Fall stroll

It's amazing how a little stroll through the neighborhood can lift my spirits and totally make my day. The beautiful fall foliage and fabulous company doesn't hurt, either.

Trunk-or-treat!

On Sunday, Aldersgate hosted its annual "trunk-or-treat" event, where families were invited to trick-or-treat from decorated car to car. The youth group competed against each other with themed booths (Mario Cart, concession stand, tailgate and "Back to the Future").

Westley's costume, which I ordered nearly two weeks ago online, hasn't arrived yet. (Fingers crossed that it makes it here on time.) So Plan B for Sunday's event was a snuggly fuzzy bear winter suit with a hood and bear ears. But it was 77 degrees when we left for the party, so that went out the door, too. Plan C worked out pretty well, though: I dressed him in a matching spider long-sleeved onesie, pants, socks and bib that I scored at my favorite local consignment store (Hannah Banana) for only $7.

The candy-givers were very kind and offered Westley sweets. We declined and said they should keep it for someone with teeth. A friend who is a professional lactation consultant must have been on to something when she handed me a snack-sized treat and asked Westley if he was going to have chocolate milk that night. Ha!

In the newest installment of photos of Westley and his girlfriends, I bring you this:

(You know what they say happens if you kiss enough frogs ... )

Brian and I decided not to dress in full costume, but our Chiefs and Saints clothing made us fit in really well by the tailgate area:


Interesting side note: The Chiefs, who typically stink, have the same season record right now as the Saints, the 2010 Super Bowl Champs. On Sunday afternoon, KC won and the Saints lost. It is a very unexpected football season, but a fun one nonetheless.

Tiny twinkies

OK. It's been awhile since I've posted a "We Didn't Plan This" photo of people who unintentionally dressed alike. But this is the perfect reason to reprise my blog feature:


At church this morning, we cracked up when we noticed that the little boy getting baptized today had on the exact same outfit as Westley, right down to the adorable zippered sweater vest.

I love how West is looking at the little guy in this photo. I wonder what he was thinking. Ha!

Big boy bottles

Thanks to the generosity of a friend, Brian got hooked up with a free ticket to today's Midwest Beerfest. My friend Ann drove my hubby and her hubby Jeremey to the event. After an afternoon letting Westley enjoy a glorious two-hour nap and getting caught up on some housework, I picked the boys up.

We went to Ann's parents house, where Westley and I hung out with Ann and her mom and Brian helped the guys plant two trees in the backyard. It was such a fun, random afternoon. I love weekends that allow for spur-of-the-moment opportunities like that.

On the way home, Brian and I made a detour to Goebel Liquor, a fun place that lets you build your own six-pack. I selected six different pumpkin beers and plan to conduct a tasting of my own. I'll be drinking them one at a time, though, and wonder how long that will take me. I'm pretty sure I haven't had six beers total since Westley was born ...

No, West, these bottles aren't for you ...

Big boy toy

Westley loves his Exersaucer. He can jump, stand, lean, rock and play ... all by himself. And therefore, at least a couple times a day, I love his Exersaucer very much, too.

Westley's girlfriends

Westley will realize in about a dozen years why it's so great that my preggo friends have had little girls. Come to think of it, it'll take both genders about that long to warm to the idea:



Westley and me with Helen of Wichita.

Roy G. Biv would be proud

October has been a month of beautiful rainbows. I'm pretty sure half of Wichita was mesmerized by a double rainbow on 10/10/10.

Falling in love

Brian returned home from a work trip today, so we celebrated his homecoming by playing in the leaves with Westley this evening when I got home from work.

Sweet baby, sweet fall.


Whirling, twirling, falling leaves
Dance on the wind
Float on the breeze
Watch them tumbling to the ground
Just like my love for you, all around

It's autumn and I love you, yes it's true
I keep falling in love with you

Fun, fantastic fall foray

On Saturday, Brian and I loaded our little pumpkin and apple of our eye up and set out for a Kansas day trip that was all autumn: picking pumpkins at Sunny Side Pumpkin Patch in Assaria and apples at Steffen Orchard in Conway Springs. We stopped in between for lunch at the cozy Main Street Deli in downtown McPherson. (If you ever go, make sure you order some of their cookies to go. We got walnut chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies to split during our drive.)

We loved supporting agritourism and the opportunity to pluck a pumpkin off the vine and an apple off a branch. Bizarre to think that as common as those produce are in our lives, neither had done that before.




Here's our happy Westley with our pick-o-pumpkins. The trophy gourd is a 55-pound beauty for which we have special plans. Stay tuned ...


It was so much fun to snap photos of our day. It's an odd, slightly saddening and wonderful experience as a parent to know these moments will be photographic memories almost as soon as they've passed. Note to self: cherish, savor, relish, enjoy, remember.


At Sunny Side, we met up with friends Jill and Chris, who live next door and are the happy owners of Tweeter the cow, a beautiful rescue bovine. Westley got to sit on her. Moooo!


We rode a hay rack pulled by these two horses. Fun!



Careful with the pumpkin, Pumpkin!

Westley got right into the spirit of these. We mused about how much fun we'll have doing the same thing next year.




At Steffen, we hand-picked 40 pounds of five different kinds of apples. West napped in his stroller while we gathered our first bushel. We were encouraged to taste while picking, which made the experience more fun -- and effective. ("Babe! You've got to try this kind. Let's pick more of these. Holy yum! Now that's an apple!) I don't think I'll ever look at a heaping pile of apples at the grocery store the same again.

On Sunday, after the Chiefs lost (Boo!) and the Saints won (Yay!), we delivered surprise gifts of a basket of apples and photos of our day to Westley's two sets of grandparents and his great-grandma, all who live in town. On Monday, we sipped hot apple cider from the orchard (the best I've ever tasted -- not to be missed!) and made a huge batch of applesauce. We froze it in two-ounce single servings to save for the time soon when Westley starts to eat solid foods.




Be still, my heart.



Our lovely autumn day ended with a glorious sunset, leading us to fall in love with fall in Kansas all over again.

Click to see additional photos of our day.

So big!

Westley turns five months old today! So big!

Some of his current favorite things to do are roll over (and over and over), make the "MMMMMM!" sound, smile, laugh, kick (and kick and kick) grab the dogs' ears, try to hold his own bottle (this usually ends in frustration) and play in his Exersaucer.

He loves to chew on fingers, knuckles ... and Daddy's knee:

At the downtown Spangles in late September when we met up with some relatives passing through town.

He's grown out of many of his 3-6M clothes and has recently worn clothes as big as 12M (we did have to roll up the sleeves).

Brian & Westley at the measuring chart recently in Target.

It seems like Baby West just joined our family, and he's already showing his willful personality, trying to crawl, speaking (well, babbling) his own mind. I fall in love with him more every day.

Good dogs!

If Dakota and Lilly seem extra good lately*, it's because they went to Aldersgate's Blessing of the Animals late last month. When Pastor Kim blessed them and asked if they had any special needs, we said we hope that they learn their new place in our growing family. Yes, they've been displaced a little by a new little person. But they're just as special to our household as they've always been.

* They're really not extra good lately. They're the same silly, sweet, somewhat disobedient dogs they always are. Now they're just a little extra attention-starved. Just wait, pups. You'll have a new best friend in no time.

And another thing about Kansas ...

Its skies display the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Here's a sunrise from September:

Why Kansas?

My cousin Evan's wife Kennedy wrote a lovely post about living in Wyoming on her blog. I could not echo her sentiments more. Since imitation is the best form of flattery, I had to post my own Kansas version of what she said.

My family moved to Kansas when I was 12. Illinois residents at the time, my sisters and I cried at the kitchen table when Mom and Dad told us we were moving to Wichita ... and the tears weren't prompted only by the fact that we were leaving.

I attended college in Kansas with plans to move on to bigger and better places. I had internships in Missouri, North Carolina and Minnesota. After getting married and starting our first jobs in Kansas (after considering starting out as newlyweds in South Carolina or Oregon), Brian and I have tried to leave. (Big secret: We've each had job interviews for positions that would've moved us out of state. But, when push came to shove, the grass seemed greener here.)

Just like Kennedy wrote, I often have moments when I think to myself in partial disgust and embarrassment, "I live in Kansas." But, to quote her eloquent words, "sometimes when I think about living here, my heart is so full I can hardly stand it."

A few pictoral reasons why:

Brian & Westley, Assaria, July 2010

Lilly in a rural Kansas field, July 2009

South-Central Kansas field, May 2009

Toronto Lake, July 2008

LOL!

Until I saw it randomly featured on LinkWithin (the cool widget that shows thumbnail images from related blog posts under each of my blog posts), I had forgotten that I'd taken this photo of Meow Meow:

Silly kitty, July 2008

Look familiar?

Silly baby, September 2010

Little reads pack a big punch

Especially after taking a children's literature course for my English degree at KU, I've been a big fan of books for young adults. Lois Lowry and Madeleine L'Engle, two authors I studied in that class, are among my favorites. But I've never read more children's books than I have in the last six months or so. (Yes, I started to read to Westley before he was born. It was a magical bonding experience.) I should've known the pregnancy hormones would send me over the edge with some of the sweet, sweet storybooks we have. A few of my new favorite tearjerkers, with the excerpts that make me misty-eyed just typing them and photos that make the stories all the more meaningful:

"God Gave Us You" by Lisa Tawn Bergren, illustrated by Laura J. Bryant

'When we found out you were growing inside me, we were so happy! Even the angels were celebrating for us!'

'Because of me?' asked Little Cub.

'Yes, my darling child. Because God gave us you!'



Westley, at 20 weeks in utero

* * *

"Always" by Alison McGhee and Pascal Lemaitre

I am the keeper of the castle.

This castle ...

I will keep the castle safe.
Always.

Why, you ask?

... Because you live here.

"Doggy Dakota" & Westley, August 2010

* * *

"The Most Thankful Thing" by Lisa McCourt

'Just when I thought I couldn't be any happier, I held you for the first time. I felt your soft, sweet breath on my skin and your warm, tiny body against mine.

'And then I knew that nothing could ever be better, and that forevermore you would be my most thankful thing.'

'Forevermore, Mama?'

'Forevermore.'

Brian snapped this photo of Westley and me, napping together in the hospital after he was born.