Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere

At the library, we sang a cute little rhyming song about pumpkins. Well, that got us in the mood to do some pumpkin exploration on our own at home. I really liked stabbing with my curvy knife into the pumpkin, but as you can see from the picture, I wasn't really crazy about pulling out the gooey pumpkin seeds. However, after we roasted them in the oven, added some butter and salt, I sat with the bowl in my lap and couldn't stop eating them!

In other fall news, I helped rake up some leaves with my little, purple toy rake. Our next door neighbor wanted to play hide and seek; guess where her first hiding spot was? Yep, buried under the leaves. Well, I had to jump right into the fun too, only I didn't want to lay down in the leaves. So, the girls just piled the leaves all up around me. I stood very still as they worked. Later, I threw the leaves up in the air and ran out!

The itsy bitsy LADYBUG climbed up the water spout

I woke up from my nap yesterday and I wasn't sure which planet I was on....ladybugs were flying all around the place. They loved the sunny side of our house, especially the water spout and window frames. One landed on my coat collar and tickled my ear. Oh, and ladybugs aren't the only insect hanging around our house these days; I found a "walking stick" that once placed on my knit cap wouldn't come off no matter how much I swung it around. And I've spied a very, very woolly caterpillar already too! Guess what that means!?!

The fall yard clean-up is in full swing. Raking leaves is so much fun! I can hide my sandbox toys in them, throw them in the air and crunch them under my feet. Mason next door passed along a small skateboard to me that he's out grown, so I can even roll along into the leaves if I want to!

I'm helping, Mom!

So, since the weather has turned chilly the dogs haven't gotten as much exercise outdoors as they have become accustomed to. Gertie was definitely showing signs of cabin fever - barking at us every five minutes or so if we didn't play with her. Well, I thought I'd help out. I love "walking" Gertie in circles around the house and up and down off the couch. This retractable leash works best so Gertie has a little more freedom to do her own thing. Oh, Gertie, I love you! (Even if you did finish off my cherry sucker this afternoon!)

I've been waving like autumn leaves and reaching up high in the air to pick apples in the tiny tot programs at the library. Pumpkins, caterpillars, and piles of leaves have been some of the other subject material recently. However, despite all the festive signs of the season, I've got racing on the brain!! In preparation for this weekend's Sturmfest, I've been revving the engines of my John Deere tractor around the house. I'm hoping someone will need a mechanic at the races because I'm planning on bringing my toolbox - D justed added a real metal wrench to it last night as I didn't have one, and the storybook we were reading referred to one. :-)

H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O

What's the chemical compound for water?.....I heard it's H to O, so that's H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, right?! Here I am at the car show on the Peoria Riverfront pumping some very cold water into the tub with a plastic river otter. I worked up a sweat but never filled the bucket as quickly as the engine-driven pump. Oh, well, I sure had fun! In fact, I wore myself out even further bouncing in the blow-up cage with other kids, watching a clown make balloon sculptures and a lady face paint. Here I thought we were going to the car show for D's benefit only - I was surprised at how much fun M & I had too!

Let's see, did I share with everyone how I enjoy walking on my tippy toes these days? I can do the splits on cue too. Oh and watch out for anything that resembles a curb; I love to show off my attempts at jumping!

Today, we ventured out to a library program in the city since it was a rainy day. I carried the umbrella all by myself and then found some puddles to stomp in on the way. I was very attentive during the program highlighting stories and songs about apples. Afterwards, I munched on Apple Jacks cereal and tore off the leaf on the paper bookmark shaped like an apple with a removable worm coming out of it.

Back home, it's a great day to sit in front of the window with my stuffed animal friends, sippy cup of milk and my remaining Apple Jacks while watching the construction workers battle the reappearing water hole in the street. The noisier they are the better, I say!

Drip, drip, drip

Tonight was Open House at Illinois American Water's 100+ year old facility in north Peoria. Boy, did they put together a cool event. Let's see, I can't decide what I enjoyed the most - the chocolate cake with blue icing and a completely edible 8x8-inch high yellow duck topping, the free umbrellas and tote bags, the bath tub rubber duckies (one brushing its teeth, the other carrying a tool box), the plastic hard hats, the tour of the historic water plant/museum (a beautiful brick building with four gargoyles on top), the Zoo lady with her parrots, the front loader with tools and pipes on display, or the three teenage girls dressed up as blue rain drops. M & D had an enjoyable time too, by the way.

I've been munching on strawberry Twizzlers all day today as I'm teething again. D thinks my runny nose last week was all due to my dental growth (and NOT due to germs) - who knows!

Tool man

I'm writing this from dreamland tonight (pretty talented, huh?). For starters, I had a grrrreat weekend; the weather was in the low 70's, I visited with friends and got to paint with water colors in their playroom as well as check out all their cool toys, I hiked with M & D on the river trail (a wooden deck above Illinois marsh land), I also rode on a horse pulled hay wagon and then chilled out at home running wild indoors but calming down frequently to help the parental units move furniture around (I grunted alot, took small steps sideways and squated down to lift things - just like M & D).

Today, I happily helped M dust (the walls?!?), wash the windows (then press my tiny hands up against the glass), and vacuum (with my plastic lawn mower, of course).

Before going to bed, M read a book about a teddy bear's toolbox. Oh boy, did that ever get me going - I tried to pull the pictures of the hammer, screwdriver and drill off the book pages, but they weren't real!!!! I was mad (and overly tired, but I wouldn't admit it). I REALLY wanted those tools. M quickly found a little screwdriver in the dresser drawer and I tried to open the battery compartment of the Jay, Jay-The Jet Plane toy. I had to hold the screwdriver while M rocked me to sleep.

Next weekend is the Spoon River Drive - D says there are lots of garage sales along the drive and I'm certain to find cool tools to add to my new toolbox that he is already designing.

A whole lot of Julian

Cheese! This photo of me was taken with a kaleidoscope held up to the camera lens. Cool, huh?!

Well, I'm a bit under the weather today with a runny nose and sneeze. It didn't stop me from heading outside to play barefoot though. Right now I'm filling up my tike-size wheelbarrow and hauling my blue plastic bowling pins around the yard. I'm busy! You can't keep a good man down.

Yesterday, I tried a new way to play basketball - I slipped my head up through the net from underneath the basket. It was silly pressing my nose through one hole then sticking my tongue through another hole. The beach ball mom kept tossing would just bounce off my head; it never could go through the basket - I think I finally figured out why.