Van- who has a mind of his own

Ahhhh..... Van..... boy do I love him. Thinking about him always makes me smile. He is one of a kind this child. He has started talking more lately. Here are some of the things he says:

my favorite- Mimi (that's for me, as in Mom) :) How cute!!??

Daddy

Papa

Mama (what we call Grandma)

Patty

no Patty

hay

done

apple

cheese

owl (he loves birds)

boot

hat

hot

boo (for ghost)

moo (for cow)

And more, I just can't think of right now.

The obsession for books has caught on. Adam has always loved books and now Van does as well. As soon as you sit down on the couch, he goes over to the book shelf and pulls out book upon book and brings them to you to read. This is a good thing, it will boost his language and I want him to love books just as his brother does. Neither one will pass up a good story.

I know I have said this before but Van is just a little dare devil. Last week I had to call poison control and I thought about calling again yesterday, not knowing if he ingested something or not. You can leave nothing out or he will find it and get into it. We have had to change the dog's eating time now because he he is constantly trying to feed her and be right with her when she is eating. The boys get each other going that's for sure. Adam will do something, knowing that Van will do it as well and then Van won't stop for example, turning the light switches on and off or jumping on the furniture. This is my boy. Perfect as an infant, but has a mind of his own as a toddler!

My Dear Boy

Adam has really been cracking me up lately. Here are some things he has been doing that I don't want to forget.

For some reason, he has told us his new name is Ba-Loke-ta-hurst. Now if any of you have heard of this character, seen it on TV, etc, let me know. We have no idea where it has come from but we think it is pretty funny. What a name! It sounds like something out of Harry Potter or something to me.

The Radio City Christmas Show Spectacular commercial has been on TV lately. We have told him that he will be going to the show in a few weeks. He is very excited 'to see the kicking'. And every time after the commercial, he proceeds to kick like a Rockette. I wouldn't doubt it if after the show, he kicks for random strangers. He has been very outgoing lately.

With that said, a lot of people from church have been saying he should be a politician. He walks up to anyone, shakes their hand and has a conversation with them. Last Sunday he was showing everyone his belt. At library hour it's pretty much the same thing. The librarian says he needs a stage. As soon as we walk in and the other children are playing, he walks up to the librarian and proceeds to tell her our life story. This week was all about the snow and the toys he has lost and can't find. Then he goes on to show her his Halloween socks. He is very comfortable with people, I just can't imagine what will be said next year at Pre-K.

He knows we are going to have another baby now, I think he has just overheard. Last week he went to a dinner with my mother in law and was telling everyone that Mommy has a baby in her belly and it will be coming out at Easter time- his exact words. A few days ago though, bless his little heart, he was patting my belly and talking to the baby. He asks us about everyday if it is a girl or boy baby. He was patting it and saying to it, you stay in there baby, you can't come out at Christmas time, you have to come out at Easter! Then last night he noticed it was a little bigger and asked if there was a baby in there and I said yes. Then he said, but what's in your boo-boos? I told him that milk was getting ready for the baby. He cracks me up though, the sweet little thing.

The 'awkward' stage

I feel like I am in the awkward stage of pregnancy. I am sure some of you out there know what I am talking about. Is she pregnant? Is she trying to look pregnant? Is she trying to hide that she is pregnant? That is how I feel at this point. It seems like with all of my pregnancies, around the time that is 'safe to tell' I feel this way. Most people will tell me, oh you don't look pregnant. This past weekend I got 'Three months my ass!' Well I am a little over 14 weeks at this point and this is what I look like.

I went to the doctors today. Call me crazy but I LOVE going to the Dr when I am pregnant. I am not sure why, I guess I just like to hear the baby's heartbeat or get the latest update, I am not sure. And they don't really do much but I always enjoy going. So today I gained one pound since last time, which is all I have gained so far. And I heard the baby's heartbeat which was 150. I think Van's was 153 at this point. I looked it up when I came home and now I forgot already! And I got a prescription for the sono to find out what the baby is as well as to look at all the other important things that they look at. So the week of Thanksgiving or the week afterwards I should go for that. I just need to find out my husband's work schedule which seems to change day to day and I will make the appointment. A funny thing that happened today was when the doctor was checking the heartbeat, the baby gave him a big kick. I didn't know that it did, the doctor told me. I think in the next couple of weeks here, I will be able to feel it move. So fun! I love being pregnant! :)

Halloween Party

We had our Halloween party this past Saturday. If I had to say how it went, I would give it an 'OK'. It POURED all day. Not just a little rain but a downpour all day. And that meant we couldn't do the hayride which is really OK. I mean the kids were 2,3, and 4 at the oldest, they didn't know what they were missing anyway, but I was still looking forward to that. And also, that was going to take about a half an hour. We had the party in our upstairs garage. I have decided if I ever want anything done, I need to have a party. Isn't that always the way though? I really cleaned my house knowing that people were going to use the bathroom. I am sure they weren't going to go into my living room but just in case, I dusted and vacuumed and cleaned off my canisters in the kitchen and everything. It's so nice to have a clean house. And my husband and father in law went to town in the garage as well. They took bags and bags of things to the dump and cleaned all around the entrance of the garage. It looks great.

But anyway, initially I had invited twenty kids and I knew a few couldn't come to begin with. But with the weather a few more didn't come as well so we had about 10 I think. And as you can see the kids were in costumes. Adam had his on for the picture but you can't really do the donut game with it on or play with the kids. And when Van wakes up from his nap, he isn't really into compromising so he didn't wear a costume at all. But all the other kids had one on. The kids pretty much just played and ate and they were totally fine with that. I just felt like I should have had some more structured activities but like I said, I didn't plan on the hayride not happening. But all in all, the kids had a good time, the parents said they had fun, so that's all that really matters right? This is a beginning of a tradition just as it was when my husband was a child, so I am sure there will be plenty of time for hayrides and other things.

The Furman Family is expanding!!

Yes my dear blogger friends, we will be having a new addition to our family in April! This is a sono picture that was taken today, I will be 13 weeks pregnant tomorrow. It is really amazing to see the little person inside of you.

This is my fourth pregnancy and I have come to realize a few things along the way. Each time, no matter which pregnancy it is, I am always very excited and very nervous at the same time. As I mentioned in one of my posts a long time ago, I really really love being pregnant. I feel great, I love knowing I am growing a little person inside of me and I just think the entire process, conception to delivery, it really the most amazing thing ever. I mean you should have seen this kid 6 weeks ago, it was just a little peanut, that is what it looked like literally and now it is a real person with arms and fingers. We saw it all. I can't wait to go again in about 5 more weeks and see the latest developments.

Something that is particularly fun about this pregnancy is that I have a few very close friends that are pregnant as well. My one dear friend has been in my life since high school. We were each others maid of honors (if that is how you say it.) We still live in the same school district so our kids will go to school together. This is something I am very much looking forward to. My other friend has a son Adam's age, a daughter Van's age and will have another the same age as this baby. All of our kids will go to school together as well. I really like to develop a strong friend base for my kids. And I have another friend that shares the exact same due date!!! What are the chances of that? Oh, I don't know 1/365. And the funny thing is, we will be delivering at the same hospital. I would so love to have her down the hall, that would be the best.

So that is our latest news. We are all very excited. We haven't really told Adam yet. I want to wait to find out what it is. He has been bugging us for a girl baby for probably a year now. I don't really want to burst his bubble, plus, I am hardly showing, he won't really understand. April is a long time away for a little guy. :)

Buckaroo Bindlestill's Wild West Jamboree

See Van sitting right up there in the mix?

And Adam's on the other side

Van is sorting food at the children's museum- not the picture I intended to post but that's OK

Yesterday Grammy and the boys and I went to the Mid-Hudson Children's Museum in Poughkeepsie for a day of fun. First we went to Chuck E. Cheese's, every child's favorite place, and played a bit and had lunch. Then we went over to the museum for this show. It was cute- singing, dancing, juggling, lassoing, the works. And then we went to the museum and played for a little bit. Adam loves the firetruck and Van had fun sorting out all the vegetables. He did it like 4 times, and I was impressed how well he did with it. It was a fun day.

'Camping'

When Adam talks about 'camping' he means roasting marshmallows. We can make a little fire in our driveway and roast them over that and he thinks we are camping. So when we came home from Bear Mountain today and Mama asked him if he wanted to go camping, he was very excited. My sister in law and her husband and 3 kids are down from Penn Yan for the weekend. We decided to go out to our pond, do a little paddle boating, and cook hot dogs and smores on the campfire. To say that the leaves were gorgeous is an understatement. This is my favorite time of year for sure. We drove the truck out back with some kids in the back, some on four wheelers and dogs along for the trip. The kids had fun catching frogs and fish and the dogs had fun swimming. I love days like these.

Bear Mountain

Today we took a family trip out to Bear Mountain. When Chip and I were in high school, we ran the cross country course twice a year at this park. It brings back great memories for us because it is a beautiful place and a great course to run. Our Section meet was held at this park each year (and still is) and that is as the end of the cross country season where we are usually at our peaks and run very well. It's a beautiful place and has great memories for us. (Not as a couple by any means but individually, there are 6 years difference between us and in highschool that was like AGES.) :) My dad asked me today if I was going to run the course. Sorry dad. :)

I decided to have a little family day and visit this wonderful park. I brought Adam here when he was 4 months old and needless to say, he didn't get much out of it. But we packed a picnic lunch and went on our way today. We don't know how many more beautiful weekends we will have. We went on the carousel but I don't have any pictures because I held Adam and Chip had Van, then we went to the zoo and looked at all the local animals like deer, porcupines, beavers, bear, etc., had our lunch, played on the playground, and that was about it. I guess they have Octoberfest there every weekend in October so there were little vendors and music and food too. It was a wonderful family day for us.

Random post

Ok, this really has nothing to do with anything but I just wanted to share with you a magazine I LOVE and I have loved it for probably at least 10 years now. It is called..... guesses anyone??? Taste of Home. I am going to put the website on too:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/

My mom used to get this magazine when I was growing up and when I got married, she has sent me a subscription ever since. Since we have been married for over 6 years, I have over six years worth of magazines stored under my television-holder-thing. They publish a magazine every two months and everything comes with complete directions and ratings and everything. Every issue has something delicious I want to make. Whenever I get into a slump with cooking, I pull them out and make some new things. This summer I made this 'meaty manicotti' and it was a big hit. Also I made these potato wedges as a side dish and they are one of our staples now. Whenever I do coffee hour at church I pull them out as well. We have coffee hour in a couple of weeks and I remember last year i made this cheese ball in the shape of a pumpkin with the middle of a celery stalk coming out of the center of the pumpkin as the stem. I wanted to find that recipe again because I want to make it for my Halloween party so I pulled out all the 'October/November' issues. I just fell in love with the magazine again and marked all these pages that I want to make. One was this stuffed flank steak, it looked so good, and another they took biscuits and cut them to look like Halloween faces and then put burger in the middle, pinched them to make little pockets and baked them. So clever! So if you are ever in a cooking or baking stump, I recommend this magazine. I use them more than cook books.

Pumpkin Party

I guess for the last 20 years or so (seems hard to believe) our local library puts on a 'Pumpkin Party'. It is usually the first weekend in October and there are lots of activities- a float contest every year, costume contests for the kids by age, baking contests, scarecrow and pumpkin contests. There are also lots of games and rides for kids and lots of food. A fun filled day for children and the parents always have a blast as well.

Each year there is a theme to the party. If you want to do a float you have to stick to the theme if you want to be in the contest. A few years ago it was 'get a treasure at your library', last year it was 'get a clue at your library' and this year it was 'catch the reading bug at your library'. Usually you know the theme by the summer. At first we were going to do something with Eric Carle because he has written so many bug books- Very hungry caterpillar, grouchy lady bug, busy spider, etc. But then we thought it would just be overkill. Somehow we decided to do bees. We thought of a lot of catchy BEE sayings but stuck with 'Bee on the lookout, take a book out'. My girlfriend was a beehive last year because her daughter was a bee, so we decided to hang that from a tree. Since we used to have bees on the farm, we had a bee hut or something if you want to call it that we actually kept bees in, and the whole bee keeper get up. I wore it and had a smoker which you smoke the bees out with. We had me doing that, the kids and adults as bees or flowers, cut out and real flowers, and I drew and cut out 50 bees and threw them around. There were a LOT of great floats. The thing that stinks is when you are in the parade, you can't SEE the parade. But I was very happy, we got third place which was awesome.

Chip wanted the boys to be Vikings this year. He always makes their costumes and he does a WONDERFUL job. You can see Adam in his but Van would not wear his at all. We actually had one of our relatives wear Van's costume and he and Adam both won prizes. I am anxious to see what Chip does next year.... We usually put the kids on the float as one thing, and then take them off and change into something else. I know, a little overboard right, but that's how we do it.

All in all it was a great day. The kids enjoyed painting pumpkins, looking at large trucks and riding rides. It was a beautiful day and we are already talking about next year... :)

My next focus now is the Halloween party we are doing here for approximately 20 kids 3 and under in a few weeks. I'll be sure to post about that.

Apple Picking

Yesterday we went apple picking with a bunch of people. My one friend called me up and asked if we wanted to go and she also rounded up a bunch of her other friends. We had a BLAST! We didn't need apples because every year this man comes and hunts on our farm, he gives us a HUGE box of apples. But I just didn't want to pass up the opportunity and I am glad we didn't. My mom said she would take the apples and the boys were happy to pick them.

We went to Hurd's Family Farm. Here is the link for you local people if you are interested:

http://www.hurdsfamilyfarm.com/

It is near New Paltz.

When we got there, we had a hayride booked for 11:00, they weren't exactly ready for us so they showed the kids a bunch of different vegs, fruits, roots and leaves. Then they let us go and pick a few raspberries to snack on. You can see Van doing that in the first picture. They were soooo yummy!

We went on our hayride and they dropped us off to get our apples. We walked back and then had our picnic lunches. There was a small petting zoo, a large play area, this big tube slide thing, a corn maze, and then more toys to play with inside the barn. We really had a wonderful day and I am so glad my friend asked us to tag along.

Oh, the highlight of the trip for Adam was the 'white' pumpkin. I should have gotten a picture. He was so amazed at the white pumpkins that were there, I let him bring home a small one. He wanted to sleep with it last night but we told him he had to keep it on is dresser.