Pumpkin Pickin'

We stopped at the pumpkin patch to get our goodies after church today. My sister-in-law and her husband  have a stand with his family where they sell all things fall every year (check out their FB page here).

Emma loves to get to choose her own, while Easton had a ball running between the rows. They also had the biggest pumpkin at the Allegan County Fair this year, weighing in at a whopping 337 pounds! I tried to get a nice picture, but it's hard to get 3 to cooperate...

Happy fall!

First Day of Preschool

On Monday, Elissa and I joined Emma for her first day of school. It was set up like an open house and the parents were asked to join their children. I think the intention was to ease the kids into their new setting as well as give the adults a glimpse into the school day.

Emma was not one who needed assistance- I was told to stay home. She did NOT need me along. I explained that it wasn't a choice though. Easton got to stay home and have one-on-one time with aunt Jessica.

Now on days when I drop Emma off and try to accomplish something that 2.5 hour time frame flies by. However, when you're there to observe that same time slot it goes by.so.slow. Emma took in her surroundings with abandon and quickly left my sided to play.

 

She knows several kids in her class well so that surely helps. The first hour of their day is free choice outside. As long as she's dressed to get dirty, she loves playing outdoors. She spent most of her time in the sandbox digging with her buddy Gavin.

On Wednesday was her first 'real' day of school and she loved it. She told me she spent all her time at school playing outside and in the classroom. That's it. We didn't learn anything she said with a big grin on her face. Oh, you're learning baby, whether you know it or not ;)

A {Busy} Fall Weekend

We were blessed to have an entire weekend with my grandparents who came up from Arkansans to meet Elissa. Friday night they watched the older two so we could go out for Jason's birthday- dinner at 5 Guys and then some shopping at Lowes. He's really living it up these days :)

Saturday we loaded up the van to pick apples at Cranes. It was a zoo! The kiddos loved running up and down the rows of apple trees. Thankfully I dressed them in bright colors so they were easy to spot! 40+ pounds later we were ready to go, not to mention the pound or so we ate...

From there we hit Subway to take to the ODC. We had a picnic and then walked some of the trails. Emma was able to show Bumpa and Gigi her new school. We covered a lot of ground. Grandpa also had to ride in the third row with Emma in our van so he got to tell lots of stories.

I loved listening to the stories I heard as a little girl and see the tradition being passed on to another generation. Unfortunately for Grandpa Emma is a very good listener (when she wants to be). She was correcting him when he told the pink gorilla story for the hundredth time because he didn't get it just right. 

Sunday we went to church and had lunch together before they had to hit the trail again for their 12 hour trip home. So glad we were able to spend time with them. Memories were made. Fun was had. Life is good!

A {Zoo} Outing

We were able to get out yesterday and enjoy a trip to the zoo with our good friends DeAnna and her kiddos. The weather was perfect, the crowd was minimal and everyone was in good spirits. I realized we haven't been to John Ball since 2009, so we were long over due for a visit.

How cute are these two?!?

I was worried how Easton would fair in the stroller, but he was pretty satisfied to sit and take in the sights. Elissa slept through most of it of course :) Emma and William kept busy, running from one exhibit to the next.

 Checking out the fish and penguins

 Easton wanted a better look

 The littlest peanuts were content in their car seats

 One big bear!

So glad DeAnna invited us to do this- we'll have to do it again soon! The kids wore themselves out and it was a peaceful car ride afterwards.

Little Hawks

A few weeks ago we were invited to an open house at Emma's preschool she will be attending this fall. After touring the new classroom and the grounds they will be exploring I am super excited about this new adventure for Emma. There will be a lot of messes, dirty clothes and hands on learning involved!

 Exploring the classroom

 Meeting the class bunny

 Scoping out the pond

 Checking out the outside play area



I know Emma already completed a year of preschool, but we decided that we'd rather have her start kindergarten after her sixth birthday instead of her fifth. Give her another year. For her, I feel like being in school all day would be too much. I can't wait to see what this year has in store for her!

Birthday Celebrations



Each year since Emma's third birthday, I've let her choose the festivities for her big day. Which meant we spent the afternoon playing at Deanna's Playhouse in town and would have 'Donalds for dinner. This year Easton was able to really have fun at Deanna's too.

 Of course the boy went for a quad first :)

 Birthday Princess

 Getting their craft on

 Little peanut slept almost the entire outing

Can you tell my kids are thrilled with having their pic taken?!?

 

Emma shook up the night by choosing Chuck E Cheese for dinner- her daddy was thrilled. But being the awesome daddy that he is he went along with it, cringing about germs the entire time :) Kinda strange for a pig farmer huh?!?

Afterwards we headed home to open a few small presents. Daddy is on the hunt for a larger present that Emma will hopefully receive in a week or so.

Then we had a big family party planned for today. She chose a Tinkerbell theme. Not mommy's favorite- the things we'll do for our kids...

 Pixie dust

 Toadstools

 Fairy fruit wands

 Flower jello jigglers

Garden greens

I went super easy this year- the main course was Hot'N'Readys from Little Caesars. After lunch we opened presents and filled up on cake. It was super hot again this year (as always), but we were able to stay some what cool indoors.

Showing off her TinkerBell body jewelry



 New rain suit for school

Leotard for dance class

TinkerBell cake, courtesy of Wal-Mart and Grandma Jen 

Thanks to all the family who celebrated with us, both in person and by mail :) Emma had a wonderful day!