At the Pumpkin Patch Today

Today I took Rachael and Nicholas (my nephew) to the Pumpkin Patch. It was the perfect day for it. It was a little bit cold in the morning, but it didn't rain! We spent three and a half hours here having fun. The picture above is the two of them climbing back down from the Hay Pyramid. I think this was Rachael's favorite activity today because every time we walked by it, she had to climb up. Nicholas climbed up and then back down and was pretty much finished.
The Toy Tractors were a new event this year at this particular Pumpkin Patch and this was Nicholas' favorite activity. It was a little hard for him to pedal on the gravel, but with mine and Rachael's help he did pretty good. I had a hard time convincing him to see something else.
They both enjoyed the petting zoo. There were chickens, goats, turkeys, sheep, rabbits, a donkey, baby calves, geese and ducks.
After the Petting Zoo we went on a Tractor Ride to the Pumpkin Patch. Nicholas told me that he wants a tractor for his birthday when he gets bigger. It was so cute. The tractor dropped us off and Rachael grabbed a wheel barrow for us to collect our pumpkins in. We had to search long and hard to find good pumpkins, but we found some finally.
Nicholas wanted to ride a pony. He had so much fun on it. Rachael didn't want to ride one though, she thought she was too big to ride one. The sign said up to 80 pounds, but she didn't want to. After the pony ride we went into the Corn Maze. We wandered around for a while and finally followed some people to one of the exits. We didn't make it all the way through, but we gave it a try.
There was a Pumpkin Launch that we tried. Each person gets two tries. On my second try I made it into one of the buckets and won a prize. This was a total luck shot! I got to chose a Scare Crow decoration.

A Special Day

Yesterday I took the kids to my Niece's Princess Birthday party. Hailey is turning 4 on Tuesday. The last time the kids and I saw Hailey was at her first birthday party 3 years ago. (Which is what made this a special day.) When we arrived Hailey was just leaving with grandma (my step mom)and granny to get pizzas for the party. At this point she had no idea what was going on or who we were. While they were gone, Mellissa (my sister)and her boyfriend Chris got all the decorations and gifts out of the closets and set things up. The kids and I got to visit with Mellissa and Chris for an hour before they finally came back with the pizzas.
When Hailey came up stairs and saw us and the balloons, she got really shy. It took her awhile to leave her Grandma's side. We ate pizza and then she opened her gifts.

This is Mellissa and my kids waiting for Hailey to come back.
After all the gifts were opened, Hailey came around and started talking a little bit. Rachael helped her get all of her Barbie things out the box. These two had a really great time playing together the rest of the afternoon. We were the only other ones there, so we stayed and visited for several hours while the kids all played together.
Here's Dylan playing with Hailey on the stairs. Cody was at the bottom of the stairs tossing a ball to them. This was a really great day and I can't wait to do it again. Hopefully sooner than 3 years again.

Funny Story

With 5 kids in one house for a weekend, there's bound to be disagreements. It is very rare that all of the kids get along all of the time. Yesterday Taryn went back home because she wasn't feeling well, Rachael went with her to spend the night with Taryn and Tamara's little sister and Cody went and stayed the night with his Uncle Jacob. This just left Tamara and Dylan home with Jeremy and me. The funny part of this story is that normally Tamara wants nothing at all to do with Dylan no matter how hard he tries to get her to pay some kind of attention to him. So last night they got along great. Just listening to them from the other room you would have thought it was Dylan and Rachael in there giggling together.

This morning when we got up they were surprisingly still getting along. They were playing the Wii and I just had to get a once in a life time shot of the two of them together. When I told them to smile for the camera they both said "you better not use that for Jib Jab!" and I said "nope, it's for a blog" and they both said at the same time "that's even worse!" Ha ha! It was so funny. Jeremy and I both laughed.
After we were up and around we went bowling. The bowling alley extended the dollar Sundays through September. Tamara was the winner today by one pin.

Rachael's Day!

Today Rachael and I spent the day together. Her Ninth birthday is next weekend and she's going to be at her dad's house so we decided to do birthday stuff today. First we went to the Dollar Tree and Rachael picked out a couple of things. Next we went to Taco Bell for lunch so she could use her coupon for a free kids meal that she earned at school. She got the Goofy Goggles in her kids meal. After lunch we went to the store and Rachael picked out Rainbow Chip cake mix with Chocolate frosting and Sprinkles and some Cherry Vanilla and Root Beer Float flavored ice cream.
When we got home I supervised as Rachael made her cake. She measured everything out and put it in the bowl. This is her first cake all by herself! I'm so proud of her. She did a great job.
Look at her just mixing away all proud of herself. Smile for the camera!
While we waited for the cake to cook we went to the park and played. Rachael wanted me to climb up and play with her so I went up once and slid down the slide for her. She laughed at me because the slide hurts when you go down it where it bends and she knew that.
The finished work of art. It looks yummy!

Tagging

4 things I adore about my husband?
1. I love his smile
2. He rarely gets angry or upset
3. He's great with the kids
4. He loves me more than anything!

4 movies I would watch more than once?
1. Mr. and Mrs. Smith
2. 10 Things I Hate About You
3. Knocked Up
4. Super Bad

4 TV shows I watch the most?
1. Gray's Anatomy
2. Desperate House Wives
3. Brother's and Sisters
4. Two and a Half Men

4 Places I have been?
1. Las Vegas
2. Disney Land
3. Iowa
4. California

4 Favorite Foods?
1. Mexican Food
2. Shredded Beef
3. Mandarin Chicken Salad
4. Strawberry Shortcake

4 places I would like to visit?
1. Hawaii
2. Paris
3. Las Vegas again
4. The Coast

I tag whoever wants to be tagged...

Safety Patrol

This year at school Cody is doing Safety Patrol. He is so excited that he gets to help kids safely cross the street. Him and the other fourth and fifth graders get to do this for a week at a time every four to five weeks. This helps teach responsibility. Each student is responsible to be there everyday of their week and if they can't make it for some reason, it's up to them to call and get a sub for that day. At the end of the school year, all of the students who participate in this program get to go to an amusement park for the day!

First Day of School

I'm kicking myself for not taking any pictures! This was kind of a hecktick day for all of us. The kids' first day of school and my first day at work with the kids going to school instead of Mana's house.
We moved the weekend before school started into a brand new, luxury apartment community that happens to be just a few blocks South of the brand new elementary school in the kids' school district. The kids are so excited about living so close to their school because now they get to ride their bikes instead of riding the bus.
The day before school started we went and got Dylan a new bike since his other bike was a little small for him to still be riding. We got it home and he rode it around for a bit and the chain fell off. Jeremy got home from work and tightened the back wheel and Dylan was off again. Three more times through that evening the chain fell off and Jeremy tightened it and then came to the conclusion that who ever put the bike together at the store bent the pedal mechanism and the chain refused to stay on. The first day of school Dylan didn't have a bike to ride so I drove him and Rachael to school. Rachael's bike works fine, but she wanted to be nice that morning and ride with Dylan in the car. Cody rode his bike and had a great time.
I headed off to work after that. After work I waited by the school to pick up Rachael and Dylan and to make sure Cody was headed home okay. Dylan was mad at me for not letting him walk home, but he got over it. We took his bike back and he decided on a scooter instead. The rest of the week went well. Cody and Rachael on their bikes and Dylan on his scooter. So far the kids are liking school and their teachers.
Tamara and Taryn started middle school this year and they both say that they are liking it so far.