Sunday, October 27, 2013

Wrapping up the soccer season

Last week was a blur.  But really, what week isn't like that for me.  Handley had early release all week and since she got out at the same time as the pre-school kids, it made for tricky afternoons.  I volunteered in her classroom two of the days though, so she was able to just leave a few minutes early with me.  I also had her conference last week.  Her teachers said she is doing great and has progressed a lot from the beginning of the school year.  They gave me some tips and suggestions of what I can be working on at home with her, but overall it was a good report.

One exciting thing that happened last week was my best friend, Jen, had her baby girl.  Baby Mackenzie was born on Thursday morning and I was so excited to get the text that she had arrived!  I got to go visit them on Friday at the hospital and just loved getting to hold that sweet baby girl.  I'm so excited for Jen, Justen and big brother Parker!


Saturday we crammed in all kinds of fun that included a birthday party, Harper's last soccer game, Handley's cheerleading and then a fall festival at our old neighborhood.  It was so great to see everyone and the kids had so much fun playing with their friends. It made me super sad to hear the girls asking us why we had to move from the place where we had so many friends.  I know once we are settled in our new house and meet some more of our new neighbors they will be happy, but these season is just hard on us all.



Cheerleading was fun and nice because it was an away game and the person in charge of keeping the clock some how kept things moving along so the game didn't drag on quite as long as usual.  Also, Walton won again and things are looking good for our team to do well in the play-offs!


Harper's last game was especially exciting because Gigi and Papa got to come watch her play.  Gigi, who just had knee replacement surgery less than 2 weeks ago, amazed us by making the drive and the incredibly long walk to the soccer field.  Talk about dedication!  Harper was so happy they were there and got to see her play a great game and score a goal!



Right after the game they had a pizza party and gave out trophies, which she was thrilled about.  She is so proud of it and has shown it to everyone!


Harper has been asking to take the training wheels off of her bike for a a while now so today was the day.  She still needs a lot of practice, but was really excited to say she tried it.


Sunday, October 20, 2013

Burt's Pumpkin Farm

Today we made our annual trip to Burt's Pumpkin Farm.  It's a tradition we started when Handley was just a few months old and we have gone back every single year.  I'd been wanting to wait for it to cool off before we went so it would really feel like fall and it did.  It was chilly this morning, but was a perfect day for the pumpkin patch.


We started off with the hayride, pulled by a big green tractor, and saw the farm where the pumpkins grow and the talking pumpkins.






Next the kids took turns sitting on the big tractor that was on display.




Then we were ready to check out all the different kinds of pumpkins.  They have so many different varieties!


Robby grabbed a wheel barrow and the kids had fun going for a ride. :-)



Last year, Hudson wasn't even walking when we came to Burt's, so I was curious to see what he thought.  He had so much fun running through the paths and kept saying, "Hey guys!  Here's one!" as he pointed to all the different pumpkins.



Then he got Handley in on is running quest to find a good pumpkin to take home.


Harper was not interested in any of that...she just wanted to pick out the pumpkin she would call hers.  After we picked out family pumpkin to carve she started picking up smaller ones and adding them to our wheelbarrow. Robby said he didn't think she realized that we had to pay for them. I think she just loved them all!



Trey, Stefanie and Sophia were arriving just as we were getting ready to leave.  We didn't know they were coming until we were already almost there this morning.  They were supposed to go the day before, but because of the rain they postponed to today and I'm so glad they did!  I was happy to get some pictures of all the kids together.  Next year we will have to plan a little better so we can all come at the same time.




Thursday, October 17, 2013

Weekly Catch-up

Every night this week I've wanted to blog about the fun stuff we've been up to, but every night the kids have gone to bed late, putting me up late getting things done around here and then I was just way too tired to blog.  It doesn't matter what time I start the bedtime routine...I just can't get them to bed on time.  They get so excited when Robby comes home just before bed and there always seems to be something keeping them up.  Tonight though, it was my goal to have everyone in bed by 8 PM and I did it!  

Here is a quick update about our week from mostly my iPhone pictures (really hoping for a new phone with a better camera for my bday!).  

On Monday, Jen threw the cutest Halloween playdate for the pre-schoolers.  She went all out with crafts, decorations, Halloween cupcakes...the works.  Jen is about to give birth any day and I couldn't believe she felt up to all of this.  The kids had a blast though and Hudson loved getting to see all of his friends. 



He had fun painting his pumpkin (for a minute until he decided to go play with the race cars instead) but was super proud of it when we got home and was so happy to show the girls what he had done.


Later that afternoon the girls helped me make the football run-through banner for Handley's game on Saturday.  It was our week to do the sign and they love painting, so they loved this.


On Tuesday, I tried to get in this car...I had walked right up to it and was ready to hit unlock when Harper asked why my door handles looked different.  I looked up and realized it was totally NOT MY CAR!!! Oh my word. I was parked right across from this car though.  I blame it on Hudson because he likes to make a game out of finding my car in a parking lot and he spotted this one, pointed and said, "There's it is, Mommy's car."  Next time I'll double check before taking his word for it. I snapped this picture to text a friend who had a very similar thing happened, except she actually got into the other car.  I was cracking up thinking about her and then me almost doing the same thing.  Harper got a kick out of the whole situation.



Tuesday while we were waiting for Handley to get out of school we went to try a new park.  Harper and Hudson loved it and had the best time.  The weather finally feels like fall now and it's been so nice to be outside this week.  While we were at the park Harper surprised herself by crossing the monkey bars for the first time!  I was so happy for her!


This afternoon the girls helped me make treats for the bake sale at Handley's school fall festival this weekend.  We did rice crispy treats in the shape of pumpkins.  They were so easy and turned out super cute!


And this guy cracks me up. He thinks it is hilarious to sneak and find someone else's shoes to walk around in.  This afternoon while the girls were helping me I look down and see this:


His teacher is doing conferences this week and my meeting with her was this morning.  She told me mostly what I already knew, but said that Hudson is doing great at school.  He still has moments of being quiet or wanting to be near the teachers for comfort, but that he listens well, has a great attention span during circle time and other group activities and is very vocal about his likes and dislikes (especially during snack time).  It was fun to hear their perspective! 

Monday, October 14, 2013

Apple Orchard

Earlier this week Harper asked me when we could go to an apple orchard. I didn't even know she knew what an apple orchard was, but she said her music teacher told them about it because they were learning a song about apples.  Our fall weekends stay really busy so we have never been, but I promised Harper we would try to make time for it.

Robby had to attend a convention today all day so I decided that wasn't going to stop our fun.  This morning we got ready and made the hour drive to the popular Hillcrest Orchards in North Georgia.  The drive up seemed long and when we arrived at the orchards I was not prepared for how busy they were going to be.  I assumed that by this point in the fall most people were busy at pumpkin patches, but that wasn't the case.  It was hot and really crowded and could have been a recipe for a disaster since I was solo with the kids, but it turned out to be the best day and we all had so much fun!

After standing in a long line just to buy arm bands to get inside we were all hungry, so I stood in another long line to get us lunch.  We grabbed seats in the shade and had our lunch while we listened to the bluegrass band play.  The kids were really entertained and loved the apple cider almost as much as they loved the cute little apple cups they came in.




After finishing up lunch we set out to have some fun.  First up was the giant jumping pillow. I don't even know how to describe this except that it is a giant inflatable pillow that looks like it is half buried in the ground.  The kids had a blast on it though and Hudson was really disappointed when their five minutes were up. I had to get Handley to climb up on the pillow and drag him off.  We could have stood in line again to jump (since our armbands gave us unlimited access to all the fun) but we decided to move on and check out some of the other activities.



The kids all tried out the tractor looking tricycles on the track...




And then we decide to go pick some apples - the real reason we were there.  There were tons of other activities (petting zoo, tractor rides, pig races, etc.) but the crowds made it hard to navigate and everything had a line. I think if we go back next year we will definitely get there when they open instead of waiting until afternoon.

We bought one of the small bags to fill and headed off through the rows and rows of apple trees.  They had a lot of different varieties, but we just sort of picked when we saw one that looked good.




On our way out we stopped in the market store for an apple cider slushie and poured them in their apple cups.  The slushie was delicious and the perfect way to cool off and end our day.


Back at home the girls ate several apples and they really were quite tasty.  They are both excited to take apples in their lunch boxes for school tomorrow!  I was really tired after todays big outing and I had a pounding headache the way home, but it was all worth it because we made the best memories today and started a new tradition I'm sure we will continue every year.