James's Corn Maze Field Trip

I was lucky enough to get to attend James's first field trip with class to the corn maze.  We all had such a good time exploring the corn maze, playing in the corn sand box, riding on the "cow" tractor and getting a wagon ride to pick out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch.  James was probably most excited about the pumpkin patch because he felt just like Linus.  All of the kids found it hilarious that their teacher got to ride on the front of the tractor!  I can't wait to take a "family field trip" here next year;)

Doctors Give the Best Christmas Gifts AND James's Tooth;)

Growing up Uncle J-me always gave the best Christmas gifts, Amy and I used to open his present first on Christmas Eve because it was always so cool and we couldn't wait.  Well, he is still an excellent gift giver and the kids have LOVED all of his super special gifts that he (obviously) puts a lots of thought into.  Well, this one may take the cake J-me (yes, even more than the Wallace and Grommit magnets), but I am guessing maybe it was David's influence and you can't take all of the credit;)  The top two pictures are showing the gift from last Christmas and Gabe using it to teach the kids about the digestive system during dinner.   Granted James was most concerned about the last step in digestion, but they now can both identify the major organs of digestion... up next, the skeletal system :) Thanks J-me and David!!

Now to James's tooth drama... We were at the playground and he chipped his tooth on one of the metal structures. He was pretty devastated about it and couldn't talk about it without crying for 2 days.  It was a very minor chip, but it did make his tooth ragged, but that was about it... he could still suck his finger, so it wasn't that bad;)  He was most concerned that we couldn't get that little piece of tooth back, so we discussed that maybe he could write a letter to the tooth fairy explaining what happened and she could find it just like when Noah lost/swallowed his tooth at the park. When Noah got home from school, through tears, James told Noah what happened to him and how he needed his help because he didn't know how to write a letter to the tooth fairy.  The letter above is what Noah wrote for James, "Dear tooth fairy, from James. James lost: a little piece of his tooth"... seriously it was such a sweet moment.  Noah placed the letter for James before bed and let him borrow the tooth pillow just in case the tooth fairy had something to leave James for his piece of tooth:)  She came, left him a quarter for his bit of tooth and he was one happy boy the next morning... big sibling to the rescue!

Visitors:)

The top picture is the view of the beautiful sunrise we get to see from our driveway.  Gabe took this on his way to work one morning because the clouds look so cool... they almost look like the ocean.  The next two pictures are from a pajama day the kids and I had last week... that's why Ben is wearing his jammies riding his bike... really;)

This past weekend Nannie came to visit which I was super thankful for because Gabe was on call and I had strep throat and could barely get out of my own way... it will continue to amaze me how she always seems to plan visits when we need a little extra help... or maybe I should be more amazed that she still wants to visit despite having to work so hard when she comes;) Thanks mom!  Anyhow, by Sunday morning I was feeling much better (thank you amoxicillin).

Sunday afternoon we were lucky to be visited by the Carlile family! The kids were so excited to play with Suvi and Rain, and to show them around our new house and the climbing tree (still no major injuries for those in the pool;)). It is such a cool thing when our families get together because, for some reason, our kids act like they are great friends who see each other on a weekly basis.  It had been a year, almost exactly, since we have seen each other, but everyone picked right up where they left off:)  Just for fun I dug up an old picture of Noah and Suvi when they were about 20 months old and going on the Polar Express train ride in New Hampshire.... oh the memories!  Ironically enough we are planning to visit Boston and the Carlile's new home in Boston next weekend (totally coincidental) and the kids can't stop talking about it.

Farmington Pumpkin Festival 2013

Farmington has a great downtown pumpkin festival which we did not allow enough time to enjoy.  Well, we would have, but we had promised the kids we would watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 at the movie theater, so that won out;)  James has only been talking about this movie since July and it is the sole reason he potty trained enough to be able to go to school. It did not disappoint and he continues to talk constantly about the movie and act out the scenes.

The pumpkin festival had everything from a fun hay maze to pumpkin chuckin' to face painting to scarecrow decorating.  It all ended with a bonfire, s'mores and fireworks!  Seriously fireworks in October are wonderful because they can start at 6pm and everyone gets to bed on time.  As an added bonus the weather was beautiful and we were very comfortable wearing fleece coats.

Apples and Pumpkins

We ended our fair/Santa's Village weekend with a fun visit from Grammie.  She brought some pumpkins for the kids which they were more than eager to decorate!

Noah had a half day on Wednesday so the kids and I visited the apple orchard for some late season picking.  There were very few other people there, so the kids had lots of opportunity for picking.  I am not sure I picked even one apple this year.  The branches were low hanging and full of fruit.  At the end of picking here is where I found Ben talking to the chickens... Uncle Jon, you will have to get on that chicken coop early in the spring;)

Santa's Village 2013

We thought we wouldn't make it to Santa's Village this year, but things worked out to combine this trip with our trip to the fair.  The weather was a bit cooler, but there are certainly advantages to going to the park during non peak season.  The kids were a bit disappointed not to be able to play in the water park (although one of them did try... was it James or Ben?), but there were not any lines so they were able to go on their favorite rides many times.  Gabe's favorite ride was a toss up between the swings and the log flume that he had to ride on by himself because no one else was willing to get wet in the cold morning weather. Noah's anxiety got the best of him when Gabe wouldn't put his phone away while riding the log flume and started yelling at him, from the bridge, to put his phone away so I wouldn't fall into the water... there was no convincing him that daddy was just kidding... thanks Gabe;)

To continue the theme of traumatic happenings... James may never ride on bumper cars again.  He didn't get the whole idea of bumper cars... he was so mad every time someone would run into us or we would run into someone else.  We got stuck on the side once, I was laughing, Gabe was laughing, Noah was laughing and James was yelling at everyone to "get out of the way" "leave us alone" "stopping running into us" and "get me out of here!". I wish I had it on video because if he had known swear words I am sure that is all he would have been spewing during this ride... it didn't help that all I could do was laugh at how upset he was... I can see road rage in his future...

And that just leaves Ben's trauma... I think that this was best captured in the picture above... don't worry Trey, Ben took over the role of "horrified crier" in this picture;)  Trauma aside, everyone had a really great day and they are already taking about what they will go to first next year! Also, thanks to Nannie for coming along to help corral everyone and to allow Gabe and I both to enjoy rides with the kids:)