it's the great pumpkin, otto!

here's the video of otto trying to put the pumpkin back together....pretty cute!

sunrock farm

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greta's school had a field trip to sunrock farm today, and parents and siblings were invited to come along. greta, otto, and i bundled up for a chilly (but sunny!) fall day at the farm. it was such a great trip! the kids got to hold baby chicks, pet all kinds of animals (including sheep, chickens, goats, and pigs), feed goats, brush a horse's mane, milk a goat, tend the garden, and much more. sunrock is a beautiful working farm only about 10 minutes from our house, and both kids had a great time. in the pictures you can see greta really getting into the tasks at the farm....and you can see otto really getting into the granola bar he got to have for snack. the group picture is about a third of the kids at greta's school and her teacher marlo.....

our otto boy

otto walking the streets of mainstrasse in covington, checking out the mural.

jump jump!

greta and otto's cousin jacob's birthday falls just 10 days after greta's, so we got to head up to the fords to celebrate. another beautiful fall day...perfect for jumping on the trampoline. greta (in the yellow), hannah and ellie jumped for what seemed like an hour. they were having the best time....greta was so so tired that night!
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jack o lantern

we have been blessed which some gorgeous weather this fall....we took advantage of another beautiful day to carve one of the pumpkins we got at blooms and berries. greta and otto were both pretty interested in helping papa scoop out the seeds and 'guts'. they also really, really enjoyed eating roasted pumpkin seeds after dinner. and going outside in our jammies to light the jack o lantern was another special treat! you can click on the slideshow at the bottom of this post to see all the pictures from the carving. i took a cute video of otto putting the eyes, nose, and mouth pieces back in the pumpkin after joe had carved them out....i'll post that another time. happy fall!!

clean teeth

from cupcakes straight to the bath....and extra good teeth brushin' from all those sugary birthday treats!

more celebrating!

after greta's birthday at school, we celebrated with some birthday cupcakes after dinner and early presents from grandma joan.

the earth goes around the sun, tra-la....

montessori center room (greta's school) has such a great way of celebrating children's birthdays. we were lucky enough to be able to be in the observation rooms to watch the whole thing. and yes, i cried like a baby. a candle is placed in the middle of the circle (to represent the sun) and then greta stood on the outside of the circle, holding a globe. she walked around "the sun" 3 times, signifying the earth's travels around the sun for each year of her life. after each "trip" around the sun, the teacher would share something about greta that happened during that year. greta did such a great job....she had only seen one other child have a birthday celebration but she knew just what to do. she was careful to begin and end her walk on the month of october, and she did a great job snuffing out the candle. she also enjoyed bringing muffins and strawberries for snack and giving a book to the class as a birthday gift. it was a beautiful celebration for our big 3 year old!!

greta's 3rd birthday

greta's birthday fell on a tuesday this year, so we held her birthday on the following saturday. our house always feels a little cramped when throwing parties, so we thought we'd try having greta's 3rd birthday party at our pool clubhouse. we joined the "east row pool and social club" this summer, which is only about a block or two from our house. having the party here worked out great! the weather was so fantastic, so we were able to eat outside and there was plenty of space for the kids to run around and play. thanks to everyone who came to help celebrate! check out the slideshow for pictures from the party.

goings-on

so what have we been doing? well, let's see. greta turned three. then she got pink eye. then otto got pink eye. then we carved pumpkins. the end.

oh yeah, and greta painted a picture of a girl on her easel. her first representational creation....i almost cried. the girl had arms, ears, eyes, a mouth, and that's her hair at the top. red hair. maybe it's a picture of her baby sister??!! oh yeah, and we also found out that we're having a girl. any german girl name suggestions?

more pictures coming soon.

pumpkin picking 2010

check out the slideshow (you can click on it to see individual pictures) to see pictures from our trip to blooms and berries to pick pumpkins. it was so much fun!! it was 80 degrees or so, which was bizarre to be pumpkin picking in the first week of october in shorts! the kids enjoyed playing in the corn sandbox and on the slides. they checked out the goats and we walked the path through 7 acres of sunflowers, which was absolutely breathtaking. we had some dinner and picked some pumpkins (5 total, one for each person in our family) before heading home. it was such a a fun time~

bedtime

our kids love books.
i love that otto loves to read. currently he likes to read 10 little ladybugs and moo baa la la la.
greta loves books too. she is currently into the books olivia, blue goose, and she has been enjoying using her bookmark to mark the stories in frog and toad.

play doh

greta has been very into playing playdoh lately. not sure if it's related to the fact that she also enjoys the clay table at school, but nevertheless it's getting lots of love around our house. i wasn't sure how otto would do with it, but he loves it too. they actually (as they are in this picture) both are usually pretty focused on their own creations, so not too many arguments occur. and not much has ended up in otto's mouth either, which is really what i thought would happen.

errand boy

greta started school this fall, which means that otto and i are hanging out just the two of us every morning. some days we stay home and nap and play. some days we run errands. otto is in that stage where he is sort of in between taking 2 naps and taking just one. some days he sleeps twice a day, sometimes just once in the afternoon, and on the occasional terrible day, not at all. what this means mostly is that our mornings are pretty flexible. he will nap if we're home, but he's also fine if we are out and about and he doesn't get that morning nap.
in these pictures we're at joseph beth, where otto loves to play with the toys and train table that they have out for kids to enjoy. we checked out their storytime this week, and it was packed but fun! joseph beth is great because it's open early, so after we drop greta off at 8:40 we can head there and play (and sometimes enjoy our smoothie from whole foods).

donuts

i think i mentioned in an earlier post that we've been instructed by our pediatrician to "fatten" otto up a bit. not sure buskens is what doctor bird had in mind. oh well. let's just say otto and i (and the baby in my belly) have been enjoying our mornings while greta is at school. maybe a little too much.

who dey!

greta likes to go all out when accessorizing. especially for bengals games. otto, on the other hand, prefers a minimalist approach. the only accessory he needs is his thumb.