picking pumpkins at the pumpkin patch

Sylvia is obsessed with all things Pumpkin, right now, so on Saturday we took her to a pumpkin patch with hay rides and tractors and.....pumpkins! (She is also pretty excited by leaves, so looks like she has the same favorite season as Mommy).
We took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch, and picked out Mommy, Daddy, and Baby pumpkins. We didn't find any quite small enough for Sylvie to carry by herself, so when we got back from the pumpkin patch, we found an even smaller pre-picked pumpkin for Sylvia. You just can't have enough pumpkins.
I got a pumpkin at work this week that we decorated with glow in the dark face stickers. Sylvia was initially excited, but then very upset that I wouldn't let her carry (and drop) the pumpkin around the house. She was very interested in the fact that he has sticker eyebrows, and now points out everyone's eyebrows on a regular basis. Mr. Pumpkin is safe outside now, and she likes to say good-bye to him everytime we leave the house. (He also gets lots of hugs when we are playing on the porch). I'm not sure what she is going to do with all of those new pumpkins.
Sunday morning we went to a garden nursery to get some fall decorations. I think we were the only house in the neighborhood without any Halloween supplies (excluding those pumpkins). We found some scarecrows, and Sylvia found, what else, more pumpkins! We now have a bowl of mini-pumpkins in our entry-way. We'll see how long those stay whole within reach of little Sylvie's fingers.
I just think the picture below is sooo funny! Sylvia is looking down at some little boy that decided to pose for the picture. I was just cluelessly smiling away.

and here are the rest of those pumpkin pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/TexFamily/PumpkinPatch#

mini me

A few different people have recently referred to Sylvia as my "mini-me". I am convinced they are just thrown off by those pretty blond curls. As far as I'm concerned, this is a mini-John with pretty pink headbands.
Last week, Sylvie was working a puzzle, and I was very impressed with how well she was doing. She did her two easiest puzzles with little difficulty and even got some pieces of the third puzzle in by herself. However, the pieces that didn't find the right spot within 10 seconds, were promptly flung across the family room. If that isn't John, I don't know what is. I would also attribute her obsession with hats, shoes, and all accessories to John. She can't ride her elephant without her cowboy hat, and she doesn't miss a chance to try on Mommy and Daddy's shoes. (or Mark's shoes, as she refers to Daddy's Nike flip flops). I think her love of all accessories is the reason she generally leaves in her barrettes, hair ties, and headbands, which amazes all of the other Mommy's. That's a great thing, because otherwise, with those wild waves, I don't think she'd be able to see. We'd probably have to shave her head - then people would definitely call her mini-John :)
and here is a link to a few more Porch photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/TexFamily/PlayingOnThePorch#

no Mommy's allowed

This was a photo from Swim class 2 weeks ago. I haven't been able to go back since then, because although Sylvia does great when I'm not there, she was asking to get out of the pool when she saw me watching from the bleachers. I wanted to get some video too, but the battery quickly died, so I may have a 2.5 second movie to post at some point. I'm hoping I'll get to another lesson in the future - I do like watching - but for now, this is Daddy / Daughter time. Sylvia isn't always thrilled with everything they do in class; jumping in over and over is not her favorite, but she loves playing in the pool with Daddy (not to mention the chance to wear her mermaid suit every week!)

There are a few more photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/TexFamily/SwimmingAtTheYMCA#