Mommy/Daughter Date: Farmer Mark's Pumpkin Patch

When a friend who used to be in our ward sent out an email about a trip to Farmer Mark's for this past Tuesday, a couple of days ago, I knew that we would go.  Roo had gone with her kindergarten class just last Friday (the school is across the street), so Miami was excited to do the same exact field trip that her big sister had done.  Since the hubby had worked the entire night before, he was home sleeping while Bubs napped, so me and Miami got to go on a date.

It was so nice to walk around with her, even though she was basically running around.  We got to do a tour with all of our other friends from the ward and there were a lot of kids there.  In the spring, the farm is a strawberry patch.  We had previously picked strawberries here when Miami was just a newborn.  I think this upcoming spring we'll have to go and do it again.

Farmer Mark showed us some honeycomb and where he keeps his bees.  He also showed us the strawberry patches.  I think he said they have around 30,000 strawberry plants in the field.  So many!  There was a nice little pond with some ducks in it in the back.  While Farmer Mark was talking about the strawberries, Miami decided that she was going to follow some little boys down toward the pond and throw pinecones over the fence.  I couldn't persuade her to stay, so we went and threw pinecones until the tour continued.  She loved kicking the dirt around as she walked and in the process, got her boots really dirty.

The next stop was the chicken coop.  Farmer Mark showed us how a chicken can fly (when you throw it over a fence), and let the kids throw kernels of corn into the coop to feed them.  Miami absolutely loved this.  She probably took ten handfuls to throw in and feed the chickens.  The kids also had the chance to pet the chicken.  Miami is my child who loves the concept of animals, but when it comes time to get near them, she tells us that she is "just a little scared."  Surprisingly, she touched the chicken a few times.

After the chickens, we got to see the cow.  We had to keep our distance, and since Miami wasn't a fan of that, she started playing in a dirty ditch with some other kids.  She loved picking up the dirt and sand in the ditch and throwing it.  As our outing went on, she got filthier and filthier.  When I tried to motion to her to come back to me, she gave me a little smirk and tried to walk away from me.  Too bad she's so cute!

She didn't really care to have her picture taken with the cow, but she was excited when Farmer Mark talked about having chocolate milk and showing us how to milk a cow.  We tried to keep going on the tour and see the goats and woodchuck, but Miami decided it was time to just go into the pumpkin patch with one of her friends.  Luckily, I was able to snap a few pictures of her before she went and sat in the dirt with her friend.  They playing happily, pouring dirt in their shoes, while I got to talk with my friend, Amanda.  The tour went long though, so we had to leave soon after and quickly pick a pumpkin.  We had a running race back to the car, and Miami was able to run almost the entire way (which was decently long).

Miami had so much fun and I enjoyed the one-on-one time.  On the drive home, she told me how we are going to paint pumpkins with Roo for our weekly Friday Family Fun Night.  And after Roo got home from school, both girls compared their tours and realized that they were able to see all of the same things, which made them happy!

State Fair 2013

We had a fabulous family outing on Saturday with our dear friends/cousins, the Leiningers.  Per our tradition from a couple of years ago, we decided that we needed to go to the State Fair together.  This time with three additional children. :)  It was such a fun outing and we again consumed more than our share of fair food.  This year, we tried the deep fried cookie dough (which was ridiculously amazing), and had to have the Krispy Kreme Burger again.  It's just a normal cheeseburger but instead of hamburger buns, you have two of the glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts as the bun.  I know, it looks kind of disgusting and sounds very gross, but honestly, I could eat the whole thing by myself...it's THAT good!  Yes, I may be a fatty, but seriously, if you ever get the chance to try it, do it.  You won't regret it.  Or maybe you will.  Either way, try it just so you can say you did!

Other than all the delectable food we ate (also including corn on the cob, red velvet funnel cake, deep fried Girl Scout cookies, bloomin' onion, etc.), the girls went on a few rides with their dad, and I took them on one ride.  I have motion sickness, so I was just closing my eyes most of the time trying to pretend like I was having fun.

There were plenty of animals to see and smell, ginormous pumpkins to gawk at, free foam fingers to take home, crazy Chinese instruments to listen to, talking mini school buses that the girls just loved, life-size Steve Irwin cut-outs to pose in front of, tablescapes that Sandra Dee would be jealous of, and especially tons of people-watching going on.  Bubs and his little friend, D, hung out most of the time in the stroller, eating crackers and trying to steal each other's sippy cups.  

We had such a great time and it was even better than a few years ago.  We may have to trek back down here to go to the fair again next year.

Oh, and the small pictures at the end were stolen from the Alyse's blog.  Thanks!

Bubs, just chilling like he did the entire day.

Roo showing us how big the winning pumpkin was.

My handsome boys.

The girlies loving the little school bus that talked (there was a lady sitting on the right who wore a headset and just asked them questions...they obviously thought it was the bus talking to them and that it was the coolest thing ever!).

Thank you to the local newpaper for giving us some awesome foam fingers that my kids still love to wear...Miami wore one of them to Roo's soccer practice today so she could cheer her sister on. :)

The two littlest ones doing what they do best.

Classic Steve Irwin adoration pose - I have a picture from seven years ago when I posed in front of a life-size Steve Irwin cutout at BYU - I loved the Crocodile Hunter.  My roommates made fun of me for loving his show and book.  They called me up when he died to make sure I was okay.  I was.  Alright, I did cry a little.

Seriously, how gorgeous is this tablescape?  I didn't know you could enter tablescapes into the state fair.

This Chinese man was playing a two-stringed instrument called an erdu (I think).  It was so beautiful.  He was advertising for a Chinese dance company that was coming to perform in January.  Alyse and I decided to plan a date to go to the concert, until we found out the cheapest tickets were $60 each.  

The delicious goods.

The Krispy Kreme Burger in all of its glory.  We split it into fourths.

The whole group.

Lovin' on my littles

Oh, how I love my sweet kids!  I just read a talk by Elder Russell M. Nelson where he quoted a poem that his wife loved:

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'til tomorrow.
For babies grow up,
We've learned to our sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs.
Dust, go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby,
And babies don't keep.

Sometimes I don't take the time to truly cherish every moment with these little ones.  I have to take a step back and realize that this time of my life is exactly how I dreamed it would be.  Maybe I didn't anticipate the smeared food stains all over my clothes and the constant chaotic state of my home, but I did know that I would love being a mommy.  I just love each of these kids so much that my heart could burst.  Crawling all over our home with Bubs tonight brought me so much joy, even though I could have been doing dishes or picking up all of the books that he repeatedly takes off of the shelves.  And when the girlies were supposed to be going to bed, we had an impromptu dance concert, complete with solos, curtsies, and imaginary flowers being thrown on the stage.  Life is precious and I'm so grateful for every second of it.

Welcome to our blog!

I've been debating for months and months whether or not I should start a new blog.  Our old blog was private, and I was unable to continue adding friends because I had reached the limit a long time ago.  Friends kept asking to be added (you know who you are!) and I told them I didn't know how to add more readers.  Sorry!  So, I decided that it was time to just start a new, public blog.  Because it is public, I will be using nicknames for my family instead of our real names for privacy's sake.  Hopefully this blog will motivate me to post more about our everyday life (for my own personal journal) instead of only the big events. And since it's a new blog, it's a clean slate to start posting what happens from now on instead of feeling guilty that I never posted about things that happened two years ago. :)

To catch you up, here's the latest on our family:

Hubby - finishing up his last year of medical school.  Instead of residency, he is going to be working for a consulting firm in the metro D.C. area starting sometime after graduation.  He loves to play basketball and soccer with guys from the ward each week.  His current calling is ward choir director/ward chorister.  This has been one of his favorite callings!  I love watching him get so excited about pieces that the choir will be performing and when I catch him practicing his conducting it is so cute!

The Mommy - keeping our lives in control.  :)  Sometimes I feel like a soccer mom (minus the mini-van) with all the schedule coordination and driving people places, but I really love it.  Since the oldest is in kindergarten, I only have two at home, and it is SO easy!  I love to go to Zumba twice a week and get my dance on.  I haven't danced since I was in college, and it is fun to feel like I can follow the choreography pretty easily again.  Ever since we discovered Blue Bell ice cream, I've been pretty obsessed.  I've tried over 40 flavors and will highly recommend it to everyone I meet.

Roo - the oldest of our three kids.  Started kindergarten this year and absolutely loves it.  She is learning how to read and can usually read almost an entire verse each night during family scripture study.  She still loves anything princess, although now that she's in school, she doesn't get to dress up as much.  One of her favorite things is drawing pictures and writing descriptions of the pictures.  I love the descriptions because she writes it based on how it sounds to her and it is so adorable.  She started soccer this fall and until recently was the most passive player ever.  She would just walk around following the ball but wouldn't even attempt to kick it.  However, at her last practice and game, she got slightly more aggressive and actually scored her first goal.  We were very proud of her hard work!

Miami - the middle child.  Her personality is full of spunk and attitude.  She is the most resilient of our children.  At the end of this summer, she fell out of our second-story window onto our concrete driveway.  Luckily, she walked away with only scratches.  The other night she fell out of her sister's top bunk bed, and again, was fine.  She loves her older sister and tries to do the exact same things.  Being the oldest one at home during the day, she is trying to figure out how much control she has over her little brother.  She loves all things Cars and enjoys building with magnetic shapes.

Bubs - finally has cut his first tooth!  He is 11 months old and is crawling everywhere.  He pulls himself up onto everything and loves to pull all of our books off of the shelves.  He cruises along the couches and loves to play with his sisters.  He thinks they are the greatest!  This boy is a total mommy's boy and is pretty calm as long as all of his needs are met.  I only nurse him once a day, and he is taking formula the rest of the day, so he's pretty much weaned.  If I take him outside, he is instantly happy and really enjoys rides in the wagon.