Apple Pie anyone?

There are so many reasons for loving Fall; the beautiful colored leaves, the crisp morning air, pants and sweatshirts, football, and crisp apples. We didn't have much going on today and I really got in the mood to bake an apple pie. As soon as I mentioned my idea two of the three boys jumped right on the band wagon (and I'm sure Matty would if he could talk). Dumper Dan came out to help and did the dumping for the pie crust. I then realized we didn't have enough apples so I made a trip to the farmer's market and got some delicious looking Granny Smiths. It was a longer process than I remember it being in the past, but nonetheless a fun, relaxing one.
The entire family cheered when it was time for dessert. The smell was driving me crazy that I couldn't wait any longer even though it's highly recommended to wait two hours after you pull it out of the oven. I thought waiting an hour was highly impressive!

Even though Matty really had no idea what we were all cheering for, he still gave us his big smile and jumped in on the fun.

Ironically, only Adam and I enjoyed the pie! Tyler was much more excited about his pumpkin full of Halloween candy and Matty wasn't so sure about it. Oh well, more for Adam and I to enjoy! It was delicious and well worth the effort. And it's not Fall unless you bake at least one apple pie!

Ticklish spot

Mommy "Tyler why are you grabbing your penis like that? Do you have to go to the potty?"

Tyler "No Mommy, I'm just tickling my penis."

Mommy "Why is that?"

Tyler "because my penis likes to be tickled."

Just a typical day in the life of a 3-year-old boy!

Tuzzy and M-Dog

We've been talking about Trick-or-Treat night in the Szajda house for what felt like months and months. Tyler has been asking "is tonight Treat-or-Treat night" all week long, so when he realized tonight really is the night he pretty much flipped out. Forget about nap time, after about 5 minutes he was yelling "Mommy, come up here I'm awake". Anyway, somehow we managed to have an early dinner and then get the costumes on around 5:30 just in time for Grammy and Baca's visit. And then we got an extra special visit from the most adorable bumble bee I've ever seen. It was priceless seeing the three of them together as innocent as they'll ever be and witnessing the excitement bursting through their bodies. We had some fun play time in the backyard for about 30 minutes while I kept taking pictures. It was a spectacular fall day with a very slight breeze and temperatures around 55-60. It was perfect. The family said our goodbyes and Tuzzy, M-Dog and I headed out to the neighborhood to do our official Trick-or-Treating. I pulled the boys in the wagon and then Tuzzy got out and did his thing. Matty was so chill in the back of the wagon having a good time watching all the excitement. There were surprisingly a lot of kids out tonight and some of which had scary costumes that took a little explaining. I held Tuzzy's hand as we walked from house to house. He'd walk up to the house, grab some candy (everyone had buckets out), and then run back to Matty and I waiting. It was so cute and so pure. He was in such a great mood and very well behaved. We came home and he was really good about making sure we read the labels and then exchanged some of his treats for safe ones. When I came back downstairs from putting M-Dog to sleep, Tuzzy was all excited to tell me he was able to pick 18 safe treats. Maybe some day we won't have to go through this ritual, but in the mean time he seemed totally okay with it and a part of his "normal". Bless his little heart and thank God tonight went as well as it did and everyone stayed healthy. Tuzzy had 3 treats on the couch before heading upstairs for bedtime. When the two of us were having our snuggle time, he said "Mommy, I'm going to dream of all the candy I got" and then asked me to make him into some skittles. Oh my goodness, it was such a sweet night for all of us.

Cornwall 5K/Cornwalk Festival

It was a fun, busy Saturday for the Szajda Family. Things started off quite memorably by Adam driving out of the driveway on his tractor. He had to get to school by 7:00 and needed to use the tractor to help move some equipment, so he thought he'd make one of his dreams come true-drive the tractor to work. It was hilarious and the smile on his face was just priceless. The boys and I picked up Challen to babysit while I ran in the first annual Cornwall 5K. All the proceeds went directly to the school. The morning was another beautiful, brisk fall morning and about 200 runners came out to support the school. I ran with Pat, Willa, and Beatrice (a great surprise!). Then I quickly went home to shower and returned with the boys for the festival. We did some pumpkin painting, games, sugar straw eating, petting of farm animals, and playing on the playground. The boys seemed to have a good time and Ty was especially excited to play some of the games. It's nice to see him starting to really understand the concept and get excited for it. Matty was a tropper hanging out in his stroller for much of it while the wind continually beat on his face. I think one of Ty's favorites parts were all the times he heard Daddy making announcements on the loud speaker. He'd always smile and repeat what Daddy said. Overall it was a great afternoon and another way to enjoy this beautiful fall weather.

We're a Muscial Family

Mrs. Mary Beasley offers Kindermusik at St.Paul's and we've been taking these classes since Tyler was about 3 months old. We've been taking classes every fall and spring and we've done so many that we're now repeating most of the classes. I think this has been such a great experience for our family. Tyler has always seemed to enjoy himself and he's especially comfortable with Mrs. Beasley now. I wasn't so sure I was going to do it this Fall because they're Wednesday mornings from 9:15-10:30 and it's the exact time of Matty's nap. On the other hand, both Adam and I thought it would be something Matty would enjoy and we wanted to keep things as equal as possible with both boys. Tyler loves it and this is the first class that he actually sings all the songs and participates very well. Sometimes I have to talk to him about "sharing Mrs. Beasley" because he's always wanting to sit on her lap and be close. Matthew is enjoying himself too. Some days he has a harder time than others because he seems to get so sleepy. Today (the 5th class) was probably the best class for Matty because he was clapping along at different times and really observing everyone and mimicking them more than his usual roaming/exploring self.
There are many Kindermusik mornings I greet Tyler with our song "We're a musical Family" and he jumps up and starts singing along too. This morning he decided he wanted to wear his new halloween costume, a teddy bear, to class. We usually call some of his teddys "Fuzzy Wuzzy" and when I did that to Ty, he said "no Mommy my name is Tuzzy because it starts with the letter T for Tyler." So instead of Tyler coming to class today, everyone called him Tuzzy-hilarious! And just for the record, he dressed up as Super Music Man for our last class with his cape and crown! I love the imagination and Mrs. Beasley is such a good sport about it!

The above picture cracks me up because I can see Matty under the table and it's definitely one of his favorite spots to explore. This picture was taken at the end of class when we were singing our good bye song. I'm so glad we've decided to do it this fall because it's such a comfortable, relaxed environment and a good opportunity to expose the boys to something new.

Pumpkin Patch Party

It's experiences and memories like today that I'm so grateful for being involved with Jack and Jill. Today (Columbus Day) was the annual Pumpkin Patch Literacy Party from 10:00-12:00 and it was such a ball!!! I went at 10:00 and helped volunteer for the first hour at the ABC's station and then Adam and the boys arrived and we were all able to do some of the activities together. The range of activities was so impressive and quite clever how educational learning seeped through all of it. Ty had music time, story time with Mrs. Scarecrow, made a scarecrow mask, guess the critters in the boxes, ABC's, keyboard spelling, pumpkin letters, and the list goes on and on. After he collected all his stickers he was able to go to the pumpkin patch to pick his very own pumpkin. We were one of the very last families in line and fortunately there were literally just enough pumpkins for all the kids in line. T and M rode in the wagon together and when Ty spotted the pumpkin he wanted the helper stopped the wagon and he got out to pick both pumpkins. He was smiling the whole time and it was just so fun to see both boys there together

We finished all the activities around 12:20 and decided to celebrate the fun day at Wendy's. Tyler was jumping up and down and got so excited to actually be able to eat there. The four of us had such a fun lunch and both boys were so well-behaved that it makes me want to take them out to eat more often. It's such a rare occurrence and made the day all the more special. By the time we got home it was late and time for naps!

It's so fun entering this new phase in our lives. School is opening up so many more opportunities for our family to make some great memories and get involved in activities with some new families. I was so thrilled to be able to volunteer my time at his school and to be able to show his teachers how much I appreciate everything they're doing for Ty on a daily basis. We're so lucky to have a program like this in Lebanon and I'm thrilled see Tyler enjoying it as much as I hoped he would.

Autum Festival and Birthday Party

Today was one of those picture perfect autumn days and we were thrilled to have some fun plans for the day. We first stopped at the Church next to Daddy's school for a great Fall Festival to benefit one of his student's with food allergies and other medical conditions. Community members organized the fun event and it appeared to be a great turnout especially because the day was gorgeous.

We were so impressed with how many different games were available to play and all the workers were so kind and patient to Tyler.

As we were sitting at a table enjoying some chicken b-b-q, an awesome train being pulled by a tractor drove by and T got so excited and wanted to ride it.

Adam and I got the giggles for a minute because we put him on the train and next thing you know the train took off and went far enough away that we couldn't even see them. We kind of looked at each other and were like "I hope he's having fun" and "do we trust that man?". Obviously everything was totally fine but for whatever reason we got the giggles.

We spent almost 2 hours at the fall festival and then had to get to another party. Lucas Schreier was having his 2nd birthday party at his house. There was pumpkin decorating, bounce houses, and lots of kids toys, however, the most exciting thing for Ty was being able to drive the cool power wheels. There was another little boy (in kindergarten) that was incredibly patient with him and helped steer the truck but eventually they switched drivers and the other little boy ended up driving Ty and Matty around the house for a good 10-15 minutes.

Something about the image of Matty hanging out in the back with his arm along the back just cracked us all up. He was such a good sport and kept giggling and smiling and clearly enjoying every minute of it. All the families were hanging out in the backyard and every so often they'd drive by and everyone was laughing and thought it was so cute. It really was some good, fun entertainment for a while!

It was a perfect day and everyone was in a great mood. Lucas was having a great time. And Tyler was awesome about the food and was completely content sitting in his little chair eating the chocolate brownie cookie we brought for him. We said our goodbyes/thank yous around 2:00 and headed home for a much needed nap.

Hershey Half Marathon

It's been about 6 months that I've been training for this day. Once I finally got in a stage with Matty that I could exercise and feel like something as big as a half marathon seemed like a remote possibility, I took the plunge and signed up for it. I thought it would be the perfect motivation to get back in shape and celebrate the first year with our Matty and my health.
No surprise, I woke up about 15 minutes before the 6:00 alarm. I was in bed the night before around 9:00 but got myself so nervous and wound up that I didn't fall asleep until some time after midnight and then kept waking up throughout the night. The above picture was taken by Adam right when Mike Reager arrived to take us up to Hershey. I was ready to get the race started.

The race course itself was beautiful. The morning was a crisp 50 degree fall morning but the winds were really strong and it felt cold. Once 8:00 start time arrived, I was ready to go. There were about 2700 runners and the first 2 miles were crowded and I definitely went out faster than I normally do partly because I was keeping up with everyone around me, trying to get warm, and partly because of the adrenaline pumping through my body. I love that pre-race feeling, but I was surprised at how rev ed up and nervous I got. The first few miles my stomach was all out of sorts and still feeling the nerves. Finally around mile 4 or 5 I started to get into a much better groove focusing on my own running and not what everyone else around me was doing. I knew if I kept it up there was no way I was going to finish. Then I finished the highest climb around mile 6 and was in some neighborhoods and tried to just stay in rhythm and enjoy everything that was happening around me. The constant rolling hills became much more difficult than I anticipated and by mile 8 running through what felt like a wind tunnel was giving me some serious mental challenges. It was the first moment where I wasn't sure if I was actually going to finish the race. Fortunately, with all the uphills come downhills too and I tried to keep some perspective, be thankful for the opportunity to even run in the first place, and just keep going one step at a time. Honestly, by the end of the course I was hurting and getting anxious and just wanted to get into that stadium. When I finally entered the stadium and heard the music blaring and saw all the thousands of people, it was so an emotional, physical relief. I started to swell up with tears and had so many emotions going through my body. I crossed the finish line and internally broke down. It's hard to explain but I am continually amazed at the body God gave me. In a few short seconds so many moments flashed through my head from Matty and Tyler's births to nursing both of them, to getting Lyme disease where I could hardly walk to the car, to being pregnant, to training runs that took me away from my family. In those seconds I felt such an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment and complete awe of what the female body and can and I vowed to continue to take care of it to the best of my abilities.

I was thrilled to have all my boys there to celebrate with me and even Mom and Dad and Phil were there in support as well. It gave me so much joy to be able to share this morning with all of them.

I was in some pain and all I wanted to do was sit down and fortunately Tyler sat right on my lap and kept me warm. He gave me some victory flowers that Grammy brought with her.

The two beautiful, healthy boys that God allowed me to carry and give birth to were so sweet (even though they really had no clue what was happening!).

I was smothering them with some kisses and Tyler was laughing and I think Matty was ready for his nap!

It finally hit me that I needed to get some fuel in my body considering I hardly had anything more than a piece of toast all morning, but the food line was sooo long. There were so many people congested in such a small area that I was ready to go home. Sweet Adam helped get us back home safely. It was a surprisingly challenging morning for me and I consider it my own personal victory in celebrating our first year of Matty's life. The mind and body are mighty power and I will promise to keep exercising both in hopes of being the best Mommy and Wife I can be.