October: Pumpkin Patch

Way back at the beginning of October on a sunny weekend we decided to hit up the pumpkin patch.....you just never know how many sunny days we'll have in October.  The pumpkin patch is one of our favorite fall activities.  It's actually not so much about the pumpkins as it is all the other activities they have going one.  One of our favorite farms is called "The Farm".  They have everything: pumpkins, corn maze, hay rides, hay maze, hay slide, huge hay pit for jumping. playground, hay rolls for playing on, corn pit, sand hill, petting zoo, pig show, and duck race.  I think I got it all.  Oh they even have a miniature golf course we've have yet to try out.  And lots of good food to eat too.

Ducks at the end of the duck race

Hailey leaping across huge rolls of hay

the kids spent a lot of time burying each other in the corn pit

Rubber duck water race.  Notice the tongue...pumping the water is hard work.

sand hill and playground

Hailey at work

Mom's fall photo opportunity with Tyler

and Hailey

And together

We ended our day with our pumpkin search

There were plenty of pumpkins to choose from

Hailey's pick

Tyler's pick

Hailey discovered a kitten right before we left.....love at first sight.....it was pretty cute.

7 Series: Friends Birthday Party

For Tyler's friends party this year he chose to have a Pirate Party.  It ended up being an excellent decision on his part because I was able to find a lot of fun and easy games for the gang to play.  Of course before the party starts you have to do all the party prep.

Decorations??  Check.

Balloon canon balls and swords??  Check

hooks??  Check.

party favors??? Check.

Pirate goodies inside party favors......Check.

Tyler ended up inviting 9 of his friends.  Add in Hailey and we ended up with an even number which worked out well for two teams for most of our games.  Turns out 9 first graders (mostly boys) are wild crazy people.  Thankfully I had pretty much every minute of the party planned out but any time there was a few extra seconds.  All kinds of wild battles broke out.  So thankful for Dave.  He just has a way with kids and kids love him.  He was able to herd them all in for the most part and keep everyone under control.  Never could I have done this.  A few game highlights:

Sink the Ship.   Had to toss the tennis and ping pong balls across the room into buckets (ships)

Walk the Plank....balloon sword battle on the plank

Jewel pick up.....pick up marbles with your toes and drop them in the bucket

just a picture of the whole gang.  Ended up having to touch Dave to keep them all under control

Pop the Canon Ball....run across the room and sit on the balloon until it pops

 I thought this game was going to be a flop because Tyler had absolutely no interest in playing it.  He didn't like the loud pop or the landing on the floor on his buns.  It turned out everyone else LOVED it.   This is a terrible blurry picture but the kids were moving so fast, all my photos turned out this way.

popping the canons

Hook the pretzels......hook as many pretzels as possible with their candy cane cup hook

 After games it was time for cake.  This year we did cupcakes.....decorate your own cupcakes.

hard to fit seven candles on a cupcake

Nathan decorating his cupcake

Tyler's finished product

a few messy faces

and at last presents

I love that he got so many hand made cards from his friends

Overall, I think it was a very successful birthday.  I think all the kids had a great time.  Tyler was very happy to have some new games and new legos!!!

7 Series: Birthday Morning

Tyler's seven year birthday celebration stretched on a few days this year so I figured I could make a whole series out of it.  Here we go.  Tyler was sooooooo excited to turn 7.  He's been counting the days for weeks now.  He mostly couldn't wait for presents but turning seven also means he gets to watch Star Wars (at the least the first one (#4)). 

Birthday tradition at our house is opening presents from the family right when you wake up.  Tyler has added a second birthday tradition....pumpklin pie for breakfast (thanks mom, for saving me on this one). 

day before birthday....ready and waiting

birthday morning just as he woke up

nothing brings out a real smile like a pile of presents!

fishing gear

Tyler has been so excited to go fishing lately

stuff for drawing

legos....of course

pumpkin pie

7 years old

Project: Happy in bed

Hailey has never been a great sleeper.  She didn't sleep through the night until she was 3 and ever since we've gone through phases where she wakes up.  Since she stopped wearing diapers to bed last June she has not had one single accident (I'm so impressed) but she does have to get up to go to the bathroom once or three times a night.  She used to get up and go by herself and go back to bed.  Unfortunately we've entered a new phase lately where she doesn't like to be alone... EVER.  It's a battle to get her to walk down the hall and go to the bathroom by herself during the day.  At night she doesn't like to be in her room by herself when she is going to sleep and she's in tears when she wakes up during the night.  The other day I put flannel sheets on Tyler and our bed.  Wow, sleeping has been so comfortable for me.  So I got the bright idea that if I made Hailey's bed super comfortable maybe she would be excited to be in bed and not be so sad about being in her room.  So off to Target we went today.  Mission accomplished.....polka dot flannel sheets and a super snugly mattress pad.  I sort of wish I could climb in her bed.  Only time will tell if if will work but she was excited to go to bed tonight.  She even made a bed for Kitty and set up her other animals after we destroyed and rebuilt her bed.

new polka dot flannel sheets (in the corner) and a custom bed for Kitty

This girl and her love for kitty's...

also close by....sharks, snakes, and dinosaurs.....just the important stuff

Squinkies

What in the world are squinkies?  That's what I wanted to know  when Hailey all of the sudden wanted some.  They even made it on her Christmas list.  Today we were at Target buying a sleeping cure and they had a three pack on the rack of "stuff" by the cash register (you know the rack of stuff every parent hates).  She begged and decided it was worth $4.37 of her hard earned money and bought them.  So now we have Squinkies, these tiny little animal squishy things.  She loves them. 

Tonight Tyler wanted to play bionicles and she refused "I told you I never wanted to play that again" (not sure what happened when they were playing it yesterday).  And Tyler said "we can BE the bionicles".  Hailey agreed and then saw her squinkes and said she wasn't going to play after all.  So she went over and loved her Squinkies.  Tyler had about two minutes of patience before he couldn't take it anymore.  "Come on Hailey, they don't even DO anything."  She doesn't care.  She still loves them.....at least for today.

happy girl

squinkies

smaller than a quarter

4Q 12X October

October family post is complete (yahoo).  Now you can wait for the rest of the story (ie all of October) over here on this blog.

Here's the link

What happened?

Well October just evaporated and I never got around to blogging.  I just downloaded the photos from one camera last night and listed 13 blogs I need to do.  Still have the other cameral to download too.  Hopefully I can catch up in November and we can just pretend it's October.  Can't do an Ocotber blog tonight though......too busy getting ready for Tyler's birthday party tomorrow.   Ahoy Matey!  Perhaps after his birthday this weekend, once the dust settles......

Weekend plans:  Ty's last soccer game, friends bday party, end of season soccer party, Ty's actual bday (Sunday), Family birthday party, and cupcake prep for school treats on Monday.  Ready. set. go.