memories

little farmers

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Our last trip to Kelsay Farms (2 years ago) went pretty much like THIS. (Laugh all you like but HOLY MOLY, how have my kids grown up and changed SO much in two short years?)  We received a flyer/coupon thingy in the mail the other day so I thought that might be a fun thing to do close to home this weekend while my cousin, Kara, was visiting.  I forgot the coupon…par for the course!

We were only marginally more successful with getting a family picture.  Such a neat little place and we love visiting in the fall (even if it was 80+ degrees out!).

Excited to see the big pumpkins – not so excited when mom asked to take a picture. Story of my life!
Playing and digging in the corn.

Hop Dot game.

Climbing Hay Bale Mountain.

Cousin Kara (that’s what the boys call her) helping Dexter strike a pose. 
Mooove over, son, and let me show you how it’s done.

Hi.

3 day old big baby!

Taking a ride on the Moo Choo Express.

OH LOOK. Cousin Kara took some initiative, picked up my camera and took some pictures of me without being asked.  It’s as if I actually exist in this family after all.  Hint, hint. You know, to no one in particular.  Cough -RYAN – Cough.  P.S., thanks Kara! This means a lot to me.  In case you can’t already tell.

Dexter was happy to pose for a pic mom dear ol’ mom & dad…

Theo was too cool, so we thought, maybe…if we leaned… no?

Bribed him by letting him hold a pumpkin.

And cut.

Reading Spookley the Square Pumpkin in the corn maze (too cute)! The boys were really into this, running from one story board to the next. Theo thought they were “clues.”

Sharing is caring. Especially when you’re sharing a chocolate milkshake.

I just love their little faces.

Playing on the antique tractor while waiting for the next hayride.

That sky looks like a painting – such a beautiful day.

And there’s the hayride tractor!

Theo’s flipping out with excitement while Dexter just blasts off towards it.  

Well. We tried. 

Such a fun visit with my sweetie cousin!
xo,
~C~

happy campers

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

We planned a backyard camping adventure at our former babysitter’s house the weekend before last and it turned out great.  We couldn’t have asked for better weather. It was just chilly enough to enjoy the bonfire and s’mores.  We were thankful for the amenities of home footsteps away come 7am Sunday morning.  It was cool in the tent and breakfast was cooking in the kitchen. Retreating to the cozy house after a restless night of sleep for coffee and scrambled eggs was the perfect way to end our adventure. The amount of rest I got was minimal, considering I was sleeping on about 2″ of an air mattress with a very floppy 3 year old next to me.  I was worthless after we got home, but a week and a half later the boys are still talking about it so it was definitely worth it.  Perfect trial run to see how the boys would do on an actual camping trip – next summer, we may try it for real.

Our little home for a night.

Mega tent – the boys thought it was a bounce house with their giant air mattress.

Campfire story setup. 

Grillers on the job.

party lights

yard games

Layton digging and playing

The “marshwellows” are taking too long!!

And, the s’mores were too sticky for Theo! He doesn’t like to make a mess. 

Dexter didn’t mind.

I didn’t mind. I finished off mine. And theirs. 

Tent party. 

Best pic I could get the next morning -sad situation!  They are not great posers. They better pull it together for Disney World, guys.  
Can’t wait to do it again!
xo,
~C~

Labor Day weekend and then some

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest
Aug. 25, 2013.  My boys have taken to napping anywhere but in their beds.  Theo’s weekend naps are pretty much always on the couch now. I’m fine with that – it takes both of them 10 times longer to fall asleep at naptime when they are both in their room.
Dexter woke up shortly after falling asleep and asked to sleep with me in my bed.  He went right back to sleep…and I woke him up 3+ hours later.

The light in our room was just right for sneaking some pics.  I can’t imagine ever getting tired of watching them sleep.  Even when they’re zit-faced metal-mouth teenagers.

Fast forward to Labor Day.  My sister and her family came from Tennessee for the weekend.  They arrived very late Friday night and we were up before the sun Saturday morning with our early risers.  We traveled 90 minutes east to visit relatives.

Just another trip to our uncle’s alpaca farm.
Checking out Uncle Joe’s cool Corvette Stingray.
Aunt Sandy introducing Penelope to one of her babies.
After a long day of playing and no napping, we made the mistake of setting up dinner plans. Long story short, it was one of the most embarrassing parenting moments I’ve had. Both boys throwing fits (understatement of the decade) in the restaurant. Ryan and I functioning on 4 hrs of sleep. No thank you – we kindly skipped out of the restaurant and drove home.  The boys slept all the way home and then went right back to sleep in their beds after dinner.
Sunday I woke up with an eye infection … awesome.  We had made plans to go to Ryan’s parent’s house to swim in the lake. I got up early and fixed cheesy potatoes and grape salad. Yum & Yum.  We got down there a little after 11am and made a day of it. I ended up not taking my camera down to the dock for obvious reasons but did squeeze in a mini sesh with beautiful 8 month old Penelope Quinn.

She wasn’t in much of a smiling mood, this was about as close as we got to a smile Sunday.

I just love chubby little baby hands and arms and thighs and feet and…you know. Baby chubbiness.  So cute.
Monday morning we lounged around the house before heading to the outlet mall to check out the Labor Day deals.  After that it was time for my sweet sis and her amazing family to hit the road.  Sad to see them go, realizing after spending such quality time together how much we are missing by living so far apart.
Isabella and Malachi – my first niece and my first nephew. Now I have two of each.  These are 2 good kids.  REALLY good kids.  Love them to pieces.
They all left a little after 5pm and I went home to spend a little extra time with my own little fam.  Back to work. Back to school. Back to the babysitter.  We’re all getting back into our post-holiday routine. To toss in a little excitement, we went to the ice cream shop last night and then the library, which is right across the street.  The boys love this library, and so do I.  We let them check out books for the first time.
How’s that for a photo & info overload?  Now that we’re almost into another weekend, I hope your Labor Day weekend was great and I hope this coming weekend is too!
xoxo,
~C~