Go Tigers!

I just had to post this because it's too cute to keep to myself.
I love my boys!

A Visit From Gavin

This weekend, our friends Wes and Jen came to visit with their son, Gavin, who is 8 months old. The boys had a lot of fun playing together, and it was interesting to see how Joel acted with a baby in the house overnight. I'm happy (and relieved) to report that he did great! He was pretty good about sharing, letting Gavin use his high chair and even letting Gavin sleep in his new room. And when Gavin woke up a couple of times during the night, Joel slept though it all, which was a huge relief for me consider it won't be long until we have a newborn up at all times of the night. By the way, Baby Girl McCall will officially be here December 10, 2009. The C-section date has been scheduled.

Here are some pictures of Joel and Gavin. They're so funny together!

Happy Fall!

Thank goodness fall is here! Recently, Joel and I have been working hard preparing for the autumn season and enjoying all the things this cooler weather brings. One morning we drove out to an Amish farm west of Bethany and purchased a few mums. The mums were absolutely beautiful, and Joel was a big help picking them out. He really enjoyed seeing all the horses and cows in the country and even liked the little field mice scampering through the mum garden. Here's a funny, but somewhat embarrassing, story. When we went to the farm, we had to pick up the young Amish girl from the country store and drive her down to the garden so she could dig up our mums. Of course, Amish people don't have the best hygiene, so she didn't really smell shower-fresh, to say the least. When she got in the car with her shovel, Joel started sniffing very loudly, which led the Amish girl to ask if he had allergies. What was I supposed to say????"No, he doesn't have allergies; he just thinks you stink...." I just laughed and replied that I didn't know and left it at that. Kids say/do the darndest things! Here are a couple good shots of Joel picking out his mums. Don't mind the pajamas and Crocs. That's just how we roll!

On Friday, I took Joel to pick out a few pumpkins for our front steps. He liked it so much that I think we'll have to take him to a real pumpkin patch sometime soon for a day trip. Does anyone know of any good ones around here?

Friday was also South Harrison's homecoming, so I took Joel to the parade. He really enjoyed watching the band, especially, and he loved waving to all the kids. It's crazy to think that someday he'll be a Bulldog, too!

Visit to Great Grandma and Papa's and more!

Joel has had a couple of very busy weeks. At the beginning of September, Grandma Traci and I took Joel to Iowa to visit his Great Grandma and Great Papa Bob. They are currently working on putting an addition on their house, so there was a lot of excitement going on for Joel while we were there. During our two-day stay, Joel got to experience the sights and sounds of a lot of "working men," as we call them as well as a HUGE tractor that was there to pull a patio door off the house and haul it away. Needless to say, Joel was very excited about all of this, and he even got to get up-close-and-personal with the tractor, which was awesome!

Here's a great picture of Joel watching the tractor work. He was so excited!

Lately, Joel is very interested in "fixing" things with his play tools. He is always carrying either a hammer, screwdriver or a wrench around with him looking for something that needs fixing. He also loves to help Daddy do work whenever he can. It is very cute and quite entertaining to see him focus in on things and pretend. What an imagination!

Joel has recently also discovered the moon, and he is completely infatuated! H will sit and look at the moon for the longest time, just repeating over and over, "moooooon, mooooon." He literally looks for it night and day, which is both cute and a bit annoying. After all, how exactly do you explain to a 19-month-old that the moon isn't out during the day? Anyway, Jack taught him a funny trick the other day, and now when Joel sees the moon, he howls at it. Seriously. You really have to hear it; it's hilarious!

Last weekend, Joel got to go for the first time to the NWMO State Fair (I was too much of a germaphobe to take him last year....not that much has changed in that department). He enjoyed riding around in his stroller and sampling fair food, but I do believe his favorite was the funnel cake. He just kept saying, "Mo? Mo? (more)" and "Yum!" However, after all was said and done, I think Joel felt the aftermath of too much junk food, as many of us do at the fair. This was the face that I was able to capture on camera: