Butler's Orchard with MOPS

For the second year in a row we have had the pleasure of attending Butler Orchard's Harvest Pumpkin Days (click here for last year's post).

On the hayride going to the pumpkin patch!  This was the girls favorite part of the trip.

Anna is not smiling for the camera in this one. :-(  But look at Jillian smiling to my right!

Our friends Julie, Ava, and Andrew

Our friends Maureen and Cooper (little Carter stayed at home)

Honestly, I can't even tell you anymore what was behind the fence, but the girls posed so nicely, I had to include it on here! 

This was a cool farm vehicle that was also a slide! Do you see Jillian, Ava, Faith and Andrew climbing up the stairs? Faith didn't make it down the slide.  I have discovered that she doesn't like to go down slides that are tubular (I am assuming because you can't see out).  So after a little while after Jillian had  already gone down the slide a couple of times, I called for Faith and she replied "Help!" She was very calm about the whole thing, but I got to be the mommy rescuer and go up the stairs and bring her back down again!   

All the kids standing in front of the pumpkins for a photo opportunity. 

Anna was super tired later that night and plopped out in her daddy's arms! 

So sweet!

My friend Julie took these photos on her i-phone and sent them to me:

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Jillian and Ava: The Best of Friends! 

Jillian has a "New Ava" at her new pre-school but she still talks about her "Old Ava" all the time (it reminds me of the Girl Scout Song... "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold").  Anyway,  the other day Jillian was missing her (old) Ava and decided to make her a card.  She drew a big circle and put lots of "pumpkins" inside and then drew  friends (drawn with short straight lines) going to the pumpkin patch! She also wrote Ava's name ALL BY HERSELF (I didn't even spell it for her ;-) and then wrote her own name and then on the inside she drew some smiley faces and the first initials of both of their names "A" and "J".   I thought that was really sweet.

Just the girls...I don't know what happened to Buddy in the picture, but its cute nonetheless.

Smile, Sweet Girl!

Brad took these pictures on October 6th before we went to the MOPS Harvest Day at Butler's Orchard.   I dressed Anna up "all special" with lots of Aggie Pride for the occasion! Do you see her cute shoes!?! 

These photos get a little repetitive of me but I love all the different smiles Anna gives for the camera.  She is such a happy girl, all we had to do was look at Anna and say "Smile, Sweet Girl" and she did just that, over and over again! Believe it or not, Brad didn't do anything funny or entertaining, all the two of us had to do was tell her to "SMILE!" :-) She is such a good baby. 

But I will admit, she has become a little more mischievous recently and enjoys putting her hand in our decorative plant, aka fake plant (plants always die on me- I do not have a green thumb AT ALL:-(! ) and likes to eat and rub the fake dirt all over her face and clothes! Also, I frequently find her standing up with little support! She is quickly approaching the cruising stage and she is only 7 months old!!! The time is flying by with our baby girl.  

Our Happy Baby! 

Super BABY Smile! 

It's going to be a FUN day! :-)

Smiling to the end!  Brad literally took 13 pictures of the two of us and in every one of them Anna has a sweet smile. Can you tell I am a proud Mama?! 

My Favorite Birthday Gift

Our sweet friend Naomi Glenn has once again given us the gift of beautiful photos of our family! The photos are incredible and I am fairly sure I will never be able to repay her for these precious keepsakes. 

These photos were taken in celebration of my 29th Birthday!!! :-)   

Faith is so sweet in this photo giving her little sister a hug and her smile is so big! 

This is my favorite. Brad and I are sitting on logs in the most picturesque scene, and little Faith and Anna are holding hands! 

While we were walking to "the wall" for more photo opportunities, Faith got a ride on her daddy's shoulders. I don't think there is any other place our little three year old would rather be.  

A family "wall photo" 

BIG SMILE! :-)

A picture of my baby and me! 

I adore this picture of Brad and me! Naomi told me that this was the first picture that she took of the two of us and it was perfect. :-) We have not had many pictures taken of the two of us since our wedding, so this one is especially special to me. I feel so blessed to be married to Brad.  He is an incredible daddy to our three girls and I only love him more and more as each year passes. 

Anna holding onto her Daddy's legs!! So cute. I love how you can see the rolls on Anna's legs through her white tights. :-) 

2010 Harvest Festival

On October 2nd, we attended the Agricultural History Farm Park Harvest Festival as a early family celebration for my birthday that was the next day! :-)  Yeah for turning 29! 

The Fall Harvest Festival is a family fun day of old-time crafts, live music, food and tons of down-home on the farm fun.

The Alpacas were interesting to watch, especially when they were being rounded-up and were running in the opposite direction of their herders!! :-)

The other day Jillian told me she wanted a cat "just like the one we saw at the farm".  I was super surprised, because our friends have a cat and whenever Jillian sees it, she literally screams and runs the other way.  Then she added quickly, "I think we should keep it in a cage just like the one we saw in the barn."  LOL! She wanted our family to have a cat that we could keep locked up.  

We enjoyed discovering what a typical barn includes and what tools a farmer uses to tend his farm! 

Jillian first had a try at churning cream into butter

Then it was Faith's turn to churn the cream into butter.

One of the passport stations for the children was "Goat Education" and we got to brush the hair of a goat! Faith and I were the only ones willing to do it, and we had a great time! 

Then we went to go look at some of the gardens and Jillian and Faith both made butterflies as a craft. 

Faith with one of the sweet volunteers and helping choose the flowers she wanted in her own tussie mussie.

I have since forgotten, but while there, we learned about the different meanings of the flowers and why the tradition of tussie mussies was important in the Victorian Age. Ladies would keep the tussie mussies close to their nose while walking down the smelly streets (lots of sewage...YUCK).  Its funny because I had a lot more romantic view of the Victorian Age than that, but the reality is it really STUNK! :-)

The girls were so proud of their beautiful flowers. 

A historical steam-powered tractor.  It was loud and whistled just like a steam locomotive for a train, but it is actually a tractor!  How Cool!!!

It was the perfect day to enjoy the farm and we are looking forward to going back next year and experiencing even more of the FARM FUN.  

Our Little Ballerina Faith

Isn't our little ballerina adorable!?!

The other day I told Faith, "You are so cute, I could just eat you up!"
She looked at me inquisitively and then responded by saying, "Mommy, that make me sad." (Don't worry she wasn't too sad.)
She then put her arms up and said "Be ALL gone."
She made a good point. I agreed I wouldn't eat her all up even though she is so darn cute! :-)

I told Brad the story and he tried the same thing with Faith a couple days later.
She responded the same way as before, but then Brad asked, "Who would be gone?"
She said enthusiastically, "Faith!" :-)

Practicing all of her dance moves for ballet! 

She is so excited to be a little princess ballerina! 

When we first arrived, Faith was really shy and was a little nervous about getting involved in the class. The teacher allowed Jillian and I to stay in the corner until she felt more comfortable and I took that opportunity to take a few pictures! 

Mrs. Baker was a very patient and kind teacher! 

All in a circle

Here Faith is learning to piroette across the room to the black square, and then she would bow and go to the other side.

I am so proud of my big three-year old Faith! :-)