18 Months (and Fall Photos!)

So I'm a little unsure of what to title this post. I'm fairly certain that I'll have another post by the end of the weekend, but it is a very full weekend so I can't fit it all into one document. Luke turns 1.5 years old tomorrow, we celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary as well, plus we are pumpkin picking and my parents are coming to visit Sunday. I've decided to talk about Luke at 18 months tonight and then tomorrow or Sunday all the other fun things! 

Luke is 18 months. What the heck? He's such a little boy now! He's much more steady on his feet and is starting to climb on everything. His moments of temper tantrums quickly dissolve into sweet hugs and kisses. His vocabulary is growing and today when I dropped him off at daycare he yelled out "I LOVE YOU!" (even though it was a little garbled). He doesn't like to be told "no" and is fairly stubborn. He loves playing outside and gathering acorns from the trees shedding their extra layers. I think that he's grown out of his sleeping less faze so Dillon and I are much more well rested these days. We're teaching him how to walk down stairs so that we don't have another tumbling episode and when he gets to the bottom of the stairs he does a little celebratory dance.

We made it through his virus for the past two weeks and I think on my last post I mentioned that Urgent Care said he had Scarlet Fever. The next day, Luke threw up three times and we went back to see the pediatrician. They ran a strep test and it was negative so it was only a virus that we had to wait out. Luckily, Dillon and I didn't catch the vomiting ick so I'm glad about that (because I did manage to "catch" the puke on the way to the toilet. I will never, EVER get used to throw up. ugh.) He's on the mend now though and we're looking forward to pumpkin picking tomorrow and maybe a trip into Lake Lure for anniversary shenanigans! 

Here's to cold and flu season and hoping we fare better this year than last! 

A few weeks ago... Luke put his hat on himself this way. You'll notice the nasty sunburn he had which has cleared up, thank goodness!

We had a mini-sleepover last night with a friend from daycare! They had fun playing with the car and climbing in and out!

Cuddly moment...

The view from the top of our hill (I was trying to get the dogs to stop barking at our nice and patient neighbors!)

Luke enjoying the outdoors!

Hey Emma... look over there!

Hello Fall!

So begins the cute Fall baby pictures! If you'll remember, last year, I think there were about 3 or 4 different Fall/Halloween posts. (Just some cute reminders, if you don't remember...)

And flash forward to this year, we'll have some more pretty spectacular photos of our babies with pumpkins!
This weekend has been a good catch up weekend with some twists and turns. We've relaxed and got some good housework done. We went to church this morning and then trekked on out to the Eliada corn maze. It really is a good time for everyone at a decent price. They have three different routes you can take and we took the medium length route. Last year, Luke had to be carried and Dara was a slow walker. This year, Dara walked at lightening speed and Luke was the slow one we had to wait on. We got to take a fun hay ride and Dara and Lauren were the only brave ones of the group to barrel down the slides!

While we were giving Luke a diaper change, we noticed a rash breaking out on his legs. Thinking he had a slight irritation we didn't think anything more. Fast forward to coming home and a bath later, he was broke out over his entire body. I got a little (ok a lot) paranoid and decided to take him to Urgent Care. I've been freaked out a lot about the enterovirus and ebola (which of course, I knew it wasn't that), but I just wanted to make sure he was ok. Turns out he has Scarlet Fever! Thankfully, amoxicillin should fix him right up. Dillon and I are hoping this helps him feel better soon and sleep better at night (Luke's slept in our bed every night for the past week, giving us little rest). Dillon will stay home with him tomorrow so that I can take care of some things at work.

Next weekend, we're visiting the pumpkin patch with the Wyatt's again, like last year! Hopefully we'll get some good photos, carving pumpkins and then toasted pumpkin seeds! Fall is the best!

Playground time! 

Wyatt-Kestner Family Outings! 

Checkin' out what's in those corn hole boards! 

Lucas, the photographer. 

Slide time!

Toddler squat

Waving at the tractor!

hayride!

Apple Festivities

Growing up, the middle of September always meant one thing for our small town in Virginia, the Apple Festival! As a child, there was always a sense of freedom as we rode on the floats in the parade and were allowed to run free through the craft tents without (much) parental supervision. Gyros, blooming onions and funnel cakes filled our tummies and we walked or rode in the parade with our churches, little league football teams or as we grew into middle and high school, marched with the band. It really was an exciting weekend for our little town. 

On Thursday night, my mom told me that the *Fall Festival* (as it's now known, due to the fact that the apple orchards are no longer in existence) was taking place this weekend. They were going to go on Friday afternoon and get hot dogs for lunch at the band boosters booth. I immediately imagined us at the parade with Luke watching the bands march with the drum cadence playing, catching candy from the floats and perusing the hand made crafts (and maybe testing out one of those blooming onions!) 

I asked Dillon if he may want to go to VA this weekend, and he wasn't convinced. There are lots of things to get done at our house, plus some relaxation sounded nice.  On Friday morning, I called again to ask and he said if it meant that much we could go. So I got home Friday afternoon, finished up some work and packed our bags. 

We made our way up I-26 and remembered that we had left Luke's pack n play at our house. We stopped and bought a cheap one to keep at my mom and dad's and didn't get home until almost 9:00. Once we got there, Luke didn't want to sleep and fussed until 10:30 (3 1/2 hours past his bedtime). We woke up the next morning and headed to the parade. 

We stood outside in the cool, September air and waited for the parade to make it's way to our spot. There was a chill in the air, so it slipped my mind for hats and sunscreen. That hour in the sun provided a pretty awful sunburn on little Luke's cheeks. The air quickly lost it's chill, the high school bands have shrunk to a handful of students and once the parade was over, it seemed like the crowd took over. I went to get a lemonade and stood in line for 20 minutes only to have a bee fished out of my drink stinging the gentleman making the drink. Luke started to get fussy and wanted to nap. 

Unfortunately, my idyllic ideas of my childhood Apple Festival didn't quite live up to the grown up ideas of what it's actually like. We had a good time remembering when Dillon and I rode on the same float in elementary school, but didn't really know each other and it was nice catching up with people that we haven't seen in forever, but it wasn't the same as when we were younger. I guess things change and it's hard to go back to your childhood. It was still a good weekend seeing family, I'm just not sure it still lives up to my expectations. Even though it wasn't the same, it was still fun to see Luke get his first sucker and dance to the music going down the street!

*These pictures uploaded in the wrong order, my apologies :) *

Luke blowing bubbles with Glen

Giving the best hugs!

We ran into cousin Janet at the Apple Festival!! :) 

Yumo, suckers!

This was a few weeks ago... a praying mantis paid us a visit!