And on this farm he had a, plywood painted cow with plastic udders....

Not far from the house there is this nice little farm that has a kinds of fun activities going on in the month of October. Bales of hay, bright red barns, pumpkins everywhere, I love it. When we first walked into the farm they had all their pumpkins out on bales of hay. Emma was so excited to see the baby pumpkins and tried to hold as many as she could fit into her arms. I love seeing my babies with their chubby little hands around a pumpkin. To me it is one of my top ten fall sights. However we weren't there to get a pumpkin that day so we headed into the farm. We had barely walked through when Hunter darted off to the left. When I looked to see what he was doing I couldn't help but laugh.There sitting on a milking stool next to a plywood painted cow he was squeezing water out of plastic udders into a bucket. "Mom, look this is so cool it just like teaches you the real way to milk a cow on a farm" he was thoroughly intrigued. Once Ave came around the corner and saw it she ran over and started milking on the other side. Rides, bounce houses, animals and these two were having fun seeing who could squeeze out more water and accidentally/purposefully squirting each other with it. We headed over to a game called Conk the Crow where Hunter showed off his pitching skills. The girls tried to which ended up resulting in a lot of bean bag recovering for mom and dad.Then off to the good ol bounce house to get some energy out. Hunter really wanted to do the corn maze which from the aerial view is a pretty cool depiction of Angry Birds. However it was way too big and corn fields as far as condusive to stroller travel, yeah not so much. We found the first two check points and then focused on finding our way back out. Hunter made sure to remind us that it was okay since he had already done the World's Largest Maze this summer in Oahu. We went over and rode these big pedal bikes. It was great because even Avery could drive her own. We may have not paid attention to the sign and played just a little bit of bumper cars with them before we saw it and had to tell the kids to stop. We stopped for a little drink break and then headed off to see some animals.When we went over to see the geese they all started waddling over to get a drink. Deke made a noise at them and they all stopped, looked at him and started responding. Deke would make the noise again and again they would honk back to him. The rest of us tried different gooselike noises but they were silent. Yet everytime Deke would do it they would they would not only talk back but look right at him and tilt their heads to the side. It was so hilarious. The kids were very impressed that dad could communciate with them.We saw the baby chicks in their little coop and of course got to pet a cow. I loved that the chickens and goats had their own Golden Goat Bridge in their pen with them. Aside from the cow milking probably one of the second favorite things for the kids was the old fashioned teeter totters. They had so much fun on these. We even let Em take a turn. Everytime she went up in the air because she is so much lighter than Hunter or Ave she would bounce up way high. Then she would start belly laughing so hard. It was sweet.The kids got to bounce on this cool air pillow. Sort of like a bounce but more room and not so hot. So much fun. I LOVE FALL :) :)

Ooops...

So last weekend was parent teacher conferences. We were really excited since this is Avery's first time and we always love a good visit with Mrs. Painter. Thursdays are a very busy day at our house consisting of soccer for Hunter, then dance for Avery and then on this particular night parent teacher conferences after dance at 7:45 and 8:00pm. We decided this would be a good eat out night and so Deke and Hunter headed to soccer and the girls and I headed to Wendy's to grab a quick bite before dance. The girls had chicken nuggets and fries, something they have had before and seemed to enjoy it. We headed to dance and Avery's class worked on their dance for the Christmas performance. Emma happily watched through the panes of the door and played with her magna doodle. We left dance and met up with the boys in time for Avery's conference. Her teacher's first comment was that Avery was the most social child in her class. Oh boy, heard this one before. Her and I have already talked on the phone twice this year about Ave's constant need to chat. She said that she could tell Avery was really trying to remember to raise her hand and not talk so much to her neighbors. She told us that she was doing really well with her work and that she was a very enthusiastic learner. We were just wrapping up our discussion when Emma started making this weird noise. Deke took her out of the stroller to see what was going on, then she started throwing up all over him. All over him, herself, the desk, the floor, everywhere. I grabbed a trash can and started wiping everything up, apologizing to her teacher. Of course it would be our luck that Dr. Coleman the principal popped in to say hello right as we were in the middle of all of it. Awesome. She assured us that it was kindergarten and that at least one kid a week throws up in her class. She was really nice about it but I knew that we were her last appointment of the night and she had been there since early that morning. In her head she had to be thinking "Oh man, really." As we finished cleaning and apologized again she teasingly said, "Maybe next time let's do a phone conference" and then started laughing. Deke who was completely wet down the front gave a tired look and we headed to Hunter's room. Mrs. Painter gave us a great report on Hunter. He is the most social child in her class as well, however his talking is totally under control this year. Last year she had to move his seat four times in the first six weeks because of his constant need to socialize and the distraction that it was to others. This year no problems, she laughed and said that he is definitely still social but knows when it is time to talk and when to stop. His reading and vocabulary continue to be well above his grade level and she expressed to us again how bright he is. There was more parts to his conference that made Deke and I so proud of him and also a couple of hilarious stories but that is for another day. Anyways as we got ready to leave almost the exact same timing. Emma started throwing up again. All over Deke again, all over everywhere again. Back to the paper towels, apologizing and now wondering what in the heck was going on with Emma. Mrs. Painter reassured us that it was all okay but once again we had been her last conference of the night and ending a long day with a vomit clean up I am sure was not exactly fun for her. We headed home, I felt so bad. Bad for poor Em, sorry for both my children's teachers and the mess in their classrooms. Feeling beyond exhausted and ready to shower everyone and head for beds we pulled into the garage. Poor Emma couldn't have waited two more seconds until we were in the tile floor bathroom. Nope, she threw up again all over the carseat and the van floor. Deke and I divided up tasks and got everyone and thing cleaned and to bed. The night was long though as Emma was up three more times in the night getting sick. Poor baby. The next morning as I peeled my eyes open and went to get her out of the crib she was standing their grinning. She got up and played all day, fine without a single problem. Stupid Wendy's. I know it was something with the food. Still feeling bad about the whole thing the next morning I had an idea. Hunter and I ran to the store and bought some Halloween cookies, typed up this little note and took it to their teachers:They had a good laugh about it and I got to leave them with a little sugar. Okay I felt a little bit better about the whole thing, but let's face it vomit stories just really aren't that funny :(

Carving on their own

This year Hunter and Avery both expressed the desire to carve their own pumpkins. I was itching for a craft and figure they could use a "trial run" so off to Michaels we headed. We grabbed up some craft pumpkins and they each began sketching ideas of what they wanted to do with theirs. Hunter fairly quickly decided he was going to make a bat and began drawing ideas for faces. Avery needed some suggestions but once she was told who Frankenstein was, she was all about making her pumpkin "be like that guy." Emma realizing that something fun was happening and bummed when mom wouldn't let her use a big girl pencil settled for a real paintbrush minus the paint to pretend to paint her baby pumpkin. Happy at least to get to sit at the big table with big brother and sister all by herself. Once designs had been finalized and drawn with pencil on their pumpkins, all paint had been applied it was time to carve. Once we showed them and got them started they did pretty much all of it on their own. Every now and again their little carving knife would get stuck in a wierd spot or they needed help getting it poked in to start somewhere new. Other than that they took their time and did an awesome job.Emma got to take a couple of actually brush swipes to her pumpkin when we painted it purple. I carved the word BOO in hers since it is one of her most recent new words. She will come up to you and put her hands out and shout BOO! BOO! and then start giggling. Sometimes she will try to hide behind things or around a corner and pop out and say boo to Hunter or Ave. They are really good about pretending to be scared which she then feels very proud of herself for. It is so cute that she happened to learn this word right before Halloween. I decided to make her pumpkin a spider since she knows that words. She was very intrigued by its pipe cleaner legs.Finally they were finished and we were really impressed with the job the kids did. Hunter's bat complete with foam wings turned out awesome. I love the fanged smile he created. Avery with "Frank" as she calls him for short. She drew and carved the fact by herself. Good job missy. Emma and I with our BOO spider already with a battery operated tea light inside. She kept wanting to hold him which was difficult considering all of his furry fragile apendages.These three now greet people at the front of the house as you walk up. The kids love seeing them when they come home from school sitting out front. Fun.