We had plans to go to the pumpkin patch this morning, but found that they are only open on the weekends. So, the real pumpkin patch post will be coming next weekend. After our venture out to the closed pumpkin patch, we came home to crawl back into comfy clothes and curled up with some books.
Elmo (aka Alison) headed to the Y for the fall festival last night. This was Alison's first trick-or-treating experience and she was pretty excited about all the candy we told her was coming. Unfortunately, the festival was pretty low key and she only scored a sucker, a bracelet, a necklace, a cookie and a tattoo. But for her, she didn't know any different and was still pretty excited.
Daddy and Alison decorating a cookie
We had family date day on Saturday. First we headed to Target to find Alison some much needed pants and she picked out her Halloween costume. Then we headed over to the theater for her very first movie. We had talked about going to the IMax/3-D showing of 'Cloudy with a chance of meatballs' while in Tennessee, but decided that might be a little overwhelming for little eyes. We decided it would be smarter to take her to a matinee showing at a small theater. The theater was full of other kids and it was nice that no one seemed to mind Alison talking extremely loud during the whole movie. She did pretty well for her first experience, but we both agreed it will be awhile before we do that again.
We headed to Red Robin afterwards for a big juicy burger...just what this momma needed! 
It seems like every picture I get of Ben, he looks kinda goofy. He said he doesn't mind since the focus is really on Alison. Well, he got me back on Monday and I thought it was only fair to post it. Not only can I not cook while pregnant, apparently I can't pour either. During lunch on Monday I spilled half a jar of expensive honey on my plate. I only needed a spoonfull for my 5 chicken nuggets, but I instead I had honey soup. So while I was pleading for a napkin and some help, Ben seized the opportunity to snap a shot. He could have also got a good shot of me cooking dinner tonight. I was making simple spaghetti, but when I put the sauce on the stove I put it on high instead of low. Sauce very quickly started exploding all over the kitchen. I'm sure there are many more adventures headed my way.
Ben and I still don't believe I'm really pregnant, so the thought of actually being in the second trimester is kind of frightening. I'm wondering when reality is going to sink in...hopefully before the baby gets here! I still feel great and don't have any complaints. I'm pretty excited that I can still workout and am definitely curious to see how long it lasts. Alison still consistently says it's a baby sister, but now if you ask her what baby sister's name is, she'll tell you, "baby brother". So in Alison's world we're having a little girl named baby brother. Don't worry, we have a good girl name. If it's a boy, he's still very nameless.
We've had a very lazy Saturday. When Alison and I got up we lit the fire place, snuggled under my favorite blanket and put in a movie. For some reason Alison really wanted to lay on my legs and lounged there for a long time. Even Smoochie joined in on the relaxation.
The only thing that got me motivated to get out of comfy mode was food, so I whipped up some pancakes and bacon for us all. Alison devoured 3 pancakes and 2 pieces of bacon! She was one happy camper after that.
This video should have gone on yesterday's post with playing in the rain. It's been cold and rainy the last several days and we can't seem to keep Alison inside. I wish we had more for her to do outside, but she doesn't seem to mind just jumping in puddles. As I mentioned, Alison's been eating a lot. All I've heard the last few days is, "I want some food mommy". Apparently she's going through a growth spurt. Just look at her pants in this video and you'll see what I mean. Literally in one day, all of her pants are too short, but the waists are too big. I guess she did get some Yoder in her.
We got on the road right after church on Sunday to head to Tennessee for a short, but refreshing trip to see family. Alison did awesome. I can't sing her praises enough. I was dreading hearing her cry to get out of her seat, but she didn't whine once. Both 12 hour drives she napped and then played for hours. I just put a box full of her toys next to her and she entertained herself. It was absolutely amazing. We were also prepared to watch LOTS of videos and stocked up on some new shows, but I think she watched a total of 2 hours of TV the entire trip.
Then we headed to Rick and Rachel's for the rest of the day. Alison immediately started dressing up in whatever she found around the house.
The aunts handed down some Elmo dolls to Alison and somewhere she found a "bible sword" that lights up. She was pretty dangerous to be around with a sword while trying to lug around a doll that was bigger than her.
Taking Aunt Cie upstairs
Ben, Jordan and Rick spent most of the afternoon in the basement going through old things. I think the goal was to find things Ben had left there that he needed to take home. Instead, we came home with a car load of things Rick handed down to Ben. But, Ben found a stack of old pictures he had never seen before. I don't know why the picture uploaded sideways, but I thought this was the cutest picture of Ben. I can totally see Alison all over his face.
Tuesday we headed to Opry Mills Mall, one of my favorite places on earth. It really is the best outlet mall I've ever been to and it's so fun to walk around. We passed an apple store and I could see them making apple donuts. I decided that they need to put a warning at the front of their store for all pregnant women entering...that store was dangerous. I ran up to the counter and order several apple donuts. While the kind gentleman was warming my donuts, I spied apple cider slushy. It was delicious! In Michigan we'd go to the cider mill every year and get apple donuts. Ben was thankful I found my fix for them this year and he possibly got out of having to make them for me at home.
We were walking through the mall when we heard a gasp from Alison. Apparently the Disney store is now jaw dropping to her. We let her go in and she kept shrieking, "LOOK AT THAT!" I have never seen her so excited. Ben let her pick out a couple of things and her choices were interesting. She wouldn't let go of a Buzz Lightyear cup and a princess Jasmine doll. The smiles and entertainment that came from those 2 things was priceless.
Poppy came over for dinner at Jordan and Sophie's that night and Alison was ready to soak up some reading time with him. Notice the hat? Somehow Alison confiscated that from Aunt Chey.
We came home to cold, rainy weather and Alison was excited to play in the puddles. I guess we need to get her some rain boots and an umbrella.
I will add that I was just the assistant in the making of this meal. With my track record I thought it was best to let the dough expert do his work.
All the varinky drying. We were a little confused why we still had most of the filling still left. 
I forgot to add how amazingly DELICIOUS it was! The sausage tasted a little different than we hoped but everything was just amazing. I also forgot to add how much it means to me that Ben did this for us. I'm so thankful that my heritage is just as important to him as his is and he's willing to jump in and help me carry it on.
Today was Harvest Day in Smithfield. This is one of the things I love about being in a small town-there always fun things going on that are easy to participate in. The day was kicked off by the annual Hog Jog, a 5K running through Smithfield. When we heard the race supported Christian outreach, we were pretty set on going. But then we read that they were serving hotdogs and beer afterwards and we were sold (don't worry, only Ben had the beer). When I woke up to a forcast of rain, I was pretty sure no one would actually show up. I'm fine with running in the rain, but apparently so are 600 other people. 
Waiting for the race to start!
Poor Ben had the hardest job of the family. First of all, Ben hates running and was a trooper to even join me on this run. But not only did he join me, he pushed an extra 30 pounds against the wind and up and down hills. I didn't ever think going down hills was hard, but then when you're trying to keep a stroller from running over 100's of people, it's a BIG challenge. I was super proud of our family. Daddy pushed baby #1 and I carried baby #2 and we had a blast. It was kinda funny to see people's reaction when we passed them. You could see the thought go across their face, 'Man, that guy pushing a stroller and that pregnant lady just passed me! I better kick it into gear!'. I can't tell you how many people we passed who had started walking would all of the sudden start running when we went by.
Well, we definitely didn't win, but that wasn't our goal. We finished in 35 minutes, which I blame on the hills, wind and babies. Actually, I did have a goal I didn't accomplish. This is going to sound terrible, but every race I run I pick another runner that I think I can beat and well, try to beat them. I picked this lady wearing a hot pink visor this morning and she for sure beat us. Well, maybe next year I'll beat hot pink visor lady.
As soon as we got our hot dogs it started pouring ran. We retreated to our van and had a nice little picnic until the rain cleared. Unfortunately, Alison has had an accident 2 days in a row. Both I take blame for. Yesterday she told me she had to go and I told her to wait. Appparently waiting was not an option. After the run, Alison was playing in some bushes and all of the sudden shouted 'POTTY!'. It was too late, but atleast she was in the bushes. I knew I should have taken her sooner and I definitely learned my lesson. Good thing we got free XL mens t-shirts!
After the rain stopped we headed a few blocks over to the Harvest Farmer's Market. There usually is a farmer's market on Saturday's, but this one was extra special and right up our alley. We never buy things when we go to the farmer's market, we just go to look around. Something about running and hotdogs made us in the mood to spend money. We were really excited to meet a family who sells pork straight from their farm just outside of Smithfield. We picked up 2 different kinds of sausage for our Vareniky tonight, some honey, cheese, an apple turnover and a baby pumpkin for Alison.
We were walking back to the car and a lady stopped us and asked us if Alison "ran" in the race too. We said yes and she informed us that she was told by the race people that she couldn't take a stroller on the race. No one said anything to us, but I did think it was odd that only saw one other stroller. When Ben saw the other lady with the stroller he started teasing me. This lady was 8 months pregnant and pushing a double stroller with 2 decent sized kids in it. Ben said, "And you thought YOU were tough!" Well, maybe next year I'll be that lady, minus the huge belly.
Yeah! We got a new digital camera today! We've been talking about needing a new one for awhile. We were thankful for the one we had, but it was getting slow and the shutter often needed help opening. Well, with Alison getting faster, we definitely needed a camera to keep up with her speed. We found a really great deal and jumped on it today. Hurray!
Today is Peanut Fest Day in Virginia and was kicked off by a parade in Suffolk. I thought it was appropriate to start the day with a picture of my princess peanut. After picking up some pumpkin donuts we headed to the parade. 
This was Alison's first parade and she wasn't too sure about it. Truthfully, it was probably the saddest parade I've ever been too, but it was an experience non the less. Alison got the most excited when 2 buses drove by...the most boring part of the parade. I guess that's the joy of being a kid.
