Matthew L. Szinger's Arrival (was almost 3 months ago!)

I am *finally* getting around to posting photos from the past few months! 

Here are a few pictures from Matthew's birth.  It was an amazing experience.  I delivered with the help of a midwife, and was again able to go completely natural (aside from having my water broken).  Labor was only a few hours and I didn't have to push for more than 2 or 3 minutes.  

It was the middle of the night, and we are a group of people who like to be in bed early.  Cara, Mom, Aunt Sissy and Martin were all there again this time!  We took a bunch of "group" shots of everyone together after the birth, but I was breastfeeding, so I'll spare you those images!  This means, however, that the only photos of the other people there were the following.

My mother and Matthew:

 This one of Martin:

This one of Cara:

 And this one of Aunt Sissy:

Charlie was so thrilled when they came to bring me home.  Several times over the next week he said, "Thank you Mommy for you and Matthew coming to home with me."  

Spoiling Christmas!

We haven't uploaded the photo's from the camera since Matthew's arrival, but we got their pictures taken for the holidays.  At the risk of spoiling our Christmas cards for everyone, here they are!

Halloween Parade

 Today Charlie participated in the Halloween Parade at our local library.  He was super excited- and got a great surprise when his Mema and Ga-Ga showed up to watch!  It was a bit overwhelming (lots of kids all under age 6), but he had a good time and got to practice Trick or Treating, too!

Carving Pumpkins

We carved pumpkins, and this year we went with a "Peanuts" theme.  Charlie is going to be snoopy for Halloween so we carved out a Snoopy and a Linus.  Pictures of the finished products will have to wait- the pumpkins are covered in snow right now!

The Pumpkin Patch

We met up with Charlie's Uncle John, Aunt Jeannie and his cousins (Lizzy and Michelle) for a fun day in the New Paltz area.  We started out at Dubois Farm in Highland.  This place has it all- pumpkins, apple picking, a corn maze, face painting, crafts, farm animals, tractor rides.....  Charlie had a blast!  We got some good shots of the fun!  

Charlie and Michelle at the entrance to the corn maze

Charlie and Daddy in the corn maze.  

Charlie loved the tractor ride so much that he wanted to do it again.  His cousin Lizzy was willing to come along for a second trip around the farm with us.

Charlie and Michelle in an apple tree

 There was a donut eating contest for the kids.  Lizzy and Michelle joined in on the fun. 

The girls and their competition

Charlie got a spider painted on his cheek.  He was super excited about that (and promised Mommy it was a friendly spider!)

The boys on the way over to see the animals.

Let it Fall... It's Autumn!

We went looking for leaves and acorns this morning.... we had a lot of fun climbing trees and playing in the woods across the street from our house.  We found a lot of nice leaves and did some painting with them, but no acorns!

Caramel Apples

We made caramel apples yesterday and they were delicious.... just ask Charlie!