It's The Most Wonderful Time...

...of the year!  It's Autumn.  Fall.  The greatest season of all.  And do you know who was born in this great season?  Our little William.  Lucky boy.

A few things to note about Hatch at a year:

1.) He walks!
2.) He has seven teeth.
3.) He has the most infectious little giggle and a mischievous little nature.
4.) His hair is coming in quickly still, brown and maybe (just maybe) a little bit of body to it?
5.) He has transitioned seamlessly from a bottle to a sippy cup.
6.) He is officially weaned.  Sad face.
7.) His vocabulary consists of:
          - Hi
          - Bye-Bye
          - Night-Night
          - Mama
          - Dada
          - Didi (Indy)
          - Thank you
          - No
          - What's that?
          - This
8.) He really does not like forward-facing car seats.  It's back to rear-facing for him.
9.) He gives hugs and giant, wet-mouthed kisses. Sigh.
10.) He really enjoys his dancing.  I mean, really.  While I wished we had a true video of him dancing, Adam found one that is about as close as it gets.  Here is a very, very good representation of Dancing Hatch:

He's about as sweet as pumpkin pie, appropriately.

And, for that reason (not really), we celebrated his birthday with some Fall Fun.  I have a feeling this time of year will be his favorite, too:

 

In keeping with with theme of the season, we took all of our little pumpkins to the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival this past weekend.  Just like every year, this one did not disappoint.  Aunt Leeney and Uncle Justin came along for the ride, all seven of us packed into the VW minivan and made the 1.5 hour trek to Bridgeton, Indiana.  Adam and I snagged some new antique windows and we ate.  And ate.  And ate lots of fall-themed food (not a single one of them pumpkin-flavored, strangely.)  Included in our culinary adventures were Italian beef sandwiches, ham & beans, stromboli, chicken & noodles, apple crisp ala mode (one of the children may have been temporarily placed in danger in this conquest, but that's a moot point now.  He's fine.)  Ahem...going on: kettle corn, homemade jelly beans, fried cheese curds, friend Walleye, ham & cheese sandwich, and Amish made pretzels (eaten out of the back of the van).

Here are some pics from this fun fall tradition:



Our happy (and handsome) drivers.



Someone started the trip a little bit grumpy.



Always a welcoming sight.



The pretzels.  So good, you can eat them anywhere.  Even out of the back of the van.  (Note: It's an Amish man named Ben who makes these pretzels.  When Colleen returned to the car with three delighfully warm ones, she informed us, "Guys, I think we've been tricked.  I just saw the Amish guy talking on his iPhone.")