Claire's field trip to the pumpkin patch

Yep - two trips to the pumpkin patch in one week!  Claire has been so excited about this field trip that she asked everyday for a week if it was the next day.  This was to a different pumpkin patch then we had gone to with the whole family.  First up was the tunnel of hay.  I made the mistake of going through it last year - it is a bit claustrophobic, so I let her go it alone this year.  Her and her classmates kept doing laps around and around.

 

Then they all piled into the train for a ride all by themselves.  There is a volcano that goes off on one side of the loop that they all screamed when they saw it. 

Here is the class all following Mrs. Beesley to the corn maze.

Claire and Katie playing in the corn maze.

A group picture - there were two kids missing.

Claire and Elaina running around the pumpkins.  It was a beautiful day - even hot just standing in the sun.

They each got to pick out a pumpkin to take home and Claire wanted a small one this time.

Waiting to pay for their pumpkins.  Claire really loves her preschool class and I was very excited to see that this year she wasn't clingy to me like she was last year.  The next adventure will be carving all of these pumpkins.

A visit to the Pumpkin Patch

October has been and continues to be a very busy month.  So we took some time on Saturday afternoon to go to the pumpkin patch.  The kids think this is so fun.  They have been asking since the beginning of the month when we get to go.  When we got there Grant wasn't too sure about these large orange things that we tried to pose him next to.

Trying to get a group picture.

Hopefully someday this cute picture will have their baby brother in it.

What!? Is that me in a picture?  Crazy right?  They had beautiful sunflowers all around the patch.  There were some that were probably 8' tall.  They several different varieties and some had leaves that were huge.

This patch has tons of different types of gourds.  Who knew there were so many!  Andrew and Claire really liked picking them up and checking out all of the different shapes.

Meanwhile, Danny was on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin.

Here he is showing Danny that you need a nice clean face and area to work with.

Claire picked out this one, but Danny said it was too big, so he told them that if they could carry it to the wheelbarrow that they could have it.

So Andrew did it - he found a big one and carried it by himself.

He was pretty excited that he got what he considered to be a "big" one.

He let Grant check out his find.

Here is Claire with her choice.

They had a variety of pumpkin that we hadn't seen before - the wolf pumpkin.  They are just like regular ones, but have a huge stem.

Here is Andrew with a teeny, tiny pumpkin and large one.  The small one was shaped like a lemon.

You can't really tell from this picture, but Claire is posing with a cool pink pumpkin.

Instead of riding the train we decided to go on a hay ride.  The ride was through fields of sunflowers which was really pretty.  Claire thought that the whole thing was fun but bumpy.

It is really hard to get Grant to look at the camera.

Yeah - a family picture!!!  With everyone looking!  Andrew and Claire are already looking forward to carving their pumpkins.

How to turn on a light

A couple of nights ago we were playing the family room after dinner.  Grant kept trying to get on the sofa.  I thought it was to get the cordless phone, which after cat food is his favorite thing that he can't have.  But he was after something different this night - the light switch.  Watch how he figures out how to climb on the sofa just to play with the light switch.

And no, this wasn't a one time thing, because he has done it every night since then.  He thought it was great fun to turn the lights and the ceiling fan on and off repeatedly.  I think we are in for a lot of trouble!

Baby trouble

Grant is officially into everything!  It is hard to keep up with him.  As you turn to clean up one mess he is onto something else.  Here is the proof:

1.  The cat tree - he is obsessed!  He thinks this is his own personal tree house.  Hannah does not exactly appreciate him climbing on the tree when she is inside.

While on the tree, why not stand up, bang on the glass and be totally unsafe?

 

2.  The little table - should be used for crafts and such, but Grant likes to climb on the table and chairs and act like he is going to tip over, but we rescue him just in time.

3.  Laundry - he loves to help.  I use the term help loosely.  He loves to unfold clothes rather than fold them.

Or he just tosses them about and sometimes he takes off down the hall with a few of the items.

4.  Play car - he tries to get in and out of the car by himself, but he can't quite do it.  This leads to many near misses with the cement.  He knows how to push himself backwards in the car, but not forward, so we have to make sure he doesn't go off the step.

5.  The crib - he likes to play in his crib when we are in the room - usually trying to use the computer for a minute.  He is actually trying to climb back in.

6.  The linen closet - he recently discovered the fun items in the linen closet and likes to pull them out.

7. Kitchen cabinets - If they aren't locked they will be unloaded.  Luckily here he just took out a tablecloth and dish towels. 

8.  The cat food - still a favorite item.  He likes to put the dry food into the water, let it soak a bit and then eat it.  Every time that we put the cat food up Hannah comes running in like she is starving, so we put the food down.  Then Grant comes in and chases Hannah away and starts eating food.  This pattern is repeated many, many times every night.

9.  Books - he loves books.  In this case he dumped out Andrew's library books and was actually trying to put them back.  I just hope that he doesn't figure out how to rip the pages.  Maybe he just wants to learn to read.

10.  Teeth time - Grant feels that he must be in the bathroom brushing his teeth along with Andrew and Claire.  He steals toothbrushes and the step stool.   He really thinks that he is a big boy now.