We visited Stewart Farms for our second annual pumpkin patch adventure! Last year Maddie was barely crawling and now this year she was able to run around and pick out her pumpkin on her own! Mimi, Natalie, and Carter tagged along and we all had fun picking out the perfect pumpkins. Stewart Farms is a nice little farm located in Laurens County. Hopefully, in the spring we can make it there to pick strawberries!
Look how much she has grown!!!
I’m doing it again-not writing in the blog! After getting Maddie down for the night I’m so exhausted and just ready to collapse myself. Running after a toddler all day and having to do most of the night time routines by myself while Gabe is away during the week is wearing me out. When my mom is gone at night (which really is rare) I really feel like a single mom. I’m amazed at how single moms can work and take care of children all on their own. I am THANKFUL for the support I get from my mom every day while we are living with her. I really could not do it without her during these last couple of months while Gabe has been gone A LOT.
On another note, my very smart and talented husband has had many interview offers for residency (I think we are at 14 now). I’m so proud of him. His first interview is on Monday at Palmetto Richland in Columbia, SC. We are excited, because we love Columbia and it is definitely at the top of our list of places to move for residency. He has many more scheduled for the next few months, so keep him in your prayers that we end up in a place that we love and can raise our family.
Of course we have stayed busy. Last weekend my dear friend got married and I was honored to serve as a bridesmaid and witness such a beautiful ceremony. She was married at the Cliffs of Glassy and talk about the most gorgeous setting imaginable! I cried pretty much all day, so I was a hot mess to say the least. After much debate, we decided to take Maddie with us to the wedding. My grandparents were going to come down to watch her, but plans got cancelled when my Omi had to have a surgery done on her foot (she is doing well, so no worries). She did great during the ceremony-only one little grunt that I heard 
Gabe was able to stay home most of Monday, because he didn’t have to be at work until 8:30 that night, so were were able to be extra lazy for another day. On Tuesday, Maddie and I packed the car and headed to Columbia for the day. She was able to meet some of our friends for the first time. We had a delicious dinner and enjoyed catching up with them.
Mom had her fall break yesterday and today, so we took Maddie to the zoo today. I love having a family membership-it is worth the money as much as we have been. It was a beautiful day here-sunny, slight breeze, high in the lower 70s, and the leaves are really starting to change. It doesn’t get any better than this.
Gabe is on call again tonight (Friday) and won’t be home until tomorrow afternoon, so it will be an extra short weekend for us, as he has to be back in Columbia early on Sunday afternoon. So I guess we will just have to soak in the little time that we do have. Have a great weekend, y’all!
Just some other recent pictures…As you can see Maddie really loves to try on shoes and walk around in them-I must say she does better in heels than I do! We have been enjoying lots of time outside lately. The weather has been great.
Over the years I have heard a lot of great things about Sky Top Orchard, but just have never been. We decided to check it out this afternoon. In all my years I have never been apple-picking (there are a lot of firsts for me lately…last year it was my first time at a pumpkin patch!) Miss Maddie is certainly going to be a world traveler, because we love to take her places! Sky Top is an amazing place, but boy does it get busy during this time of year! It was packed with people, so we decided to grab our baskets and head to the trees furthest away! Thank goodness for the BOB stroller, because no ordinary stroller would have been able to endure the hills, mud, and apples!
Maddie had a great time picking apples and eating them, too! As usual it was hard to capture any sort of smile from our very serious child, but we knew she was having fun the whole time. We picked many different apples, including Red Delicious, Cortland, Ida Reds, and some others that we have no clue what they are! We ended up with a little over a half-bushel, so I have some plans to make some apple pies and maybe some applesauce! After we were done we checked out the store and bought some apple fritters and apple cider donuts, which were both DELICIOUS!
We look forward to picking pumpkins in the next few weeks! HAPPY FALL!
