Duck Tales

 Last weekend Bryce and some buddies went duck hunting on the season's opening day. Between the four of them they got a pretty good number of birds, and lucky me, Bryce brought home a sack full of them.

The group shot down about 15 all together.

Getting up at 3 in the morning to go stand around in the freezing early air, waiting for ducks to fly by is not my idea of fun. Daphne and I had a sleepover with our friends Jenna and Macy and then went out for a yummy brunch. But I'm glad Bryce enjoyed it.

We're not food prudes, so we decided to cook the poor things. This is the duck cassoulet we made with the five birds he brought home.  It was surprisingly yummy, as long as I didn't dwell on where they came from.

I felt kind of proud of my hunter/gatherer for bringing home the bacon...or duck.

Fall break

She loved taking a nap in this hammock.

 For Bryce's Fall Break we went camping down in beautiful Brown County. The trees were probably a little better the weekend before, but it was still pretty amazing. The weather was great the days we were there and the ground was dry so Daphne's rolling around in the leaves wasn't a problem. We were joined by our new friends the Dawsons, and had a really fun evening with them. Even though our darling girl decided none of us should get any sleep that night, it was still a good time. We didn't hike this time around, but we drove to some of the good vantage points, played with leaves and sticks and enjoyed the beauty of fall.

 On the way home we stopped at a pretty fantastic pumpkin patch. It was just on the side of the road, there was no hay ride or hike to get your gourd. Just plenty of beautiful, (and beautifully priced) pumpkins right there to choose from.

check out all those colors!

 

We also hit up Zaharakos Ice Cream parlor for lunch and made a stop at the outlets. I continue to be disappointed in the options for baby boy clothes. Every time I go shopping for little brother I come home with a new wardrobe for Daf.

October

There are so many things to love about October! Firstly, the weather.  It was 85 for more than a week here. You just can't stay inside when it's that nice.

At the beginning of the month the canal downtown is dyed pink for breast Cancer Awareness month. Of course we went to see that.

It was a lot easier to see the pink in person, here it just looks like dirty water.

We went to Kelsay farms with some friends where I fell in love with the Corn Crib. What a genius idea!

Jenna Gunnel & Jamie Thompson

 We played on the Hay bale mountain and network of tunnels

 Daphne and Macy did some pumpkin bowling

 We rode the Moo Choo Train

 And took a hay ride through the fields.

 This was a really fantastic farm, and totally worth the groupon.

Then of course there are the fall leaves. Usually I don't relish yard work, but I was looking forward to taking a picture of little missy in the leaves. As it turned out, I couldn't keep her out of them She just played and played while I raked and raked.

There's also general conference, apple picking and Halloween projects to love about October. I seriously think it's my favorite months.

Canal & kilts

 This weekend was Indy's Irish Fest. We're big fans. but before we went to the festival we took a little walk on the canal.  Daphne is usually content to enjoy our walks from the stroller, but this time she was determined to do all the walking herself.

 

 

 From her new vantage point she could much more easily check out the fish, pet the passing doggies and just be more cute in general.

 Then we headed to Irish Fest where we listened to Irish music and tried on some kilts,

 looked up our family Coat of Arms, won some silly prizes from a radio station, played robin hood,

 We watched a dog herding demonstration and petted some doggies,

 but then we had to head home early because those Irish with their drinking ways were a bad influence on our little girl. We didn't even get to see any Irish dancing this year. :(

Irish fest is definitely one of the things we'll miss about this city.

Thanksgiving

This year we got to spend Thanksgiving with some friends here in Indy. Thanks to Brooke and Ryan, (but mostly Brooke) we got to give thanks in style. Her table was beautiful and the food was all amazing. She even made leaf shaped butter for those of us who appreciate details. Even my candied sweet potatoes turned out alright.


I'm thankful for all the friends we've made here. These are the great people we ate with.
I'm thankful for my little familyAnd for a healthy baby, who was almost 12 lbs. at her 2 month check up,

who smiles all the time
And for a sweet husband who is just as silly as I am.
I'm thankful I get to see the rest of my family in 2 weeks!
I'm thankful the weather hasn't been as gross and cold as last year.
I'm thankful to be getting 5 hours in a row of sleep most nights
I have so much to be thankful for!

Happy Thanksgiving!

October

October has always been my favorite month. This time around it was extra fun because of everything going on with Miss Daphne. It was a busy month of growing and experiences for her

She started liking her swing, finally.

We had an exchange student from Brazil stay with us

She was a lot of fun and we enjoyed her a lot.

We went to the fall festival at Waterman Farms

with some friends

And look what we found in the pumpkin patch!

Our little missy turned 1 month old. At her check up she was 10 lb.s, 22 inches and in the 75th percentile in height, weight and head size.

Tried on her Halloween costume,

it took some getting used to

Daphne had her first tea party with our friend Carson

Her favorite part was eating the blanket.

Grandma Fortner came to see us

Bryce spent several hours carving a pumpkin as he does every year. It's Link, from Zelda
Daph has started sleeping 6 hours at a stretch every night and taking better naps(thank heaven) but we still get to see her alert a lot of the time.

We had our Annual Halloween party. All of our friends are so creative and came in amazing costumes. We were not crayons, but ketchup and mustard.

And best of all, in the past few weeks we have been getting lots of sweet smiles.

You may not be able to tell that's a smile, but it is. We just love our happy girl.

Best October ever!