A Day at the Farm

I love Autumn... It's my favorite time of year. It's our wedding anniversary (we celebrated 8 years on October 6!), it's football tailgates, it's days like yesterday - out on the farm, drinking cider, going on hay rides, picking out pumpkins. I love the oranges and browns that Fall brings to the trees. It's beautiful.

Quinn had a couple of firsts yesterday. She went on her first hay ride and she ran me ragged in her first hay maze. It was the perfect day. Larriland Farm is definitely a place we'd return to for future fall activities!

What She Does After We Turn Out the Lights and Close the Door...

We still use the monitor for Quinn during naps and overnights. I know she's pushing 3, but her bedroom door sticks and I sleep with a fan on, so it's just easier to have it on so she can call us if she needs to. So every night after we tuck her in, shut off the light and close the door, we can hear Little Miss Chatter Box talking away in the dark - having conversations with her babies, reciting poems she's memorized, and talking to no one in particular. Then we sometimes hear her drawers open and close - great, what is she getting into? Well, we have later found her asleep with a pair of tights pulled up over her pajama bottoms. SO FUNNY. But Thursday night was the "kicker" so to speak. She had gotten into her shoe bin and this is what we witnessed!

Fast asleep with a pair of Mary Janes on!

...a matching pair, on the right feet to boot!

Quinn-isms

Of course I'll never remember all of Quinn's "special" words to describe normal everyday things, but tonight's bedtime story cracked me up so I thought I'd blog it before I forgot. I've forgotten so many of her little Quinn-isms over the past 2 1/2 years, but I couldn't let this one get away!

Kirch and I were both in her room doing the usual routine for bedtime - 1 book with both of us, then one book with either myself or Kirch, whomever's night it may be. It was Kirch's night, so while I was still in there, we were reading her Colors pop-up book. It has different animals drawn in beautiful colors with all sorts of pop-ups and flaps for the little one's eye. We got to the picture/pop-up of the peacock and I asked her what that animal was and she immediately said, "Heecopper!" What a crack up!

One of Mommy's favorite faces - the "mad" face! Painting done at daycare...

We also listen to a lot of adult music in the car - I figure she gets enough kid nursery rhymes at daycare... and one of her favorite songs is, "Pe-ah Pe-upon Us" (better known as "Peace Be Upon Us") by Sheryl Crow. She sings it too! And of course I can't do it justice on the blog, so I guess at some point I'll have to video it and put it up for everyone's viewing pleasure :)

Seriously, who doesn't love bare legs and cowboy boots???

Just last week Poppy and Manka sent her new dress up outfits and one was of her favorite princess, Ariel. Well, she wears that outfit with her little earrings and stands in front of her castle and she just thinks she is "so pwetty, Mommy!"

I look just like Awiel, Mommy!

Nose Fascination

Why is it that 2-year-olds insist on shoving things up their noses? Kirch sent me a text this morning saying nothing more than, "all is ok, but Chrissy just pulled a sticker out of Quinn's nose." WHY? Why would she do that???

Let me tell you, my daycare has nose picking down to a science. They keep those kids' noses as clear as possible by using a flashlight and tweezers. So you can imagine Chrissy's surprise when she looked up Quinn's nasal canal and found a nice shiny little Spider Man sticker! GROSS!!! Now, this is the first time that Quinn has succeeded in getting something up there without anyone knowing about it while she is in the process. But she's been caught in the act several times with peas, corn kernels and just her plain 'ole finger. What is the fascination? Well, now we can say she's had a bug up her nose... I guess it's better than up her - well, you know.

Ticks and Shiners

Kirch got the call from Tiana at daycare on Wednesday that Quinn fell and smacked her cheekbone against the toy box. Boy, what a good one. She's had so many knocks her her poor head and face in her 2-and-a-half short years that I have lost count.

Here is the progression of the nice trophy she has on her face from that fateful spill...

Wednesday - Look what I did, Mommy!

Today - Nice and Purple!

This is the conversation I had with her, asking how she fell and got her boo-boo...

Rox - "Honey, what happened to your cheek?"

Q - "Because, because.... I fell down on the toybox and hit my eye..."

Rox - "How did you fall?"
Q - "Because, because... and I tripped and fall..."
Rox - "But how did you fall? What were you doing?"
Q - "Because, because... I stepped on a dinosaur and I was... with Jaden... and.. and..."

You get the picture - she is speaking in these lengthy sentences with so much passion and excitement, it just breaks my heart it is so cute!!! And "because" is one of her favorite words right now, along with the phrase, "I don't have to." But that one is not said in a malicious or sassy tone, she is using that as sort of an "I don't want to."

Then, to top it all off, after I got her out of the bathtub Wednesday night I was drying her off and... what the heck? There was a tick on her neck! Poor baby! Luckily it was an extremely tiny one that I was able to remove with tweezers and she was soooo good. She just sat there so still and let me take care of it. "Mommy, you have to get the tick?" I can't brag enough on how tough this child is.

Let's hope she has a better weekend than she did this past week, huh?

It Looks Almost Professional!

I could say, "Yeah, I meant to do that..." but it wouldn't quite be true. A little luck with lighting and voila! A beautiful picture of my daughter!!!

I'm not going to hold this pose forever - hurry up and snap the picture!

The Florida Trip

Well, 2 years have passed and we headed down to Florida for our bi-annual Rudzik Reunion. It was a different dynamic from the last time, as 2 years in a 2-and-a-half-year-old's life makes a HUGE difference! Quinn had a blast going from the pool to the beach, and it certainly kept Kirch and me on our toes!

Wake me up when we start boarding the plane, will ya?

We have had better weather in the past, but it really was pretty good. Hell, we've had much worse weather, too (Hurricane Charley, '04). It was split about half and half. The first 3 days of the trip were really good, then about 2 1/2 days were rainy and overcast, then it ended up on a pretty good note. It seemed that the last night the bugs really came out and made up for the week prior. All three of us ended up with no-see-'em and mosquito bites all over our legs!

A picture from Rachel

Kirch and I had a date on Thursday night, which was so great. Paula watched Quinn (which went swimmingly for both parties involved) so we got the chance to try out a fantastic restaurant called the Garlic. We sat outside in the "jungle." It was awesome, with an indoor/outdoor complete bar attached. The food was wonderful and Kirch and I really got the chance to reconnect as husband and wife. It's always wonderful when we can get alone together and we take advantage of every second that comes our way!

Quinn learned about dragon flies, rainbows, sand crabs, starfish, sand dollars, jellyfish, and much more on her week-long adventure. She was a good traveler on the plane down and back. We had the same flight as Mike, Rachel, Dad and Dorothy, so she had extra attention on the flights!

Aunt Paula, can I have those shells?

It seems now that we have a little one to put to bed early in the evening, our place has become the "hangout." We got lots of Beaver company, along with Matt Dean, Bill & Suzie and the kids, and the list goes on. It makes it easier for us to be able to socialize while Quinn gets the much needed sleep to prepare for the next day of sand, water and sun!

Me and my boy Kevy Joe

Kirch's awesome picture of the dolphin in the sound!