It's the most wonderful time of the year

The scent of burning leaves, the crisp, cool, October air, the red, orange, yellow and browns of the landscape. Autumn is by far our favorite time of year. It was high time for a scenic drive, so we packed up in the car and spent last Saturday afternoon driving through parts of central Illinois along the Illinois River.

We stopped off at a local marina, whose inactivity lent itself to a quiet stroll through the brush and woods. It was a nice moment for all three of us to breathe the fresh air and share a good laugh.

On our way back home we passed by a farm with all sorts of fall fun for sale...pumpkins, gourds of all shapes and sizes, mums, apple butter and arts and crafts. The owner's shop was inside an old barn with lots of hay. Very rustic, very much in the season!

Here is Ethan's first pumpkin patch experience!

Where does the time go?

Nearly a month has passed since our last update! Since then, I (Vicky) have been very busy finishing up a play here in town. We had a one night only performance October 7th to a very responsive audience of a few hundred. At our last rehearsal we had our local paper stop by to photograph us and interview some of the cast. These past few months of rehearsal have been very challenging, especially because Ethan would refuse a bottle. Our son has a sense of humor though. Two days after the play, he FINALLY accepted a bottle! I was taking my mom to the airport early in the morning and Ethan woke up. David decided to just try a bottle until I got back. Ethan took it and gulped down its contents. Go figure. Perhaps it's more of God's sense of humor...

Yes, mom was in town to help out that last week before the play. What a Godsend! We also celebrated her birthday on Oct 5th :)

Other milestones...Ethan is now sitting up almost completely unaided for several minutes at a time. He's still a bit wobbly, though, so you can't leave him completely unattended. And the best part...he could sit up long enough to take this picture.

We had formal portraits taken of the family last week...Aren't they cute?