Welcome back, Internet

Super crunchy leaves... incredibly satisfying.

 Earlier this week, we received a wonderful package from Grandma filled with delights, like this adorable fluffy coat.

 OK, everyone, all together: So CUTE!  Theo rocks this Watson hat, and it's created ideas in my mind for Halloween.

The package also had great onesies and corduroy pants.  He'll stay nice and warm this winter thanks to Grandma Chatfield.  There were also some storybooks, which will warm his heart on those cold winter nights.

For some reason, our internet just up and died last week, but now we're back online!  A special thanks to my wonderful husband for being vigilant in scheduling someone to come look at the problem.  Love you, Baby!

Indexing and Inspiration

Indexing is right up my ally for stuff I like to do. After hearing that my sister Kellie is bored all day long (she's got a good excuse with having a lame foot, so not much to do but sit around), I challenged her to an indexing competition to see who can digitize the most names.

Kellie, if you're reading this, I'm about 30 away from 500 since Tuesday morning.  I expect lots of prizes when I win.

Anyways, I have really been enjoying myself.  I've seen lots of Dorothys, lots of Johns and Elizabeths, and loooots of names I've never heard before.  One whole record of about 30 people were all from Puerto Rico.  I guess in Spanish, it's OK to take any male name under the sun, add an a to the end, and make it female.  You go, Puerto Rican parents of the 18 and 1900's.

I was inspired when I saw the name Radcliff, to someday name a son that and call him Rad. How cool would that be- Rad Miller.

Anyways anyways, I've been doing a lot of boat passenger records, and as I write the names, I've started wondering things about these people.  With those who have the same last name, are they married, are they spinster sisters, are they a young family taking the kids on a trip? And maybe there are friends sailing away into the sunset together.  Maybe some people get on the boat as strangers and leave as friends.  Who am I to say?  And I wonder why they're on the boat?  Did they have a good trip?  Was the food all right?

So many fun questions swirling around in my head that I'll never know the answer to, but I can make believe my own answers, and I like that.

It makes me want to know more about my family history.  So many people who came before me lead full, exciting, productive, and very different lives.  I want to know them.  And if they need my help in getting their ordinances done (which I highly doubt, unless they're from the 1300's or something) then I want to do that for them.

Family History is a really neat thing.

Wooly Caterpillar

 Theo's love for the shower and shower curtain is why he is banished from the bathroom when I bathe.

 I'm just gonna come out and say their names: Leslie and Ava.  I feel so free!

When we were walking to the park yesterday, we saw a veeeery wooly caterpillar walking across the street.  These little guys are everywhere!  Leslie is a cool kid, so she picked him up to show the kids.  Ava thought he was pretty cool, and was a gentle girl when petting him.

 I'm not sure if I've said this, but Theo hates to have his hands held.  So he didn't get to pet the little guy.

But we did have a package waiting at home from Aunt Holly!  Look at the sweet hotwheels wrapping paper!  And now Theo can be a warm boy this winter.  PLUS there was an extra surprise of a baby photo album inside.  We love it a lot.

Photo Dump of Fall Break

 

We went to Beebe Lake on Monday, which is, you know, just a lake that runs through Cornell campus.  Yeah, I live here.

 

We got to babysit A. while her mommy had her first day of work.  We pretty much had a blast.

Sorry, there pictures were in order, but now they're not.

Cold weather is upon us (but it's just gonna get worse).  We're getting prepared.

Big thank yous to Holly, my mom, and L. for giving us winter clothes for the baby, making sure he doesn't turn into a Theo-pop this winter!

We got to party it up with the Swigerts during General Conference, and as you can see, Hal was thrilled about it!  Just kidding, he really was cute and sweet the whole time.  Sitting in that position will give anyone a double chin like that. 

Theo has been eating a lot of Cheerios lately.  There was one stuck to the kitchen floor today, after having previously been drooled on, dropped, and dried there.  Later, he decided he really did want to eat it, so he tried picking it up with his fingers.  When that didn't work, he went for the good old face-to-the-floor method.  Too bad that didn't work either.

Ten points for whoever saw the deer in this picture without reading this first.  Seriously, we stood there and watched each other for a few minutes.  Corbin and I were finally the ones to move on first.

After having Corbin home for four days in a row, my housework groove was totally thrown off.  But apparently all my productivity got stored up, because today I: gave the baby a bath, cleaned the bathroom, deep cleaned the kitchen, including wiping down the table and high chair, finished this month's book club book, made BBQ chicken for dinner, indexed about 30 names, and tweezed my eyebrows.  Oh yeah, and took care of a baby.  BOOMSHADOW!

Autumn is Here!

Today I had my first wow moment of New York autumn.  As Theo and I were driving to Mommy group, I saw a very tall tree, and all of its leaves were bright cherry red!  I literally said WOW out loud.  

So many of the trees are starting to turn, and it just keeps getting more and more beautiful.  I'll have to put batteries in my real camera and start going crazy photographing everything.

My backyard looks like some kind of fairytale scene, before the princesses arrive.  There are like ten different kinds of birds flying here and there, squirrels scampering around, butterflies fluttering, even a giant crow or too to keep the balance.  There was a moment when a squirrel romped through a group of birdies and made them fly away.  It was very magical.

My cauldron of scary stories.

I got out the Halloween decorations on Saturday, and it makes me soooo excited for the actual event of Halloween. I've been pondering costume ideas for a month, but I feel it's now appropriate to start mentioning them to others.

 I asked L. to take a picture of Theo at Mommy group, because his face was covered in wood chips.  But this beauty of a face ended up getting preserved for posterity.  I love this boy!

BTW: he's getting his fifth tooth.

I got to bust out my tea set. There's a depression in the place for the cup-how cool!

For girl's night L. and I made scones and mint hot chocolate for quite a delicious faux-tea.  It was fun and tasty for a chilly autumn night.  But I think next week will have to be straight up cookie dough.

Farmers' Market

 Today was the day.  We finally went to THE premier farmers' market in Ithaca, and let me tell you, it was quite a treat!

 

First we had to get some snuggly clothes on; it was pretty chilly.  Man, baby sweat suits are the best!

We walked around, got a yummy pumpkin raisin cookie, and finally decided on carrots, cabbage, and tomatoes.  It's inspired me to make some potato soup with braised cabbage on the side.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

PS: have I mentioned that we live in a beautiful place?

What to do when it gets foggy

 L. A. invited us to walk down to the farmer's market with us, so we leaped at the chance! I don't know about you, but shopping at the farmer's markets always makes me feel a bit uncomfortable, with the vendor staring at you as you look at their stuff.  I can't handle the pressure! 

On the way home we stopped to talk to the horses at the Cornell Equine Annex.  I wish I had taken a picture of it, but L got an ear of sweet corn and was eating it raw like a boss.

 Today I invited them downstairs to play in the fort Theo and I made.  It's simple, but I bet as it gets colder they will get more elaborate. The babies didn't care for it too much.

 This is more Theo's style.

 But L was lovely and brought chocolate covered strawberry slices to share with us.  The babies were very excited to try and grab some, but us mean old mommies wouldn't let them.  I love how well they play together!  Well, side by side, but it's still so cute!

 We built a fort, because this is what it looked like outside.  So beautiful, but not the most inviting for walks, etc.

My view out the front window.  I am a lucky girl to live somewhere so pretty.

Water Front and Cinnamon Rolls

 On Monday, L. A. Theo and I went to Cayuga Lake and walked a trail lining it.  I can't believe I live in a place as beautiful as this (and of course I didn't take a picture of the surroundings... sorry).  Along the trail there are little fitness stations, like chin up bars, balance beams, sit-up benches, and there are little signs describing how to use them.  It's such a cool idea.

 We stopped at a park along the way.  A. was hanging out inside one of those little tunnels, and Theo was looking in on her.  Too cute!  There were lots of cool things at this park, and I'm jealous of kids these days who have such neat parks.

Last night, we got together for girl's night at M.'s house and made deliiiiiiiiiicious cinnamon rolls.  I know girl's night was created to get away from the kids for a while, but we couldn't help talking about our cute babies. We stayed out far longer than I intended. Corbin was actually in bed when I got home. 

I'm grateful for fun friends like L. and M. to play with.

{insert clever title here}

Ready for a work out!  Or to eat some dry wall.

Now that Theo has top and bottom teeth, he likes to hiss.

He's also a tongue clicking fiend.

I just finished the Night Circus, and I loved it, although it left me feeling rather melancholy.  I highly recommend it, if you're into mysterious magical circuses and awesome characters. I listened to the book, and this copy was read by Jim Dale.  He also read for the Harry Potter series, which I listened to a couple years ago.  It was like having an old friend back.  And now my inner-monologue is in his voice.  I like it. 

I got to go to Mommy group yesterday, and L. and A. came with.  It was at Eastern Heights park, the one up the street.  There were tons of ladies and cute kids there, so it was quite the party.

Some of the cutest mommies and babies I know!

I'm starting to feel a level of familiarity with Ithaca now, even though it's only been a month and a half, and we still have lots to explore.  I think this Sunday we'll go on a walk down by the winery at the bottom of our hill. What better sabbath day activity?  But really, the grounds are beautiful, even more so than the rest of Ithaca, which is saying something.

Corbin stayed late on campus today, so Theo and I met him for dinner.  We ate outside on the lawn in front of the building he was in, then Theo and I walked around for a few minutes, trying to familiarize ourselves with the different buildings and pathways.  It is so different from BYU, and very historic-feeling.  There's so much green around, and it's beautiful!

What a little lady sitting criss-cross-apple-sauce

Also, I can't say how thankful I am to have L. and A. right upstairs.  If it weren't for them, I might not have much hope for sanity.  When we first found out that a young family would be living above us, I started daydreaming that we would become best friends.  I couldn't have dreamed that it would be this great, and I am soooo glad!

Our first Ithaca Date

 Last night Corbin and I got to go out sans baby and party it up Ithaca style.  Apparently all summer there has been an outdoor concert series in the downtown area, and last night was the last one.  I'm glad we caught the Jeff Love band, because they were awesome.  In the picture above, you can see the pavillion, and a big open space in front for people to dance.  And let me tell you, they danced!

 

Corbin and I got our groove on too, but thankfully there's no video of that. 

Afterwards we walked around the downtown area a little.  When we saw Collegetown Bagles, I mentioned our little inside joke and said, "We should eat there sometime."  That's what Corbin would say every time we'd drive by.  But this time he said, "How about now?"

So we went, and it was fabulous!  He got chocolate ice cream with brownies, and I got a chocolate covered cheese cake bar (I can't even believe how delicious it was).  

Dancing, good music, good food, and my wonderful husband.  What more could I ask for?

Shout out to the Gullys for watching Theo!

Equine Annex

 We went to the Cornell Equine Annex that's about a mile away from our house.  These silly guys wear collars, and didn't feel like coming to say hello.

 

Apparently this was too much for A. to handle. She did this for the majority of the walk home.

This is what Theo did on the way home.  And when you fall asleep on a walk...

Your mommy makes you stay in your hat.