fall festival fun!

the kids could not wait to get dressed up for the fall festival at our church's school last weekend! brian was not in a fall festival mood, so he stayed home with amelia... and my mom joined me with the big kids to have all the fun. by 3:30 that afternoon, ethan was dressed and ready to slay that dragon! i hated to break it to him that the cavalry would not be leaving until 5:30.... two hours finally passed, and princess caroline was already needing protection from her brave knight, sir ethan. she plays a good damsel in distress, don't you think?!


first on our agenda was to visit miss mara and pick out a medieval headdress she had made for caroline. i love this picture of caroline and mara!


then caroline headed straight to the face painting station. i think she could've stayed there all day getting painted up. such a girlie girl. :)


when she was finished, she wanted to see what she looked like, so i snapped this shot. she is starting to lose her baby face, i'm afraid.


ethan had already had enough of this girl stuff, so he found another knight friend, caleb.


we circled around all the little games. the kids skipped some of them (like the one where silly string came shooting out the door you open! ha! i don't blame them!)






after the cake walk (my personal favorite!), we ran into cousin thumbelina! the girls were so excited to see each other. i love it!


nana was all dressed up as a medieval princess! my kids actually didn't recognize her at first and were hesitant to talk to her. i thought that was hilarious... she was a princess, not a goblin! by this point, they were used to princess nana. :)


and then we found joseph! these boys had chatted on the phone the night before about their costumes and how they would fight the pirates (joseph's cousins) at the fall festival. joseph's grandmother hooked ethan up with some finishing touches on his pull-your-knight-costume-out-of-the-bottom-of-the-dress-up-box costume! the guys thrilled on having matching shields and arm/leg guards.


boy did they love to fight with those swords! i must admit that i grew weary of the sword fighting by the end of the night... but they were so excited to be playing knights... and how do you tell them to stop when they are knights?! (and ethan is usually at home with his sword and two sisters! so fight away with joseph while you can, buddy!)


after some friendly dueling, the brave knights mounted their horses and readied for battle. ethan was a little unsure about getting up on this huge horse, but he ended up enjoying the ride.


my knight in plastic armor... i sure do love this boy.


don't you just feel so much safer with these knights and the king nearby!? (the king is joseph's neighbor friend.)


and then it was time for the queen and princesses to ride! tammy hopped on there with little claire...


and caroline was not hesitant at all to ride this palomino. (don't be impressed... i called it a "white horse" and was quickly corrected by the horse man!)


the horse handlers (whatever they're called) were so patient with the paparazzi mamas. they'd stop the horses anytime they saw us about to take a picture. the younger guy was having a hard time staying out of the picture, but we tried not to stress him out. :) they were really great to all of us!


caroline took a second ride on the horses later... this time with sweet georgia, who was celebrating her 3rd birthday! caroline kept wanting to turn around and wave at karina, and i started to get worried she was going to fall right off that horse.


the princesses showing off their sparkly shoes!


this place was crawling with princesses and glittery dresses! :) caroline loved seeing her friends all dressed up! here she is with lola and amelia.


isn't lily one cute little cowgirl!?


after the second horse ride, we went back to the gym to find gram and ethan. and then. THEN. the kids got a treat. i was not even paying attention to the size of this cotton candy! and after ethan had eaten a bunch, someone pointed out that it was twice the size of his head. wow. i was a good mother and helped him eat it. you gotta do what you gotta do to protect your kids. and caroline's sno-cone? i asked the guy to make it small, and he seriously did not know what to do. half the ice, half the syrup. is it really that difficult of a concept?!??!?!


such a little lady slurping up all that sno-cone juice...


ok, i take that back.


we should've had the sugar rush when we first arrived... not as we were about to leave. but they got all their energy out in the bouncy house on the way out the door! it was a fun, fun evening. the kids had fun spending time with their friends, and i enjoyed running into some folks i had not seen in awhile. we brought some candy home to daddy, and thankfully, the kids are still in the "out of sight, out of mind" stage. too bad mommy remembers the candy!

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...