Yesterday was Siah's first school field trip! The whole family (minus Papa) got to come... and it was such a treat! It was the first trip to The Patch, since I can remember that it has actually felt like Fall. Most years we have spent our time hunting for pumpkins at Bates Nut Farm in sunny, sweltering hot, CA. Each year we would try to dress the treasures in long sleeves, complimenting Fall colors, the whole sha-bang! And for what??? Every year we would end up sweating to death and spending an atrocious $5 a bottle for water, simply out of desperation for some relief from the heat.
BUT THIS YEAR... Oh what a glorious year this was at the pumpkin patch!!! The air was cool and brisk. The Patch was rustic and nothing but FUN! There were mazes to be conquered, mini pumpkins to be launched, massive slides to be swept away on, and large tubs overflowing with popcorn kernels that brought out the belly laughter in our many small children!! I had the best time spending the day with our precious treasures!!!
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We started out at the hay maze....
And then....
Everyone was able to try... Even Reesie Piece!!!!
Off to the hay stack pyramid for a few photos....
My photo shoot was VERY short lived... No prob bob... we'll just move onto the next thing...
This is Siah's friend Teddy from his little class... One of the blessing of the day was that I got to meet so many new moms. TO be honest I was a little intimidated and quite nervous to go on the field trip. It's been many years since I have gone somewhere like this with my kids and not known ONE SINGLE person. The whole drive there I prayed that the Lord would use me in some way to bring him glory throughout our time there... even if the only way that I could be a witness was through the way that I loved on and treated my children while we were there. But of course the Lord had plans for me way beyond any expectations that I could have mustered up on my own. On the tractor ride I was able to share all the things that the Lord has done in my life in the past five years with this precious mom... and by the end of our conversation she was in joyful tears and she encouraged me that the Lord had used my story to really challenge her to go home and be a whole different kind of mother to her FIVE young children! God is so good. Just when we think our lives might be nothing more than plain old ordinary, he so graciously steps in and reminds us that he has nothing less than EXTRAordinary for us... if only we would ask! I was blessed on that tractor ride!!!
Siah's class gathered on an old flatbed trailer and some itchy-scratchy hay bails to eat lunch together...
Little Jed woke up during lunch and I took him out of his carseat and laid him on his cozy comfort silkie balnket so that all the kiddos in Siah's class could chat with him... The little girls were so cute... tickling him and telling him over and over again in their squeaky little voices, "you're so cute!"
At this stage in the game his eyes really are this blue... :)
Extremely handsome brothers!!!!
We headed out to the slides....
The kids LOVED the tractor ride... On the "trip" we saw a fox and some wild horses...
One of Siah's teachers was so kind to hold Jed while I helped Reesie get down the slide...
There was also a cute little petting zoo.... Halee was dying to hold the rabbit but to her dismay she was not allowed... so she settled for petting it for several long minutes until the it's owner finally, gently told her that the other kids needed a turn too.
So she moved on to gathering oodles and oodles of hay to feed the already FAT sheep.
Finally, the pools of corn kernels...
And on our way out each kiddo got a free little pumpkin! What a deal! :)
We stuck the pumpkins on the stroller...
Dusted off our boots...
Tried desperately to get the hay off our jackets...
Loaded up the troops and headed to Lowes to buy paint for the girls room.
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Today our friend Kim is coming over to hang out with our treasures so that I can go to the farm and paint. We are supposed to be moving in net weekend... Next week the painter is coming to paint a few of the main rooms in each of our houses... The carpet should be going in next friday... And then we should be able to move in... We'll still have a whole slew of projects that we can get done sometime over the next ten years!!! But things are coming together and that's exciting!!!!
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I have a Fall soup recipe that I made the other day that I would love to share... I hope to post it sooner than later... so keep an eye out... cuz it is absolutely yummy!!!!!
