Nathan returned from China this past Sunday just after 12AM. I knew he was home because my dog started wagging his tail and pacing up and down the hallway. He knows the sound of Nathan's truck and I think missed him as much as the kids and I did. I got up as quickly as I could, raced into the kitchen and hugged him so tight. He was home. He was safe. Airplanes make me nervous. The boys jumped in bed with us at 6:30AM. They were so happy to have Nathan home. Alanna got the sweetest smile on her face when she saw Nathan and said "Dada" for the first time since he had left. Maybe she is figuring out our names after all? After church we spent the day hanging out outside mainly and just enjoying being at home with each other.
The boys have been aching to go to the Pumpkin Patch and we waiting to go until Nathan got home, so we decided Monday would be the day. We got to the Pumpkin Patch around 4PM, and there was hardly anyone there. We normally go on the weekend and it is always packed. We were overly excited to see how few people were there. The Pumpkin Patch that we go to is free, you just pay for the pumpkins you pick. They have a playground, a hay maze, and a hay ride all for free. We really enjoy it and have been going to this particular Pumpkin Patch for about three or four years now. Somehow I managed to forget to bring our wagon and my Ergo so either Nathan or I had to hold Alanna the whole time. She was dying to get down and crawl around but a field full of hay isn't really the most ideal place for that.
Alanna would not sit still for even a second. I had such plans of the
pictures I would get of her in her adorable pumpkin dress, surrounded by
beautiful pumpkins...but no, it was hopeless. I will have to take
pictures of her with the pumpkins we bought another day.
The boys had a blast running through the fields picking out the "perfect" pumpkin. Liam's "perfect" pumpkin has a big dent on the one side. Liam decided that rolling the pumpkins down the hill in the field would be a wonderful idea. He didn't really understand why we didn't agree with him. He found this pumpkin and took it straight to Ruy, telling him it was so heavy and asking for help to carry it. Ruy is such a good helper and carried it to our pile for him.
My sweet Baby Girl looks so grown up in this picture.
This picture cracks me up. It's so "real." None of the kids wanted to take any pictures while we were there. They usually cooperate with me pretty well for "posed" pictures, but not so much that day. They definitely prefer for me to just take natural lifestyle shots of them. They don't even really notice the camera anymore when I take pictures like that.
The boys loved the tractors they had there and especially that the owners allow you to sit on them. We bought two big pumpkins and three really little ones and three mums.
After we finished up at the Pumpkin Patch we headed to Cook Out for dinner. We ate there last year as well...I think it might end up being a new tradition. I know...their food isn't healthy. It's most definitely not THM but sometimes you just have to give in and get a Banana Pudding Milkshake!
The ride home was filled with lots of noise as usual. Liam and Ruy always seem to find something to either argue about, or laugh way too loudly about.
Can you tell that Liam is about to call Ruy "Boogey Face" in this picture?
Name calling has become a huge issue between our boys, so it's something I have really been working on with them. Some days I feel like I will never get through to them and then other days I see a small ray of hope.
Liam was cold the other morning so I pulled out his bear hat from last winter. You should have seen the expression on his face when he saw it. It was like Christmas. He was so excited. I haven't hardly been able to get it off of him the past few days. I think he might be as much in love with it as his favorite "hat."...you know the one.
Oh and notice all the hand prints on Liam's window. It's pretty hard to keep anything clean for longer than 1.5 seconds with kids around!
And then of course I can always count on hearing Ruy making some sort of "battling" noises with whatever toys he has decided to bring along with him. Yes, it never a dull moment when you have boys. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I'd say our Pumpkin Patch trip was quite a success.
Now the boys are looking forward to carving their pumpkins with Daddy and the Trunk or Treat at our church!
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