Just a test...

I took Jake to the park yesterday for a lighting check. I wanted to try a different area of the park I like to use, and I needed to see what the sun was doing in the late afternoon at various spots. He wasn't dressed for a photo shoot. His hair was messy, and his face was dirty. He was wearing a graphic t-shirt...a big no-no for me. When a client asks what to wear, I tell them what not to wear...graphics! Oh well. I got some cute test shots. He is just so tricky. He does not want to look at Mommy's camera. I'm sure it's a control thing, because he knows how important it is to me. I just don't understand why my kid has to be the hardest to shoot!

 I love the feet in the above shot.

See? The eyes are never looking directly at my camera. I'm so frustrated!!! He knows it, too! ;)

Jake's appetite has been amazing lately. I was hesitant to try Claritin again with him since it seemed to zap his appetite last spring. It must have been coincidence, because it's certainly not bothering his appetite now. I can't fill him up lately. He's trying different things, too. He's eating apples which he's always refused before. He's eating carrots daily instead of occasionally. He calls ranch dressing "white ketchup". Unfortunately his carrots must be smothered in it.  He's eating an entire bowl of oatmeal every morning. When he has pizza, he's eating three slices. I can't keep him full.

Of course, he'll look at the camera with pizza all over this face!!

This is the dessert of choice. He loves the Confetti Cups from Schwan's.  The vanilla ice cream is topped with candy coated chocolate sprinkles. I'll have to do a Schwan blog post soon and share all of our favorites with you. I hesitated ordering from them for years because I heard I would get harassed with phone calls and visits. It's the other way around. I harass my driver...especially if he ever tells me he's out of something I want. ;)

Dan and I took Jake to the pumpkin patch tonight. Let me just talk about the pumpkin patch for a minute before showing you the pictures. I hate the pumpkin patch. I know...I know. It doesn't make sense. I LOVE Halloween. It's my favorite holiday for three reasons.
1. The decorations are so cute.
2. It involves candy.
3. It doesn't involve lots of shopping and gift wrapping.
Since I love it so much, you would think that I would love the pumpkin patch, too. The bottom line is that it's usually hot and sunny when we go there. I hate hot and sunny in October. Because of the heat, the flies and bees are horrible.  Hate those, too.  I remember the first year Kate wasn't interested in the pumpkin patch. I bought our pumpkin at the grocery store that year and was fine with it. I was rather relieved to have the patch days behind us. Then I had Jake. I had to go back to the pumpkin patch.  It was again one of those chores that must be done in October.

I am happy to say that I had a BLAST at the pumpkin patch this afternoon.  It was sunny, but it was chilly enough that I could wear a sweater. The bees and flies were terrible, but there was something there that was SO MEANINGFUL for my son. There was a garden.  Jake is very interested in where his food comes from. He wants to know how it grows. He wants to see pictures on the internet. I have to break down everything he eats into parts and describe the origin of each part. In addition to food, he's interested in how things are made...including his clothes. We've talked a lot about cotton, and he's seen pictures of cotton plants. Today he got to see an actual cotton plant at the pumpkin patch!! He was able to pick cotton right off the plant!!

He held pumpkin vines in his hands. He touched peppers and tomatoes on the vines. It was such a cool opportunity for him, and it was awesome to experience it with him.

He made quite a haul.

How cool are these striped pumpkins? I had never seen one before.  Jake enjoyed the animals, too. He got such a kick out of the pig...who was tinkling when we walked to his cage. Figures, huh?
No...I didn't get a picture of that!

 

Jake decided that a pumpkin mosh pit would be lots of fun.

I tried to get a posed shot, and this is what I got.

I will end this long post with a little video of pumpkin patch fun. Here's a warning...if you ever go to the patch with Jake, watch out for flying stems.