Let me just start this out by saying Hunter missed the entire birthday party. I think he came in for cake and then disappeared again. By the time he came inside to stay, he was covered in dirt from head to toe.
Just filthy!
JP borrowed my camera for a minute and snapped a few pictures of me. I'm hardly ever on the other side of the camera so it feels a little weird posting pictures of myself!
The boys had some fun riding their horse around. Perry joined in a little bit later.
Papa Craig soaked in his time with the younger grandkids. Charlotte had no objection to this. She was so tired all day!
Before the night was over, the boys convinced the adults this was a good idea.
And then this happened...
Not long after their wreck, the kids settled down with Aunt Bobbi while watching a movie. Kile, Chris, Chris' parents and grandma, my mom, and Perry and I then gathered around the table to play Cards Against Humanity. So much fun! Too bad my dad was being a party pooper!
As soon I came upstairs Sunday morning, Hunter started a mini-photo session with me. "Okay stand there and smile. Okay this time kneel. Now put your hands in your pockets, but leave your thumbs out. Now dad you have to get in there too."
This is how that turned out... Still need a little more practice :)
While Kile and Chris prepared for Dylan's birthday party, I thought it would be fun to take the kids to pick apples. I think everyone in the family was excited to go! This was the last weekend of the Apple Festival so I figured there were still going to be a few left for picking. I was wrong. Mom fail.
All the kids were disappointed when we had to pack up in the car. Instead of going back to Aunt Kile's, we went to a pumpkin patch which also had activities for the kids. We went there last year and rode the train but that was about it.
We didn't buy any pumpkins this year, as we already had some at home, but we did take advantage of the games!
Hunter and JP had the option of riding the train or going down the giant slide. They chose 30-seconds of fun.
Charlotte chose 5 minutes of fun riding "Little Toot." She was so excited! She waved and waved as they left the station.
As the train drove around for a little bit, her thoughts about the train completely changed.
By the end, she looked terrified and was overly anxious to get out. Did you have fun? *nods head* Do you want to do it again? *Vigorously shakes head*
Before we turned to go, Perry spotted pedal cars in the corner. I completely forgot about these! They definitely got their ticket worth on these! There wasn't a line of people waiting to use them so the lady let them go around a few times. JP went around once and had to take a break. Hunter could have spent all day doing this.
They attempted to race, but Hunter cheated by cutting through the middle of the track...
They had so much fun! I kind of wanted to try them out too...
Charlotte was mad she didn't get a turn. (She wouldn't have been able to reach the pedals!) We spent about 15 minutes watching the boys go around. By the end of it, Charlotte was almost asleep in Perry's arms. If she had her blanket, she probably would have been,
We weren't the least bit surprised when she fell asleep in the car. We had stay up WAY past our bedtime the night before.
The last time we were in Spokane it was for my friend's wedding. It coincided with Hoopfest downtown. The kids really wanted to play on the Red Wagon, but we said no way. It was much more peaceful downtown this trip.
The first time she made it to the top of the wagon, she sat like she was going to go down the slide, but later got up and went back down the stairs. Eventually she braved the slide.
I was surprised she didn't fly off the end!
And I made this happen. Hunter hated every minute of it so I didn't have a lot of time to go back and forth between the original picture and their set-up. But hey!
He's not quite a one year old yet, but since next weekend is Halloween, we celebrated a year gone by with this little guy! Isn't he adorable?! I think he looks like his momma :)
My sister baked this guy a pretty sweet cake. I didn't get a good picture of it, but the cake we ate (which was delicious!) was green with some grass added in the corners, and Dylan's football cake sat on top of it. This was no little football either!
He made sure to eat every bit of it too! What a mess he made! He probably made more of a mess than my three kids combined. Way to go bud!
Nom nom nommm!
Check out those messy fingers! I could just eat them up!
Tell your brother "Happy Birthday, Casey!" Ah heck no! Hahaha! I love his eyes in the last one! Oh no you di-n't!
After Dylan destroyed his cake, the dogs were quick to clean up the mess. Roxy ate most of it... There were a total of 6 dogs at the party, which almost out numbered the kids.
I caught this little ham being ridiculously cute eating his cake. He actually only ate the frosting!
I think it's safe to say everyone enjoyed watching this little cutie yesterday afternoon. He sure is loved by all!
Since I began working in February, our family time has really decreased and I hate it. Recently I expressed I would be okay working one day a week if other people needed/wanted more hours. My wish was granted, even though I'm sure my pocketbook isn't going to be so in love with the idea once the decreased paychecks roll in!
On my first Sunday off, I suggested we head over to the corn maze. It's become a tradition in our family; one the boys ask about year round. While it was a little windy out, the kids had a lot of fun!
Charlotte loved wandering through the kids' hay bale maze. She was so cute to watch as she navigated to the middle of the maze to get to the slide.
Not a very good picture, but the slide is a large culvert. Hunter loved it too! As Charlotte became more comfortable going down the slide, she started getting more adventurous by going down backwards.
They ran into one of many dead ends in the corn maze so I made them stop for a picture. Hunter's eyes are closed in all of them...
After the maze, they did a little bit of free play. Charlotte went back for more rides on the slide, cheating the system and just climbing over all the bales to get to the middle faster. She was so good as waiting in line for her turn too. I don't know that I've really taught her that. She's so patient, unless we're at the grocery store...
We let the kids pick out pumpkins to bring home as well. I was a little surprised with their choices. Hunter picked out a small white one. It's lopsided and can't stand up like a normal pumpkin. JP chose a small orange one, ignoring all the green ones. Charlotte picked out the largest of the kids' and struggled to carry it. Adorable.
JP wanted me to take this picture. You'd think he'd at least smile for it?!
Before we left to go home and watch football, we stopped at the petting zoo. Hunter and JP put their "masks" on to potentially scare the animals. So thoughtful of them...
Charlotte wasn't having much of the petting zoo and preferred if we weren't even there.
We spent the rest of the afternoon as a family on the couch watching the football games, and me checking my fantasy team over and over. I also surprised Perry a few days before by buying all the ingredients for his dad's chex mix called "Nuts and Bolts." He had the boys help him whip up a batch the night before and then they all nibbled on them throughout the day. It was a perfect afternoon!
We haven't had a good family picture in at least 3 years. It really just hasn't happened since Charlotte was born. I've been putting it off for quite a while... Every year on, or around our wedding anniversary, Perry and I take a picture holding the picture from the year before. This year I planned to do that again, but have a photographer take the picture in addition to a few family photos. Right around the time I was planning on booking a session, a friend of mine offered to trade me services - a cake for her son in return for a photo session. It was perfect!
For our anniversary this year, I planned on surprising Perry with tickets to the home football game. He's been wanting to go to a game for quite a while, but the timing hasn't worked out. This year there was a homegame just two days after our anniversary AND it was homecoming. I was planning it for at least 9 months. Unfortunately for us, it didn't work out this year either. Perry was going to be a groomsman in one of his friends' wedding that day. Instead of going to the game, we spent the weekend in Whitefish without the kids. Grandma had JP and Nanny took care of Hunter and Charli. So nice to not have to tend to the kids at the wedding/reception.
Because I took the whole weekend off of work, I opted to do the photo shoot that Sunday evening when we returned home. It was a beautiful evening out too! We couldn't have asked for a better night...just a couple better attitudes. Perry and JP really don't like getting their pictures taken... I've been in suspense the last week waiting to get the pictures back from her.
Because I don't have many pictures with the kids, I asked for one.
And one of just me and Charlotte too! I love how this one turned out!
Even though Hunter isn't looking, this one is a good representation of the kids. Charlotte being all cute and adorable, JP with his "look", and Hunter not paying attention. :)
