pumpkin patch

This post is out of order :( which I'm not a fan of but I'm a big fan of it's content so here we go :)

Last weekend, before the week o' zach, we went to Southern Belle Farms with our best friends the Cardozas and the Moons! This was the first year that William, Connor and Silas have been old enough to do anything at the pumpkin patch and the first year Silas even got to go (the other two got dragged with their older siblings last year and had to watch the fun from their strollers!)

It was a FULL day! We were there for almost 5 hours, exhausted by the end, but all agreed that it was chock full of memories we hope the kids can carry with them.

First stop was the Pig Race...soooiiiiieeeeee!! Pigs are fast by the way :)

After the last race was run we moseyed over to the livestock where Micah tried to feed the goats by shoving straw through the fence that he'd found on the floor. It actually worked though, well at least once anyway. All the kids enjoyed petting the goats and climbing the fences.

I just love my two little farm hands :)

Next up was the tunnel slide. This was the year of firsts for Micah too. He had no fear when it came to going down this. It just amazes me how much braver he has gotten in the last few months. The first time Zach went down with them both, but every time after Micah would fly down alone with Connor not too far after.

The one thing Micah talks about the most is playing in the corn. They have a play house filled to the brim with corn kernels. This was his favorite thing last year and one of his favorites again this year. He loves to be 'buried' and helped Zach bury Isabella as well.

We relaxed in the kid's play area for a big where Connor destroyed his clothing with sand, William confiscated a bike and was not planning on giving it up any time soon, and Silas ran back and forth between the play house and then hid out in the tunnel for awhile.

I just love looking at them in this picture. It seems like they're having their own little conversation :)

Hayride time! Again a first for Micah. Last year he REFUSED to get on this. So weird!

We took a break and ate a dinner of free hotdogs (thanks to Steph who printed out quite a few coupons!) but before all their clothes were ketchup spotted we got the traditional picture :)

and Micah drove the tractor with some supervision from William and Connor.

Before it got too dark we walked through the patch to pick out our pumpkin. They had the pretties flat light colored ones that Leslie and I loved. Thankfully Micah liked those better too so there was no convincing needed.

Our pretty pumpkin :)

and my lil' pumpkin :)

Last stop (and thankfully last because if we'd started here we would have never left!) They had a HUGE pillow jumping thing. It was brand new this year and was so much fun. Micah, Bella, William and Silas LOVED it. Connor either hated it or was too tired to enjoy it because he didn't last long on the ol' pillow!

After one last ride on the tractor (and a 5 minute meltdown by Micah because we were leaving) we headed home!

ehs wildcats

We are were in Enterprise for Friday-Sunday for my nieces dedication in church. Enterprise High School, my alma mater, had a home game Friday night. We went with my parents, younger brother, and 3 of our 4 nieces. I had not been to an EHS game since college and was to go, see the new stadium, and share some of my teenage years with Zach, Micah and Connor.

This also happened to be the first football game either of the boys have ever been to. We ate boiled peanuts and popcorn and tried our best to keep Connor from nose diving off the bleachers. He is quite the squiggle worm! Not surprising at all, their favorite part was watching/listening to the bands (or vans as Micah would say). We stayed at the game long enough to see the half time shows. Micah drummed on his leg the whole time and in rhythm which made his daddy very proud. Micah and Haley got a chance to hang out outside of my parents house and really enjoyed each others company. All in all it was a pretty perfect Friday evening :)

5 out of 6

Micah is too busy following along with the drums to look at the camera :)

Take 2. Not much better but very realistic!

Haley and the nut

again...watching the drumline

my daddy and Kayden

Mr. Wildcat

Micah actually wanted to go see him AND he gave him a five!

Walking back to the car

Dance break 1

Dance break 2

Tallulah Gorge

Zach is starting a new job at WAG or Wendys Arbys Group next week. He finished his position at Purchasing Power last week and this week has been vacation time :) He took a week long break to spend some time with us and extended family. Sunday afternoon we drove to Gainesville, GA to visit his side for a few days.

Zach's mom and younger brother were out of school there for Monday-Wednesday. Monday morning the 7 of us drove an hour from Gainesville to Tallulah Gorge State Park. I'm not sure what I thought a gorge was going to be, or maybe I was just thinking about the logistics of time, food, and hiking with kids that I didn't concentrate on the fact that we were visiting a 400 foot drop surrounded by rocks and water. I am not a heights person at all and when you add mama brain to that it makes for a somewhat frightful thought process. Despite Connor's displeasure with the backpack carrier, me hiding

from his sight so he'd stay in the thing and a somewhat treacherous walk across a swinging bridge up super steep stairs and next to a busy highway, we had a great time. The weather was gorgeous and Micah loved walking through the woods collecting treasures of pinecones, red leaves (he could have cared less about the other colors) and long skinny acorns.

Zach and Connor

Nana and Micah

The 400ft terrifying drop

The swinging bridge

Micah and Poppy

Getting across the bridge alive

The only way up

Micah made it to the top a whole lot better than everyone else

Looking for acorns

We had a leisurely picnic lunch and then made a quick stop at a farmers market/pumpkin patch for some homemade ice cream. Needless to say some good naps were taken that afternoon when we got back :)

park, lunch and monkey joes

Tuesday morning, we went with Nana and Poppy to a great park in Gainesville with a beautiful scenic walking trail that goes straight to their downtown square. The boys had a great time climbing and sliding and when they had worn themselves out had a great time crashing in the wagon while we wheeled them through the woods. We ate lunch at Turnstile Deli then headed home for naps.

After nap Linda (Nana) took the boys to Monkey Joes. Micah has been on inflatables three times. Twice were at the Younglife end of year party and the other was Haley's 3rd birthday. In each of these situations Zach had to go down the slides with him and that was after a lot of coaxing. When we walked into monkey joe's he immediately got a look of excitement on his face. We started off slow in the 3 and under area so Micah and Connor could get accustomed to this new experience. Micah loved it right away and even kept coming up to Connor to make sure he knew what was going on. Connor took a little while longer to get used to it but once he learned how to 'work' the slide he was a happy camper.

Once it looked like Micah was used to his surroundings we got him to try some of the other inflatables. He ended up going in everyone except the huge slide and loved them all. He even climbed up the walls by himself using all the foot holds and handles. I don't know if I've ever been so proud of my cautious little boy. He was a big fan of the obstacle courses which was even more surprising because he couldn't see me or his Nana at all while he was in them.

A new inflatables place just opened near us in Covington and I'm thinking about having his 4th birthday party there now that I know he'd really enjoy himself!