Sunday, October 24, 2010

Wimple's Pumpkin Patch

When I was growing up we would go to a place called Apple Hill during the fall, usually on Conference Weekend, to take pictures and just have fun as a family. Seeing as Apple Hill is about 4+ hours away from where our little family lives, we decided to take the kids to Wimple's Pumpkin Patch, which is about 25 minutes away instead! It is nothing like Apple Hill, but was fun nonetheless for my little kids! They had all the things that our kids were interested in. Hay rides, tractors to play on, animals to look at (Peyton wasn't too interested in this part), pumkins to find, a small haymaze for toddlers and a small play structure for the kids to play with after lunch (and an AWESOME shop for the mom!- with GREAT prices!). We went with some family friends (Dodges, Autenriebs, and Wedemeyers). Lance had to work that morning, but we took tons of pictures for him to be a part of our trip!

Riding in her wagon on the way out to get some pumpkins (that is her friend Jack in the background)

"I found a good one mommy!"

Peyton holding her pumpkin that she picked

Her wagon is full!

Parker riding his John Deere tractor

Holding his baby Pumpkin (that is Caitlyn holding him...so glad she was there to help me with the kids that day! She was a lifesaver)

Me and my friends (clockwise from top left: Reagan, Julie, Me, Jaquelle)

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Scootchin around

The day has come! Actually, it came last Friday. Parker is now mobile. He isn't quite on all 4s yet, but he is going, going, going! And fast too! I turn away for 3 seconds and I am pulling him out from underneath the kitchen table. Or out from under the coffee table, which has a 3 inch shelf that he crawls onto and pushes the magazines off of. It was so fun and exciting for the first little while, but now it is just something that distracts me from doing things that I should be doing (washing dishes, folding laundry, scrubbing toilets, blogging, playing on the computer) ;) But he is oh so fun! He is about to get his little teeth in on the bottom, and he smiles constantly. Even when he is crying, he is smiling, and sometimes he can't figure out if he wants to cry or laugh. He is completely in love with his big sister (who would have nothing to do with him if it was her choice). He would follow her to the ends of the earth and loves to watch her all day long.
Peyton is also growing and changing on a daily basis. She has started to make up laugh by the things that she comes up with to say to us. The other day, her nana and papa were here to visit us here in Susanville and she was playing with Peyton and her shape blocks. She held up one of the blocks and asked me "Ashley, what shape is this?" to which Peyton promptly replied "Nana, it's a quadrilateral!" We all just cracked up. Sometimes the things that she has in that little head of hers far exceed any of the expectations I have for my 2 year old!
Here are some of the things that she is doing now:
*Counting 1-50 with ease
*Counting 1-10 in spanish
*Knows all her ABCs and numbers by sight
*Knows all her colors and shapes (including a quadrilateral, penta-, hexa-, and octagon)
*Loves to have picnics out in the front yard with Mommy and Parker
*Sings 5 little monkeys with hand motions by herself
*Can open, start and find her games on my phone (I have had to put a passcode on it to keep her from getting on all the time)
*Hopping on one foot
*Knows the 1st article of Faith
*Knows 5 or 6 Primary songs that she sings by herself
*Knows most of her Body Parts in English and in Spanish
*Helps mommy get things around the house, or pick things up
*Joyfully proclaims "There's Bubs!" when I get Parker out of bed
*Knows her daily routine, and HATES to diviate from it in any way shape or form
*Knows, by heart, word for word, at least 30 different Mickey Mouse Clubhouse shows (I know this puts me in the bad mother category, but sometimes a mom needs a break, and no kidding, she can go MONTHS without seeing a specific one and she still knows it WORD for WORD)

Sorry if it sounds like I am boasting about my kids...but I AM! They are great. They make me happy. They are my reason for getting up every morning. Literally. I just wanted to be able to remember some of the things they were doing at this time, and to share them with all of you! And of course you wanted to know, or why else would you still be reading this? ;)