Last Family of Three Vacation!

My sweet friend Elizabeth let us stay in her lakehouse this past weekend on Lake LBJ. While there, we visited Sweet Berry Farm. This farm has a wildflower crop (crop???), pumpkin patch...the real kind, hay rides, paint your pumpkin stations, lots of picture spots, goats, boats with pumpkins, every kind of pumpkin, Fall foods to eat, and so much more!

Have you ever seen such a thing? These pumpks truly looked like they had peanuts on them. I'm telling you...every kind of pumpkin!

While this place was great...it was PACKED. I chose to wear a black shirt, jeans and my birthday Uggs...so I got a little cranky b/c I was hot. Again, it's all about me. So, we snapped a pic here, snapped a pic there...and bolted!

The first thing Ryan wanted to do when he saw the pumpkins...try to pick them up. When he realized that wasn't going to happen, he just wanted to turn them over, making them roll. So, we shifted his focus...

...to a hollowed hay bail (is that what they're called?). He LOVED this. Sun was beaming down, so we moved on to the goats.

Then, Mom FINALLY found the tractor. A friend of mine took pics with her little boy on it. I was destined to find this tractor. Why the fascination with tractors?! Well, Ryan LOVES the movie Cars, and one part of it is Mater going "tractor-tippin'". He just laughs and laughs at the tractors. So, all bull-dozers, back hoes, diggers...they're all tractors to him.

Mom and Ryan attempt #1

Ryan, I got my hiney on the ground, now get back here and help your momma out!

Attempt #2...ladies hiney in the background.

In the neighborhood of the lakehouse, they have a private park with a beach in it. So, we took the golf cart over to the beach and let Ryan play in the sand and water, while watching deer graze in the grass behind us.

He felt so big walking up and down the dock. Sweet baby Ryan...you'll always be my baby boy!

A Weekend of Me!!!!

Casey threw the most scrumptious birthday brunch for me on Saturday morning! Thank you Case, for such a yummy meal, and my friends for helping to celebrate my birthday!

Here's a little taste of a Casey-feast! Nerissa made the yummy green salad. We inhaled an egg casserole, potato tart, pigs-n-a-blanket, and for dessert....bread pudding made with cans of cinammon rolls!

That night, Baby Toot #2 was celebrated (but I like to say that I was celebrated) at Fralo's pizza! Fun place to sit outside, bring your own wine, and chow down on their pizza with good friends.

Sweet Courtney set up the evening to help welcome Baby Tootle. Thank you Courtney!!! Your cupcakes were DELICIOUS!

One of my dearest friends, Rachel is expecting the first part of February. She looks radiant! Truly! Love you, sweet Friend.

Some of you have seen pics of Ryan with his buddy Holden! He's the CUTIE PIE with the glasses. Ryan and Holden are three weeks apart. Our #2s, are due a week from each other! YES, just a week...Nerissa carries babies very well!

Aunt TT, Ali and Kelly! Ali (in the middle) is due in April!

So, my genius sister-in-law (Aunt TT, above), called me out on the fact that I still don't have a name for this child. (Although I'm almost positive it will be Samuel). So, here I am trying to figure out what in the world she's trying to tell me with the letters.

Fun weekend for sure!!!! My birthday was pretty special as well! (Tuesday). Rod surprised me with breakfast in bed!!! I LOVED every bite, and smiled through the entire meal. Made me so happy. THANK YOU, ROD!!! xoxo

OCTOBER 4TH - Big Day, Big Bed!

October 4th will forever go down in the Tootle history book. Ryan had two of the utmost significant milestones for a two year old.
1. He pee pee'd in the potty with an audience consisting of mommy and dada. We were high-fivin' all around. AND,
2. Ryan slept in his big boy bed last night for the first time!!!! With Nama's help, we said adios to the guest bedroom, and made it Ryan-ized. Ryan LOVES his new bed. He even said to Rod, "I like this." It was really sweet. We had to bribe him out of his room (not 100% safe yet) with some juice.

Ryan went down like such a champ. It was just like any other night. I didn't bother with a book or anything. Lights were out, and he stayed in bed and fell asleep.

Now, where did we go wrong?! And, by "we", I mean "I". Mommy woke probably every hour, checking the video monitor, making sure he stayed in bed. Well, around 4am, I found no kid in the bed. So, I went in to his room, and he was lying on the floor with his blankie. I'm not sure if he fell off or if he let himself down and just fell asleep there.

I got him back in bed, and he said, "No. No." With a quick urge, I wanted to just put him back in the crib, but decided to push forward. I put him in his bed, and crawled in with him. I kept checking his dozing eyes. Then, said "Momma's going night, night." He said good night to me, and that was that! He went to sleep, and I continued to check on him by the hour.
We still have a few more things to do to his room. (wall art, cover outlets, hide cords, anchor down the dresser, etc.). Otherwise, we're complete!

He was so excited to have all of his night-nights (blankets) in his new room. It was so funny. One happy camper!!! Now, let's hope we have the same luck we did last night. I'm thinking it may be a bit harder b/c this morning I asked if he liked sleeping in his big boy bed, and he simply said, "no."

Our Pad in Maine

One mansion of a reason to want to stay another week. This was our house for seven days! The balcony is gated in, so Ryan was free to roam to his heart's desire.

Ryan's room is the one with the three windows (same size), just above the balcony. Rod and I retreated above the garage. Now, let me tell you...that garage can hold four cars. It goes way back....and, our master suite, does the same thing!

I loved this kitchen! Everything had its place, nothing was crammed and more than two people could fit in it. The opposite of that, defines my kitchen.

This is where we sat outside the majority of the time. It overlooks the water!

THANK YOU RUSSELL AND MILLIE for such a beautiful home to retreat to, and the opportunity to truly RELAX while on vacation!