A Birthday and the Pumpkin Patch

Lots of pics today!  October is what i fondly call "Birthdaypalooza" With Dale's birthday on the first, and Ember's and Ryvre's on the 26th and 29th, respectively.  In an attempt to spread the festivities a bit, we had Ember's party early, and Ryvre's will be on Halloween (he wanted a pirate/trick-or-treat party, so this works out great!)
Ember's Party
The Cake

Sneaking a Taste.  i left the top block un-iced, planning to serve my little darling that one...she had other plans.

Mmm!

Wearing It

I'm 1!!!

Another Fall tradition of ours is going to the pumpkin patch.  We tried a new one this year, and it was awesome!  Unfortunately, i forgot to bring extra batteries, so the pics are few:
Hay Slide

Brr!

The Patch (what's with Ryvre's face?)

Pumpkin Painting (seriously, a smile maybe?)

Bulleted List

• Library.  Ryvre keeps picking this same book, A Bad Case of the Stripes by David Shannon.  It's very good actually.  Besides that we're mostly reading about why leaves change colors, the lifecycle of pumpkins, etc.  Dale and i both picked up some craft books.  Geeks, i swear.  He found a really good one on t-shirt reconstruction though; i would have never thought our sad little library would have something so cool.
• Library Sale.  By far the best time of year.  The kids each picked several books (nothing really special, i just let them grab whatever struck their fancy, a couple of Pokemon things, animal pop-up book, and who knows what else) and we got three movies (Les Miserables, The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh--now we can give MIL her copy back and the Barbie Rapunzel one), a Treasury of North American Folktales, Spells of Enchantment (Fairy Tales of Western Culture), and a big fat anime comic book for Dale.  All for just over $6.
• Worksheets.  A portrait of the family (Ryvre drew a really great cat on the back), same and different (too easy). 
• Lots of time outside in the gorgeous fall weather.  Ryvre learned today that if he picks up and holds the cat, his throat feels weird.  Poor kid, he has the worst allergies.  No breathing treatments for several months though, so i'm holding my breath (yes, pun intended).
• i haven't done an Ember update in awhile.  She's too funny, she says everything twice, as a single hyphenated word.  Yesterday she looked out the window and saw the cat, so she pointed and announced (in her oh-so-adorable toddler voice) "Cat-cat."  My she was pleased with herself!  She repeated it several dozen times.  Dale is, of course, "Dad-dad" and Ryvre is "Ra-ra."  I am simply "Meh."  She also points to objects or pictures of people and animals and says "That."  She can walk all the way across the room now, but prefers to crawl because it is still faster.  She is doing the odd  hybrid crawl-bear-walk, on her hands and feet, butt high in the air.  She gets a crazy look in her eye as she does this, which makes it all the more humorous.

Group Hug!