CARTER IS 14 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

A TALE OF TWO CUBS

I snuck into my Little Bear Cub's room tonight to check on him and discovered that he had fallen asleep with his arm tightly wrapped around his big brown bear. So cute! I love the way his little behind is stuck up in the air and how his ankles are crossed. This toy is very soft and cuddly. Carter loves to hug, kiss and wrestle with him. I had to turn on the hallway light to get these pictures because his room was way to dark even for my newer camera. 

STROLLING DOWN MAIN

Mom, Carter and I went to the pumpkin patch this morning and afterward we went for a stroll down Main Street. Mom and I were interested in window shopping and we had been discussing taking a trip downtown for several weeks. We had a great time strolling down the sidewalk looking at the window displays and stepping inside the various stores for a closer look. 

I think that my favorite store was the candy store.  I had never been in there before and I was really impressed with how nice it was.  It was a lot like an old-timey general store complete with creaky wooden floors, old fashioned toys and handmade candy.  Yum!  Actually, I'm assuming that the candy tasted good because I didn't actually buy any.  I sure did want to though!  Carter also really liked the candy store and he flirted the whole time with the store clerk.  He thought she was so nice and I believe that she thought he was adorable in his giraffe hat and outfit. 

We had lunch in town at a little cafe called Noah's Kitchen and the food was very delicious. Mom had been wanting to eat there for some time and I'm glad that we did.  It was nice to eat in a different restaurant than we normally do and I look forward to going back there again someday.

Later on in the day we walked past the Police Department and a nice officer enthusiastically invited us to come in. He was in charge of the local DARE group and he was very excited to see us (mainly Carter who he thought was very cute). He noticed that I had a camera and he wanted me to take a picture of Carter and the pig statute. (Funny!) The officer was very nice to us and he gave Carter a Junior Police badge before we left. 

THE PUMPK'N PATCH

Mom and I got up early this morning to take Carter to the pumpkin patch at a local farm. He was very cranky throughout the whole trip, but I still managed to get some cute pictures. Farmer Bodenheimer even gave Carter a little pumpkin "just his size." I tried to dress Carter appropriately for these pictures and even put the newsboy hat on him that I just purchased at The Children's Place. After we left the pumpkin patch, we had breakfast at Biscuitville wherein Carter caked himself with a jelly biscuit courtesy of my mother. (Ha! Ha! Thanks Mom! LOL...) Once we finished eating, we went home and cleaned Carter up. Then, we went for a stroll down Main Street for the rest of the afternoon.

LAUNDRY HELPER

APPLE FESTIVAL

This afternoon Carter and I went with our family to the Apple Festival. It took us about 1.5 hours to get there. There were a lot of people at the Festival, so we parked our automobiles at the courthouse and rode in by tram. Carter liked this because he got to sit on my lap for the drive over which is something he's never done before. Our group got separated into two parts for several minutes, but it wasn't long before we were reunited. One of the first things we did was eat lunch which consisted of the typical greasy spread... homemade potato chips and gigantic sandwiches topped with cheesy fries, onions, steak, fried shrimp and the kitchen sink. It sounds gross, but the sandwiches were actually pretty good. A cold jug of lemonade helped us pack it all down. A sweet older man (aka "Grandpa") gave us a funnel cake and we devoured it. I packed Carter a peanut butter sandwich with a handful of Cheerios and he was very content to eat that. There was a petting zoo on location which had the sweetest goats, sheep, baby rabbits, duck, pig and baby cow. I was excited to bring Carter in the pen to touch them, but he howled when the animals brushed up against his arms, hands and chubby cheeks with their long tongues to get a good lick of his peanut butter remnant. Yummm....they thought he tasted so good! The animals were so gentle, but Carter didn't care - he wanted me to GET HIM OUT OF THERE!!! It was a beautiful autumn day to be outside - very sunny with beautiful blue skies and a pleasant breeze. The only time I felt hot was when I stopped to think about it. A lot of craft booths had been set up to buy homemade goods so there was a lot to see and do. Matthew paid $5.00 for each of my nieces and nephews to go on horse rides. I would have paid to let Carter ride a little pony, but since he cried so hard at the petting zoo, I figured I'd better save my money. Mom, Rachel and I got angry because the "horse" people told us we couldn't take pictures of our kids. They wanted us to pay an additional $3.00 for one photo taken on their cheap cameras of each kid. What a scam! We took our own pictures anyway by trying to hide behind the trees. Now that I think about it, this was not a very good lesson to teach the kids. Oh well! At least we got some pictures. My favorite pictures are the ones taken of the kids climbing in the trees while we were hiding out. After we left the Apple Festival, we stopped for supper at a little pizzeria which had the best food - including the best homemade bread warm from the oven. It was sooo good. Carter and I ate manicotti and a salad. After supper the two of us conked out in Mom's car for the 1.5 hour drive back home.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E