The Tree

David is impersonating me in this entry since I outsourced the blog writing tonight.
So we finally made it to Butler's Orchard and everyone (Bettie) seems thrilled about the tree cutting down festivity.

Archer loved his time in the Butler's Christmas Express. He is totally enamored with trains-CHOO-CHOO!

Dad starting to realize that sawing these trees down with a dull blade requires a little more effort than just picking one up at Home Depot.

In case you did not notice in the prior picture, yes those are pink gloves. Dad forgot his own.

The final product after a few hours of frustration with last years dud lights...we eventually just bought new ones. Happy Holidays to all!

Fun on with Pants, Fun with a Slide

Just going through old pictures and finding the memorable ones.

Thanksgiving Neglection

It was really fun. I just forgot to blog about it. Thanks to Uncle Hugh for keeping things light.

The cow manure smells funny.

Super Archer Boogies

Lots of Pictures...Little talk

Just a fall escape to Richmond... It was so fun even though Archer had an ear infection and we desperately missed Daddy David.

P.S. These pictures were taken 2 weeks ago. I have a lot to update.

Costumes

Archer was supposed to be a lion for Halloween this year, but the costume did not suit his taste. The costume had a hat/hood thing that he couldn't stand. Also, he was really scared by the paws. If you even mentioned trying on the lion outfit he would start to whimper. It was really sad. So I tried to make him think the costume was funny by putting part of it on Scout.



That may have made things a little bit more frightening for Archer as Scout did end of resembling a lion.

I had a day before the Halloween party we were to attend. David and I scoured Target looking for anything that Archer would wear. We found a perfect Superman shirt. He didn't even notice the cape.

The Pumpkin Patch

We woke up early last Sunday to go to Butler's Orchard in Maryland. David and I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Not only was there the standard pumpkin patch and hayride, but also the farm featured dozens of other capitalistic ventures. Next time we will bring more than 57 cents in cash.

There were some activities we could do for free. Archer loved the ball toss area. He also loved the wooden train and buggy. I thought the coolest thing was the hay maze/ great hide and go seek spot. David really couldn't wait to go down the big slides in a potato sack. We eagerly await next year's pumpkin patch experience (if for no other reason than to see how much Archer has grown - see first picture - he looks to be about 2 and 1/2 feet on the pumpkin meter).

Imitating the Sick

Here is Archer's take on what it is to be sick in our household.

Bunny the Cow and Richmond in the Fall

2 weeks ago I went to Richmond to see my parents and to let David get some quality studying in. Obviously I have been a HUGE slacker on this blog, but I am going to turn over a new leaf and start posting more.

Anyway, here is Bunny the Cow. She was really sweet and the pet of this family owned farm near Mom and Dad's house. Check out her ears! The farm raises other non-pets for meat. David had a really good hamburger made from the grass fed cows on the farm the other night, but I could't eat it since I knew where the cows lived. That seems kind of backwards, but I like to eat annonymous meat.

Look at Bunny's ears!

Granny Goose giving Archer lessons about nature.

Boodaddy and Archer at the cow farm.

Granny Goose and Archer playing in the leaves

Confirmation that Charmin is the Softest.

Happy If You Know It Monkey

Thank you Lizzie!

The Goodbye Window

When daddy leaves in the morning, Archer gets upset. Sometimes (because his daddy is so dedicated and smart) David has to leave very early in the morning to go to the office and study. Archer takes it hard, but loves to wave and blow a kiss to his daddy goodbye at the goodbye window from his room.

Here he is wishing his sweet daddy a wonderful day.

The Naturalist

Archer's newest interest is to collect nature artifacts. A favorite activity is to walk to the Franciscan Monastery to gather rocks, acorns, pine cones and magnolia maracas (I don't know the technical word, see the collection below) We make sure to take his yellow bucket and fill it up with interesting things. This process not unlike going blueberring at Squam, but with inedible, less colorful items to gather. Archer definitely gets a kick out it. He goes home and displays his treasures on the steps proudly. Maybe he will be a scientist/ forester :)

P.S. It was a warm day last week. Archer dislikes his pants and socks/shoes. He would rather be free and I couldn't fight it on this particular day.

Dogs

According to David, Archer's first word was dog. As the blog title suggests, he is raised among 2 dogs. Even though Archer is exposed to dogs on a daily basis, he still reacts with glee and surprise any time he encounters one. See below. The last picture is taken right after he got licked by this dog and right before he started turning around in circles.

Taking a Car to Bed

I thought most kids took a nice soft stuffed animal to bed with them. Archer has plenty of those, but chose instead to make his night time friend a hard plastic car.

Cheer Up

Last week I was upset. I had to pay twice on an airfair to a wedding because I made a mistake on a time change. I also was yelled at by a mother of a student because she disagreed with a detention. Not a huge boo hoo day, but I was feeling down.

Although I was a little weepy right before I picked him up, I tried to be upbeat and of course was thrilled to see him when I picked him up from Ms. Jackson's. He must have picked up on my emotions because as soon as we got home, he got a clean pair of my underwear and stuck it on his head. He then pranced around with the broom making me laugh and laugh and laugh. He is the sweetest little boy ever. I love him so much.