Pumpkin Patch

I LOVE fall! I love crisp mornings and sunny afternoons. I love warm sweaters and apple pie. I love changing leaves and two weeks off school. I love Halloween and Thanksgiving. And I really, really love our annual trip to the pumpkin patch!

As I sit here writing this I am wondering why I love taking my kiddos to the pumpkin patch. Is it the smelly animals or the muddy shoes? The overpriced pumpkins or the drive to the middle of nowhere?

All of the above! I love letting letting everyone loose to go find their perfect pumpkin! And I love that it is a tradition to meet grandma, cousin Lexi, and Aunt Brittany for the hunt! It is convenient that Lexi's birthday falls close to Halloween so we can always do both in the same weekend.

I could hardly keep up with Adeline as she ran around the place. I got her to sit still for half a second for this picture.

 

She picked her pumpkin. It's almost as big as she is!

 

Anna tried really hard to find a pumpkin she liked. I think she examined every pumpkin there. Unfortunately, every pumpkin had a flaw. She was interested in the green ones still attached to the vine, and was disappointed when I told her she couldn't take those.

 

She ended up choosing two tiny gourds instead of a pumpkin. We told her she couldn't carve them, but she couldn't be swayed. She loves her little gourds. Anna definitely marches to the beat of her own drum!

 

Abbott likes BIG pumpkins. Mom vetoed his first choice. When you are paying by the pound, you have to have some limits :)



Not bad for a second choice...and still pretty big!



A little help from brother!



Aiden had the hardest time choosing. He's such a perfectionist! He hunted and hunted!



Looks good!

Silver Dollar City

We had such a great time at Silver Dollar City this weekend. We bought season passes because we weren't going on a family vacation this year (because the vacation $ went to mom and dad's cruise!!!). SDC is no Disney World, but I never could have guessed how much fun our family would have there! Disney is one week and it's over...we have been to SDC five times (and we'll go again at Christmas!).

It has really become a special place for us. It's just us, with no interruptions. We aren't rushed or stressed, we just make our way around the park hitting our favorites and trying a few new things along the way.

They have the BEST frozen lemonade. We all love it, especially Adeline who hogs it all!

This month they have it decorated for fall. I loved the decorations, so I made the kids pose for quite a few pictures!

 

 

Waiting for the boys...pretending to ride!



My boys rode the Powder Keg for the first time (that's a big roller coaster!) Abbott got off and said "Let's do it again!" Aiden got off and said "I'm never doing that again!" They are so different...and I love them both!

 

It kind of looks like she's poll dancing...


I took the girls on the butterfly ride. Adeline liked it at first...but quickly decided that it was way too high! In this picture you can see that she is trying to climb out of the bug and I am holding her down. I don't see big roller coasters in her future...

 

What a crew!



We will be getting season passes again next year, even if we do go on a vacation. It is a two hour drive to our favorite family togetherness time. You can't beat that! And as a bonus...Abbott is insisting on eating more vegetables so he will be tall enough to go on the Barn Swing next year...whatever works!

Nicholas Sparks

Nicholas Sparks was at our local Sam's Club on Saturday. My sister, Lindsey, drove 3 hours to go with me to see him! We had to wait in a line that wrapped around half the store...but it was SO worth it!

Here is a guy that can write amazing love stories (chick stories) and he is absolutely adorable! On Saturday I found out that he is also an incredibly nice guy!

It was so fun to meet him and get our books signed.

Here he is signing away

 

He invited me to come behind the desk with him for the picture!

 

Lindsey was jealous...she didn't get to go behind the desk!

 

We were still in the store when he finished signing books...so we asked him for one more picture! What a guy :)

 

The Gruffalo

Didn't you know? There's no such thing as a Gruffalo!

We went to the Walton Arts center on Monday to see an adorable performance of The Gruffalo. For any of you not familiar with this book, it is a very popular children's book in the UK. I don't think it is as popular here, but it is really cute. The whole thing rhymes and tells the story of a mouse who took a stroll in the deep dark wood.

We took our three older kids and left Adeline at home. I felt kind of bad about that, but it was REALLY nice to get to sit through the ENTIRE show! All three kids kept saying they missed Adeline...they can't wait to see Adeline, etc. It was really cute to see how much they love their baby sister.

We couldn't take pictures during the show, so this is everybody waiting for the show to start.


And we went for ice cream afterwards (of course!)

 

It was a really fun family evening that the kids will be talking about for a long time.

New Twilight Trailer!!