Fun at the Corn Maze

 Yesterday was the perfect day for us to enjoy our local corn maze! The weather couldn't have been better - a nice 63 degrees with the sun shining! We've been talking about going for a while now, but when the boys came down with colds last week, we opted to stay home. Nearly every trip to and from daycare, depending on the route we take, we drive right past the corn field. All the boys needed to see was the tractor sitting out front to get excited about going.

The boys were so eager when they saw all the hay bales. There was two "little kid" mazes there. JP did awesome! 

Hunter, however, wasn't too impressed. He stood in this spot for quite a while as he was his brother navigate though. Eventually he started back up, but then climbed over a few bales to get out.

 We let the boys play on the play around on the play equipment before we went over the behavior rules for the maze. I haven't been to any other maze before, but this maze has clues to help you through the maze. Perry was our clue reader and the boys acted like they knew all the answers to questions about the Egyptians. (We played level difficult!)

 The maze went back and forth between the hay bales and the corn. For the most part we let the boys take turns leading us around. One would go until we were lost and then the other would take over.

 At this point, we had been in the corn portion of the maze for quite a while. We came upon one of our clue spots and the boys found this piece of corn hanging down. It seemed like Hunter had just had an epiphany. "Mom! This is corn! We're in the middle of a corn field!" Ha! Took you a while bud! 

 My job, other than cameraman, was the "cattle herder." You know, make sure they keep going where they're supposed to.

Towards the end, the boys were anxious to get back out so they could go play again. JP cracked me up a few times. When he and I would hit a dead end he would exclaim, "Uh oh! I guess we'll try again tomorrow!"  And then would just stand there until I told him to turn around. : )

 Once we made it out of the maze (way faster than in years before!), we headed over to the little petting zoo.

 Although JP really wanted to go see the little pony, he refused to pet it.

 He did however love on this little lamb, until his attention was diverted to this lamb on the right taking a giant dump, practically in his face. He thought this was the COOLEST!

 Hunter also showed us he has a soft side too. He really enjoyed the petting zoo.

 We finished up taking pictures in the pumpkins. Here is Perry and little JP. 

When it became my turn, JP decided he wanted to be in the big one, so I crouched down for the little one as he stretched out onto his tippy toes just so he could see out! 

JP, Your Fish are Dead

A few mornings ago around 4am, Perry woke up when he heard something in the kitchen. He wandered out without his glasses on to check it out. It was Hunter. Surprise surprise. He was promptly sent back to bed and that was that. 

About half and hour later, Perry found him in the kitchen yet again, this time with his glasses on. Hunter immediately shouting "Look dad! I found worms!"

 Perry took a good look and couldn't decide what it was that Hunter was looking at, so again he was sent off to bed. At that point, Perry opted to stay up and clean up what ever it was that Hunter was looking at in the kitchen. It was then that he noticed the net in the fish bowl and put two and two together

 In the morning Hunter was SO excited to tell me about the worms he found last night. I explained to him that those worms were actually JP's fish. His response? "They were just floppin around on the floor!"

These were the fish that JP received on his 2nd birthday from Aunt Bobby. I'm not sure what made her want to get him fish, but both Perry and I weren't sure how long they'd last. She reassured us that they were the most durable fish the store had. And boy were they! There was plenty of days on end when we would forget to feed them. Or go on trips and forgot to tell the neighbor to feed them. Unfortunately they weren't durable enough to survive Hunter. JP took it like a trooper.

One Year Ago

One Year Ago Today...

One year ago I woke up with my friends and family at my side.

One year ago I wore a smile I could not hide.

One year ago we played in the ditch.

One year ago I walked down the road to get hitched.

One year ago the groomsmen took a big leap.

One year ago my man and bros piled in the jeep.

One year ago my dad walked me down the isle.

One year ago we spoke our vows, each with a smile.

One year ago, as a complete family, we prayed.

One year ago our union was made.

One year ago two families were joined under the shining sun.

One year ago we all had a lot of fun!

One year ago we spent the day together.

One year ago we agreed on forever.

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband!
With all my love,
Your Wife
xoxo

I'm a Student Again!

One of my goals this year was to take 3 classes from the Adult Learning Center. I might have procrastinated a little bit on that one...but for good reasons other than being busy! 

For one, the classes that do interest me require me to buy a $300 program that I would only use in class. Feels like a little bit a waste to me...Secondly is my schedule. I took a new job, which began in July. It's been going good so far, and has allowed me to set my own schedule. In theory its awesome, but when my husbands schedule floats, mine tends to as well. Quite annoying. So with that said, I have had a hard time committing to long term things because my days off and his days off are always changing. If I signed up for, say a Thursday evening class, I would probably be able to make it to a few, but would then have to find a babysitter for rest, which is a challenge in of itself (especially when bedtime is involved!).

Over Labor Day weekend, my sister Kile, came to visit. During an evening of talking, we made it to the topic of school and how I would like to go back at some point. I've labeled myself as a "numbers person" for quite some time. If I was to go back to college, I would go back for a degree in accounting. With that said, she suggested I take the H&R Block Tax Class. I checked it out and didn't have much time to think about it. But I enrolled a few a days later. 

In theory, if I pass the class, I would be eligible for employment with H&R Block during the tax season. Although I'm semi-interested in doing so, I signed up just so I could learn something. My classmates couldn't comprehend that I wasn't taking it for the money.

My first day of class was September 10th. We meet three days a week for 3 hours, which isn't too bad. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday. (I've had to cut my hours back a little bit at work for the time being, but I'm okay with that.) On my first day, I arrived about 10 minutes early and was greeted by my instructor, and two older people. A few minutes later another older person comes in. And then another one, and I'm thinking "Oh good, I'm going to be the youngest by about 40 years. Awesome." But then luckily a girl who just graduated college came in, followed by a guy who is probably 22? The class is clearly divided too. Old peeps over there, young peeps over here. We started with a total of 7 of us, but an older lady quit a few classes in after learning the pay. I wish more would quit.

Old man Loren - In his 70's. Balding, but does the comb over to cover it up with the little amount of hair left. Eyes always wide open, like a deer caught in the headlights. When I glance around the room, he is either chewing his fingers, or scrunching his nose. *Very* political. Confuses the other seniors with his political rantings about taxes...in the 80's. Sometimes I think he purposely asks confusing questions just to get everyone else confused. Why do I say that? Because he's been known to ask questions and then listen to Nancy and Peggy argue about the answer while he sits back and smiles. It's ridiculous. What's even more annoying is that after our instructor answers a question, he will answer it again, but will word it differently. And will talk louder, like he thought of it first. 

Peggy - I'm guessing 65. Retired CPA. Used to do taxes for H&R Block a few years back. Pretty knowledgeable. She's cool.

Nancy - I'm guessing early 70's. I'm also guessing that her hair style hasn't changed since the 70's. She gets confused *really* easily. She makes up ridiculous scenarios just to see what the outcome would be and then gets annoyed when our instructor can't or won't answer the question. "So you mean to say that I can't claim my sister's sister-in-law's daughter as a qualifying child on my tax return?" GAH! "I found an error on this form. It says "include on line 38" but really it should say "enter on line 38" because every other form says enter." We literally had to discuss the difference between the two words...for 20 minutes. She's notorious for finding errors, rather, assuming things are errors. She's shakes her head in disbelief a lot. 

Overall, I would say I'm enjoying the class, but not so much enjoying class time. I think I have deep sighed 100 times already because we have a hard time keeping on track. Here's how class seems to go: Topic A --> Topic A Questions --> Topic B ---> More Topic A Questions ---> Questions about things 5 chapters from now --> Topic C ---> More Topic A Questions ---> Topic D Questions ---> Back to Topic C lecture --> Topic B questions ---> Now Topic D ....  And its not like our instructor is rushing to the next topic. We spend lots of time answering questions before moving on. I feel like we "beat a lot of dead horses" in this class. 

I don't know. Maybe its just me, but I'm not finding this stuff too complex. Its a little frustrating to talk about stuff that is what it is. I guess I've been taking the book as it is what it is. If it says something, I assume its correct. Or maybe I just don't have time to check the validity of everything. After all, I am the only one with kids...and a full time job in class.  

Monkey-Shiner Babblings

JP: Look Mom! I just went potty!!

Mom: Nice job! Let's pull up your pants and flush it down!

JP: Do you want to smell it?!

Mom: No, I don't need to smell it - let's flush it down so we can have a prize!

JP: I'm gonna smell it! ... HAHAHA I smelled it! Now can I have a prize?

Mom: Hunter, let's sit up to the table and eat your dinner so daddy doesn't have to get you some pajamas.
Hunter: NO! I don't want daddy to get my pajamas! He's a bad picker!
(and then breaks into tears.)

Monkey-Shiner Babblings

Hunter: Mom did you go to school today?

Mom: Yes I did.

Hunter: Oh...Did you get to go down the slide?!

Mom: No, I didn't. Mommy's school doesn't have a playground.

Hunter: Uhh, dang it.

Mommy: Eww Jim! Don't pick your boogs!

JP: But I want to!

Mommy: We don't pick our noses! EWWW Don't eat it!

JP: But I wanted to!

Mommy: WHY?! Do you think they taste good?

JP: Yeah! They taste like fruit roll ups!

SoccerTots: Week 2

This week sucked. I don't know how else to say it. Hunter was super excited about going to class, and ran around before class kicking soccer balls into the net. Once class started, Hunter shut down. Completely. My child cannot listen at all and I cannot begin to express how frustrating it is a parent. I want to cry.

Class began with everyone getting to their spots, which he succeed at. He sat there and listened as Coach Joe and the rest of the class spoke about dinosaurs. He even chimed in on the conversation once. And that was it. He didn't want do participate in the stretching, which didn't surprise me because he didn't last week either. Not a huge deal, but then he didn't want to do anything else either.

After a couple drills, they had a quick drink break. Hunter came over to grab a drink, and then didn't want to go back because he found a little bead on the floor and was more interested in that than soccer. Perry finally took the bead away, and he eventually got back to his spot. During the next drill they did, he became distracted by the glitter that was scattered across the floor. Couldn't get him to focus on anything else. And then he found another bead...

We ended up leaving about 15 minutes early from class because Hunter was running around by himself more than he was participating in class. I'm not sure if I'm more embarrassed that we left early, or more embarrassed as to how the whole situation was handled by Perry. Either way, I felt stupid. I felt stupid leaving in front of the other parents because they had kids who were behaving.

I knew going into this that Hunter was going to have some problems listening, because he always has. But I thought he did pretty good last week! Maybe I just have my expectations too high? Or maybe I just want to hear someone tell me that he had ADHD or something, so I can stop pretending that he's a normal kid and begin learning how to deal with it.