pumpkin patch, 2016.

We haven't been to a pumpkin patch since before Graham was born. In fact, I think I was pregnant with Graham the last time we went to one! And unfortunately, the patch we used to go to completely shut down. Fortunately? We found a new one that's even better! Sawyer and I actually went to it last fall while he was in 4k and I completely forgot about it... we were glad to rediscover it this past weekend though.

And while it was only $10 a person, it was tough to choke down the total price of $50 for the five of us (Tatum's still free at least!). But y'all, it was worth every last penny! This place had tons of things to do: rock walls, hay mountains, giant tire slides, corn pits, bouncy houses, zip lines, hay rides and a corn maze! And pumpkins for all! Oh, and funnel cakes. We cannot forget the funnel cakes (not included in the price, but worth the extra cost)! The boys had an absolute blast. Jeremy and I are so glad that we spent the money and made the memories.

Speaking of memories, how is it that visiting pumpkin patches in the fall offers up so many wonderful photo opportunities? Gah, I love it! And we're looking forward to a new yearly tradition for our sweet little family!

saturday mornings.

Remember when we were small and there was such a thing as Saturday morning cartoons? So, whatever happened to that? I think there were a few cartoons that came on when Cayden was little, but even now most major stations only show news in the mornings. No bueno.

I mean, not that we let that stop our kids from watching some Saturday morning cartoons. Unless it's an early soccer game morning. Those don't mix too well with tv. But this past Saturday it was a later soccer game morning so when the requests came in while Jeremy and I barely had our eyes open, we welcomed a little Netflix time to give us just a few more minutes of quiet time.

And once we were finally all awake and I needed to leave the room for a minute, I put the Allen boys in charge of watching their little sister. When I walked back in the room and they were all cuddled up in the corner of the sectional? All the heart eyes!

two front teeth.

I think when Cayden started losing teeth last winter, one of the things I was looking forward to was his front teeth falling out. There's just something about that gap-toothed smile that is so adorable! It's also kind of bittersweet because as soon as those permanent teeth start coming in, I feel like the little boy smile we've gotten so used to is going to be replaced by young man smile. And I mean, I get it. It has to happen, but could it just... slow down a bit?

For now, we're going to enjoy the gappy smile. I don't think it'll last long – we were hoping a rendition of "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth," would be appropriate. But I can already spy a young man tooth coming in on the right side. At least we get to go through this three more times? And maybe one of them will have them missing during the Christmas season?

chocolate chip cookies.

Can we talk about getting in a funk for a bit? Cause y'all, I've kind of been in one lately. Not a terrible mood or anything, but not feeling super good. The weather fluctuations are killing my sinuses? allergies? Something. Sawyer's sick for the third time since school started and for some reason I keep getting sick with him.

One day last week I was feeling pretty bad. And for some reason, I couldn't get a sick day around here (haha!). I had the urge to do... something. Sometimes that involves rearranging furniture, or a small project of some kind. But I didn't have a room to rearrange and no project that I wanted to tackle on my own, so I quickly searched the kitchen to see if I had ingredients to bake.

I was (over) excited when I discovered everything to make cookies from a recipe our old neighbor passed along. Sadly I think this is the first time I've ever baked anything with Graham as a "helper." (Sawyer's usually our kitchen assistant.) It went pretty smoothly except for his impatience with the cooking time. But I really don't blame him. I was just as impatient!

The wait was worth it though! Warm, gooey, homemade chocolate chip cookies. And you know what? They helped the mood for sure. Until we all had tummy aches from eating too many sweets. The end. Ha.

tatum: two months old

With Cayden and Sawyer, I was so good about doing monthly updates. And with Graham, I think I made it about five months in and things just got too busy. So I seriously doubt I'll remember to do monthly updates on Tatum. But I had this sweet photo of her and realized that yesterday was her two month birthday, so why not!

I mean, at two months there's still a lot of sleeping, eating and pooping going on. Her napping during the day is definitely slowing down a bit. From about 3 o'clock, it's definitely cat naps until bed. Some days I can get her to still take a longer nap after big brothers get home from school, but those are much less now too. But I suppose complaining about that isn't justified at all since she does lay down for bed between 8 and 9 and we have to wake her up at 7 to head out for school drop off.

Tatum also started voluntarily smiling in the last week or so. And it's pretty much my favorite. She also has a small dimple when she moves her mouth a certain way. It's not in a super common place, but it's adorable for sure. And she's working on finding her voice. She surprises herself more often than not and makes us all laugh.

Speaking of laughing... this girl, y'all, she's stinky and loud. She gives these burps that make us all start laughing. It's hard to imagine something so loud (and long) coming from something so small. We just presume she's practicing for when she gets older and will have to compete with her loud and stinky brothers.

Two months is such a short time, but it feels like she's always been a part of our family. Everyone is falling into their own little rhythm and the boys all still adore her. Cayden even got to help out with a bottle last night while I was at yoga.

So happy this sweet little thing has joined us and completed our family. We all think she's pretty awesome.