What Lane's been up to

Or maybe this post should be titled "a few of my favorite things". Lane loves wearing socks on his hands, his kitty, and reading books. Here he's doing all 3! When he starts running around holding his hands out, I know he's looking for socks to put on his hands. At least I should have no problem getting him to wear mittens this winter.


A new favorite thing is pushing things around on his gator. He tries to pile it as high as it will go so he can push it around. I had to help him figure out how to get his stuffed animals on right. By the way, he's in his "naptime" clothes, I don't normally dress him this way!!

He also loads up his Tonka truck and pushes it around. Here he's got a load of pumpkins and gourds! So cute!

Lane has started saying "yes" more. He will say "mama", sign "please" and then point. It takes a lot of trial and error to figure out what he wants, but once I do, he says "yes" and nods. Lately there's been a lot more "no" and shaking of the head, but he is definitly learning how to communicate! He makes me laugh so much with all of his antics! Crazy little boy!

Pumpkin Patch

One of my favorite meetings to go to are MOPS meetings. We meet once a month at the Stockham church...it usually consists of food, talking, a speaker, and some type of activity (usually like a craft or something). Then one other day a month, they plan an activity where we "go somewhere". This month we went to Helgoth's Pumpkin Patch. I was really looking forward to it, but it turned out to be such a yucky yucky day! It was rainy and cold. I met my friend Denae at her house close to Phillips and we took off. After waiting for 45 minutes at Helgoth's, only 2 other MOPS moms showed up! That was kind of disappointing, but I understand since it was not a nice day. We still had fun though! Lane was very tired so he got a little crabby at times, but I think he had a great time.

We rode a hay wagon out to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins. Lane found his right away!

I really would like to go back there on a nice day - there were soooo many things to do! Lots of slides, a corn maze, pony rides, play structures, "train" rides, smore's, a corn sandbox, and miniature golf! We didn't do half of that since it was pretty muddy, but we still had fun running around. Denae has a daughter, Micole, who is only 3 weeks older than Lane, so they had lots of fun playing together.

Lane had the most fun playing in this Noah's Ark. It was just his size, and he was running all over, laughing and screaming. He loved to peek through the windows and grin while I took his picture!

He thought the goats were pretty neat!

Luckily, they had a building with a wood burning stove to eat lunch in! Lunch consisted of a hot dog, chips, pop, and smores. Lane did great just sitting on a chair and eating his lunch. In this picture, he thought he was pretty cool with a chip stuck to his finger. Yum!

After we ate, it was almost time to leave since it was getting close to naptime. But we couldn't resist a train ride! Lane loved sitting and steering and it lasted nowhere near long enough for him. I think that Grandma needs to get a car to pull behind her lawnmower! That'd really be fun!

All tuckered out on the ride home! Unfortunately, he woke up once we got to Denae's house and then wouldn't take a nap the rest of the day. Made for a verrrrry long, crabby afternoon. At least we had good memories from the morning!

We also went to a pumpkin patch in Sutton with our friends Kara and Braden. Lane always gets so excited when I tell him we're going anywhere with Braden and this was no exception! I thought the patch would be more like Helgoth's or at the very least we would be able to pick our own pumpkin. Instead it was more like a store. We did have fun since the boys could run around outside and look (and touch) all the pumpkins. And there was a kitty, so that was fun too! It was a sunny day so I could've gotten some cute pictures, but I forgot my camera!! Crazy me! I need to just have it attached to me at all times. Maybe someday I'll learn :)

Un-motivated? Or just busy?

For those of you who checked my blog lately - I'm sorry! These past few weeks have just been LONG! First of all, we were sick for about a week. And lately, I've just been busy! Or is it just being lazy? I don't know! But my house is a wreck and I just can't seem to get anything done, including blogging.

Lane has decided to give me a glimpse into the "terrible twos". He has been pretty fussy and whiny for the past week and a half. It's mainly because he's tired, but how do you get an 18-month-old to sleep more? He missed out on alot of sleep when he was sick, but it's just taking forever for him to get caught up! Luckily, he's been taking good naps, but the latest he's slept in the morning has been 6:30. Normally, he goes to bed about 7:30 and sleeps until about 7:15. I LOVE that schedule - gives me time in the evening to do a whole lot of nothing (yes, I should be cleaning during that time!) and also I get to sleep until 7:00. Lately, I'm lucky if he falls asleep by 8:00 and then he's up by 6:30. That's almost an hour and half of sleep that he's missing out on! No wonder he's crabby! I just hope that something changes in the next few weeks otherwise we'll both continue to be crabby!

And I don't know if we're just crazy or looking for punishment, or what, but we decided to paint our family room and kitchen! So we spent several days stripping wallpaper. Now it just feels like we live in a construction zone. It will look awesome when it's finished though! I did take some "before" photos, so I'll make sure to post them when we get it all finished!

New items in my Etsy shop!

If you haven't visited Etsy yet, you really should! It's a website with a collection of "shops" where people sell their handmade goods. There is seriously anything you could ever want. I love looking through the jewelry and bags. Since I just love bags and purses (I have 5 diaper bags!) I decided I really needed to learn to make them before I went broke. I used to do some sewing back in jr. high/high school (mostly quilts and little stuffed mice) and when Mom gave me her old sewing machine, I discovered that I still like sewing! I made a cute little purse as a practice item and it turned out pretty good so I moved on to other bags!

So far I've only had scrapbooks in my Etsy shop...but I've just added bags! I call these "Anything Bag" because they really can be used for anything! I've been using mine as a diaper bag since a sippy cup fits great in the handles. For those of you who like big purses, the bag is roomy but not huge. I've also used mine for hauling Lane's library books around (he likes alot of books!). The handles tie at the top, so if you untie the strap, you can tie each one to the side of your stroller handles. I guess they'd even work to tie onto a wheelchair or walker!


I saw purses like these at a craft show, but I didn't want to pay $87 for one! I decided to make my own. Mine is the brown corduroy one and I made the other one for a friend. They are about 15" wide, 10" tall, and 5" deep. I put little ties on the side to kinda pull the sides in a little bit. Pretty cute! I don't have any of these in my shop yet, but hopefully soon!

Finally, I also made a couple of receiving blankets! These are made of flannel with a ragged edge. It's sooo soft and the edges will only get more frayed/worn-looking over time.

So I guess what I'm saying is....visit my Etsy shop and tell your friends!! Oh, and Christmas is coming :) Here's my website address: www.cuddlelane.etsy.com or you can simply click on the orange Etsy button on the top of my blog.

Carving Pumpkins

On Sunday, Chad and Grace wanted to go to a pumpkin patch. We said we'd go along...well...since it was only about 40 degrees that day, it didn't sound like much fun! So, they got a few pumpkins and came to our house for a pumpkin-carving party. Jerry, Renita, and Brent were there too, but I don't have any pictures of them!

I hadn't carved a pumpkin in many many years. I'm not a big fan of Halloween, but I LOVE fall stuff. And pumpkins pretty much say fall to me! Since Chad and Grace had picked out a book of carving patterns, I chose one with a kitty on it. Not too Halloween-y, and I convinced Curtis to do the other cat in the book. It was really fun! Kinda a mess, but fun! Everyone's turned out pretty good. Mine was an "easy" pattern while everyone else had a "hard" pattern. I guess that's why mine looks like Lane did it ;) Oh, and Lane was sleeping during all this, so he didn't get in on the fun!

When we lit them, we had to put them downstairs where it was dark enough. Looked pretty cool though!!

In order: Curtis, Grace, mine, Chad

This is October??

The weather forecast said that we were supposed to get snow this weekend. I didn't really believe it. At 4:00 this morning Whiskey started meowing to come inside. I grudingly got out of bed so she wouldn't wake Lane up....and it was snowing! Crazy, since it's only October 10. I actually feel like I should have Christmas decorations up instead of my fall decorations! (Oh, and I never did fall back asleep after Whiskey got me up so I'm just a little tired today!)

Lane kept looking out the window at the snow, so I thought, why not? Might as well make use of his snowsuit and coat that he will probably grow out of! He was very patient while I bundled him up. He ended up looking like Randy from A Christmas Story - he was scared to move!

Once we got outside he was kind of excited. It took him a little bit before he felt comfortable, but when he saw his truck, he had to go play with it.

He had to wear his mittens from last year which are just little tubes (no spot for a thumb). Good thing he's had so much practice wearing socks on his hands! :)

In the picture above, he finally decided to walk around on his own. His boots are a size too big, but he managed to toddle around. We stayed outside for just about 15 minutes before Lane decided it was a little cold. It was fun! I wasn't expecting to play in the snow on October 10, but we both had a good time! It's already melted a bunch so that's nice :)

Candle? Yes, please!

Candles are all the rage - at least in our house, anyway! Lane has really taken a liking to having candles lit all.the.time. While he's eating breakfast, he's pointing to the candle on the table and twisting around to see the candle in the family room. As soon as I let him down, he runs to the drawer where I keep the lighter and begs for me to light the candles. He loves to look at the flame! He must think it looks "homier" with candles lit :) It's also hard to go to a store with candles - he insists on smelling them! When we leave the house, we go around to blow out the candles. As soon as we get home - "uh, uh" and pointing to candles. I think I know what I will be asking for for Christmas :)

Lane has also started nodding. It's the cutest thing ever! Since he's not really talking yet, I'm just glad that he can communicate in some way! When I ask him something like, "Do you want me to light the candle?", he'll nod his little head up and down. Then I say, "Can you say please?" His little hand rubs his belly so hard! (That's "please" in sign language - actually he's supposed to rub circles on his chest, but he hasn't quite gotten that yet!) It's so cute watching him!

Life during harvest

It's FINALLY harvest time around here. Well, almost. We've only been in a couple of fields since the corn is still pretty wet. And of course, it rained 1/2 an inch last night. Not really what we need during harvest!

Lane is completely in love with any big machines. Now that he actually realizes what a combine is, he has so much fun riding in one! For the first 10 minutes or so, he sits so quietly on my lap just taking everything in. After that, he wants to stand in front of the window to watch the corn go in the header. It's so cute!

Curtis gets to drive the combine every once in awhile, and that's when we hurry out to the field to ride with him! Lane thinks it'd be really fun to sit on his lap and play with the controls, but that's not going to happen :)

This past Saturday, Chad and Grace were out. For awhile they just rode with everyone, but then Dad put Chad to work driving auger wagon.

Lunch time! Well, we call it lunch, but it's actually supper. It was kinda cold and windy, so Lane had to sit in the back of the 4Runner to eat his quesadilla. He wasn't satisfied with the bites I cut up for him - he wanted to eat the whole thing!

Yummy skillet enchiladas....

Chad and Grace even stayed for supper...

I really hope that the weather warms up so we can spend more time out in the field! It's fun to go out to eat with everyone, but if this wind keeps up, we might not go as often. I know Lane likes to see Curtis and during harvest that's the only time he sees him. Plus I really enjoy not having to cook ;) but I'm sure Mom will have me bring lunch out sometime! Yikes!

Cute things!

We've all been a little sick around here the past couple of weeks. Curtis was the first to get it - he actually felt bad enough that he stayed home from work for 3 days. Last Monday he finally felt well enough to go to work, but unfortunately Lane and I started getting sick that same day! I think we may be on the mend though. Lane seems to be almost better and I'm slowly getting there. We've watched lots of Thomas the Tank Engine and Summer on the Farm videos.

Well, us being sick wasn't the "cute things" I wanted to write about...Lane's doing so many new things that I need to share some of them!

Lane loooooves trains right now. He loves his "Jamberry" book because there is a picture of a train on a couple of pages. Whenever he hears a train whistle, he immediately looks around for the train. He gets so excited when I put his Thomas video on and loves to point out all the trains. He calls all trains "ta ta", probably because of "Thomas".

One of Lane's favorite things to do right now is put his socks on his hands. He thinks it's pretty fun to walk around trying to pick stuff up and touch things with socks. He even claps and laughs when it doesn't sound the same as usual!

He's doing so well playing by himself these days. I moved most of his toys out to his "playroom" in the breezeway. I only left his Little People Farm, rocking horse, and a couple of tractors in the family room. He plays so much better now! He loves the Farm and all the noises that it makes.

He is such a little cleaner! If he drools or spills water on something, he immediately gets a rag to clean it up. Today I cleaned the bathroom, and he was right there helping me. I sprayed the tub and he got right to work wiping it down. So helpful!

It's amazing to me how much he can understand. Today I was trying to find the Vicks Vapor Rub (I put it on his chest at night to help his cough) and I had no idea where it was. I asked Lane, "where's the stuff that we put on your chest before you sleep?" He grabbed my hand and led me right to it!

Lane is so excited about harvest. I just have to say, "We're going to go ride with Daddy in the tractor (or combine)", and he starts running around and squealing. He gets upset when we drive by a field with a combine and we don't stop! Tomorrow I'll post some pictures of Lane's ride in the combine.