Pumpkin Patch Pictures

Notice anything missing? I did get a few pictures of the kids with actual pumpkins, but they didn't turn out too well. I'll mess with them later.

This is one of those pumpkin patches that put up huge bouncy houses and such and charge an arm and a leg for everything. This particular one we pass every time we go anywhere, church, school, etc. And it has very inticing looking bouncy houses, to Olivia anyway. So I was finally convinced to take them today. They were nice and let Noah bounce for free since there was only one he was big enough to go on. So I spent $8 for a half an hour of bouncing for the kids (no adults) and $8 for two microscopic pumpkins.

Here are Olivia and Noah coming down the slide in the castle bouncy. This one was a success.




Here is Olivia climbing into the dinosaur obstacle course bouncy. She got over the first hill and got scared and I had to break the rules to go in and get her.



However, Olivia was not scared at all of this giant slide in which you emerge out of a shark's mouth.

What form

Check out Noah throwing a basketball today at the bouncy house pumpkin patch. I'm impressived. I don't know where he is secretly learning this stuff, but it's not from mom or dad.

From Noah's party

For their craft, the kids painted flat, wooden trains. There were a few extra that Noah and Olivia did and some of the other kids didn't take with them, so I strung them on some twine and hung them from Noah's curtain rod. Not exactly fancy home decor, but I think the kids did a great job on the trains and every time we go into Noah's room he points at them and says "choo-choo."

Too ambitious?

I decided for Olivia's birthday party I would make scarves for each girl to take home as a favor. (It will be an all-girl party with a "clown" theme. Olivia made it quite clear that it would NOT be a circus theme, only a clown one.) I've made 3 so far and bought enough yarn to make 15. Not that I hope 15 girls will be there, but just to be prepared. Here is a picture of Olivia modeling one.



Do you think that is taking on too much? The party is in less than 5 weeks, and I haven't done anything else, including invitations. We decided it would be a drop-off party in the afternoon, so I don't have to feed them a meal or accomodate parents or siblings. The only food will maybe be some munchies like goldfish and fruit, and then cupcakes. I thought they could decorate their own to even make it easier and be a fun thing.

I've planned a few activities like face painting, I thought cute stuff like a clown, maybe hearts around the eyes or on cheecks, stuff like that. (I'm going to ask a certain aunt of Olivia's to do that part, so be prepared, you know who you are, ha!) And the only other thing is a craft. I found these awesome foam crowns 2 for $1 at Target. I bought glitter glue and pom poms for them to decorate them.



Does that all sound good? This will be the first party that we throw that is not for the whole family!

Licking the bowl

Does it get any better than this?

How Olivia plays with trains

She puts them to bed in her dollhouse beds.



Oh yeah, and we told her to move her hair out of her face for a picture so she immediately pulled as much hair in front of her face as she could.

Blast from the Past

You all remember Lite Bright? I guess they're back. I picked one up for Olivia and I and we had fun putting them together. Actually it was more like she did 3 pegs, asked 500 questions about how it worked, and I did the rest. But it's fun doing things with a child old enough to not eat the pieces or stick them up their nose.



Isn't she such a big girl? Her new wardrobe is jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. Hm, that reminds me of someone else I know... And check out her new favorite "friend," the plastic lizard sitting on top the Lite Bright we got free from a garage sale. She's my escentric little girl, that is for sure!

Oh, and notice her foot on another toy, my pet peeve, she does it ALL the time. Oops, I was really trying not to complain in this entry.

Look what I found

This catepillar is hanging out on our wild tomato plants. Any one have any ideas what kind it is? I wonder if it will turn into a butterfly. That would be pretty amazing if it made a cacoon and transformed right there. One thing I know, I'm not touching our wild tomato plants any time soon, they are growing the most amazing little cherry tomatos. Yum!

How to scare a mom

Tap her on the shoulder during church and tell her she's need in the Pre-K room. Olivia is in the Pre-K sunday school room and is about the most content kid there. I'm NEVER needed for her, for years. When I got that tap on my shoulder today I was having visions of ambulances and in those few minutes it took me to bolt to the Pre-K room I was just praying that she was ok.

She was ok, just with a very bloody and swollen nose due to a slip on the playground. She needed a long time being hugged without trying to talk and definately NO ICE on her nose, and she was ok to make it to the car. More loving on at home, and she made it through the day. Lots of computer games at noggin.com and going out to ice cream after dinner, and I think she's nearly back to normal.

Whew, being a mommy sure is an emotional rollercoaster. I barely had enough energy to worry about how Noah did in the nursery with his seperation anxiety.

The big party day

We threw Noah his first real, themed birthday party. Thomas the Train EVERYWHERE. It was a lot of fun and turned out just right, if I say so myself. :->

To top the day off, Olivia went to her first full-fledged drop-off birthday party. It was an "un-slumber" party. They brought their sleeping bags and wore their jammies, but it was only from 5-8pm. They got their nails and make-up done (very tame for 4-year-olds, don't worry) and ate pizza and ice cream cake and watched a movie. Very cute!

Overall a very fun day, but it's clear my little babies are definately growing up. Exciting and sad at the same time.