farm day!

last saturday was our first saturday since july with nothing to do (thank you, soccer)... i was so looking forward to having no plans, to sleeping in and just enjoying a day at home. until.... i heard about the farm. a real farm with a real pumpkin patch. our farm-find from last year was closed this year, and i refused to return to the parking lot-style pumpkin patches in our area. i just couldn't do it. my dear sister-in-law, kristie, thought a drive to the farm sounded nice too... so before we knew it, we had ourselves a little road trip planned! we didn't even ask our husbands to go. we gave them the day off, and we were up bright and early for a nice long drive. after just a little bit of chattin' and laughing in the car, we found ourselves driving on this...


a road in the actual country. no stoplights. no parking lots. nothing but hay bales, country houses, and an occasional red barn. we were getting close to the farm! i think the moms were as excited as the kids!

as soon as we arrived, we hopped on a tractor-pulled wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch!


caroline was loving the ride...


i felt like i should have been whistling and whittling something as we rode down the dusty trail, but instead, i was keeping this crazy girl from flying out of the wagon. she did not enjoy the constraints of my legs!


this was our first view of the pumpkin patch! no parking lots anywhere!


we hopped out of the wagon and first decided to head over to the sunflower field that was next to the pumpkin patch. why the sunflowers before the pumpkin patch that i'd so longed for? this is why.


amelia was pretty unsure of the bumpy farm ground when we got out of the wagon. she acted like she'd never been outside. here, she's showing me the dirt she got on her hand when she lost her balance. oh no! dirt!


i took advantage of amelia standing still for a few minutes (a bonafide farm miracle) and snapped away at all of the beautiful sunflowers. aren't they just gorgeous?


caroline said they smelled like mushrooms. completely random since she doesn't eat mushrooms.


my kids are totally humoring me here. they did not want to take this picture.


amelia finally decided to join us, and then it was a game of hide-n-seek. can you find her? did i mention it was a gorgeous day?


there she is!


again, my kids totally humoring me.


so at this point, we are ready to head over to the pumpkin patch when we see everyone else from our wagon loading up. they were ready to go back! what!?? we haven't even stepped into the pumpkin patch yet! i guess we spent a little more time than they did in the sunflower field. shoot! and i couldn't exactly hurry with amelia, my camera around my neck, and a sunflower that was taller than my son! so i kind of went into spazzy mode. i really wish i could've ignored the wagon full of people waiting for us. they were being patient. the driver was not rushing us. but i knew we needed to hurry. kristie thankfully helped corral amelia long enough for us to get this picture. we came to the first little group of pumpkins and went for it. not exactly the real-pumpkin-patch picture i'd dreamed of, but hey, you take what you can get before your 1 year old checks out to pick out a pumpkin.


so amelia was gone, and i asked ethan and caroline to get a few more pictures. ha! this is what i got. absolutely the worst picture of the day!!!!! i think they were trying to be cooperative, but it just wasn't happening. in their defense, it was super sunny out there. and they just wanted to explore and pick out a pumpkin.


of course, i did not give up. i snapped some individual pumpkin shots of them...




aaand back to the wagon we went. next year, we will explore this pumpkin patch to the fullest! mark my words, you do not want to be on our wagon! :) you will be waiting for us!!

we rode back to the farm and visited the animals. now my kids like animals and all, but karina? she is an animal lover through and through. she loved touching these rabbits.


ethan chose to observe this cow from a distance. :)


they all loved this donkey. they were a little too close to his big teeth for my comfort, but i'm happy to report that we brought home all their fingers. attached.


we found this handwashing station about 30 minutes after we'd finished up with the animals. woops. better late than never, right!?


i love the girls in this picture! so messy and "farm-y". and i cracked up that kristie got in my picture... i bet i was in hers, too! this totally documents our paparazzi motherhood!


i should've bathed amelia in that sink!


ethan and caroline's favorite farm activity was by far the rubber duck races.


they all needed a little help getting that pump going, but they had fun just the same.


it was a cute, cute set-up.


then we found the fake cow to milk. mmmhmmm. water jugs were hooked up behind a wooden cow, and oh, did the girls love milking these cows. caroline did a little dance while she twisted and turned. poor bessie. it was painful to watch.


the girls went back over and over to milk the cows. they couldn't get enough of it. this picture makes me laugh... ethan must be saying, "look girls! something other than wooden milking cows!" sorry, bud. i don't think they were listening.


this "little farmers" area was really cute. i think there were supposed to be eggs under these chickens, and they had trees that once had fake apples on them. but by the time we got there, all the plastic produce was nowhere to be found. caroline still loved the chickens that almost matched her dress!


with all the milking done, the girls peeked into the smokehouse to make sure wilbur was not in there. whew. it was empty. but we did smell bacon frying... (juuuust kidding, fern.)


speaking of food...we enjoyed a picnic lunch right next to the road where the wagons and train drove by. no one really wanted to look straight into the sun for this picture.


the kids were quite the welcoming committee for all the folks coming back in from the fields. and they could. not. wait to ride this train.


after lunch, the kids went back to... yep, milk the cows... so kristie and i took advantage of a kid-free moment (with amelia strapped in her stroller!) and had a picture taken of us. we are usually the ones with our big honkin' cameras plastered to our faces, so this is a rare picture. the wind was going a little nuts, but i still love this one of us. i am so blessed to call kristie my sister in Christ, my sister by marriage, and my dear, dear friend. and i will stop there before i get teary-eyed. :)


kristie took the big kids on the train ride, and wow, did they have fun! when the train came around the bend, i saw three little monkeys bouncing all over that cage! they are so silly.


the farm also had some fresh produce for sale. if you're asking "who takes a picture of a produce stand?!", then you obviously do not know me or kristie very well. :)


the cousins were very interested in the various kinds of pumpkins at the farm.





ethan and caroline were shocked to see gourds that looked like snakes!


as we were leaving, we couldn't help but visit this huge hay person! at first, we were calling it a "hay man", but it really looks more like a lady with the bun on top of her head. (or maybe it's supposed to be a hat??) ethan LOVED running underneath it and yelling "boo!" to anyone near it.


so we spent a good 4 hours there, and it was a wonderful day. my kids were cooperative and just a joy to be around, which made it so much easier for me since brian was not there. i loved sharing these memories with ethan and caroline, and i can't wait to go back next year when amelia may remember it. if dirtiness=a good time on the farm, then the condition of my feet in this picture will tell you that we had a ball at the farm!


i look forward to truckin' back to aplin farms with my little pumpkins next year! who's comin' with us?!


(i have more pictures of our day here if 45 just wasn't enough for you!)

amelia's new trick

amelia wants to show you her new little trick! i put her in long-sleeves the other night for the first time since last winter, and when she woke up the next morning, she showed me her new-found source of entertainment. i just love her giggling and had to share...


i hadn't thought about the fact that she has no recollection of wearing long-sleeves! that's a florida baby for you. now if it would just get cool enough again for them...

amelia these days

this is amelia these days! this picture was actually taken a month ago, but i couldn't help but include it. amelia is growing and changing so much... i thought it was high time for a "what amelia's up to" post! amelia will be 21 months old next week. like most kiddos her age, she is into everything. i do not remember ethan and caroline being quite so curious... and quite so into climbing. i really thought caroline was my payback, but alas. it continues!

amelia can most likely be found standing on top of a basket turned upside down, trying to reach something... or underneath the kitchen table looking for cheerios and who knows what else. she will most likely be wearing one of ethan's shoes and one of her own. her hair will most likely be down in her face because the barrette comes out the minute i put it in... we are seriously working on that one, and she is getting better! the only reason she has a barrette in her hair for any of these pictures is because i put it in just before snapping the shot. i know the sheepdog look really bugged my mom and mrs. post in the church nursery, so i'm trying. :)


her favorite things to do outside are to go up the ladder... (shout out to target diapers here!)


down the slide....


and to swing, swing, swing. she does not get tired of the swing. which is my favorite place for her to be because she is strapped in.


this girl has a thing for shoes, putting on whatever unsuspecting pair might be lying around. i had to put her shoes where she could not get to them because i could never find a matching pair when it was time to walk out the door. (and hair in the face + no shoes? i'm definitely up for bad mother of the year!) this is how we found amelia practically every saturday after ethan's soccer game...


amelia's vocabulary is growing as fast as she is walking. she is beginning to put two words together every now and then... she will try to say just about anything, and the words i hear over and over throughout the day are "more", "shoes", "mama", "i want!", "wawa" (water), "nitenite", "obey", "dada", and "help". at least those are a few that i can think of at 11 pm. :)

she is still a pretty good eater. there are some things she turns down, but she may like them the next day. i honestly think she would stay at the table and eat all day if i would let her.

amelia loves going to bed, thankfully. she welcomes her obligatory good night hugs from ethan and caroline, and she thrills on brushing her teeth.

amelia is a card carrying hair-puller, which started with just caroline. her sister's long, wacko hair is just out there, almost asking to be pulled. poor caroline. it really upsets her, but we've tried to teach ethan how to easily get caroline out of the hair-pulling hold if we're not right there. (thank you, special education training!!) she goes for just about any hair she sees, including ethan's fuzz. amelia is learning that hair-pulling is a no-no, but she's not just doing it for fun. she is on a mission. she wants that hair because she loves to eat it. seriously. who likes hair in their mouth!? it just about gags me. but it makes amelia's day. i haven't seen her do it much recently, so maybe she is moving on. caroline will be so glad.

amelia is on the go, go, go, but is still so content to swing forever or to sit in the stroller for a long walk. she is such a laidback and content baby for the most part, but she definitely knows what she wants and does not want to be left out of anything. (hmm, sounds like a combination of her dad and her mom!) here she is content in that swing...


and here's amelia the goofball! it doesn't take much for this girl to light up.


amelia is closer to 2 years old than 1 now. i catch glimpses of a big girl every now and then... she's thinning out and she jumped from a size 3 to size 5 shoe overnight it seemed. (or maybe i just ran out the door without her shoes on for all her size 4 days!) she watches her brother and sister and wants to do whatever ethan and caroline are doing. just today, she got to color for the first time (the first time that was parent-sanctioned, anyway), and she knew she was big stuff.


but even though amelia will be two in just a few short months, she is still my baby girl. she most definitely needs me much of the day. she still follows me from room to room, and her countenance falls when she realizes i am walking out the door without her. amelia soaks in every note as i sing to her in her room at night, and she squeezes my arm to say, "don't stop". i recently realized that while i'm singing, she watches our reflection in the armoire doors in her room. oh i love this girl. i'm trying to soak in every day of her baby-ness because i know i will turn around, and she'll be wearing her own soccer cleats.