Fall fun

Fall has always been my favorite season of the year, it seems that it might be for Jonathan and Anna as well (though it may just be my bias affecting them). Aside from all the harvesting excitement, much fun has been had with all the leaves.

[These photos are helplessly out-of-order, but there isn't much plot involved.]

Here Ramont combines on "our" field (the one we're renting on our very own). Yesterday I got to combine quite a bit of it, too!

A little boy in paradise.

October 22nd party

We wound down the birthday season with one final party for Anna - and three others of our friends who have birthdays on Oct. 22nd (one is on the 23rd, but so be it). This is becoming a bit of a tradition and this year it was at our house.

Actually, in our garage. My mom came to help decorate (and clean) it. Because, let's be honest, getting ready for a party is much more fun that the actual event.

The four honorees are Charlotte, Anna, Andy, and Bryan.

It was a cool, blustery evening so it was fitting that we had chili with all the fixings.

All these kids are friends and go to Sunday School together as well.

The main event, as far as our kids were concerned, was the smacking of the pink tractor piñata specially made by Grandma Schrock.
 

All the kids got two turns, youngest to oldest, before one of the big ones gave the smashing smack and the treats flew.

This is from another evening, when Anna worked on her birthday puzzle from Tante Millie...

...surrounded by the usual supporting cast of older brother and tractors, including a new pink one.

And with that we are left with newly three-year-old and four-year-old.

Anna turns 3

Today our Anna turns three. Hoowee! As usual on these birthday posts, I sit here for a long while trying to imagine how to describe the unique, complex, beautiful, frustrating, and endearing character of each of our kids in one post.

Impossible. So instead I'll just jot down a few things and invite you to come visit and meet this little chica in person.

Vitals: Weighs in around 23 pounds. Hazel eyes and reddish-brown hair. Healthy as a horse.

Likes: pink (thanks to her brother telling her so), tractors, tools, picture books, sidewalk chalk, cutting up paper, Sunday School, cheese, and being outside.

Brother: Anna's best friend is, obviously, Jonathan. Last night when I asked them what was the highlight of their day, she said it was "playing with Jonathan." He still directs (controls) their play to a large extent, but we are in no doubt whatsoever that she will not be browbeaten by stronger personalities in her life. However, I'm not going to mention the birthday umbrella debacle.

Speaks: More and more complete sentences, mimicking some rather grown-up cadences (think "oh my goodness!" when opening birthday cards, or "sure you can" when a simple "ye"s would suffice). We're loving these new glimpses into her mind. Yesterday she re-arranged some pumpkins outside, asked me to come look, and said with a big wave of her arms, "Welcome to my grand opening!" Interestingly, Anna speaks mostly in English (with a few key words in German). We used to joke that to understand her, you had to know English, German, and Anna.

Sleeping: Having gone through really bad sleep stages (mainly having to do with waking up really often and/or early), Anna has been sleeping awesomely for the last half year or so. After we tuck her in, she looks through books for awhile and drifts off around 7:30pm or so and sleeps through until 5:30 or 6:30. She naps for an hour or two most days, but I'm afraid I see the end of that in the near future.

Also, I'm anticipating Daylight Savings Time with a special kind of dread.

This has actually been a birthday week for Anna, starting on Sunday, when we had the great- and grandparents Harder and Uncle Charles over for a party.

It was warm enough to sit outside.

Anna and Jonathan each got a beautifully illustrated book of nursery rhymes and classic children's stories. While they love them, they're also easily scared by some of the pictures. Meaning some serious bed-time holding...

The birthday "theme" this year has been pink tractors - the piñata made by Grandma Schrock (will be smacked next Sunday), the gift from us, and of course, the cake. I made these two pictures black and white because the frosting colors ended up rather garish.

What fun to blow out candles when you're three!

Woops, there it is.

Anna got a jumprope (as did Jonathan) and an umbrella from Oma and Opa. I really can't express all the angst related to sharing the umbrella, but suffice it to say that there have been a lot of tears around here lately.

A blissful, rare moment alone with the prized possession.

There will be more pictures to come, but for now...

Happy birthday, dear Anna!

'Tis the season

Harvest began this week (or rather, last Saturday). This is our third time around now, and I can honestly say it's one of my favorite seasons of work. Which is kind of overstating things, since I do very little of the work.

As usual, it began at the home place. This year there are two (very, very old) semis!

It's also the season of picnics. A major highlight of each day is bringing the noon meal out to the field. For the first time ever, we let Jonathan stay on the field after lunch (i.e. during nap/rest time). He, of course, loved it. Anna felt a little put out.

Ramont and Jonathan head out to the elevator.

And Anna gets a turn in the combine with Opa.

All but the first two photos are taken at the most beautiful fields we rent, near Delft. It's like working in a park.

Anna learns the ropes in the combine,

and gets a ride with me in the truck.

Really, what a life!

Grandparents visit

One of the highlights of our fall each year (of the last three) is when Ramont's parents come to visit from Virginia. And as our kids get older, they more and more anticipate and look forward Grandpa and Grandma Schrock coming, talking about it days beforehand. The happy event happened this last weekend when they were here for two days and three nights. 

As I may have mentioned before, Anna is in the throes of a fascination with "pink tractors." For months she's been talking about wanting a pink tractor piñata for her birthday party, a pink tractor cake, a pink tractor, etc. I don't really do projects like piñatas, but luckily I know someone who is brilliant at such things, namely Grandma Schrock. So this year, Anna will have a world-class pink tractor piñata for her birthday. It's really quite a work of art.

In fact, we're displaying it as such!

Grandpa Schrock is also an artist with wood. Ramont had asked him to build a milk carrier for two glass jars, and this is what he brought for us adults!

Alas, Ramont won't be milking now during harvest, so we can't use it right away.

The kids had some wonderful time alone with Grandma. Anna, especially, got to hang out with her (Jonathan spent rather many hours in the combine on the first day of harvest Saturday). Here she does stickers and learns about smart phones.

The attention to Jonathan and Anna was just what they like so very much. Reading books, drinking hot chocolate out of elegant cups and saucers, bedtime singing...what memories.