Dewberry Farms - Take II

Our sweet friends, the Patton's, planned a fun day for several families at Dewberry Farms. Marlie was so excited to take her brother and show him all the fun things.  Matt's friends Caden and Micah came and the boys had SO much fun!!  Marlie had partied hard the night before at Nene's house and woke up at 6:00am so she was dragging but still managed to crack a few smiles. 

We started with the corn blasters.  The kids shot corn out of these machines trying to hit the targets.  The boys LOVED it! 

Then it was off to the giant slide...Marlie decided to try it this time too!

Then it was off to the Pumpkin Holler where it was very dark and inside there were hundreds of carved pumpkins.  The kids liked it so much that they had already convinced the lady to let them go in again before we even came out!! 

We found Micah and the boys had fun swinging on ropes into bales of hay.  Then we headed for these swings!

Then we headed over to the zip line which I think was the most fun...at least fun watching.  The kids loved it and Dad did it too!  Marlie wanted so bad to do it by herself but Dad stayed close just in case. I could have watched them go back and forth all day with those huge smiles on their faces!

Matt actually said rolling in this thing was his favorite.  Marlie tried it and wasn't too excited so she decided to get out and push with Coach Joel. The boys were tumbling around in there like laundry in the dryer and they were laughing so hard the entire time.  I can't imagine that was fun??

Are you tired yet?  We were but the boys kept going!  Then it was off to the jumping pillows which are like trampolines. Marlie was a little scared she would get bounced off so it was probably better that she opted for a break.   

From here the boys raced on the tricycles.  I'm pretty sure Caden made it around the track twice the number of times Matt and Micah did. 

While the boys raced, Marlie enjoyed a bubble gum snow cone that was bigger than her!

Finally we took a little break and boarded the big wagon for our ride out to the pumpkin patch! Marlie was excited to find Lyla!

We meticulously picked our pumpkins (again) and loaded them in the wheel barrow.  Matt and Caden had fun running through the patch and playing pumpkin soccer with a poor pumpkin. 

These Dads are not dipping...I promise it's sunflower seeds!! 

We tried to get all the kids together for a picture but it was like herding cats.  I thought this was cute of Marlie and Lyla.

Although we were exhausted Marlie wanted to show Matt the awesome corn maze and Dad wanted to go too.  So off we went.  This time I knew the trick so we were out in 5 minutes and everyone thought it was still fun. 

What a fun day!  Matt could barely walk back to the car he was so exhausted and Marlie definitely had to be carried.  Thanks Gayle for planning this!  

Pumpkin Carving!

We had so much fun carving our pumpkins last weekend.  The kids were very helpful and excited about it this year.  First we pulled the guts out...they were grossed out at first but then had fun getting their hands dirty. 

The kids picked out patterns for their pumpkins and we taped them on.  Then they helped create the outline with the crayon.  They pulled the patterns off and Mom and Dad helped with the carving.  We ate pumpkin seeds afterwards! 

Dewberry Farms - Take I

I was so excited to take Monday off and go with Marlie and her class to Dewberry Farms!  The kids were so excited that they got to ride on a yellow school bus!!  Here are Marlie and Emily waiting to get in!

Our friends wanted to go on this big slide and Marlie was scared so she pulled me to the corn maze.  We were in there for about 20 minutes and right about when I started to think we would spend the rest of lives lost in that maze...we saw an opening and were greeted with these beautiful flowers!

 We finally caught up to our friends and had fun playing in the hay with Lauren, Luke and Hayden.

Then we took a wagon ride to the pumpkin patch.  The girls found their pumpkins right away!

It was a wonderful (and tiring) day.  Somehow we managed to get Marlie's class together for a picture afterwards.  They had so much fun! Thank you Mrs. Lisa and Mrs. Melissa for planning this!

Our First Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

It was a crazy weekend with a good ending...a trip to the pumpkin patch! Here are some funny and not-so-funny things that happened:

• Matt gave Doug 20 cents for being a good Dad.
• Marlie potentially has strep so we are on meds.  The doc was amazed that she was reading Green Eggs & Ham by herself while we were waiting.
• We think Matt got a mild concussion Friday night.  He hit his head hard playing soccer at Marlie's practice but didn't complain a lot until bedtime.  We thought he was overreacting until he threw up in his bed! The only time he really cried during the entire episode was when he realized he was not going to be playing in his soccer game the next morning.  He was crying so hard, he couldn't catch his breath! :(
• Matt's school had their Fall County Fair and the kids had a blast despite sicknesses/injuries.  Matt won 12, 2-liter sodas and was so excited!  We donated some to the school because my kiddos don't drink soda!!

We decided that since the pumpkin crop isn't great that we'd hit the pumpkin patch early this year.  We LOVE going and the kids were so excited.  We went early after mass and no one was there!! We made the mistake of getting a wagon and before you knew it, it was filled with pumpkins!  The kids insisted on getting pumpkins for everyone and how could we say no? Here are some cute photos...

Matt and Daddy always like to get the biggest pumpkin they can find!

Marlie and I like the little ones but she found this good one for carving.

Then I told them to find the silliest pumpkin in the patch and this is what they found.  They thought these were hilarious!

This is Marlie...this picture says it all!

Oh we love our pumpkins!  They were so excited to take pumpkins to their teachers on Monday.  Who knows maybe you will get a pumpkin too! I'm sure you'll get to see carving pictures next week! Happy pumpkin hunting to you!

Soccer Fans

Last weekend we had lots of fans here to cheer on M&M...Gram & Papa Howie came to watch...

Nene was here, but Nene is almost always here to watch...she's like me and doesn't want to miss a second! 

Grandpa and Uncle Jay were here and Uncle Jay sported his Fairy Ponies shirt!  Marlie thought that was awesome!

And of course the biggest fans, Mom & Dad!

Matt has had good competition these last 2 games.  He scored 3 goals last week and 2 goals today.  He works so hard out there and we are so proud of him.  His teammates are also doing really well and scoring goals too!

Marlie has lost a bit of fire but did score a goal last week and was very proud of herself! Today her game was at 1:00pm which is usually nap time so it's understandable that she was not too excited.  Mrs. Patty brought an ice chest FULL of snacks and she mostly enjoyed eating those!  But she did run to the goal and blocked the other team from scoring.  They finally ended up getting it in but she was still so proud of herself! And then I think she might have been talking smack to the girl who scored.  Yikes...I saw her mad face and she was chatting.  I couldn't hear so hopefully it wasn't bad.  Oh my! 

Other than soccer we are busy with school!  Matt is reading like a champ.  Honestly I can't believe how well he is reading and I've never really worked with him at home on letter sounds or sight words.  I owe it all to his teachers starting in PreK-4!  Marlie and I read a book today and she was trying to read too.  She did pretty well! 

We are getting excited about Fall Festivals and Halloween.  Matt wants to be a football player which is perfect because Santa brought us football pants, a helmet and a jersey so we are all set!  I tried to get Marlie to go as Dorothy (from the Wizard of Oz - she would make the cutest Dorothy ever) but no luck.  So then I tried the Texans cheerleader route because M&M would look adorable together but no luck.  She wants to be a pirate...Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  It was Bat girl last year.  I don't think she'll ever want to be a princess. She told me the other day that "princesses are boring".  Sigh....