Pumpkin Patch Photos!

We took Roxanne to Yule Farms in Stockbridge yesterday. We are all kind of sick, but doing that thing where we take medicine and feel sorry for ourselves but try to do a little bit of fun stuff anyways. We had fun at the farm. I miss going to Burt's, but this is much closer, and we got to actually go out in the patch and pick pumpkins and cut them from the vine ourselves. And there were a ton of activities for Roxanne. Most were slightly low budget, but she didn't care. Maybe we'll get to Burt's at some point, but if not, this was really fun.
She was being very bossy by this point (we were on our way out and it was nap time). She kept telling Justin not to tip the wheelbarrow up, which of course is the only way to push it...
We had to get a mommy, daddy, and baby pumpkin. We each picked out our own.
She totally loves posing for photos now... Hammy hammykins.
The pumpkin hunter!
Braving the pumpkin patch.
Is there anything cuter than miniature donkeys? Actually, Roxanne petting miniature donkeys is pretty cute...
I realize this looks totally unsafe, but seriously, the guy was watching her like a hawk. And she begged and begged to ride the horse. Isn't she a little teensy baby on there?
The funniest was when she started slipping off, she would say in a very grown up voice, "Stop the horse, please." Then he would adjust her, adjust her helmet, and start back again.
The maze. Roxanne was our leader.
The weird pirate ship play fort.



This was a rabbit village. No petting though. :(

Fall!

In honor of fall, we went to the Smith Plantation Fall Festival this morning. My mom came and met us there, and we all had a lot of fun. We were also picking up a chair my mom found at a yard sale, but that's for the house blog...
Here's what's new in Roxanne-land:
*Although she will wear pants with some nudging (or threatening...), she is extremely partial to dresses. I have NO idea where this is all coming from, but it's insanely pervasive. She's been wearing this pink corduroy dress/overalls thing a lot since we can slip it on over whatever for inclement weather, and every time I put it on her, she says "I'm a girl now!" Sigh. I always correct her, and tell her she's always a girl, and that she looks beautiful all the time, in pants or dresses, etc. and she will nod, but apparently I'm not getting all the way through. Yipes.
*Her obsession with Hello Kitty is going way strong. She has a ton of Hello Kitty stuff since I'm a sucker and pick up little things here and there as I see them (and because I feel a little sorry for her that her birthday and Christmas are mashed together). She has started insisting on wearing "paws," which means when we are at home, she wants to have socks on her hands and on her feet. She meows, sits on the floor, and licks her arms, telling us that she's a little kitty. Sometimes she's a "sad kitty," but usually just a kitty.
*She is really excited about her birthday. We talked about it a little recently because she's had some friends/family members have birthdays and when we go to pick out gifts, she keeps asking where her presents are. So we told her her birthday is in December, and that she can have any kind of party she wants. So of course, she wants a Hello Kitty party with "Hello Kitty cake, and Hello Kitty presents, and Hello Kitty decorations." She tells us, "My birthday is tomorrow, in December, and I'll have a Hello Kitty party." We used to correct her and tell her December is a long ways away, but now we mostly just nod...We're pretty sure she has no idea what "tomorrow" really means at this point. So we're probably safe.

Enjoy the photos! Most are from the festival today. :)
At Fickle Pickle for lunch. Roswell has their scarecrows set up. Roxanne was in awe of this one. I think it was called "Pickle Modern."
She really wanted to pick this pumpkin out. But she decided it was probably too heavy. Whatever works...
Here's her favorite dress I mentioned above. She's cramming rocks and acorns into the pocket. And these are her new winter boots! We've been looking for some for a while, and these were her favorite. They are brown with a layer of glitter on top. She really likes them.
Nana and Roxanne with her pumpkin!
When she wants to, she has LASER FOCUS.
The finished product!
Getting her face painted... She was unsure about this, insisting it would hurt, but the woman was so sweet and showed her it felt like tickling. So she sat very very still and actually seemed to enjoy it.
Is this not the cutest cow ever???
Roxanne kept calling it a giant doggy. I heard several kids ask "Is that real?"
Petting a giant bunny!
I seriously think her favorite animal was this rooster. When she tried to stick her fingers in, Justin told her it might peck her, and for the rest of the day, she's been saying "I wanted to touch that rooster, but it was going to bite my fingers."
A little miniature horse. So cute.
You can't see it very well, but this was a super cute donkey. Teensy, too.
A baby pig!
Her masterpiece! Justin drew the flower on the left, but the people on the right were all her. One is me, but I'm not sure who the other one is. The green one has very very long arms. Neat!
Nana got Roxanne this raincoat, and when we tried it on her last night, she insisted on wearing it until bed time. With the hood on...

Beach Trip (lots of photos!)

We just got back from Tybee Island yesterday afternoon. I'll try and get back to post more details about it later, but I'm a bit overwhelmed with schoolwork at the moment. The highlights included lots of beach time, yummy seafood, a day trip to Savannah, and a boat tour to look for dolphins. It was a wonderful, relaxing trip. Roxanne had an absolute ball at the beach. She loved the sand, and swimming with me and Justin and getting "knocked by a wave." I hope we can make beach visits a yearly thing. It's so rejuvenating. Oh, and for some weird reason (by weird I mean stupid, since I am of the opinion that blogger's photo capabilities are ridiculously non-user-friendly) the photos are in reverse chronological order. So the top are the most recent, and the bottom are from the first part of our trip. Sorry.
Here we are squeezing into the self-made family portrait we are so fond of... On the boat.
I had to include at least one dolphin shot... It was SO neat watching them, both on the boat and from the beach near our studio. There were so many of them!
On the lookout! Roxanne was just as excited to point out the billions of jellyfish as she was to see the dolphins. She loves jellyfish because of SpongeBob Squarepants. She was crestfallen when Justin told her people don't go jellyfishing. Only SpongeBob and Patrick do.
Me and Roxanne on the boat.
She had to wear a life vest on the boat. She didn't complain once! This was from our last morning there. Captain Mike's Dolphin tour. It was lovely, and very cheap.
Doesn't she look crazy??? She was so happy on the beach.
She loved this foam.
vWe took a walk on the beach after dinner one night before getting gelato downtown. Roxanne flitted around like a little bird. Look at her fingers here... So cute.
From the roof of our studio (facing away from the water). We were VERY close to the lighthouse.
Roxanne worrying that the hermit crab would "pinch" me.
She held a hermit crab for about a second, then dropped it. This was in a little gallery/science center thing right downtown in Tybee. They had some really neat fish, turtles, alligators, and this area where you could touch some sea life. It was little, but really neat. And they had a one month old baby loggerhead sea turtle that was hatched at Tybee. It was so tiny and cute!
I can't believe she's old enough to pose like this...
Tybee has these painted turtles all over town.
Our new car! This was right outside our little studio.
Collecting shells for her "shell garden."
On the tour bus in Savannah.
Savannah. Justin squatted down to take a picture with Roxanne, but she insisted on copying his pose and not standing next to him.
Savannah. She was more interested in the Hello Kitty candy necklace than sightseeing. Thank goodness for touristy candy shops in Savannah.
In the studio. The lighting was perfect.
In the studio. She's probably trying to talk me into something here.
She loved loved loved building sand castles with Justin.
She's probably demanding something of Justin here.
The aged, but charming rooftop patio of our studio. The building was attached to what seemed to be a "battery" from the mid-1800's. We think it probably was originally part of that battery and then eventually got converted into living space. It was really neat looking.
The other view from the studio roof.
Here's Roxanne and Justin in front of the door of our little beach studio. It was about twenty minutes after we arrived. She was SO excited to get on the beach ASAP.

Some Roxanne-isms

I am kind of overwhelmed lately with house, school, job, etc. etc. Sorry. But I'm absolutely loving school, and Justin has been great keeping Roxanne for me while I go to class. The two of them are so cute together. In that vein, I wanted to share some of my favorite things that they do. :)

*Justin is in charge of Roxanne's bed time. Always. Every once in a while, I take over, but I know it's not the same for her. Justin does this very specific sequence of things with her every night, and she loves it. They start out with the nightgown, then with a potty trip, followed by tooth brushing (she has a Hello Kitty toothbrush these days; she is smitten), face and hand washing. She has to have a dollop of lotion after she washes her hands. As some of you know, this is a Justin things. I let my hands crack and bleed before I put lotion on them, but Justin uses it EVERY time he washes his hands. They are smooth like baby skin. Roxanne is now incapable of getting to bed without her lotion. After that part, she comes and tells me goodnight, and gives me a kiss. Sometimes that includes discreetly wiping any excess lotion off onto me. Or onto whatever surface I'm sitting on or near. Sigh. After this, they read stories, usually two, although Roxanne lately has been angling for more. Then they go to her globe on her dresser, and point out different places. I think sometimes they spin it, but she always asks to see Georgia, Colorado, and Mexico (the last one I'm not sure why she is so interested in). She also asks for Italy a lot, in part because of a Wonder Pets book she has that takes place there. She can point to all of them on the globe on her own and name them most of the time. It's so cute. After that, they turn on her nightlight and radio (she listens to classical music on her sound machine all night) and then she turns out the light. Once Justin tucks her in, she gives him a kiss. If it's not somehow quite right, she makes him give her another one, leaning up and going "mmmmmmm!!!!" Most nights, that is all. But some nights, like tonight, she gets back up, opens her door and makes an elaborate excuse as to why she can't sleep. Tonight she told us, "I laid in my bed, and my arm was asleep and in my bed my poo poo hurt and then I needed to poo poo in the potty but I need to sleep in the big bed." Sigh.

In other news, she is more and more interested in going to "school." Ben and Locke both started, and now she asks about it. We plan to look into it for next year. In the mean time, my new schedule means we have Mondays and Fridays until noon to hang out with just the two of us. This morning, we ran some errands, and went to see the animals at the pet shop. They had TONS of kittens. I wanted to put them all in the car and take them home. Roxanne parrots me when we leave: "Bye bye kittens! I hope you all find a nice home!"

I'm off again to do some school work. Nathaniel Hawthorne and William Carlos Williams. But not at the same time...