October 2014 fun

I'm finally catching up on October photos! A few weekends ago we made it to the corn maze. The boys had fun, as always.

Sammy and his silly faces, always trying to make everyone laugh. Elijah followed suit.

The corn pit was a favorite activity again this year. We took turns burying each other and then the boys ran around. I am STILL, weeks later, finding corn in my washing machine and random places around the house.

Posing by the hay sculpture!

The parakeet tent was a hit. Sammy is such an animal lover and wanted so badly to connect with the birds. Elijah was indifferent, but enjoyed the experience.

My handsome boys in the middle of the corn maze!

Elijah LOVES this hay bale maze. He always has. Sammy was a bit braver than last year, but kept getting upset about Elijah not waiting for him.

Following are some random pics I took at home the other day. The weather has been gorgeous (as is evidenced by Sammy's tank top)!

Today we spent an ENTIRE day together as a family. It was incredible! I even got a two-hour nap, which is unheard of these days. I loved today and I love spending time with my precious boys. After my mega-nap (thanks to my wonderful hubby for making this happen), we headed to a nearby apple orchard. We picked apples, goofed around, drank cider, rode on a tractor and ate some food. Elijah was SPENT by the end of the day, so we put him to bed super-duper early tonight. We are ready for his first week of half days! More to come on that. Thanks for checking in!

The apple fortress and a prayer request

This weekend I am thankful for lousy weather. This has been our first FULL weekend all together as a family at home in months. It has been wonderful!

On Friday we went to a new apple orchard, or "apple fortress," as Sammy called it. :)

We had a great time picking apples and enjoying the gorgeous scenery and spilling our apple cider and having to purchase a new cup as it dripped down my back and all over the barn floor. 

On Saturday the boys earned a trip to the movie theater, so we watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, or "Channy and the Meatballs 2," as Sammy called it. Elijah was sure to correct him, so he has it right now. :)

And today brought another fun adventure, which I will save for later in the week. For now, a prayer request..

Elijah will be having surgery on his left ear on Tuesday at noon. The surgeon will go in through the skull bone behind his ear. He will look for regrowth of the mass that was removed in April. If there is regrowth, he'll remove it and we'll come back in 6ish months. If there is no evidence of regrowth, he will place a prosthetic device that will hopefully restore hearing in that ear. If he is able to place a prosthesis, life will be very gentle for a few weeks. The surgeon explained that even a big sneeze could dislodge the device and require additional surgery.

Please pray for our oldest boy on Tuesday! Pray for a successful surgery and for great news and as uneventful of a day as possible. Also pray for peace for all of us! Sammy included, as he will spend the day away from his family.

Later in the week I will share photos from today's fun adventure! Thank you so much for checking in and for PRAYING!

Apple orchard 2011

Please forgive me for the zillions of photos. If I keep posting them in installments, I'll be posting Halloween pictures on Christmas!



Last week we did our yearly apple orchard outing. Last year it was unseasonably hot during our orchard outing. This year wasn't hot, but it was crisply beautiful! We have had two years in a row now of beautiful fall weather. I hope the trend continues! I do NOT hope the freezing cold winter trend continues.



Sammy seemed to enjoy his time at the orchard. Although, I have to say, he definitely assesses every situation before enjoying himself. If he is unfamiliar with a place (this applies to people, too), he will stand/sit in one spot and give his deadpan Sammy look around. Once he understands that we aren't going to leave him and that no one is going to abduct him, he lets his guard down a little.



Elijah is and has always been so different in this way. And look! He climbed up a huge pile of hay with no prompting or need for encouragement. His gross motor skills and confidence have improved so hugely. I get so proud of "little" things like this all the time. Me: LOOK! HE'S CLIMBING A PILE OF HAY! People in earshot: SO WHAT?!



I have been jotting down a few cute things that happen or are said in our family, so I'll write out some of those now. Sorry, they have absolutely nothing to do with apple orchards or giant piles of hay.



The other night we carved pumpkins (pics to come...hopefully before December), and I noticed that Elijah kept saying that we were "carmeling" pumpkins. I thought it was adorable, so I didn't correct him. I tend to not correct him when it comes to anything he says that is incorrect, by the way. He will get it eventually, and I want to enjoy the cuteness of learning a language for as long as I can! Anyway, after we had carmeled the pumpkins, we were chillin' in the living room. I asked Elijah if he liked the pumpkins we had carved. He said, "MOM. It's CARMEL, not CARVE." Got it.



The same night we carmeled pumpkins, we had a friend over for dinner. If you have ever been over to our house you know that Elijah immediately becomes your best friend and wants ALL of your love and attention (and most people give it to him because it's pretty hard to resist). Well, we had dinner and had been hanging out with our friend Casey. I brought Elijah into the bathroom to go potty before bed and he said, "Mom, do you think Casey loves me?" I said, "I'm sure he does! Why don't you ask him?" We went out to the living room and started getting pajamas on and Casey walked in the room. Elijah said, "Casey, DO YOU LOVE ME?" We all busted up with laughter. Thankfully, Casey replied with, "Heck yeah I do! I love you!"



Sam has been doing an extremely cute thing lately. He goes to Elijah and pats him on the top of the head and says, "YA-YA." Then he goes to Dan and pats him on the top of the head and says, "DADA." He won't come to me and do it for some reason. In fact, even though he understand that I'm Mama and can say MAMA, he doesn't ever call me Mama.



A funny little thing about Sammy.. First of all, the kid LOVES his sleep, and he loves comfort. When he is upset, he hides behind our footstool and sucks his thumb while lying on the ground. If his blankie happens to be downstairs, it will be included in that scene. So I noticed the other day that not only does he love to snuggle with his blanket when he sleeps (or wants comfort), but he likes to be holding one of the corners in one hand while using the other hand for thumb-sucking. Not just an edge, but a corner.



And while I'm on the Sam topic, he has found himself a little attitude! If we take something away from him that he shouldn't have (but that he wants), he will scream his little head off. Not only that, but he walks away from us and sits across the room. If we try to comfort him, he will run away from us. Looks like we have another strong-willed Porta boy!



My mom made two adorable little knitted dolls for the boys (pics to come...in January), and Elijah particularly has been loving them. They came with cute little names: Harry Hairy-Head and Vanessa Vinegar. The first few times Elijah attempted to say Vanessa Vinegar, it came out Buster Bigger. :) Again, no correction!



Here is Sammy assessing the situation at the orchard with apple in hand. He would not move from this spot on his own. He had to take it all in first! We eventually had to put him in the stroller.



I am running out of things to write, so you'll have to enjoy the rest of the photos sans words. We have a few fun things planned for this weekend while Dan wraps up skydiving for the season. We'll report back in a few days with corn maze pics! Thanks for checking in!