Family Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Having been up late the night before, we slept through church on Sunday morning.  Please forgive us.  But in the interest of not letting the day become a total wash, a little later in the day we headed out to the most popular local Pumpkin Patch as a family for a couple hours of fun.  

The first order of business, after a trip to the porta-potties for the boys, was, of course, the petting zoo.

We stayed in with animals for a long time.  A LONG time.  A.J. was obsessed with the bunnies and also the ducks.  Peter kept climbing up on the bales of hay with the goats.  Mostly, I was just trying to figure out if I could smuggle out that little pig in my purse.  It was soooooo cute.

I wonder what Brutus and Molly would do if Mama brought them home a piggy friend?

After the petting zoo, we got in line for the pony rides.  Happily the line wasn't too terrible this year as they'd added a second carousel of ponies.  Things moved pretty quickly when 12 kids could go at a time.

This was going to be such a perfect picture.  Then that darned sassy pony went and stuck his
tongue out.  Actually, depending on how you look at it, maybe the tongue makes the photo even
more perfect.  Ha.

After we were finished with the ponies we headed over to check out these big ladder fire trucks.

A.J. said she did not want to go inside but she did grant me one certified cutie-patootie pose when I asked her if I could take her picture in front of one of the huge fire truck's tires.

The tires were as tall as she is!

Peter, on the other hand absolutely wanted to go inside the trucks. 

After he was done we checked out some more stuff on the engines.  The kids were particularly interested in all their tools, like these big huge metal cuters and things which Matt did his best to explain.

We went to see some of the farm's other animals next.  Peter and A.J. were pretty happy because they talked this goose into getting in the water.

The donkeys weren't very exciting, but climbing on the fence sure was...

We took a pit stop after that so I could feed Lucy.  Matt picked up a bag of kettle corn as a treat for Peter and A.J. but it quickly started turning into a fight.  Apparently some of us were still really tired.  It was starting to look like maybe we needed to start wrapping things.

There was a guy in a Batman costume with a Bat Mobile posing for pictures.  I thought Peter would like that.  I was wrong.  He liked looking at him, from a distance, but he wouldn't go anywhere near him.

There were also a couple of bouncy houses and bouncy slides so we headed over that way next.  Peter and A.J. were just dying to go on them but I couldn't figure out where to get the tickets for them.  

There was a horse drawn wagon ride and a tractor-hay ride as well, but the line was really long.  

Peter wanted a balloon, presumably because we let him get one last year.  THAT we could do.  We went to the booth so that he could pick one out.  In addition to the balloons, the booth had this huge selection of these flowery-ribbony-halo things.  They also had tutus, and hair bows and a whole bunch of random trinkets and doo-dads.  I looked at the tutus and the hair bows a little, considering whether or not to get one for A.J.  Matt helped Peter select his balloon.  Then as the lady was inflating it for us, we all heard A.J. saw quietly "I want a horsey."

Um... what?  Where was there a horse?  

Oh, well, there was one of those head on a stick toy things that you're supposed to pretend to ride on.  She was NOT getting that.

But she wasn't looking anywhere in the direction of that thing.  She was looking intently up at the top, back corner of the booth.

"Oh!  That's our last horse!"  Said the lady working the booth happily!  Matt and I searched around with our eyes until we both spotted the stuffed horse A.J. wanted.  The lady informed Matt that it was $15 when he asked.

He sighed and rolled his eyes and looked down to count how much money he still had.

A.J. looked up at her dad with big sweet eyes that seemed to say "Pweeeeeease Daddy?"

And Matt caved.  "Take the money quick before I change my mind," he told the lady.

She got her horsey.  

I laughed to myself.  Matt can be such a sucker. Especially where A.J. is concerned.  Although, so can I, with both the kids, but when I spoil them like that he always gives me a really hard time for it.   

Anyway.

We headed over to pick out our pumpkins.

Peter's whining and complaining (even after he got his balloon) was reaching ridiculous levels. Nobody could even be sure what he wanted anymore.  I'm not sure he knew himself.  It was time to get our pumpkins and go home.

But Peter didn't WANT pumpkins.  He doesn't LIKE pumpkins.

OMG.

For some reason, I thought this was a good time to interrupt him and ask Matt to get a picture of us.  After about 40 shots, this is the best we came up with:

At least we got a couple shots with me in them to prove I was there... 

Meanwhile, A.J. just concerned herself with her pony.

Also, can you tell in the pictures that he hair was still pink?
I LOVE it pink.  So fun.  But I wonder how many other people thought
I was some crazy mom who let my preschooler dye her hair.  Ha.

When we got into the actual pumpkin patch area, I found a nice little area set up for pictures of the kids.  Because who am I kidding?  The sweet little pictures of my kids with the pumpkins are the whole reason I want to visit the pumpkin patch every year.

Peter insisted on climbing up on top the bales of hay.

A.J. insisted on sitting on a pumpkin and wouldn't give up her pony.

Somehow I got them to sit down together.  And WOW, look how great it turned out?

Since my picture of the 2 of them turned out so nicely I got bold.  I unsnapped Lucy from the carrier and gently handed her to Peter.  He was instructed not to move, or wiggle, or let go of her.  Basically child, just sit her and let the baby lay on you and smile, okay?

I hovered nervously just out of sight of the camera while Matt snapped away.

The best shot?

Also pretty good.  But Lucy wouldn't turn her head forward and A.J. seems to be looking at, like, Matt's knees or something.

Oh well.  It's good enough for me, for now.

Believe it or not, I'll settle for a less than perfect picture of the 3 of them together over none at all.  I'll also except less than perfect if it means keeping my 2 month old baby out of the dirt and getting her safely back into my arms no harm no foul.

With the pictures taken care of, we went to pick up our pumpkins for carving.  Peter and A.J. did there bes to help.  A lot.

We wound up selecting 3 nice pumpkins to carve:  one for each of the kids.  Peter, who still looks happy enough in the pictures somehow, managed to get upset over this too.  I can't remember why.

Yup.  

It was time to go.

Matt took Peter and paid for our pumpkins.

I took A.J. (and Lucy, who was still strapped to me) and he headed for the van.  It took us girls about 100 years to get her there.  Seriously.  We had to stop approximately 30 thousand times so A.J. could adjust the way she was carrying her stuffed pony.  

Yeah.  

I love a nice autumn family trip to the pumpkin patch, but it was definitely time to get home.

Fall Festival Part 3

When last we left off, A.J. had just finished performing her little dance at the fall festival.

As they finished I kid you not, everything went sort of fuzzy.  I guess I got caught up in the moment and zoned out for a moment beaming about what had just happened while the girls wandered back off the stage and somebody started introducing the next dancer.  Before I really realized what was happening Matt was gone from my side.  Wisely, he'd gone to catch A.J. as she came off stage lest she wander off and disappear into the crowd.  Peter had been sitting beside me on one of those light boxes, but suddenly he was gone too.  

I was crouched on my knees in from of the stage and I couldn't easily get up.  My knees always lock up a little on my when I sit like that, my feet tend to fall asleep and of course, I had Lucy strapped to me in the Baby Bjorn. It took some effort for me to get myself up.  Once I did I hesitated and looked around. Obviously I knew Matt would be over to the side of the stage with A.J. but where had Peter gone?

I craned my neck and saw them all together at the corner of the stage.  Thank goodness.  

It was so crowded and we needed to get my stroller so I took Peter by the hand firmly and Matt swooped A.J. up onto his shoulders.  She might have still been riding the high from her time on stage, but she appeared to think this was the very best thing ever.

Before we'd ever even gone to the festival, Matt had sweetly wondered if we needed to bring A.J. some flowers or something to congratulate her after her dance.  I kid you not, he said that.  Like, he came up with it all on his own.  Actually, I'm racking my braid wondering if I suggested that at the end of her little Princess Camp and gave him the idea then.  I'm honestly not sure either way, but the fact of the matter is, I really wanted to get her flowers, then and now.  

When I was a little girl and had dance recitals, especially the first years, my family always made a pretty big deal out of it but they never brought flowers.  And some of my friends got them and, not to make it sound like a big sob story, because really it wasn't, but I was always so jealous of those flowers.  

So jealous for like, 30 seconds or something, because let's be honest my brain moved on to something else pretty quickly.  

But oh, looking back on it... I would have just LOVED to get flowers.

I think I probably told this to Matt some where a long the way which is why he suggested it.

Anyway... in the end, we decided flowers would be too much at this point.  We would save that for her big end of the year recital performance and just allow her to pick out a treat from the festival as her congratulations.

So as a family we headed towards the sugar shack full of baked goods.

Matt pulled our girl down from his shoulders and told her she could pick out whatever she wanted.

She thought for a moment and looked around.  

"I want pot corn."  She said softly.  (Hehehe, I love that she still thinks it's called that.)

Really?  We both thought.  With that whole booth of cookies and cupcakes and things right there?  Matt looked at me with surprise.  

"Okay then."  He told her.

"I want a hot dog!"  declared Peter as Matt went to get her bag of popcorn.  

I sort of forced myself to resist the urge to remind my son that nobody had asked.  Everything doesn't ALWAYS need to be about him all the time does it?  Matt ignored the look on my face and went to find the boy a hot dog.  I guess he did deserve a treat too for behaving fairly well while waiting for and watching his sister.

The kids ate their treats.  

And when they were done we headed back to the game area to use up the remainder of our tickets.  They both headed straight to the hair painting area. 

A.J. wound up getting her whole head painted pink.  (She asked for pink AND purple but I don't think they had any purple.)  Peter said he wanted spikes.  I said to make it as crazy as possible, since that is usually what he chooses.  He wound up with spikey hair which was pink on the back and white on top with black spots and glitter everywhere.  

Awesome.  

That seemed about right.

Also, A.J. looked so cute with her pink pig tails.... honestly it made me want to die her hair with Kool Aide to turn it pink some time.  :)  

Hmmmmmm....

Anyway, after the Hair Salon, we had about 6 tickets left.  Peter "bet" on the ball rolling game and then played the tennis ball throwing game.  He lost both.  

Don't tell anybody I said this, but honestly, for a church carnival, I think they need to be a little more relaxed when the little kids play those games about what it takes to win.  (The games win you prize tickets that can be redeemed for prizes afterward.  We wound up with 15 total.  Peter chose to get a grape flavored lip gloss with them.  Yes.  Yes he really did.)

While Peter was throwing his tennis balls A.J. randomly handed Matt a couple more tickets.  I guess she found them.  I don't know how on Earth she saw them in the dark actually but Matt said it must be because she is so close to the ground.

We let them each take these last bonus tickets and trade them it at the Lollipop tree because we knew we could save those treats for another time.

All in all, it was a fun night.  It was also a late night.  By the time we got home I sat down to change and feed the baby and Matt was put in charge of getting Peter and A.J. to bed.

I couldn't believe he skipped their baths due to the lateness because I was convinced their hair color would rub off on their pillow cases and ruin them, but he did.  And there pillow cases are actually fine.  As it turns out, most of the excess color seems to have rubbed off on their car seats before we ever got home because they're STILL looking rather pink on top.

Also.... for a final bit of fun for the evening, while I was in Lucy's room nursing her and Matt was helping the kids change into their pajamas the dogs were running around crazy because we'd just gotten home.  I heard Brutus barking and didn't know what was going on until Matt yelled down the hall at me to call Molly.

I assumed Molly was up to her usual tricks, trying to eat somebody's dirty socks or something so I called her and made some kissy noises to get her attention.

As expected, she came around the corner with vigor just a moment later only now she was wearing A.J.'s little tutu.

Ha.

Matt said he'd tried to put it on Brutus first and that was what all the barking had been about.

Obviously.  Brutus is a BOY after all.  Girls are much more into wearing tutus.  Just ask A.J.  

:)

Dancing! (Fall Festival Part 2)

Continuing where we left off in the previous post, on Saturday evening we were enjoying the Fall Festival at church....

A.J.'s dance studio was scheduled to perform starting at 6:30 pm.  I'm not sure where in the line up her group was supposed to dance, but we went and  met up with everyone right about 6:00.  Her teacher gave us her tutu and I changed her out of her sweats and into her little skirt.  

She concerned herself only with working on the rest of her lollipop the whole time and couldn't be bothered about anything else.

When her sucker was gone though she noticed the floor mats were out and some of the older girls were warming up their acrobatic tricks.  She went over expecting to join right in.  Never mind the fact that she does not take acro yet.  (The youngest class is for 4 to 6 year olds.)  Never mind the fact that the only acro she knows how to do is a forward roll.  (Still not sure where she learned to do that.)  She wanted to go join in with all the forward walkovers and flip flops and things.

I worried she'd get in the way of somebody and hurt herself or them and pulled her back.

Naturally, this was the very worst thing I could have ever done to her.

She threw a very dramatic little fit.  Oh. The. Horror.

Eventually I got her calmed down.  She wandered around between the legs of the other dancers from our studio and bravely explored the stage.  I got her changed out or her sneakers into her tap shoes and sort of began wondering when the other studio, the one that was on before us, was going to get started.

There were dozens of dancers from the other studio and they sure didn't seem to be in any big hurry to get on with it.

Of course, they didn't have any dancers as small as ours.  And, so, alright, A.J. was the absolute youngest performing from our studio (she's a good 3 months younger still than the director's younger daughter who turned 3 in August and was the next youngest going on stage) but still.  I was really worried that as it got later and later, and A.J.'s regular bed time came and went, that she'd lose all interest in performing at all.

It was just best to keep her entertained in the mean time.

She soon noticed these light box things out in front of the stage.  They kept changing colors AND the hard plastic material they were made of made really loud noises under her tap shoes.  My tiny dancer girl climbed up on top and went to town for awhile.

If you're wondering, I swear that I do not curl her pig tails like that.  They do that on their own.  I promise, I have never had a curling iron or curlers anywhere near her hair actually.  I did put some gel in her hair that evening as I was pulling it up, hoping to keep the wispy pieces at bay. So, I suppose that helped those perfect little tube curls to stay put, but they do that all on their own.  Crazy right?

It's ridiculous actually.

Ridiculously CUTE!

;)

Anyway...

By now it was almost the time that we were supposed to be going on.  The other studio still hadn't started. Our director went ahead and started warming up the dances anyway.  

I took A.J. over from the light up box to rehearse and she was mad at me.  I put her down with the other girls her age to dance and she just stood there and looked at me.  She didn't do one single move.

Was this going to be a disaster?

I left her there with her class and went to find Matt.  Sometimes A.J. does way better without me bugging her about stuff.  (Typical girl right?)  So Matt was sitting with Peter and the stroller a little ways off.  He had a good view of the stage where he was seated and I assumed he was planning on staying there until it was over.  

After a few minutes I dared to look back at A.J. and saw she was up and dancing happily.  Trouble was, it wasn't her number.  Her routine was Five Little Pumpkins.  She was going along warming up to The Addams Family.  Her teacher was basically ignoring her for the time being, but honestly, considering A.J. had never seen that routine before in her life, she was doing pretty well with it.

When the song ended, the teacher and I shared a laugh.  My daughter was refusing to do her own number but really thought she was going to go ahead and perform this new one instead.  :)

I left her alone again, to sit with the other dancers from her studio and wait for their turn.

Back at the table Peter was getting antsy.  Happily I soon found his beloved teacher from Preschool last year.  She's now the director or the Preschool in addition to still teaching the 3 year old class, so we see her almost every day still, but Peter was really thrilled to see her anyway.  It gave me an extra set of eyes to keep an eye on Peter as well as another I grown up to chat with.

Finally, the other dance studio got started.  I went to check on A.J. again.  She just wanted her Daddy.

Alrighty then.  

I sent Matt over and I went to sit with Peter, the baby and our teacher friend and watch the other dance studio.

A.J. got snuggles and encouragement from her Dad.

Lucy looked small and bored.  

While the other studio danced, Peter couldn't really contain himself.  He kept going up to those light up boxes himself.  He kept wandering around too.  He also kept busting his own little moves.  

F-i-n-a-l-l-y, the other studio was finished and it was our turn.  Probably at my urging (and because she had two young tired daughters of her own) our director moved the order around and put the littlest dancers on first.  

All of us in the audience rushed up front towards the stage and readied our cameras to thoroughly document the little performance.  .  

The whole lot of the 2 to 5 year olds.  

I had joked with the teacher about A.J. being the littlest and the cutest one and needing to be right in the middle.

Honestly, I really didn't think she'd put her there.  But she did.

And I was worried.  A.J. had been fighting a cold and a cough.  It was dark.  It was late.  There were flashing lights everywhere.  Half the girls on the stage were from the other class and complete strangers to her.  Would she freak out???

Nope.  No she didn't.   I swear, my little girl just killed it from right there in the middle.

And I was SO proud.

She stood there and grinned at me as I cheered for her.

Matt worked the video camera.  Peter hooped and hollered random cheers.  I took pictures and wished I'd brought the really good camera instead.  

There was a little delay in getting the music to work.  A.J. looked nervous and confused for an instant when it finally started.  Then she got her head on and did her little dance as if it was no big deal.  

"Five Little Pumpkins..."

She never did figure out exactly how to hold up her "number" fingers.
She can do 1 and she can do 5, but for whatever reason 2-4 seem to confuse her.

"We're ready for some fun!"

Making her little alligator-step circle half way through.
LOVE the face she's making.  So confident.

Back to the beginning, once more now, WITH FEELING...

"Five Little Pumpkins, sitting on a gate!"

"Oh my it's getting late!"

"There are witches in the air!"

"And the five Little Pumpkins rolled out of sight!"  :)

The arms, in the frame in front of my lens belong to the dance teacher (who was demonstrating the routine down in front for the girls) and the older dancers from our studio.  I love that they were basically doing the routine right along with the littles to support them.  So sweet!

All done.  And here's a big smile for Mama before I go off.  

Of course we have the video too.  I had to shrink it down to post, and unfortunately I can only figure out how to format it for the blog to play on Windows computers.  But anyway, assuming you have a Windows computer, you can see how the whole performance went here.  It is a little hard to see the dance steps though, because they're mostly wearing black tights with black shoes on a black stage against a black background.... but, oh well.  It's still darned cute.

I'm just happy we got the video.  I was so stressed out about how she'd do before hand.  And then the music started and she was doing it just fine and I got all teary eyed with pride for a minute and I could barely see.  So it's nice to have the video to relive these precious 2 minutes again and again.

I'm so proud of you A.J.  Still a month shy of age 3 and you're a performer already!  I love you my beautiful little dancer girl.