Pumpkin Patch

Today was such a fun adventure. Ben and I took the kids to the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm to visit the pumpkin patch. We spent a couple of hours there and had a blast. The weather was warmer than I was expecting so we all tired out quicker than expected, but had a blast while there. Before entering the pumpkin patch they have some goats, chickens, pigs, and other animals for the kids to feed hay to. The kids really enjoyed looking at the animals but had no interest in touching them (thank goodness). Next we went through the maze and we let Heidi lead the way. We did go around in circles at one point but finally found our way out.

For days now Heidi has been asking to go to the pumpkin patch so she could go on a hayride. So as soon as entered the actual pumpkin patch the first thing we did was head over to the hayride and a little girl had a big big smile on her face the entire ride. Noah had a great time on the ride too, but had trouble sitting still. He wanted to get up and walk around that ride. Half way through the hayride is a play place, so we got off and let the kids play for a while. They were able to climb the big hay stack, play bean bag toss, play tetherball, climb on the play scape, and run around in all the excitement. After all that play, we jumped back on the hayride and rode back to the front of the pumpkin patch.

We did some more playing, ate lunch, and then finally made our way to the big pile of pumpkins. Noah went crazy. He was so excited to play with the pumpkins. The pile was about 6 feet tall and he had no problem climbing up to the top and climbing all around all the pumpkins. His big sister followed him, but he was definitely the leader in this game. I'm pretty sure Noah was in Heaven with all those pumpkins surrounding him. He kept yelling "pumpan" and smiling big. Once we took lots of pictures and picked out our family pumpkin we let Heidi go pick a small pumpkin to paint. Inside a barn they have tables set up with lots of trays of paint. Heidi worked on her pumpkin very seriously while Noah tried to carry all the small pumpkins in the entire patch. He filled his arms with 3 or 4 pumpkins and said, "more more". The boy likes his pumpkins. Ben let him pick out one small pumpkin to take home. Since being home he has not let go of the pumpkin and keeps yelling, "pumpan".

Both kids had a great time at this year's trip to the pumpkin patch. I love having a family tradition and am already looking forward to the next visit.

Heidi's Birthday Party

Heidi had a great birthday week. Her birthday was on a Tuesday so I decided to spoil her that day. First I took her to get a mani/pedi at the nail salon. She was so cute sitting in the big chair getting her nails and toes painted. The ladies at the salon were so awesome. They painted her toes and put flowers on the big toes. Then they painted her fingers and put a flower on all 10 fingers. Super cute! Next the kids and I went to McDonald's for lunch. It turned out to not be the best decision. Because it was summer there were so many big kids in the play area and Heidi kept getting run over. We stayed in the play area only long enough for her to get a bloody fat lip, but then we got an ice cream cone to share. On the way to sit down, the top of her ice cream fell to the floor. It was like a scene from a movie. As soon as she saw the ice cream was on the ground she burst into tears. Once she calmed down she was able to eat what was left, which was still plenty of ice cream. By the time she left she was much happier and filled with yummy chicken nuggets and ice cream. Finally, for dinner she requested eggs and waffles with syrup. Easy dinner! So I made eggs and put the waffles in the toaster. She was a happy girl with her special birthday dinner. After dinner we let her open two of her gifts, her Leapster and Leapster carrying case. She was so excited about her gifts and started playing that Leapster like a pro.

Later in the week we had birthday party #1, a party with her friends from our playgroup. We had it here at the house and titled it Craft Day Birthday. I put a couple of Heidi's favorite crafts out on little tables for the kids to play with. For this party I made the "ice cream cone" cupcakes. Basically you put the cupcake batter in the cupcake tins and then put an ice cream cone on top, then bake. The cake bakes right into the cone. They are super cute when decorated. All the kids loved them and ate every bite of them.

Finally, on Saturday Heidi had her pool party! She was so excited about her pool party and all of her family that came in to celebrate. We held the party at our neighborhood pool and they have a very large pavilion that we reserved as well. The pavilion had lots of picnic tables and shade for those who didn't swim and was the perfect place to eat lunch and open gifts. It was the perfect setup. As soon as Heidi and Noah arrived at the pool they went right to the water. They love swimming and had a blast. After an hour of swimming all the kids came to the pavilion for lunch, gifts, and cake. Heidi got lots of great gifts and we are very thankful for everything she got. For the cake, this year I made Sandals Cake. I cut the regular size cake in half lengthwise and shaped each like a sandal. Then iced and decorated the cake to look like a cute girlie sandal. A piece of fruit by the foot made the strap of the sandal and it was done. It was a very cute cake and worth all the extra work it took.

The rest of the day Heidi kept asking to go back to her pool party. She had a great birthday week and I enjoyed getting to spoil my little girl a little. Thanks to everyone who made her week so special, especially those who traveled from out of town.