Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

I was able to accompany Lia (on the bus no less!) to her first field trip this year to another local pumpkin farm down in the valley.  It was fun to follow her class around and watch her interact with her new classmates.   

 

Lia and her kindergarten class posing for a group picture in the pumpkin field.

The students were taken on a tour of the farm to see various animals and to learn about old fashioned, farm life.  Parts of the tour were actually quite interesting!  Here is the group checking out the turkeys, roosters, and hens.

 



Lia and the class looking at the pigs!

 



Lia posing with one of her new friends, Olivia, in front of the corn field.

 



Lia and her good buddy from preschool, Adddyson.

 



Mother and daughter measuring up next to the height chart.

 



 

Lia's entire class playing on the sawdust mound after the completion of the tour.

 

Family Carving

For FHE tonight, we sat down and carved our pumpkins.  Besides having to compete with the Seahawks game playing on the television and Lia pouting for several minutes after finding pumpkin seeds/guts in her hair, we managed to do okay.  Logan was fascinated by the entire thing and I was just grateful that my kitchen didn't look like it had been hit by a pumpkin tornado afterwards.  Here are a few pics of the evening's events. 

 

Helping Logie scoop out his little pumpkin.

Our cute boy with his scooping spoon.

 



 

Lia overseeing papa's carving.

 

Our little pumpkin family all lined up in a row.  From left to right:  Logie's traditional pumpkin, Lia's sassy pumpkin sticking out its tongue, my sad and depressed pumpkin, and Ron's three-eyed, smiling monster. 

Guess where we get to park these days!

 

Yep, that's right!

Baby #3 is due to arrive in early April!

Lia, Ron, and I are thrilled and Logan is absolutely oblivious.

:-)

 

A pic of our 12-week ultrasound taken a month ago!

Isn't he/she so cute???

A first.

I know that I shouldn't be encouraging my son to discover the television any earlier than it's bound to happen, but today, I couldn't resist the temptation as I just needed to get a few things done on the computer.  Normally, he attacks the computer, hangs on my leg, or dismantles the family room while I do this...so I had a thought.  What if I put in Sesame Street?  Since I know that the average two-year old loves this show and it is never on T.V. anymore because it is NOT on his sister's list of must-watch-videos, I took a gamble and put it on.  And wouldn't you know, my boy actually sat still for a good ten minutes before he saw me taking this picture and jumped off the couch and quickly began taking everything out of the open, pen drawer.  As bad as it is, it was the cutest thing to see him actually stop moving for a few minutes and watch a show.  Now, let the judging begin.... :-)

Pumpkin Patch Time!

We made our annual trek to the local pumpkin patch today after Ron got home from work.  It was so much fun to take Logan this year as he has grown and changed so much since last year's trip.  He got such a kick out of all of the pumpkins and other activities.  We each picked out a pumpkin for carving and now feel like we have officially kicked off the holiday season! 

Logan enjoyed getting pushed around in the wheelbarrow until we filled it up with pumpkins!

 



Sissy joined Logan in the wheelbarrow fun.

 



 

 Lia and mama posing for a quick pic.

 

After Logan escaped the confines of the wheelbarrow, he had the time of his life wandering through the aisles of pumpkins.

 

Logan inspecting a pumpkin.

 

The gang showing off Lia's and papa's pumpkins.

 



 

Our traditional family photo in the pumpkin house.

More photo silliness.

 



 

Logan playing in the barn after inspecting the animals.

Logan, papa, and Lia racing their ducks.

 



 

Lia loading up more ducks.

 

The two men exploring the playhouse at the back of the farm.

20 Months Old Today!

 

Our cute boy turned 20-months old today!  It's hard to believe that his second birthday is just around the corner!  Logan's vocab development finally started to pick up this past month as he learned and started using several news words.  These included nut, shoes, poo poo, rain, clock, eat, more, cheese, night night, owl, moon, apple, wee wee, and he howls like a wolf, roars like a lion, and bleats like a goat or sheep.  He will sometimes also say the ABC's with us by repeating one letter at a time.  The cutest development of the month is that Logan will now cross his arms whenever we say a family, meal time, or bedtime prayer.  It just melts my heart.  Sometimes, if you look at him during the prayer, he will keep one arm crossed while waving to you with the other one.  Ugh.  Logan also continues to LOVE his comfy cozy blanket and loves cuddling his stuffed animals--both big and small.  He has a super cuddly side to his personality and usually can be found toting his blanket and one or two stuffed animals around the house with him (see the pictures above).  He also still loves being read to and would seriously spend all day in the recliner chair in his bedroom if someone was willing to sit next to him and read stories the entire time!  Not kidding.  The not so fun development of this past month is that my fabulous eater has started to become finicky with meats and vegetables.  I absolute LOATHE this stage as it really stresses me out when my kiddos don't eat their dinner.  Lia entered this stage (with meat only) at 15 months and it took quite some time before she outgrew it.  Logan took a few extra months to enter this phase, but is now going strong.  It's such a shame as he literally ate anything I put in front of him since we began solids at five months.  Hmph.  Hopefully he will grow out of this quickly.  Ron also taught him the knuckle bump and he will now readily do this after giving you a high five if prompted.  Logan continues to be a very active boy who loves machines, pushing buttons, and getting into everything.  He has been known to completely dismantle the family room in a few minutes if given the opportunity.  Oh dear.  Needless to say, this little one sure keeps me busy, but I love him to pieces!

First Day of School, Part 2

A week ago today I had NO idea that I would be writing this post, but a series of events in the past few days caused Lia to start all over today at a new elementary school.  So, today was officially her second first day of school this year.  After watching Lia walk off with her CRAZY, wild, and disruptive Kindergarten class on Monday morning, I hit a wall.  I walked home, picked up the phone, and called the other elementary school down the hill that she would have gone to had we not moved.  After explaining our situation to a very nice secretary, she explained that all three Kindergarten classes were full and that we would need to wait until next fall to start Lia at that school.  However, she did state that she would ask the principal and then call me back.  I hung up the phone feeling at peace with this situation since I really did not want to rip Lia out of her school after she had already fallen in love with her teacher and gotten used to her class, their routines, and the overall school layout.  But to my surprise, the secretary called me back a few minutes later and announced that the principal had amazingly given permission for Lia to be placed in one of the morning classes!  I was so shocked!  After a whirlwind day of talking to several people, driving to the school to pick up a form, and explaining the change to Lia, we made the big jump today.  Lia was heartbroken at first to be leaving her teacher and the group of church kids from the neighborhood who she walks to school with each day, but she eventually started to warm up to the idea...especially after meeting her new teacher in person Tuesday afternoon and seeing that the entire classroom was decorated in under-the-sea theme.  It was meant to be!  And so this morning, I dropped Lia off at school along with her good friend, Molly, who also transferred from her old Kindergarten class.  Both girls were placed in the different morning classes, but the good news is that there is a friend from their old preschool in both of them!  So they already have a friend in each class which both Molly's mom and I are so grateful for.  And, so, we are off on a new adventure....one that I hope and pray will be a better one for my daughter.

A slightly nervous and excited Lia standing in front of her new school.

 



 

Lia embracing Addyson, her preschool buddy from last year, who was already waiting for her in line!

Done.

This past summer, we let Lia watch the first and second Harry Potter movies with a somewhat edited version of each of the endings.  As a result, she fell in love with the story and asked one day in August if we could begin reading the first book.  Somewhat skeptical that a five-year old could understand and follow such a long story, we began reading it to her each night before bed.  We basically made the transition from Fancy Nancy and other books with very little text and a lot of picture on each page to a full-blown novel over night.  And to my surprise, Lia loved it!  She was totally entranced by the entire thing and easily followed along each night, asking for clarification on new words, pointing out differences between the novel and the book, and commenting on this, that, and the other thing!  Who knew?!  And less than two months later, we finished the first book last night.  It was a very positive experience for all of us and I just enjoyed rereading one of my favorite books years later to one of my favorite people.  Here's to starting book #2 tonight!