Becoming Family: Parties and Pumpkins

We had quite a busy weekend around here!

Yesterday we headed up to Greg's parents' house. They were having a wild shindig to celebrate Grandpa Sam's 85th birthday. Maybe not THAT wild but there were lots of relatives and good food there. We were having a lot of fun and I didn't even realize how long we had been there. The kids were enjoying their great aunts and uncles and grandparents and cousins. Will even snuggled up to his Great Grandpa Sam for some story reading.

The trip did mess with nap time a bit. We decided to just keep messing with nap time and have another day totally off our normal schedule.

Today I took the kids to meet up with my mom, sister, niece and nephew at a local dairy farm. Greg's work schedule is all cattywampus these next few days and he had to miss out on the fun to head into the office on a Sunday. (He left around 11 this morning and it is almost 9:00 and still no word about when he is heading home.) Last year we did this same dairy farm trip but Will was still in Guatemala and didn't get to join us. I remember so well how I couldn't believe when I looked at those pictures of Marcus that day last year how huge he was. Marcus had just learned to walk this time last year. This morning Marcus and I looked at the pictures again and he looked so little!

We got there a little early which gave us some time to enjoy some of the activities they had set up for the kids. My favorite thing of the whole trip was this little baby cow that was so friendly. She came right over to us and was licking us and loving up all of the petting. I just wanted to take her home. I am thinking that come this time next year though I would be commenting about how little she used to be. Marcus thought the kisses were really funny.

Will kept saying, "Hi Moo. Hey there Moo." It was the cutest thing ever.

I tried to get a cute picture with a bunch of pumpkins. Will was having none of that.

Will was much more fond of driving the tractor

and playing in the cornbox (like a sandbox but filled with dried corn).

Will was really loving his cousin Scott today. When we left, the whole way home (which was really only 5 minutes but whatever) he kept saying, "Bye Scott!" Isn't this picture just precious?

Then we got on the hayride to head up to the pumpkin patch. I was really hoping to get some good pictures of the kids on the hayride but there were just too many people crammed on that thing for me to get a good angle at all. I didn't even bother to try.

We did a little exploring in the hay maze.

Then we headed over to the corn maze. The corn maze is over 5 acres but we only went a few feet into the corn. Marcus found his own ear of corn (and tried to eat it) and was very proud of it. He kept carrying it around and showing it off.

(Me and my boys)

Last year I didn't bother with pumpkins. I am not a fan of carving them. Marcus wasn't going to be carving one. Plus, I knew he could care less at the time about having one. This year both kids picked a pumpkin out of the pumpkin patch. I decided last minute to ditch my bag I usually carry and take a backpack with me instead. I figured with two kids, two pumpkins, and only two hands, it was the way to go. I still had to use my hands with the two kids and one pumpkin, but was able to stash the other pumpkin, some gourds, and several ears of corn in my bag. And some water too. It was hot today! Last time I checked it was nearly mid-October. It should not have been 80 degrees out at the pumpkin patch today!

Then it was back on the hayride and back to the bottom of the hill. They had a potato sack slide set up this year. Will said he didn't want to slide but my niece, nephew, and Marcus were all up for it. Marcus went down the first time all by himself. Then he saw his cousins going down backwards and said, "Marcus backwards too!" So he went down again backwards. Then he said, "Mommy slide." This is the result of that comment:

Then we headed inside the store for some ice cream and chocolate milk. They have the best chocolate milk ever. Will is still not fond of ice cream - a bit too cold for him - but he was loving up that chocolate milk. Marcus ate his ice cream and asked for more. I told him that was all he got. He thought for a minute and asked, "Cake?" Nope, no cake either.

It was well past nap time for my two tired kids but we wanted to try to get one last picture of all the kids together. It wasn't working out real well. My kids were way more interested in things other than the cameras pointed at them. Then I yelled at Marcus to look at me. This upset him greatly and I snapped one of my all time favorite pictures ever. Just looking at the drama in this shot cracks me up.

It is seriously impressive how far that kid can get his lower lip to stick out.

The kids were very tired by the time we got home. I didn't want them to nap too long because I knew I would never get them to bed tonight. I couldn't get Marcus up so I went to get Will. I rocked him for a bit so he could wake up a little. Then I got his help to get Marcus up. Still wasn't working so well.