Ashland Berry Farm

 The kids requested we go back to Ashland Berry Farm this year to show Daddy - he wasn't able to go with us last year because he was on CAT.  AH, we are SO HAPPY to have Daddy back to working normal hours!  He is loving his new job so far.  So we decided to hit the road early to avoid the crowd and drove to the pumpkin patch.  It's a beautiful drive through farmland.  Fielder remembered they had donuts so he got one and we jumped on the hayride - no line at all!

 This year since we went earlier there were tons of big pumpkins and still attached to the vine.  (I didn't realize it but at the end of the season, they just roll some pumpkins into the area for people to get.)  It's all-you-can-carry for $20 so I was determined to get as many as we could.  Fielder jumped off the hayride and picked the first pumpkin right by his feet where he landed.  Then he was done and sat there trying to tie his shoes for the next 15 minutes (ugh, don't ask.)  Claire and Rob wondered around looking for the perfect ones.  Eventually I convinced Fielder to help me find one more.

 On our way out, Fielder really wanted to check out the "Boo House."  You have to pay for the Boo House, but they also have an area set up for their evening (way scarier) haunted house thing.  He thought that area was the boo house which is fine with me so I didn't have to buy tickets!  He would try to look inside, get scared, and run away.  He and Rob checked it out a few times before we finally left. 

A couple random things...

One of Claire's birthday gifts was a Build-a-Bear gift card from Aunt Tara, Uncle Andy, and Samara.  This seems to be a birthday tradition for Claire which I thought maybe she'd outgrown, but was SO EXCITED when she got the gift card!  I took her to Short Pump and loved that she picked a Halloween stuffed animal! She had fun with it and then we stopped in a couple stores (Justice and Claire's.)

She really wanted to buy these fake glasses??? (we didn't!)

Fielder's class had a field trip to Lewis Ginter recently and I had been picked as a chaperone.  I'll be honest....things have been tough with Fielder lately.  Lots going on that we're working on, but he is challenging and it's just been tough.  I really wasn't sure I wanted to go on this trip.  I didn't know if I'd be embarrassed by his bad behavior or if my being there would cause him to act out more.  Luckily, he pulled it together and we had a pretty decent time.  He was definitely among the group of kids that usually weren't paying attention or listening and he did a few goofy/annoying things, but I was happy to see at least he wasn't the only one!!  I absolutely LOVE his teacher and she did a great job and keeping him in check.  After the little tour, we were split into groups and after a mini-panic attack thinking I alone was now in charge of 4 kids, another mom joined our group!  Phew!  We didn't have a ton of time, but let the kids run around a little and climbed up the treehouse.  Mom had been volunteering there that day so she actually joined up with us too.  I was really worried he'd have a hard time separating from me at the end, but thankfully there were several moms all leaving so he and the other kids just yelled goodbye to us over and over as we walked away.  Mom and I were then able to have a nice lunch together and I had the rest of the day to relax a little.

Here they are trying some things from the garden.  First was chives which he gave a thumbs up but then quickly changed his mind to yuck.

Finding worms in the compost dirt

Carters Mountain

Once Rob was finally off of CAT, we decided to take the ol' Nationwide car for one more little trip and drove to Carter Mountain to do some apple picking.  It was early in the season so the apples weren't as plentiful, but we still managed to bring home $50 worth!  We also tried some new varieties and Fielder was very proud of the giant Jonagold ones he found.

 That night we had homemade applesauce and pork chops with apples.  We've of course made an apple pie (another one in our future) and apple oatmeal. 

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Rob always gets the birthday-short-end-of-the-stick!  This year especially because he was on CAT and had to work long hours AND was extremely ill with man flu had a cold.  We decided on a Smallcakes trip the Saturday night before his actual birthday.  We hadn't been there before, but man is it good!  We all had a cupcake-ice cream combo - delish! 

Rob and I were hoping to get away to celebrate the big 4-5 with a little trip to NYC.  BUT....it just didn't work out this year and for good reason.  Rob got a job offer with a different company.  He is excited to be back in underwriting and no more CAT duty ever again!!!  We've postponed the trip and hopefully we can make his 46th birthday a little more exciting!

Happy DOUBLE DIGITS to our girl!

Wow, our girl is 10!  After a night at GWL, we got back home and then had a family party Sunday evening.  To no one's surprise it was a pizza dinner :-)  She got lots of fun gifts and really seemed so happy to celebrate with her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

Dirt cake for dessert :-)

new Justice PJs from Popa

 On her actual birthday, she had sprinkle pancakes of course and a few small gifts from us.

dance classes at the Y and new dance outfit from Mommy, Daddy, and Fielder

Celebrating #10 at GWL

For Claire's 10th birthday, she wanted to go to Great Wolf Lodge.  We decided to take the kids out of school early and stay on a Friday night, hoping it would be a little less crowded and definitely a little less expensive than a Saturday night.  With the hurricanes, Rob unfortunately was on CAT, but at the last minute we lucked out and he was able to meet up with us late Friday.  So I picked up the kids and got us checked in, the room was ready which was great so we could go straight there to change.  They were just a LITTLE excited!

Then we headed for the water park!  After a short time I realized how extremely grateful I was that Rob was going to be able to join us.  (How did I possibly think I could handle this trip by myself?!)  Claire was very happy in the waterpark and content doing the things she knew she liked to do.  I wish should would have tried some of the other rides because I know she'd like them, but she just wasn't interested!  Fielder on the other hand, went back and forth between having fun and being miserable.  He tortured himself over wanting to do the bigger rides, but just not being able to bring himself to do it.  He did try out the surfing area which was pretty cool and he made a friend there.  Daddy eventually got there (with quite a few "please hurry" texts from me!) and we ordered our dinner from the pizza place.

It was a little early for Halloween, but I couldn't resist giving them some new pjs for our trip. 

They had fun hanging in a hotel room and I also found some glow-in-the-dark fidget spinners.  Rob and I did our best to stay awake so we could go to the dance party in the lobby.  (We both failed....half asleep we dragged ourselves out of the room.)

The next morning we hit up the arcade before spending some more time in the water park.  Claire had a blast which is what really matters since it was her birthday trip.  Fielder had a lot of moments of frustration, but I think in the end he remembers it being fun.

lily pads are a favorite

1st day K & 4th

And they're off - 1st day of K and 4th grade!  All I wanted was just 1 normal picture...

 There we go :-)  Of course, this was all staged because I had to leave for work earlier than they did.  At least I got my photo.  F's bookbag is bigger than he is!!

 My beautiful girl.  I can't believe she's already in 4th and growing up so fast. 

Everyone had a successful 1st day!