Boo!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

The Perfect Fall Day

We spent the early part of today at Old Baker Farm, climbing on hay bales and picking out pumpkins. We also purchased and consumed some fresh, local honey and one of the best brownies I've ever had. It was a cool, 54 degrees with some wind blowing the beautiful red and yellow leaves all over. Such a fabulous autumn morning!
Enjoy the pictures and stay tuned for Halloween ones in a few days!

I'm trying to get her to look at the horse she kept insisting she wanted to ride. She does love horses, just not too close.

Loving on my Baby D

This child was less interested in the pumpkin patch than his mama at a sporting event. And, that's pretty disinterested.

He still has a beautiful smile, though. :)

She LOVED the hay!

There was a Civil War re-enactment getting ready to take place. You can tell by the cooler and the guy wearing khakis and a baseball cap that it was very authentic.

Pumpkins!

Picking the first of three pumpkins.

"Seriously, big people. Why do you keep sitting me by these hard, orange things?"

She would not let go of her pumpkin. She has asked about a dozen times, since we've been home, to go outside and check on it.

PIcking pumpkin two.

I love, love, love this picture of my Sweet Pea!

"Another pumpkin. Really, big folks?"

Don't let the somber, tired looks on my childrens' faces fool you. We had an awesome time.

Moonlighting: A Hodgepodge of Facts About My Kids

Do you know who these people are?

Yes, yes, it's Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd. But, do you know what show this picture is from? Moonlighting. Great show. I used to watch it with Grandma before I went to bed. And, please, if you're under 30, do not use the excuse that it was on the air before you were born. So was The Brady Bunch, and I'll bet you've seen that. So, we've established what the actors' names are. Do you remember the characters' names?
Madeline and David.
As I was making breakfast this morning, I realized that I had inadvertently named my children after the good people of the Blue Moon Detective Agency.
I have no idea why it took me over a year to realize I had done this.
Oh, well. There's no going back now and at least we didn't name them Ross and Monica or something. Remember my post back in 2009 about the twins I taught in a workshop, named Ross and Rachael? And, Ross wanted to study dinosaurs.
It could be worse.

Here's my next thing. There still seem to be some people who are confused as to who our kids look like. The cashier at WalMart looked at Madeline and said to me, "She looks JUST like you!" To be fair, she has never seen Dan. Still, I thought I might clear up any mistaken ideas that Sweet Pea looks like anyone but her daddy. (Yes, she still has my lips. The rest of her face is patterned after DWH.)
Here's a picture of Dan & his dad:

And, Madeline at 10 months:

Our wedding picture:

And, Madeline at 9 months:

 

Any questions about her parentage? No? Didn't think so. That little girl is DWH from her sweet little round head to her above average height.

Now, as for the other one, I can see a little of DWH in his eyebrows and maybe his forehead. But, as far as the rest of his face goes, welll...

Here's my father and me in 1977:

 And, David in 2012:

Baby me:

And, Baby D:

OK, now that that's out of the way, on to the next tidbit of info. I was getting a little concerned about Baby D's speech, or lack thereof. Yeah, I know. Madeline spoke early. Girls talk earlier than boys. Second children tend to say their first words and phrases later than first children. Still, I'm a mom and a worry wart by nature.

The good news is, the boy child seems to have picked up several words all at once.

"Ite" - light (extra emphasis on the "t")

"Day Day" - David. This one is disconcerting only because I once had a student whose name I wanted to pronounce correctly, but he kept insisting that I call him DayDay. I didn't, but since he refused to tell me how to pronounce his name, I called him by his last name. But, I digress.

"Cup" - cup

"Vroom vroom" - That's the sound a car makes. Duh.

 

I'm so blessed to have these wonderful creatures in my life.

Whoever said "Love doesn't divide, it multiplies," could not have been more right.

David's Baptism

  There is one body and one Spirit; just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. - Ephesians 4:4-6

Welcome to the fold, Baby D. God has big, big things planned for you and we hope to set the right example for you so that you can learn to listen for what God's voice and hear what God calls you to do. May you be loving, compassionate, peace-loving, and kind. Love. Forgive. Then, love some more.

We love you, always.

Peace in Christ,
Mommy and Daddy

Happy Birthday, Baby D!

Happy, happy birthday, Sweet Baby D! We can't believe you've been here a whole year already. Holy cow! Where did this year go??
You are, by far, the most loving and amiable baby we know. You are so affectionate and your laughter makes all of us want to chuckle right along with you.
Your big sister loves you so much and Daddy & I have so much fun watching you two together.
You are so, so loved, sweet boy. We are thrilled the God chose us to be your family and that we've had you here for a whole year to love. We are so eager to see what the next year brings!!

"I'm ONE!"

"A balloon?? For me? Awseome!"

"Happy Birthday to me!"

"Cake, huh? Hmm...let'a check this out."

"Oh. My. Gosh. Mommy's been holding out on me!"

Madeline prefers to eat her cupcake with a fork. I have no idea where she gets it!;-)

Playing on the new ATV with Jackson. Thanks, Poppa!

Presents!

Handsome little birthday boy.

Conspiracy!

As you can imagine, with a last name like Head, it gets tricky when you're trying to decide on the perfect name for your baby. For example, I always thought I would name my son Phillip, after my father. Nope. Couldn't do it. That's a screwdriver.
Obviously, Ted, Ned, and Ed were out of the question. I couldn't name him after Harry Potter, as much as I wanted to, because it's just cruel to give a child a moniker like Harry Head. (Yes, David has the same middle name as HP. We'll just keep calling it a coincidence.) Names that end in "er" can get iffy. Sawyer: "I Sawyer Head in a pictrure in the yearbook." Tucker: "She's hyperventilating?? Tucker Head between her knees!"
Where am I going with this, you ask? You probably already know we had a hard time creating a name for Baby D. Madeline was easy. We ruled out one or two that we didn't both love and BAM! Our Sweet Pea had a name.
Dan had a couple of suggestions before we settled on David. Abraham. Leon. Matthew, which would leave us with Matt and Maddie (you know that's what they would call them!) - because I am just that cutesy.
His personal favorite, however, was and still is, Robert Leon. Don't let him tell you it's for his grandfather. He wanted to name him that so he would be Bob L. Head.
If asked, he would tell you he was just kidding.
Oh, reeeeeeeeaaaally, Mr. Head?
Then, how do you explain THIS:

Do you really expect me to believe that it's pure coincidence that David's friend, Hannah, who gave him this adorable t-shirt, is the daughter of your good friend? Hmm?
Well, don't get any ideas. His name is David, and that's the name he's keeping. We're not changing it, even if he is dressed like a bobble head.

That said, we do love the shirt and the hoodie. Thanks, Hannah!! And of course, thanks to Hannah's mommy and daddy who had to drive her to the store to pick out Baby D's birthday gift.