws himself on the floor crying and will follow me around whining hoping I give in. We've learned to ignore the behaviour the best we can, I know it's difficult for him to express what he wants & for the most part try to help him through whatever's made him worked up, but you can only do so much.

Grayson is finally cutting his first tooth! last night I felt around his gums to see if I could feel a tooth maybe breaking through & he definitely has a sharp point of a tooth coming through :) It's not one of his front teeth either, it's one on the top left side, maybe even a molar. Really strange. Poor baby has been fighting a coupke of abck to back colds and has spent the last two nights up coughing most of the night. Hopefully when he gets this tooth he'll feel some relief.

He's said a few new words over the last couple of days - he's added yay & boo to his vocabulary & will hide behind something & pop up saying "boo" soooo cute &  interactive this age is. He's also been playing more like the big kids and his new favourite games are playing chase around the kitchen island & playing doggie - crawling around on all fours & panting. It's cute to watch him play with all of the other kids :) The panting is his way of saying "dog" or any four legged animal he sees lol. 

Grayson is still a very happy, smiling baby :) he has started to initiate kisses and even though has so much independence he still loves to be carried and cuddled :)

Happy 14 Months baby! 

Navy Ship Tour

Owen was invited by his friend A to attend a tour of a Canadian Navy ship. They had the opportunity to have a private tour and knew he would LOVE it! It was the first invitation to something without Mommy or Daddy tagging along so he was a little worried about going, but we assured him he'd have  a great time. Plus they promised him some ice cream afterwards so I'm sure that sealed the deal!

Here he is with his friend A - the ship is massive in the background! A's parents keep telling us how much she misses her friend Owen and speaks of him often. I'm happy they have a special friendship & even if they don't see each other often, they still enjoy spending time together :)

 holding the missile was Owen's favourite part.

Here they are posing with 'Charlie' the dummy for man overboard drills.

Owen with the Captain of the ship

Sitting in the Captain's chair

I'm so happy that my mighty machine loving boy got to experience this! he was so excited when he got home to tell us all about his Navy ship tour! 

Mid Autumn Moon Festival

We were invited to the Island to celebrate the mid autumn moon festival with a group of fellow adoptive parents & friends. What fun we had! the weather was great, food fantastic & it is always so wonderful to see our group of kiddies enjoying time together :) Half of the group adopted prior to the adoption shutdown so their children are almost teenagers. I like getting a glimpse into what life may be like for us in the future! the other half of the group adopted around the same time as we did, so our kids are all fairly close in age.

The kids were excited to take the ferry across to the Island, it was our first time on the island. Of course the kids noticed the amusement park first thing so I know another trip will likely be made next summer.

first time o the ferry. the kids loved watching the other boats go by.

when we first arrived the kids had a parade with the music makers. hey- if it makes noise my guys love it!

Grayson with mommy. 

plenty of open space to run around. I think Grayson became much faster after this weekend.

the kids found the church bell and would ring it over and over again.  probably some of the most fun of the evening :)

some fun with the parachute

lantern decorating

lantern fishing? notice the boys came up with this game.

one of many group photos taken on this beautiful old tree.

Noah with his lantern

the evening ended with a lantern parade.

With a ferry to catch our evening came all too quickly to an end. We weren't quite finished celebrating so we planned a second mid-autumn moon festival with friends that live close by :)

more lantern decorating, even grayson made a lantern :)

we took a similar photo last year, just look at how much these babies have grown!

group photo

at this point everyone was overtired and ready to end the night lol 

some parading down the street

Thanks for celebrating with us friends! we look forward to many holiday celebrations in the future.